| Subject: letter - Rep. P. Kennedy
articulate defender of E. Timor
The Providence Journal (Rhode Island)
May 12, 2006 Friday All Editions
LETTERS - Kennedy articulate defender of E. Timor
Constituents will have to consider whether Congressman Patrick
Kennedy's health problems will interfere with his work.
I would like to offer my own testimony. For almost 27 years, I worked
in the U.S. Foreign Service, retiring in 2001. In 1996, while I was the
political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, I was
tapped to escort Mr. Kennedy to East Timor.
The congressman had long been an articulate critic of the Suharto
dictatorship that had ruled Indonesia for three decades. His critique,
accurate but unwelcome at the embassy, which had a too cozy relationship
with the dictator, was particularly tough with regard to the Indonesian
military's abuse of human rights in East Timor, a tiny land that Indonesia
invaded in 1975 and ruled ruthlessly.
My four-day visit to East Timor with Congressman Kennedy was one of the
most inspiring moments in my career. The congressman knew his facts, asked
tough questions, and showed courage in the face of intimidation by
Indonesian officials. His meeting with Bishop Belo -- whom he accompanied
into East Timor as the bishop was returning from Oslo, where he had
received the Nobel Peace Prize -- was extraordinary. The congressman was
eloquent, quoting from memory extensively from the writings of his uncles
John and Robert, and relating his own deep commitment to human rights.
Following my retirement, I have worked pro bono on human-rights issues,
primarily lobbying in the Congress. Congressman Kennedy has been one of
the most stalwart human-rights advocates in Congress. He gets it and he
cares. He is a hero, not only to U.S. human-rights advocates, but also to
many victims of abuses whom we have brought to his office.
I wish the congressman a speedy and complete recovery - and am
confident that he will continue to be the fine congressman I have known
him to be.
EDMUND McWILLIAMS
Harrisville
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