Ramos-Horta Requests Support for East Timor

In the face of hostile questioning from an engaged audience, Jose Ramos-Horta, whose peace efforts in East Timor brought him the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, eventually won the hearts of most of his listeners in a speech last night at the ARCO Forum.

Ramos-Horta addressed the topic, "Pragmatism and Morality: The Case of East Timor" before an audience of over 200 people.

A former Portuguese colony located 400 miles northwest of Australia, East Timor--after a time of brief independence--was invaded on Dec. 7, 1975 by the former Dutch colony of Indonesia.

According to a pamphlet distributed at the speech by representatives of the East Timor Action Network of Boston, more than 200,000 East Timorese have lost their lives in the civil war and genocide that ensued.

Ramos-Horta took little credit his Nobel Prize.

"Those who earned the right to this award are, in fact, the people of East Timor," he said.

Ramos-Horta also credited the Catholic Church in East Timor for the humanitarian role it played in assisting victims.

The speaker criticized nations--including the U.S.--for assistance to Indonesia, and for "turning a blind eye" to the plight of the East Timorese.

"We understand that the United States is not a philanthropic institution," he said. "But it could pursue a more positive neutrality".

He called upon the Clinton administration to appoint a special representative to East Timor, but acknowledged that "[The Clinton] administration has done more than any other previous administration or any other country" for the East Timorese.

While admitting that "there is no comparison" between the East Timor genocide and the Holocaust, Ramos-Horta stressed that some lessons learned from the killing of European Jewry in the 1940s are applicable today.

The speaker also received his own does of criticism from several members of the audience during the question-and-answer period following the speech.

Domingos Policarpo accused Ramos-Horta of starting the civil war in East Timor and then leaving his suffering country for a life of ease elsewhere.

"The people in the United States deserve a more complete version" of the situation in East Timor, he said.

"He's having a good life abroad talking in the name of the people of East Timor.... He doesn't really know what is going on in East Timor", Policarpo said.

Policarpo also questioned Ramos-Horta's urgent request for a United Nations-sponsored national referendum for the area, saying that in the mid-1970s Ramos-Horta's party opposed the idea of such a referendum.

Policarpo claimed to represent East Timorese who believe in peaceful coexistance under an Indonesian government.

He said that the integration of the East Timorese in Indonesian society gives them a form of independence.

Ramos-Horta and several audience members questioned the credibility of Policarpo and other hostile questioners who, they said, may be the mouthpieces of the Indonesian government.

Policarpo said that he had come to the U.S. for the specific purpose of informing the American public and would be in the country for only a few weeks. He said that he is a banker in the Regional Development Bank of East Timor.

Ramos-Horta also gave praise to Mass. State Sen. Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton) for his efforts in sponsoring a bill in the State Assembly which ensures that state businesses do not make any investments in Indonesia or buy Indonesian products.

He called Pacheco a "Schindler of East Timor", referring to the well-known German businessperson credited with saving the lives of about 1,000 German Jews during the Holo-caust.

In attendance last night, Pacheco said that he and other legislators hope "to try to get the word out [about] the injustice that is going on [in East Timor]...and to try to have some increased dialogue on the issue."

Some audience members welcomed last night's speech as an opportunity to learn more about the situation of a people who seldom receive the attention of the west.

"I was very unfamiliar with the conflict in East Timor," said Georgia A. Wallen, a Kennedy School Student.

Wallen said that she thought Ramos-Horta "was very passionate and very thoughtful and self-controlled.

Some audience members welcomed last night's speech as an opportunity to learn more about the situation of a people who seldom receive the attention of the west.

"I was very unfamiliar with the conflict in East Timor," said Georgia A. Wallen, a Kennedy School Student.

Wallen said that she thought Ramos-Horta "was very passionate and very thoughtful and self-controlled.