Jose Ramos-Horta, who shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his efforts to end the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, saw the publicity as useful. He was also there, he admitted, to network. I am meeting a lot of people here, and now it will be very difficult for them to say no if I ask them for help. An open letter to President Suharto of Indonesia was circulated at the conference, though the appeal was not officially associated with Forum 2000. Gareth Evans, the former foreign minister of Australia who is now deputy leader of the opposition, was one of the few active politicians present.
Politicians are always concerned with output, output, output.
This is an occasion for some input. More controversially, he recommended international intervention to protect human rights within national borders. Most speeches were much more abstract, focusing on theories rather than plans. The ugly realities of the real world did intrude into the conference occasionally, most notably on Sept. 4, when a triple suicide bombing in Jerusalem took place mere hours after Peres spoke. The following day, Rabbi Rene-Samuel Sirat, President of the Council Conference of European Rabbis, began his address with reference to the bombing.