by Bo Hallengren

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Bishop Carlos Filepe Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos Horta. They have both been working for the rights of the people of East Timor for many years. The prize should be welcomed by all who oppose the invasion of Indonesia in 1975 and who support the rights of the East Timorese people to determine their own future.

The history of East Timor, which was colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century is quite sad. The Portuguese government changed its colonial policies after the coup in 1974, which ousted the previous Lisbon regime of Salazar. In East Timor there were organized groups struggling for independence from Portugal, a country which had neglected East Timor for a long time. This was used by the Indonesian army as a pretext to enter East Timor and “establish order.” This “order” has been established by brutal force. Between 1975 and 1980 it is alleged that 100,000 to 200,000 East Timorese died of combat, execution, disease and starvation. The people of East Timor have never been able to vote, which has been condemned by the UN. The UN regard East Timor as a non-self-governing territory with Portugal as its lawful administrator.

Also during recent years there have been a number of provocations against the people of East Timor. During the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991, Indonesian soldiers killed over 200 peaceful demonstrators and another 200 “disappeared.”

In 1992 the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture made eleven concrete recommendations to the Indonesian government. Only one of these recommendations was followed. 
This list goes on and on. Recently it has been said that East Timor has developed economically, but this development is mainly supported and controlled by the military and “benefit,” the people of East Timor by plundering their natural resources. 

It is under these circumstances under which Bishop Belo and Jose Ramos Horta are working. While Bishop Belo remains in the capital Dili trying to find peaceful solutions to end the oppression, Ramos Horta is working for the same cause from abroad. Mr. Horta is based in Australia and travels a lot in order to promote the cause of East Timor. His comments about the Nobel Peace Prize were that Xanana Gusmao, the guerrilla leader who was jailed in 1993 and the international solidarity movement also should have been recognized by the Nobel committee. Bishop Belo’s comments were, as expected considering his position, more moderate. He simply said that the prize was an honour to all in East Timor and Indonesia, who want peace.

Only five days after the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize President Suharto visited Dili and quietly greeted Bishop Belo. This visit to East Timor by Suharto had been planned for a long time, since a new statue of Christ overlooking Dili was made by the Indonesian authorities was to be “dedicated to the people” by Suharto himself during an official ceremony. However, the statue, for many East Timorese, represents oppression from Indonesia. The people never wanted the statue and Bishop Belo has refused to bless it.

We feel delighted that Bishop Belo and Jose Ramos Horta are sharing this year’s Nobel Peace Prize and hope that this will help people all over the world not to forget the just and noble cause of the suffering people of East Timor.