JOSE RAMOS-HORTA

October 25, 1996
		Jose Ramos-Horta, exiled East Timorese resistance leader and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, responds to viewer questions and comments.

Forum introduction Can Western human rights concerns overcome commercial interests? What is the motivation behind Indonesia's interest in East Timor? How can you capitalize on the attention the Nobel Prize has brought? How can you convince Indonesia to pull out? How would an independent East Timor support itself? Are the East Timorese committed to democracy? Was East Timor a part of pre-colonial Indonesia?   Online NewsHour Special Report: The Crisis in East Timor Online Backgrounder: Behind East Timor's conflict with Indonesia. Nov. 13, 1996: A discussion with Jose Ramos-Horta. Oct. 11, 1996: Two East Timorese dissidents win the Nobel Peace Prize. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Asia.

Vicente Malixi of Manila, Philippines asks: Being Filipino, and having been under Spanish rule for 300 years just as Indonesia has been under Dutch rule for 300 years, would it be right to say that the whole of Timor actually belonged to Indonesia until it was annexed by Portugal and the Netherlands and split up between East and West Timor? And due to its colonizers, the indigenous Indonesian population were made to change their culture, and their numbers reduced by the number of European settlers? Isn't Indonesia entitled to get back what was originally theirs in the first place?   Jose Ramos-Horta responds: Let us remember that 'Indonesia' is a post-colonial concept. It only emerged this century, among the various ethnic groups that were colonized by the Dutch. The origins of the present unitary state of Indonesia also require careful understanding, and are open to debate. In any case, Indonesia had no claim over any territories not previously under Dutch colonial administration. There is also no pre-colonial claim over East Timor as it never belonged to the major Java based kingdom of Majapahit, which some consider a precursor of the contemporary Indonesian state.