Monday, February 11, 2008

Attack in East Timor



Photo: Jose Ramos Horta.

Like all Australians, I heard of the attacks on East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao with a sense of dismay.

Now, and rightly in my view, we are sending more troops and police to support the Government. However, the situation does illustrate a point I have been making for some time about the need for Australians to become more sensitive and subtle.

It would be unfair to President Horta, Prime Minister Gusmao and their families, indeed to the East Timorese people, to use the current situation as a base for personal pontificating. Instead, I will pick the point up more broadly in my next Saturday muse.

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