Nobel award won't affect Norway-RI relations: Minister

Nobel award won't affect Norway-RI relations: Minister

JAKARTA (JP): The peace prize given to East Timor separatist
leader Jose Ramos Horta by the Norwegian Nobel Committee is not
likely to disrupt relations between Jakarta and Oslo, a Norwegian
minister said here yesterday.

"We don't think it will affect relations," said visiting
Norwegian Minister of Industry and Energy Jens Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg is here to attend the three-day seminar and
workshop on Norwegian-Indonesian Science and Technology for
Sustainable Development which opened yesterday.

However he said he hopes that through the Nobel prize there
will be even greater international focus on East Timor.

On Friday the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Horta and
East Timor Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo as the joint winners
of the 1996 peace prize.

Horta's selection drew scathing criticism from Jakarta which
considers him as a staunch enemy of integration.

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated into
Indonesia as the country's 27th province in 1976. However the
United Nations still regards Lisbon as the administrating power.

Belo came out Monday in defense of the choice of Horta as this
year's prize winner, saying that everyone should respect the
committee's judgment.

Meanwhile Indonesia's Ambassador to Oslo, Amiruddin Noor, said
yesterday that Horta's nomination occurred rather late in the
selection process.

"Horta's name sort of sprang out all of a sudden," Noor
replied when asked by The Jakarta Post on why the Embassy did not
anticipate the event. "I believe only Belo's name was known as a
candidate."

Noor is currently in Jakarta accompanying the visiting
Norwegian minister and attending the seminar.

He maintained that while Indonesian officials lobbied as hard
as they could there was a possibility that information which
filtered through to the Nobel Committee was biased against
Indonesia.

Some analysts here have said that Horta's award is proof of
Indonesia's poor lobbying abroad.

"We lobby at almost all levels, but in the end most of the
input that went to the committee came from the other side," Noor
said.

The ambassador added: "If we examine the composition of those
that can nominate people for the Nobel Peace Prize, then we can
see among them many lobbyists who don't necessarily support us."

He argued that in the long run the appropriateness of the
selection will be self-evident by seeing whether those chosen
will really be able to contribute to peace.

"The facts and truths will surface by themselves," he said.

Dialog

The seminar concentrated mostly on joint cooperation in
maritime technology. In his opening statement Minister
Stoltenberg also suggested dialog in areas where the two
countries sometimes did not see eye-to-eye, namely human rights.

His suggestion was quickly brushed aside by State Minister of
Research and Technology B.J. Habibie who said that each nation
has its own perception of human rights.

Habibie, who also addressed the opening session of the
seminar, likened human rights to the form of a person's calorie
intake. While each person may need the same amount, the way it is
acquired has different methods.

"You cannot come here and tell my people how to eat. And if we
don't do it the way you do it then is it against human rights?"
remarked Habibie.

He argued that Indonesia's practice of democracy is different
from that prescribed in Norway. While acknowledging that there
might be some weaknesses in practice, Habibie maintained that
Indonesia is doing its best to ensure that the fruits of
development are enjoyed by all.

"Real democracy needs time... maybe the only real democracy is
in heaven," he quipped.

Speaking to the press, Habibie later said Stoltenberg's
question was "very fair and very wise." Despite rejecting the
proposal on a dialog to scrutinize Indonesia's human rights
practices, the Norwegian minister was "correct in trying to find
computabilities," Habibie said.

According to Habibie, Norway's concern over such matters here
shows that it is "a country that is really honest". (mds)