The Timor-Leste Declaration
OF THE JOINT CONFERENCE ON ‘PEACE AND
RECONCILIATION IN ASIA,’
SPONSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF TIMOR-LESTE,
ICAPP, CAPDI, AND IESCO
25-26 APRIL 2012.
We, officials and members of ICAPP, the
International Conference of Asian Political Parties; of CAPDI, the Centrist
Asia Pacific Democrats International; and of IESCO, the International
Eco-Safety Cooperative Organization; met in Dili, the capital city of
Timor-Leste, on April 25-26, 2012, for a joint conference on “Peace and Reconciliation
in Asia,” sponsored by the Office of the President and the Government of the
Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.
Our Dili Conference also marked the
soft launching of the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council (APRC). Started in
Bangkok in August 2011, at the initiative of the leader of the Saranrom
Institute of Foreign Affairs Foundation (SIFAF), Former Deputy Prime Minister
and Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, and ICAPP and CADPI Founder, former
Philippine Speaker Jose de Venecia, the APRC is designed to advise and assist
Asian governments ruling in the aftermath of internal conflicts and to help
solve the difficult problem of transition to democracy and the return to
popular governance in the wake of the “Arab Spring.” APRC was endorsed
subsequently by the Asian political parties, by the Cambodia and Timor-Leste
governments, and in the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly communique,
representing Southeast Asia’s parliaments.
ICAPP, founded in Manila in the year
2000, now counts 318 member-parties (governing and opposition) from 52 Asian
states and growing fraternal ties with its South America and Caribbean
counterparts under the original organization, COPPAL, while initiating linkages
with the African political parties. CAPDI represents the centrist forces active
in both Asia-Pacific electoral politics and in regional civil society, and is
perhaps the only organization that brings together political parties and
organizations of civil society, which are often in conflict, under one roof.
During the Dili Conference, delegations
together shared experiences of often-bitter episodes of violent social
conflict. They affirmed that reconciliation—and internal peace that endures—can
take hold only where individual liberties work; where development leaves no
group behind; and where everyone is equipped to pursue the fullest
possibilities of individual life.
This Declaration sums up the resolutions
of the Dili Conference and the work program it recommends for the member
parties of ICAPP, with its secretariat in Seoul, CAPDI, with offices in Manila
and Islamabad, IESCO with offices in Beijing and New York, accredited by the UN
Economic and Social Council, and the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council.
The
Timorese experience
The conferees were moved deeply by the
Timorese delegation’s recollection of their people’s struggle for
self-determination, culminating in 1999 when Indonesia agreed to hold a UN
sponsored referendum to decide upon Timor-Leste’s independence. During the
voting on August 30, 1999, 78.5% of the voters chose independence. The Timorese
journey toward independence was also recognized in the awarding of the 1996
Nobel Peace Prize to Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and President Jose Ramos
Horta “for their work toward a just and peaceful solution”. Today, relations
between Dili and Jakarta are at their best. Internal reconciliation continues
with the successful run-off presidential election in April with the triumph of
President-elect José Maria Vasconcelos, popularly known as Taur Matan Ruak; and
the holding of parliamentary polls on July 7.
The Conference congratulated, President
Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, for their achievements as leading
figures; President–elect Tau Matan Ruak for the dignified campaign that we hope
sets the tone for Timor-Leste’s continued peaceful electoral politics;
President of National Parliament Fernando Lasama de Araujo for his
administration of the multi-party legislature; the leaders of Fretelin under
the opposition leadership of Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres and Mari
Alkatiri, and the leaders of other political parties of Timor-Leste who are
members of ICAPP and Timor-Leste’s multi-party democracy; and Prime Minister
Gusmão who continues to provide a steady hand in guiding the new state toward
modernization.
Timor-Leste
in ASEAN; Ramos Horta in Eminent Persons Council
Because of his roles as Foreign
Minister, Prime Minister and President, and as a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, we
in CAPDI unanimously nominate him as Chairman of CAPDI’s Council of Eminent
Persons.
