John Shaw: “I had not intended to be in the debate on this particular issue until I heard the questions of what I consider to be…”

“I had not intended to be in the debate on this particular issue until I heard the questions of what I consider to be tremendous exaggerations as to what is going on in East Timor. I had the privilege of visiting East Timor for several days just a few months ago, along with Congressman Johnson and the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Archer. We saw firsthand the fact that there are not these huge breaches of human rights, and we did not see these breaches of human rights as referred to. As a matter of fact, one of our Members went and spoke to a Catholic priest, and, by the way, most of Indonesia is Muslim, this is mostly Catholic. As a matter of fact, there is the second largest statue of Jesus in the entire world being constructed--in process of being constructed--in East Timor. I went to a Catholic priest who actually favored independence, but he verified the fact that the human rights record was certainly improving and that he did not see these tremendous violations of human rights.”