\n<\/p>\n
Drawing on his country\u2019s own experience,\u00a0Ramos-Horta said that Timor-Leste\u2019s independence from Indonesia in 2002 was built through \u201cyears of patient and practical diplomacy\u201d involving multiple actors, including the\u00a0UN and Indonesia, which \u201cgradually turned all wounds into new bonds\u201d.<\/p>\n
Timor-Leste – previously known as East Timor – was a Portuguese colony for over 400 years before briefly declaring independence in November 1975.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nine days later, Indonesia, whose East Nusa Tenggara province makes up the western half of Timor island, invaded and occupied the territory.<\/p>\n
That sparked a decades-long resistance movement in East Timor, and an inquiry later\u00a0estimated that 102,800 people died between 1974 and 1999 during the conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was only when BJ Habibie became Indonesia\u2019s president that a referendum for Timor-Leste\u2019s self-determination was held in August 1999, in which the majority of Timorese voted for independence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe show that history need not imprison our hearts and minds. History must not imprison nations,\u201d he said, adding that the close ties between Timor-Leste and Indonesia today is \u201ca model of reconciliation and partnership\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWise leadership and dialogue can turn conflict into coexistence, coexistence into friendship and trust,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He added that ASEAN\u00a0offers a \u201cgood example\u201d, having emerged from a region marked by colonial scars,\u00a0wars among Indochina countries and past Cold War rivalries, rather than a \u201ctranquil epoch\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both the experiences of Timor-Leste and ASEAN,\u00a0Ramos-Horta said, hold key lessons for\u00a0\u201cpatient, practical and effective diplomacy\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cASEAN\u2019s achievement in this respect is not that it made all countries seem alike. It has not erased differences \u2026 it created habits of cooperation despite those differences,\u201d said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.<\/p>\n Ramos-Horta highlighted ASEAN\u2019s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation which affirmed principles which he said \u201csound simple but were revolutionary when practised\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Core principles in the legally-binding treaty on inter-state relations include mutual respect for the independence and sovereignty of all nations, settlement of disputes by peaceful means and a renunciation of threats or the use of force.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe resulting trust between ASEAN nations has delivered vast mutual benefits,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHISTORY\u00a0MUST NOT IMPRISON NATIONS\u201d Drawing on his country\u2019s own experience,\u00a0Ramos-Horta said that Timor-Leste\u2019s independence from Indonesia in 2002 was built through \u201cyears of patient and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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