On the Nobel Prize<\/p>\n
I wish to comment on the recent awarding of the Nobel Peace
\nPrize for 1996 to Jose Ramos-Horta, the former chief of foreign
\naffairs and information for East Timor's Fretilin movement. As we
\nall should know, the leftwing Fretilin was one of several East
\nTimorese factions engaged in, and on the verge of winning a civil
\nwar in 1975, when Indonesian troops moved in.<\/p>\n
In Southeast Asia at that time, for those who have forgotten,
\npeople still remembered the abortive 1965 communist coup attempt
\nhere; South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were under the former
\nSoviet sphere of influence; and East Timor's Fretilin was left
\nwith the most arms by the departing Portuguese in their clumsy
\n\"decolonization process.\" History will record that it was the
\nheight of the Cold War, and forces of the extreme left were on
\nthe march worldwide.<\/p>\n
In sections of the western press nowadays, it is fashionable
\nto deride the Indonesian view that Ramos-Horta is a political
\nopportunist. It is often stated that Ramos-Horta has jettisoned
\nhis left wing views, but would that have been the case if the
\nSoviet empire had not collapsed and there was an East Timor that
\nwas separate from Indonesia? Did Ramos-Horta have a reason for
\nabandoning his political beliefs other than trying to gain
\ninternational support when hard-line socialism fell out of favor?<\/p>\n
To ask some other questions: Did the Nobel Peace Prize
\nCommittee -- a group of ivory tower academics in a faraway Nordic
\ncountry -- ever rely on truly objective reports about Indonesia
\nand East Timor? Have they ever set foot in Indonesia? Or did they
\nbase their judgment on information from organizations such as
\nTapol (political detainees) and Ramos-Horta's backers -- who
\nconcentrate solely on the negative side of Indonesia's
\nadministration of the province?<\/p>\n
For those overawed by the Nobel Peace Prize judges: remember
\nthey failed miserably to award this an honor to the late Mahatma
\nGandhi -one of the greatest apostles of peace this century.<\/p>\n
Finally, can Mr. Francis Sejersted, chairman of the Norwegian
\nNobel Committee, say in front of a TV camera that he truly
\nbelieves that Fretilin activist Jose Ramos-Horta is of the same
\ncaliber as Mahatma Gandhi -- or for that matter other Nobel Peace
\nPrize recipients, Mother Theresa, Woodrow Wilson, and Martin
\nLuther King, Jr?<\/p>\n
FARID BASKORO<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/on-the-nobel-prize-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }