Words of Hope in Dangerous Times (ePub)

This volume collects the speeches of and interviews with Jose Ramos-Horta during the first year of his second term as President of Timor-Leste. The collection is wide ranging in its content, covering as it does both national and international issues. The resulting collection provides an insight into President Ramos-Horta's vision and thoughts on the state of East Timorese politics and society and the current geopolitical issues facing the world.

As the title suggests we live in dangerous times, Timor-Leste faces hard choices to consolidate it future, and the world faces the danger of an escalating and dangerous geopolitical situation. Nevertheless, all is not doom and gloom. Throught the collection President Ramos-Horta is always keen to point out the progress that his tiny nation has achieved over the past 20 years, but in so doing he makes it clear that there is still much work to be done.

The topics covered in the collection cover issues such as Timor-Leste's quest to join ASEAN, a process commenced nearly 50 years ago with Ramos-Horta's meeting with the then Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malk in Jakarta; the issues facing the country's development, its political, judicial and security forces; climate change and the responsibility of the developed nations; the place of China in the world today; the hypocrisy of the total focus on Ukraine by the so-called international community in contrast to the ongoing betrayal of the people of Myanmar; multilateralism; the Pope and Grand Iman's call for human fratentity and its relevance to Timor-Leste and international affairs; and the constitutional duty of East Timorese politicians to achieve sustainable inclusion and a Democratic Republic worthy of that name.

At one point President Ramos-Horta describes the 'iron stubborness' of the East Timorese people. This is an accurate and more than apt description of a people who have struggled for their independence, sought to build a special place in the world and have recently weathered the storms of political instability, climate change and Covid19.