A real leader!

I guess some might have noticed my esteem for the newly appointed Prime Minister of troubled East Timor.

The first real news I’ve heard goes thus:

JOSE RAMOS HORTA plans radical change in East Timor after being sworn in today as caretaker Prime Minister.

The plans include creating satellite townships around Dili to encourage people to move out of refugee camps.

Ramos-Horta has spoken privately about the urgent need to create an environment in which about 150,000 people living in the camps feel safe to leave.


He believes people with family ties in the eastern part of the country, who have been targeted by mobs from western parts, would feel safe in a township on the eastern outskirts of Dili, and likewise people with ties in west would feel safe on the western outskirts.

While his predecessor was concerning himself with the big picture, creating a place on the world stage, Ramos-Horta is looking to solve the very basic problems of the country.


It’s not that he has no interest in the wider things, for many years in exile, Ramos-Horta was the main international spokesman for the independence movement.

The thing I love about him is that he focuses on the immediate, strives to control the underlying issues first.

Ramos-Horta is said to have ambitions to lead the UN, seek the plum Secretary General role.


If he can pull East Timor out of its birthing crisis, and build a sound nation from it, the UN could look for no better leader.


For now, I’m just as happy seeking him dealing with the world in microcosm. It may be a tiny country, but Jose Ramos-Horta is fulfilling his destiny of becoming a giant leader.