Timorese Nobel Laureate: âPeacemakers pay a priceâ
Timor-Lesteâs president says he chose âthe difficult pathâ and âthe key to end the wars are leadersâ
JosĂ© Ramos-Horta, the president of Asiaâs youngest country Timor-Leste, has told ±«Óătv HARDtalk that âthe greatest act of justice is not revengeâ but reconciliation. He said that justice came about not through âprosecuting peopleâ, but because âthe whole international community, including Indonesia, corrected the wrongs of the past by recognising Timor-Lesteâs independenceâ in 2002.
Speaking to Stephen Sackur, the co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize said he had forgiven every âcountry in the world that collaborated with the Suharto regime.â Indonesiaâs occupation of East Timor lasted from 1975 to 1999 and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, including four of Ramos-Hortaâs own siblings. He explained that accountability was not a priority for him, saying âthose who didn't commit any crime may cast the first stoneâ.
President Ramos-Horta, who has travelled around the world trying to broker peace, believes that his approach to conflict resolution has relevance to current wars. He asserted that âthe tragic situation in the Middle Eastâ is because âneither side has had a Mahatma Gandhi, or a Mandelaâ. He added that âfor peace to prevail over hatred, over violence, you have to have courageous leadersâ. He noted that there had been some in the past, such as Egyptâs Anwar Sadat and Israelâs Yitzhak Rabin, but that âthey paid a priceâ. He went on to cite other victims of assassination such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, noting that âpeacemakers pay a priceâ.
Now serving as Timor-Lesteâs president for the second time, Ramos-Horta was a key figure in the countryâs liberation struggle. He said that, in choosing reconciliation, the Timorese had opted âfor the difficult pathâ. But he credited the lessons which his movement learned from Nelson Mandela and his push for national reconciliation. For Ramos-Horta, âthe key to wars are leadersâ, who have the ability to both start and end them.