According to the Head of State the Expo was very successful, however the when asked about other matters the President refused to comment.
"I will only talk about the Expo and no other matters because I have just returned. If there are any other questions will talk in the next coming week.”
First of all Mr. Ramos-Horta congratulated the Chinese Government. "I would like to congratulate the Chinese authorities who made this Expo event bigger than any other previous Expo," said Ramos-Horta.
Mr. Ramos-Horta also praised East Timor's General Commissioner to the Shanghai Expo, Mr. Agio Pereira (Secretary of State for the Council of Ministers) and his two deputies for their hard work for the event.
Despite saying he would not discuss other matters the LUSA correspondent present at the press conference asked a question in regard to East Timor becoming a member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). President Ramos- Horta gave a positive answer. However, the Head of State rejected to comment on the National Parliament’s recent and unanimous rejection of the Australian PM's proposal to build a processing centre in East Timor for asylum seekers and refugees seeking admission to Australia. "Sorry I am not answering that," President Ramos-Horta said.
Ramos-Horta promised will talk about the issue after discussing the matter with the Prime Minister of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao.
Futhermore, President Ramos-Horta chastised Jose Belo the editor in chief of Tempo Semanal who recently published an Opinion Editorial Sydney Morning Herald on 16 July. "I am not as intelligent as a certain journalist who wrote an opinion piece for a foreign newspaper who have strong opinions on this issue," criticized Horta.
Editorial UPDATE:
"I am very happy today when i saw my Timorese journalist veteran and now my President angry at me because it makes me remember a message from my mentor Max Stahl, when he told me that a good article or story is when made those in the story are made angry ," said Jose Belo.
In September 2009 President Jose Ramos-Horta awarded a Medal of Recognition to Tempo Semanal for its work in Journalism in Timor-Leste. During the award ceremony Horta "in his remark says that if later Jose Belo and Tempo Semanal would target him in the future no problem."
1 comment:
Yes Jose - responding to the 'heat' is easier than working 'in the cold'.
In other words: when the politicians criticize journalists that means you are getting close to the truth!!
Keep up the good work,and we hope you will visit Darwin again soon.
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