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Xanana Gusmao: The next Nelson Mandela or Sukarno?
International media reported Xanana’s National Congress of the Reconstruction of Timor Leste (CNRT) supported Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president and prime minister, in the March 19 presidential election.
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Timor Leste's first president Xanana Gusmao visits the grave of Indonesia's third president BJ Habibie at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta on Sept. 15, 2019. JP/Narabeto Korohama
(JP/Narabeto Korohama)
T
imor Leste’s independence hero Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao, who is also the country’s former president and prime minister, will very likely be immortalized as the “father of the nation”, just like his loyal friend the late South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.
But Xanana could easily miss the golden opportunity if he insists on returning to practical politics as a prime minister for the second time. He should learn from the tragic story of Indonesia’s founding president Sukarno and Zimbabwe’s first president Robert Mugabe, who rose to the throne but fell from grace because they could not resist the temptation of power.
Mandela was imprisoned by the apartheid government for 27 years before regaining freedom in early 1990. He was elected the South African president in 1994. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate fulfilled his promise to only serve as president for five years. After leaving office, he continued to be a living legend and an inspiration not only in South Africa but across the globe until his death in 2013 at the age of 95. The whole world mourned his passing.
“Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people,” Mandela said in 1998.
Sukarno led the nation to independence on Aug. 17, 1945. But he could not live without the power, which he held for 21 years until Soeharto replaced him in 1966. Soeharto, however, was no different from Sukarno as he clung to power for 32 years until mass demonstrations forced him to step down.
Another bad example is Mugabe. He led the nation to independence in 1980 and was soon after elected president. When he was forced to resign in 2017, he was known as one of the world’s worst dictators in history. He died in Singapore in 2019.
There are indications that Xanana, 76, is still eying the prime ministerial post in the parliamentary election in June 2023. International media reported Xanana’s National Congress of the Reconstruction of Timor Leste (CNRT) supported Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president and prime minister, in the March 19 presidential election.