And because of Timor-Leste’s
achievements, we the ruling and opposition political parties of ICAPP, the
civil society organizations of CAPDI, and the anti-climate change advocates of
IESCO strongly urge the ASEAN to expedite the membership of Timor-Leste in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Successful
elections in Aceh
Noting the peaceful elections held
earlier in April in Aceh, Indonesia’s only province governed by Islamic Sharia
law, the Conference also felicitated President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for
undertaking the Indonesian program of a total reconciliation with Timor-Leste
and its people.
On the Aceh elections a few days ago,
almost simultaneously with the Timor-Leste presidential run-off, we
congratulate Indonesia’s former Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Chairman of CAPDI,
for the historic peace efforts that ended in a separatist conflict that had
lasted 30 years. Aceh in north Sumatra enjoys broad autonomy under the unitary
Republic. ICAPP and CAPDI acknowledge as well the helpful role of former
Finland President Martii Ahtisaari and the peace adviser PACTA Finland General
Manager Juha Christensen in the Aceh process.
The
Extraordinary Cambodian Model of Reconciliation
The Dili Conference praised Cambodia’s
extra-ordinary model of peace and reconciliation. During this last generation,
the indomitable Cambodian people have endured conflict and suffering few
nations have experienced in history.
Today they are reunited under a
constitutional monarchy of King Father Norodom Sihanouk. Free elections have
given Premier Hun Sen the parliamentary majority needed to restore stability
and growth. Premier Hun Sen has achieved the difficult feat of integrating
Khmer Rouge responsible for the deaths of two million Cambodians, and the other
private armies into the regular army assisted by Deputy Premier Sok An while
organizing a unity government and continuing to prosecute those responsible for
war crimes in concert with the U.N. Tribunal.
Dramatic
political changes in Myanmar
The Conference also welcomed the
dramatic political and social changes in Myanmar. The release of political
prisoners, the holding of popular elections and the convening of a parliament
in which the opposition would have a meaningful part: all these signal
President Thein Sein’s decision to open his country to the world. We
congratulate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for her many sacrifices for Myanmarese
democracy and the performance of her party, the National League for Democracy,
in the by-elections. We support her program of working with the regime to
normalize national conditions; and resolve to help Myanmar stay on the path of
reform. ICAPP and CAPDI are scheduling a visit to Myanmar to interact with the
mainstream parties to stay on the path of opening to the world.
Breakthrough
in Nepal
A breakthrough has been achieved in the
ongoing Nepal peace process when the mainstream parties including the Maoists
agreed to turnover 9,732 Maoist combatants, stored weapons, and all cantonments
to the regular Nepal Army. In a limited way, ICAPP helped bring together the
warring Maoists, Marxists and Congress parties in several informal talks on the
sidelines of ICAPP meetings in 2010 and 2011 including a seminar sponsored by
ICAPP in Kathmandu on the possible features of a new Constitution. CAPDI is
joining next month a meeting in Kathmandu to work together with the Nepal
Institute for Policy Studies and the Pakistan-China Institute on the continuing
peace process in Nepal.
‘Yellow
Shirts’ and ‘Red Shirts’ in Thailand
In Thailand, we note that economic
growth is ironically sharpening income and cultural inequalities. The
critical problem is that of reconciling Bangkok’s royalist ‘Yellow
Shirts’ with the populist ‘Red Shirts’ of the still-poor regions
upcountry. We look to our ICAPP and CAPDI colleague, former Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, self-exiled leader of the Red Shirts, whose group has
repeatedly won elections in Thailand, who joined us in Phnom Penh, on
invitation of Premier Hun Sen, to initiate bi-partisan efforts to unify the two
groupings into one national constituency loyal to the revered monarch, King
Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Meanwhile we urge the popular Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government, represented here by Minister Nalinee
Taveesin, and the opposition headed by former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva
to lead in the process of peace and reconciliation and hope that together they
can initiate in parliament an amnesty program or Reconciliation Law to benefit
both sides, and to address decisively the ethnic and cultural enmities
simmering in Southern Thailand.
Temple
on the Cambodian-Thai Border
ICAPP and CAPDI also assisted informal
talks on the sidelines of ICAPP meetings to help resolve the mountaintop Preah
Vihear Temple dispute on the Thai-Cambodian border with Indonesia and ASEAN
mediation. An ICAPP-CAPDI delegation joined Deputy Premier Sok An at the temple
ruins on December, 2010 and supported the International Court of Justice
decision ceding the temple to Cambodia and the ASEAN call for withdrawal of the
troops from both sides of the border.
