News of Norway, issue 10, 1996
I was in Sydney one Friday afternoon, baby-sitting a two-year-old baby, when Portuguese Radio called and wanted my comment on winning the Peace Prize together with Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo," the laureate told News of Norway last month. "I was shocked--you know, the Nobel Committee keeps their secrets like the Vatican," he said laughing.
News of Norway met the international activist after he participated in a panel discussion at Freedom House in Washington D.C. He is touring the United States in order to tell the story of occupation and terror in East Timor to all who will listen, and he has been doing this since he last set foot on his native soil in 1976.
For more than 20 years, Ramos-Horta has been the leading spokesman for East Timor. In 1975, Indonesia invaded and occupied the former Portuguese colony of some 800,000 people whose largely Catholic population has been systematically oppresed since then. According to the Nobel Committee, "it has been estimated that one-third of the population of East Timor lost their lives due to starvation, epidemics, war and terror." Thus it awarded the annual Peace Prize to the champions of the East Timor cause, Ramos-Horta and Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo.
"The lack of awareness and information is the worst enemy for democracy," Ramos-Horta told News of Norway. "The prize will make an enormous difference for the East Timor cause. In the long run I am totally convinced that the prize will have an impact on the democratic process in my country," he continued.
Mr. Ramos-Horta thinks that pressure should be directed at Indonesia by the European Union, the United States, and the UN to make Indonesia withdraw its troops. The Nobel Committee called for "a diplomatic solution to the conflict in East Timor based on the people's right to self-determination."
"I hope Norway at one point might be invited to Indonesia to play somewhat the same type of mediator role that it played in the Middle East in 1993," Mr. Ramos-Horta said. Portugal should also play a central role.
Mr. Ramos-Horta has been in Norway several times, first in 1976 to inform Norwegian parliamentarians about the situation in his home country. He visited again in 1993 to receive the Rafto Prize, a human rights award conferred in Bergen, and he came several times in the past two years.
"I have no objection to economic involvement in Indonesia by the Norwegians. On the contrary, Ramos-Horta explains, economic engagement has produced some positive results and reforms in Indonesian society. For example the Labor Student Movement is now growing. More democracy and reforms within Indonesia might help the people of East Timor in the long run. If Indonesia became more democratic domestically, it might eventually ease its grip and withdraw troops from East Timor, Ramos-Horta hopes.
Mr. Ramos-Horta lives part of the year in Sydney. Australia boasts one of the largest East Timorese communities outside of their native island.
Asked what he would like for Christmas this year, Mr. Ramos-Horta said: "I have already received the best Christmas gift anyone could get, the Peace Prize, which recognzies the East Timorese community. If I could have one more big wish, it is this: Let the guns fall silent forever on East Timor."
Jose Ramos-Horta:
Jose Ramos-Horta has been a special representative of the National Council of Maubera Resistance of East Timor, a non-partisan movement comprising all East Timore's nationalist political forces and resistance groups.
Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo:
The first Roman Catholic bishop to receive a Nobel Peace Prize was cited by the Nobel Committee as "the foremost representative of the people of East Timor--a constant spokesman for nonviolence and dialogue with the Indonesian authorities."
After receiving the Peace Prize in Oslo, Bishop Belo will visit Washington to meet President Clinton in the White House, and he is invited to the Presidential inauguration in January.