On 20 May 2002, the new na­tion of East Timor, now Timor-Leste, was born af­ter a bit­ter strug­gle with In­done­sia. On 20 May 2007, WSN ed­i­tor Jag­mo­han Singh wrote an Open Let­ter to the then Pres­i­dent José Ramos-Horta, of the new na­tion con­grat­u­lat­ing him on the eve of the fifth birth­day of the new coun­try.  As Timor-Leste strug­gles to main­tain po­lit­i­cal equi­lib­rium and as many na­tion­al­i­ties in the world yearn for the right to self-de­ter­mi­na­tion, World Sikh News shares the Open Let­ter, which also touches upon the In­dian lead­er­ship of those times.

Hon’ble Pres­i­dent José Ramos-Horta: Greet­ings in the Name of God, the Light of every soul. Kindly ac­cept my con­grat­u­la­tions at your elec­tion as the sec­ond Pres­i­dent of in­de­pen­dent Timor-Leste.  On 20th May 2007, your coun­try will be cel­e­brat­ing its 5th birth­day and I take this op­por­tu­nity to send my greet­ings in ad­vance.

As a mem­ber of the Sikh na­tion, still strug­gling for the right to self-de­ter­mi­na­tion, I am par­tic­u­larly over­joyed at your elec­tion with 69 per cent of East Tim­o­rese vot­ing in your favour.

I won­der whether you are aware of the Sikh peo­ple. Sim­i­larly, I spec­u­late whether the Sikh peo­ple or even Sikh na­tion­al­ists know that East Timor, of­fi­cially Timor-Leste is a small coun­try in South­east Asia, which was born no more than five years ago af­ter a pro­tracted strug­gle last­ing some three hun­dred years. Sikhs are right­fully proud of their mar­tyrs, but I am afraid that they are not con­scious of the fact that the last twenty-five years were the most vi­o­lent for your coun­try and peo­ple dur­ing which as many as two hun­dred thou­sand peo­ple were killed out of a to­tal pop­u­la­tion of nearly six hun­dred thou­sand.

The way you lived in ex­ile for 26 years and still wore the badge of free­dom is a char­ac­ter­is­tic rarely seen in mod­ern times. Your de­ter­mi­na­tion and the mar­tyr­dom of hun­dreds upon thou­sands of guerilla fight­ers of your na­tion paved the way for free­dom from Por­tuguese, Dutch, Japan­ese and ul­ti­mately In­done­sian slav­ery and sub­ju­ga­tion.

I am par­tic­u­larly thrilled to know that UN in­ter­ven­tion can hap­pen and a new coun­try can be born even in this day and age.  This mes­sage alone is not only a great re­lief but also a re­minder to na­tions as­pir­ing for free­dom to con­tinue their de­mo­c­ra­tic strug­gle.

When you were be­stowed with the No­bel Peace Prize in 1996, the ci­ta­tion, among other things said, “The con­flict in East Timor has been called “the for­got­ten con­flict”. It has not, how­ever, been com­pletely for­got­ten, hav­ing fig­ured on the in­ter­na­tional agenda, with vary­ing de­grees of promi­nence …But it has so to speak never caught on. There have been so many other in­ter­ests and re­gards to at­tend to, and East Timor is so small. Rarely has the cyn­i­cism of world pol­i­tics been more clearly demon­strated. The nu­mer­ous con­sid­er­a­tions of “Re­alpoli­tik” have en­abled an ex­cep­tion­ally bru­tal form of neo­colo­nial­ism to take place.”  This sums up the dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tion you dealt with.  The in­ter­na­tional com­mu­nity was ob­vi­ously more in­ter­ested in trade links with the then op­pres­sive In­done­sia.

The Sikhs are also in a sim­i­lar sit­u­a­tion. Just as In­done­sia oc­cu­pied Timor Leste, first the British and then In­dia oc­cu­pied Pan­jab.  In­dia has killed more Sikhs in in­de­pen­dent In­dia than were killed by the British in the so-called wars of in­de­pen­dence.

In­dia has a Sikh face as its Prime Min­is­ter but of­fi­cially it does not al­low the Amnesty In­ter­na­tional to come to Pan­jab, Kash­mir and the north-east­ern states of In­dia.  Presently, Prime Min­is­ter Man­mo­han Singh is pre­sid­ing over a par­lia­men­tary bill to de­prive the Sikh peo­ple and oth­ers of their mi­nor­ity sta­tus.  The in­ter­na­tional com­mu­nity is keener to trade with “biggest democ­racy in the world”, but has not used UN fo­rums to ad­mon­ish In­dia for its grow­ing hu­man rights vi­o­la­tions or its growth into a right-wing, mono­lithic, big-brother state.

How far you are from us can be gauged from the fact that not a sin­gle news­pa­per, ra­dio sta­tion or TV chan­nel has ever re­ported any­thing about East Timor.  Your elec­tion too has not found a men­tion. You have shown mag­na­nim­ity about vis­it­ing In­done­sia in the near fu­ture for the good of your coun­try and peo­ple.

I urge you to con­sider vis­it­ing and es­tab­lish­ing con­tacts with na­tion­al­i­ties strug­gling to achieve self-rule.   em­pathize with you for the daunt­ing task that lies ahead.  As your fledg­ling na­tion is torn with strife, poverty and un­rest, you have a long way to go.  I am not in a po­si­tion to of­fer any­thing but my best wishes and prayers. I ex­press com­plete sol­i­dar­ity with your peo­ple and pray that the in­ter­na­tional com­mu­nity will re­spond to the UN call for fi­nan­cial and lo­gis­tic sup­port to East Timor.

I also hope that the Sikh Di­as­pora will en­gage with you and your gov­ern­ment.  The Sikh peo­ple in the home­land and in the Di­as­pora need to learn from you and about your life in ex­ile. I as­sure you that I will call upon rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Sikh Di­as­pora to in­vite you to global sum­mits on is­sues of free­dom and in­ter­na­tional in­ter­ven­tion in the Pan­jab.

I also hope that the Sikh Di­as­pora will en­gage with you and your gov­ern­ment.  The Sikh peo­ple in the home­land and in the Di­as­pora need to learn from you and about your life in ex­ile. I as­sure you that I will call upon rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Sikh Di­as­pora to in­vite you to global sum­mits on is­sues of free­dom and in­ter­na­tional in­ter­ven­tion in the Pan­jab.

I con­clude with the last part of the Sikh prayer. Daily, every Sikh seeks, Sar­bat da Bhalla -wel­fare and peace for all hu­mankind.  May the peo­ple of Timor-Leste en­joy the fruits of their hard-earned free­dom.

Yours sin­cerely

Jag­mo­han Singh