The conference compliments Cambodia on
the successful convening of the 20th ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh and
welcomes the establishment of the ASEAN Institute of Peace and Reconciliation,
a theme first proposed by ICAPP and CAPDI.
Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and the Taliban
We support the renewed effort in Iraq
to bring the country’s Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds into a framework—a modus
vivendi—for coexisting peacefully until a final settlement is reached. We
welcome and support the talks in Afghanistan between the NATO coalition and the
Taliban. We encourage ICAPP’s member-parties in Iraq to persevere in
promoting a unity government there.
India
and Pakistan parties on Kashmir
Members of ICAPP’s Indian and Pakistani
member-parties, ruling and those in opposition, have met informally on the
sidelines of ICAPP meetings in the last two years and we support the
discussions of their foreign ministries to explore solutions to their
countries’ protracted dispute over Kashmir and other issues. And we are
heartened that the highest officials on both sides are working on the issue so
diligently. Indian Premier Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Azif Zardari
have just met again in Delhi, following Mr. Zardari’s surprise and informal but
meaningful visit to India. CAPDI’s Secretary General and ICAPP Special
Rapporteur, the newly elected Sen. Mushahid Hussain Sayed has used the
ICAPP-CAPDI platform to encourage the talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
The
Two Koreas and the Taiwan Straits
For the two Koreas, we recommend the
same patient approach to their intractable problems of unification. We will
encourage their ruling parties to meet informally, on the sideline of ICAPP
events, on the model of the Chinese-Taiwanese political parties, whose quiet
work, led by the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang, has brought the
Straits its most stable period in 60 years.
The
Spratlys and Zone of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation
We support as well the efforts of
China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and ASEAN to reduce the
tension over the Spratlys in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea and the
East Sea to the Vietnamese) and to convert the Zone of Conflict into a binding Zone
of Peace, Friendship, Cooperation and Development and hope the area’s
hydrocarbons, mineral, and fishery resources and potential for tourism will
eventually benefit the claimants while insuring free, untrammelled navigation
for ships of all nations.
ICAPP’s
Track Two diplomacy
The Conference is pleased with the slow
but quiet progress of ICAPP’s and CAPDI’s ‘Track Two’ diplomacy and informal
roles. Political parties are ideal for back-channel contacts, being both
unofficial and authoritative and we appreciate as well the useful activist role
of the non-government organizations. For post-conflict states such as Nepal,
Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria and the other ‘Arab Spring’ countries, secular
governments of national unity are the best means of managing the political
factions and dealing cooperatively with national problems of underdevelopment.
We look forward to the formal launching of the Asian Peace and Reconciliation
Council in Bangkok in June or August this year.
The
Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council
ICAPP and CAPDI are pleased to have had
a part in founding the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council in Bangkok—a
civil-society grouping that will assist and advise Asian
governments ruling in the aftermath of internal conflicts. The Council—to be
based in Bangkok—is to be headed by global civil society leaders from both East
and West.
Among those who signed its founding
Bangkok Declaration, on August 25, 2011, were two former Presidents (of Poland
and Chile); a former chancellor of Austria and a former prime minister of
Pakistan; a former Secretary General of ASEAN, and the Director of the
Institute for Global Law and Policy of Harvard Law School, the president of the
Saranrom Institute of Foreign Affairs Foundation, and the founding chairman of
ICAPP and founding president of CAPDI.
The
Council’s Primary Purpose
The Syrian uprising is only the most recent
example of how citizens in the new countries are claiming their civil
liberties. Since popular rebellions arise from pent-up grievances, they
always demand accounting and retribution for the crimes of the old regime. Yet
the primary need of the new political order must be for truth, justice
and reconciliation as balms for healing society’s wounds.
Everywhere in the emerging states, the
need is to ensure that popular victories won at so great cost are not
dissipated by the excesses of the new governments. Justice must be done without
new blood debts becoming owed; and without impairing national society’s ability
to face the future united, at peace with itself, and serene.
The transitional state must heal society’s
wounds and lay the basis for political, economic, and social reforms that will endure. It is this constructive spirit of peace and
reconciliation that the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council will seek to
establish and promote.
