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)