The following is the Press Release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the Republic of Indonesia in response to the awarding of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize to Jose Ramos Horta

On 10 October 1996, the Nobel Prize Committee announced its decision to award Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos Horta, in two equal parts, the Nobel Prize for Peace for 1996.
The Indonesian Government has always shared Bishop Belo's determination to enhance the welfare and well-being of the people of East Timor and to ensure that they live in peace in an atmosphere of religious freedom and tolerance. The growth in the number of adherents of the Catholic religion and other religions in East Timor as well as the dramatic increase in the number of churches in the province attest to this fact.

The Indonesian Government, however, has been astounded and surprised at the reason given for the award to Bishop Belo and to Ramos Horta. It has been announced that the award was for their "sacrifices for the oppressed people of East Timor." This is not true for in no way are the people of East Timor being oppressed. The Indonesian Government has always given the highest priority to the social and economic welfare of
the people of East Timor. The record shows that it was only when East Timor integrated itself with Indonesia that the East Timorese began to enjoy universal suffrage, adequate political representation in decision-making centres of government, and real opportunities for socio-economic upliftment so that they could break away from the stagnation that had been the result of centuries of exploitation by the former colonial power. In fact,
during the last meeting of the UN-facilitated All-Inclusive Intra-East Timorese Dialogue in Burg Schlaining, Austria on 22 March 1996, East Timorese representing all shades of opinion, including Jose Ramos Horta, stated that they were "encouraged by the substantial role of the East Timorese in the administration and development of East Timor."
The Nobel Prize Committee has also stated that Bishop Belo has "tried to create a just settlement based on his people's right to self-determination." On this matter, it is pertinent to note that Bishop Belo himself, in his pastoral letter of August 1994, took the position that he opposed referendum in East Timor as he believed that it would lead to renewed civil war in the province. Bishop Belo has also supported endeavours at reconciliation among the East Timorese, a process that the Indonesian Government has whole heartedly encouraged, supported and promoted.
What the Indonesian Government finds difficult to understand is the choice of Jose Ramos Horta as recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Bishop Belo. Ramos Horta was a key leader of the Fretilin, a radical and violent political group which was responsible for unspeakable atrocities perpetrated on a massive scale against their fellow East Timorese when they briefly took control of East Timor by force in mid-1975. Bishop Belo himself publicly condemned the brutality of that brief rule by the Fretilin. As a key member of the Central Committee of the Fretilin at the time of the atrocities, Jose Ramos Horta has yet to account for his complicity and responsibility in that bloodbath. Thousands of widows and orphans of victims of the Fretilin massacre are still alive today and are easily accessible for testimony. It is perhaps the ultimate irony that this person whose hands are stained with the blood of the victims of the Fretilin's reign of terror should be the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace.
It is no wonder therefore that his claims to being a spokesman for the people of East Timor has been firmly and repeatedly rejected by the overwhelming majority of the East Timorese people. The Nobel Prize Committee has also mistakenly cited Jose Ramos Horta for making a significant contribution through "reconciliation talks and by working out a peace plan for the region." In fact Jose Ramos Horta would have had nothing to do with the ongoing All-lnclusive East Timorese Dialogue (AIETD) when the idea was being developed but he was finally persuaded to participate, perhaps because he thought that he could inflict more damage to the process by joining it. His behaviour during the deliberations of the AETD has been disruptive and served merely to sow confusion and raise tension.

The Nobel Prize for Peace may have been awarded to Ramos Horta, a man whose career has been devoted to subverting peace, but there is nothing he can do with the Prize that will erase the dismal record of his past misdeeds.