Principles that will guide our Council’s work
The principles
that will guide our Council’s work are simple, straight-forward, and
commonsensical. We do not believe there can be true reconciliation without
restitution being rendered to the victims of injustice. And because the
principals of the old regime will obviously have their partisans still embedded
in national society, these principals must, as far as is possible, help
the new government in unifying the country.
Where our Council’s good offices may be most useful
The ‘Arab Spring’
countries are the most recent examples of the spontaneous, popular revolutions
sweeping the new countries. Typically, they pit the moral authority of
unarmed civilian protesters against the willingness of desperate
authoritarian regimes to fire on their own peoples.
There are also
internal conflicts set off by ethnic, religious, and cultural schisms ongoing
in Southern Thailand; Mindanao in the Philippines; in parts of East Indonesia,
and in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Islamist radicalism is stirring in Indonesia,
Singapore, Malaysia and the Southern Philippines. In these settings, Track Two
diplomacy has good chances of conciliating parties and factions alienated from
mainstream society.
We acknowledge
the presence here of distinguished representatives of peacekeeping and conflict
prevention groups, the Geneva Based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, PACTA
Finland based in Helsinki and Singapore, and Germany’s Hans Seidel Foundation.
Support for the Philippines’ Peace Talks
We support the
efforts of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to advance the peace process
with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and to revive the stalled
negotiations with Communist National Democratic Front and the New People’s
Army, following the earlier Philippine successes with the agreements with the
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996 and with military rebels RAM-YOU
in 1992 and 1995, spearheaded by the CAPDI officials, then President Fidel
Ramos and then Speaker de Venecia.
Situation in the Caucasus
On the situation
in the Caucasus, as we urged in Baku, there is need to uphold justice, the rule
of law, and the UN resolution on the question of Nagorno-Karabakh, and we appreciate
the position of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and the New Azerbaijan Party
to promote peace, reconciliation, and development in the region.
The Syrian Crisis
ICAPP and CAPDI
sent our urgent appeal to ICAPP’s 10-member parties in Syria and civil society
organizations with some links to CAPDI to support the Syrian National Council
and the peace mission of the joint U.N.-Arab peace envoy, former U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan, to stop the violence and bring about a ceasefire and the
start of a political process. We urge the neighboring Arab political parties,
members of ICAPP, to extend support to our embattled friends in Syria.
Toward the Asian Century
By its very
nature, much of our Council’s work must be informal, low-key, even anonymous.
Our Council’s authority will depend on the thoughtfulness and fairness of its
advice; and its effectiveness on the sincerity of the assistance it offers to
opposing parties. Ours will be a modest effort that we hope will help, in
however small a way, to ease the internal conflicts that impede our
home-continent from achieving The Asian Century.
We in ICAPP,
CAPDI, APRC and IESCO, stand against political extremism and separatism in
every form. We will seek reconciliation in Asia’s conflict zones – from the
Koreas to the Taiwan Straits – from Mindanao through Southern Thailand to Nepal
– from Kashmir and Afghanistan to Iraq and Palestine – and from Chechnya to the
Caucasus
Negotiated
Political Settlements
Together, we urge
instead the negotiated settlement of problems within and between nations and
proposed creative and practical approaches to their solution.
We reject any
resort to intimidation or violence as a means of settling political disputes.
Instead, we urge the negotiated political settlements within and between the
states we represent.
Asian Century
In unity, we also
seek to eradicate poverty and political corruption, fight climate change and
environmental degradation, speed up the political and economic integration of
our continent – and bring about the Asian Century.
Last year, as
part of its program to broaden its reach and increase its interaction with the
international community, ICAPP, through its Standing Committee and the
Secretariat, headed by Secretary General Chung Eui-yong, presented its petition
to serve as Observer of the UN General Assembly, and we are hopeful for the
results.
Finally, we in
ICAPP, CAPDI, IESCO, and the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council express our
profound gratitude to the State of Timor-Leste, led by President Jose Ramos
Horta and to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, Finance Minister Emilia Pires,
Chairman and members of the Organizing Committee of the Dili Conference, and to
the Timorese people for their outstanding hospitality, steadfast commitment,
and generous support which led to the success of this Conference.
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