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==Optimism for the future of East Timor==

==Optimism for the future of East Timor==

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In his first speech as ambassador, Rees said that the United States is pleased with the level of freedom and democracy achieved thus far in the Asian country. He urged greater involvement by the Timorese people in their new government. The goal of the leadership of East Timor, he said, must be to maintain security, promote democracy, and guarantee stability so as to attract critically needed foreign investments.​

In his first speech as ambassador, Rees said that the United States is pleased with the level of freedom and democracy achieved thus far in the Asian country. He urged greater involvement by the Timorese people in their new government. The goal of the leadership of East Timor, he said, must be to maintain security, promote democracy, and guarantee stability so as to attract critically needed foreign investments.

 

Rees worked on the Timor issue for several years prior to his appointment as ambassador. In 1998, four days after the fall of President [[Suharto]], he visited President Gusmão at the Cipinang prison in  [[Jakarta]], as part of Congressman Smith’s delegation. Rees again visited Gusmão when the latter was transferred to house arrest in Salemba in 1999.​

Rees worked on the Timor issue for several years prior to his appointment as ambassador. In 1998, four days after the fall of President [[Suharto]], he visited President Gusmão at the Cipinang prison in  [[Jakarta]], as part of Congressman Chris Smith’s delegation. Rees again visited Gusmão when the latter was transferred to house arrest in Salemba in 1999.​

 

Rees expresses optimism for the future of East Timor, a country that, he said, is "rising from the ashes." Rees said that he visited the island in 1996, while it was struggling with the issue of self-determination after some two decades of oppression by [[Indonesia]], and again in 2000, just after a vote for independence.​ East Timor was in 1996 "nothing but smoking ruins, but now there's a democratically elected president and parliament. Now there is hope," Rees predicted. The new Timorese government "is an experiment in an area of the world that for the most part has not embraced democratic forms of government. . . . It's like being at ground zero during the birth of a nation, like being in [[Boston]] in 1776," he said.​

Rees expresses optimism for the future of East Timor, a country that, he said, is "rising from the ashes." Rees said that he visited the island in 1996, while it was struggling with the issue of self-determination after some two decades of oppression by [[Indonesia]], and again in 2000, just after a vote for independence.​ East Timor was in 1996 "nothing but smoking ruins, but now there's a democratically elected president and parliament. Now there is hope," Rees predicted. The new Timorese government "is an experiment in an area of the world that for the most part has not embraced democratic forms of government. … It's like being at ground zero during the birth of a nation, like being in [[Boston]] in 1776," he said.

==Law professor and author==

==Law professor and author==