Asia squares off future talks with European Parliament

JAKARTA (JP): Asians might refrain from holding future talks with the European parliament given the body's interest in meddling in the domestic affairs of Asian countries, an Indonesian legislator said over the weekend.

"In the future we will have to be wary of any invitation for dialog from the European Parliament because they continuously want to intrude in other nation's domestic affairs and tend to have double standards," said Zamharir AR, the deputy chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

He said that during a meeting between the European Parliament and its Asian counterparts on Wednesday and Thursday in Strasbourg, the Europeans brought up many domestic issues which prompted strong protests and a walk-out by the Chinese delegation.

"That incident clearly shows a double standard and dishonesty. While it claims to want to initiate a dialog partnership with the Asian parliaments, it continues to meddle in the domestic affairs of others," Zamharir said as reported by Antara from the Hague on Saturday.

The dialog between the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization and the Euro Parliament meeting began on Wednesday and was followed by a meeting involving China, Japan and South Korea.

During the meetings the Chinese delegation walked out because the European Parliament had issued a resolution on Tibet. The Malaysian delegation strongly protested the domestic issues of Bakung and Sarawak, which were also raised during the meetings.

Zamharir regretted the attitude of the European parliamentarians during the gathering, which was designed to support and follow up on last month's successful Asia-Europe summit in Bangkok.

He said he was doubtful if another dialog between the parliamentarians would be held.

On the issue of East Timor, Zamharir said the Portuguese delegation tried to bring up the matter but failed to find support.

The Indonesian delegation also delivered a strong protest note from House speaker Wahono to the European Parliament, which earlier invited Irian Jaya separatists to plead their case in Strasbourg.(mds)