Princen had some contact with the Timorese leader Xanana Gusmão (later president of independent East Timor) even when Gusmão was still leading the guerilla struggle in East Timor's mountains. After Gusmão's capture by the Indonesian forces in 1992 and his transfer to a Jakarta Prison, the two embarked on a regular correspondence and developed a friendship, though being able to have a (highly emotional) face-to-face meeting only after "Reformasi" movement gained force in 1998. Thereafter, they continued to meet regularly, discussing the evolution of the democratic struggle in Indonesia.