June 4, 2003
Funding the travels of Jose Ramos-Horta
requires some lateral thinking, reports Eric Ellis.
After spending 30 years fighting for East Timorese independence, Jose Ramos-Horta
is an uncommon man. So it stands to reason that he runs an uncommon foreign
ministry.
A year after independence, the 1996 Nobel Laureate is worried that the world is losing interest in East Timor. He's also worried Jakarta might get the wrong idea about the appearance at independence day celebrations in Dili last week of a group of Free Aceh supporters.
So Ramos-Horta is travelling more than ever, plugging into his "international network of friends … particularly in the US Congress, Australia and the European Union" to ensure that East Timor is "treated as a special child" until its expected $40bn petro-bonanza from the Timor Sea.
But as John Howard knows, travel is expensive and East Timor's annual $100m budget doesn't go far. It certainly doesn't provide for a few nights schmoozing at Rome's St Regis Grand. So Ramos-Horta subsidises his own ministry. He revealed to The Bulletin that he recently sold a townhouse outside Noosa that he bought in mid-1999. Although Queensland's Sunshine Coast has been one of Australia's hottest property markets, Ramos-Horta claims he made no profit from the transaction. The money, he says, went towards his office costs and to buying a residence in Dili.
After a lifetime pounding – and mostly being expelled from – the corridors of power, Ramos-Horta is now a much sought-after public speaker. Aides say the fees help pay his on-the-road expenses. It clearly helps to have radical chic and, perhaps, some designer stubble, but it's an example ministers elsewhere might do well to follow.
That said, how many people would be interested in Alexander Downer's after-dinner anecdotes?