Bishop told to avoid politics

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government has warned Nobel Peace Prize winner, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Filipe Belo, to keep out of politics…

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government has warned Nobel Peace Prize winner, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Filipe Belo, to keep out of politics, the state run Antara news agency reported yesterday.

"We object to him engaging in politics. That is not what the Vatican expects him to do in his position as Bishop of Dili," the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Ali Alatas said in Rome on Saturday. Jakarta has attacked the bishop for comments he reportedly made to the German magazine Der Spiegel last month, saying Indonesians treated the East Timorese like "dogs" and "slaves".