Alatas receives praise from his arch-rival

Alatas receives praise from his arch-rival

HONG KONG (AFP): Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas
yesterday got praise from an unexpected quarter -- his arch-rival
Jose Ramos Horta, head of the East Timorese separatist movement.

"He's a decent person," Ramos Horta said of Alatas in a
meeting with the media at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents'
Club. "I know he agonizes about the problem in East Timor.

Alatas reacted waspishly after Ramos Horta last year was named
co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, along with another East
Timorese, Carlos Ximenes Filipe Belo, who is bishop of Dili.

He said he could understand why Belo would be awarded the
prize, but not in the case of a "political adventurer" like Ramos
Horta, who he said was unrepresentative of any movement, nation
or organization.

Indonesia integrated East Timor, the eastern side of the
island of Timor, in 1976.

The United Nations does not recognize the integration and
still sees Portugal, the former colonial power, as the official
administrator there.

Alatas has met with Horta several times on the sidelines of UN
sessions, but says that these talks have always been in an
unofficial capacity.