Political Quotes

“I was pleased today to see the editorial, which I will submit for the Record, in the Washington Post about East Timor. Like many issues in Washington, one minute it is hot and the next minute it is not. The editorial writer cautions, ``The Nobel Peace Prize brought a brief flare of publicity to East Timor's just but long neglected case, and then, just as Indonesia's government hoped, world tension turn elsewhere.'' But we must not let East Timor drop off the radar screen. For over 20 years the people there have suffered and fought for their human rights, and it would be immoral to let them down now. The United States needs to focus on this issue more. We need to make it a higher priority with regard to our foreign policy. In November, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize and he was nominated for the prize by our colleague, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hall]. He was nominated for his efforts to encourage peace, reconciliation and human rights. In January, I had the opportunity to visit Bishop Belo in East Timor. I found people were scared, scared of being arrested in the middle of the night; scared of being tortured; scared of disappearing without a trace. People I talked to had had family members who were killed or who had disappeared. We heard reports of police breaking into homes in the middle of the night and arresting young people. We met one young man whose ear had been slashed by the Indonesian security forces.”