Diplomatic row with Canada continues

Diplomatic row with Canada continues

OTTAWA (Agencies): Canada will seek clarification of comments
by the Indonesian ambassador that were construed as a veiled
threat to an East Timor dissident living in Canada, a foreign
ministry official said, AFP reported yesterday.

It was the latest step in a simmering diplomatic row that
began last month when Indonesian Ambassador to Canada Benjamin
Parwoto paid a visit in East Timor to the mother of the
dissident, Isabel Galhos.

The Canadian Government maintains that the visit was
"inappropriate because his action left itself open to the
interpretation that it was an attempt to put pressure on a
Canadian resident."

Parwoto visited Galhos' mother, Teresa, on Jan. 19 after
hosting a Canadian trade mission led by Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chretien in Jakarta.

Last week, the Canadian government summoned Parwoto to protest
the visit to Galhos's mother. The move came after two Canadian
diplomats in Jakarta traveled to Dili to meet with the mother.

On Wednesday the Indonesian Government summoned Canadian
Ambassador Lawrence Dickenson in Jakarta to express "great
regret" about the original Canadian protest to Parwoto.

Galhos, who lives in Ottawa, is a member of the human rights
group East Timor Alert Network and she claims the visit to her
mother was a case of "the ambassador just trying to silence me."

Galhos was a student at the University of East Timor in Dili
who joined an exchange students program to come to Canada. When
she arrived here she "defected" and sought, and gained, Canadian
citizenship, according to Antara. She has since launched a
campaign for a separate East Timor state from Canada.

Parwoto, in an interview with Canadian journalists on
Wednesday, maintained he was not trying to silence Galhos through
her mother.

But, in what some have interpreted as a veiled threat, he
added: "By saying (the visit was threatening), Isabel Galhos
keeps her mother in more danger than before.

"People who are pro-integration, they may try to do something
to her mother. I am worried."

Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesman Colin Stewart said Ottawa
would be seeking a clarification of Parwoto's remarks. "We see
those comments as unfortunate and clearly open to all sorts of
interpretation."