Dr José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
Confidence in East Timor's state institutions has increased markedly since the low point of the 2006 crisis, the nation's President José Ramos-Horta said in a wide-ranging speech at ANU last night [Tuesday 22 June 2010]. The East Timorese head of state delivered the annual Centre for Democratic Institutions lecture in Llewellyn Hall to an audience of 1100 people. President Ramos-Horta said that the relative youth of his nation meant that there was still a sense of fragility about the current state of peace. In 2006, conflict between sections of the East Timorese military sparked wider social disquiet and led to the resignation of then Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. The President said this crisis might have been avoided if the original UN peacekeeping mission overseeing the nation's transition to independence had lasted for five years instead of two. But Ramos-Horta said that his nation had regained stability thanks in part to bilateral support from countries like Australia and Portugal, leading to a 'tremendous recovery in trust in the intuitions by the people we are supposed to serve.' ?The country today is at [its] most peaceful than ever before,? President Ramos-Horta said, referring to UN statistics showing that per capita rates of homicide and assault in East Timor were considerably lower than in many advanced nations. The Nobel Peace Prize winner thanked Australia for its ongoing friendship and support of East Timor, but said we should 'never forget democracy is a living thing'.
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