RI priest slams govt Nobel prize stance

RI priest slams govt Nobel prize stance

SEMARANG (JP): A prominent community leader in Yogyakarta has
criticized Indonesia for its callow response to the awarding of
the Nobel Peace Prize to East Timorese separatist leader Jose
Ramos Horta.

Y.B. Mangunwijaya, a Catholic priest and prominent literary
figure, said Indonesia should have accepted the Norwegian Nobel
Committee's decision gracefully.

"As a nation with character, it would be unsuitable for us to
abase the jury which selected the recipients, because it is
really an institution with international credibility," said
Mangunwijaya, also known as Romo (Father) Mangun.

He urged the nation to refrain from petty actions such as
making spiteful statements against the Nobel Committee.

Horta and Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo were
announced as winners of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize last week.

Jakarta reacted strongly to Horta's selection, with senior
government officials questioning the committee's selection
criteria.

Mangunwijaya commended the government for refraining from
making an official statement on the matter, but regretted that
officials had made unflattering remarks about the Nobel Committee
and berated Horta's selection.

He said the statements could boomerang and create a negative
international opinion of Indonesia. He pointed out that Indonesia
could be perceived as being like the old Soviet Union, which
griped over the Nobel Prize of novelist Boris Pasternak.

The awarding of the Nobel Prize for literature to Pasternak in
1958 aroused so much suspicion in the old Soviet regime that the
writer had to refuse it.

"If the government and high-rank officials here take an
antagonistic attitude towards the Nobel Prize, it could drag
Indonesia's name down to the level of those countries which have
balked over their citizens receiving the award," he said.

He doubted suggestions that the awarding of the Nobel Prize to
Horta was "contrived", saying that the jury members were not
people who would resort to such behavior. He also pointed out
that the selection involves a lengthy process.

In Dili, East Timor, the chorus of indignation has continued,
with the chairman of the provincial legislature, Antonio Freitas
Parada, accusing Horta of being behind fence-jumping incidents at
foreign embassies in Jakarta.

Eighty-nine Timorese youth have received asylum in Portugal
after breaking into several embassies in Jakarta since September
1995. (har/03/mds)