Estrada threatens to boycott APEC summit<\/p>\n
MANILA (Agencies): Philippines President Joseph Estrada on
\nThursday threatened to boycott next month's Asia-Pacific Economic
\nCooperation (APEC) summit in Malaysia, citing the treatment meted
\nout to jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n
Estrada made the remarks during a call at the presidential
\npalace by officers of the 365 Club, an informal group of
\njournalists and newspaper columnists.<\/p>\n
\"I'm thinking of not going to Malaysia because they put my
\ngood friend Anwar behind bars,\" Estrada said, according to a
\njournalist who attended the meeting.<\/p>\n
Anwar, the former heir apparent sacked by Prime Minister
\nMahathir Mohamad last month, is in detention under a tough
\nemergency law for corruption and sodomy. He claimed he was
\nseverely beaten while in police custody.<\/p>\n
However, Press Secretary Rodolfo Reyes later tried to put the
\nstatement in context, saying Estrada was merely expressing a
\n\"personal\" opinion and would not make public statements that
\ncould antagonize a fellow head of government in the Association
\nof Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).<\/p>\n
The ASEAN -- grouping the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia,
\nLaos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- makes
\nup the core of APEC, which also includes other Pacific basin
\nnations like the United States, Japan and Canada.<\/p>\n
Reyes insisted that as far as the Philippine government was
\nconcerned, Estrada would attend the APEC meeting, but added the
\ninternal situation there could change this.<\/p>\n
\"It depends on developments in Malaysia. Official word though
\nfrom Malaysia are that the APEC summit is going ahead,\" Reyes
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Reyes insisted Thursday that Estrada's comments were \"not for
\npublic consumption.\"<\/p>\n
Still, Estrada's remarks broke a deafening silence on Anwar's
\nplight from ASEAN, which has jealously guarded a policy of non-
\ninterference in each other's internal affairs.<\/p>\n
During an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Manila in July,
\nThailand and the Philippines came under heavy fire for proposing
\na shift from the tradition to \"flexible engagement\" that would
\nallow comment on internal policies which would impact on the
\nregion as a whole.<\/p>\n
Fellow APEC member Canada's finance minister, Paul Martin,
\npledged Monday to raise the plight of Anwar during a meeting of
\nCommonwealth finance ministers in Ottawa this week.<\/p>\n
Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy also called on
\nMalaysia to release Anwar and all those detained under the
\ncountry's draconian Internal Security Act, which provides for
\nindefinite detention without trial.<\/p>\n
Human rights<\/p>\n
In Bangkok an Asian human rights group on Thursday called for
\nthe release of Malaysia's former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim and
\nhis supporters arrested last month.<\/p>\n
FORUM-ASIA, a network of regional non-government organizations
\nwith its headquarters here, issued the call in a letter to
\nMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.<\/p>\n
The letter, delivered to the Malaysian embassy here, also
\nexpressed concern over alleged police brutality.<\/p>\n
\"We urge you to immediately release him from detention under
\nthe Internal Security Act and to allow him to exercise his right
\nto due process,\" the letter said.<\/p>\n
\"We feel that Malaysia, as one of the leading countries in the
\nASEAN community should show an example of a civilized nation, one
\nthat treats its citizens with dignity and basic rights,\" it said.<\/p>\n
The group on Monday blasted Mahathir's human rights record,
\naccusing him of creating a \"climate of fear\" in Malaysia in an
\neffort to crush all opposition.<\/p>\n
FORUM-ASIA said a team of its experts had visited Malaysia
\nfrom September 24-27.<\/p>\n
It said the security act resulted in \"violations like
\narbitrary arrest, detention, torture, illegal search and entry
\n(and) not allowing families and lawyers to have access to
\ndetainees.\"<\/p>\n
The team met with families of those detained, including
\nAnwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, whom they said was under
\n\"virtual house arrest.\"<\/p>\n
In a related development, Malaysian police traveled to
\nSingapore on Thursday to interview journalists about how they
\nobtained interviews with jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim and his
\nwife.<\/p>\n
\"They had a list of questions wanting us to characterize the
\ninterviews and how we obtained them,\" said Chris Blackman, vice
\npresident of news programming for CNBC Asia, a regional
\ntelevision network. \"We said we were not going to comment on any
\nof our news gathering.\"<\/p>\n
Police are investigating a possible case of sedition against
\nAnwar's wife, Azizah Ismail, because of her Sept. 21 interview
\nwith CNBC. She had expressed fears for her husband's health and
\nmentioned rumors that police might infect him with the HIV virus
\nto prove allegations of homosexuality.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, police summoned Azizah for the third time to
\nheadquarters to question her about the comments. She described it
\nas \"harassment and persecution.\"<\/p>\n
Her lawyer Sivarasa Rasiah said he also was questioned.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/estrada-threatens-to-boycott-apec-summit-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }