Foreign press get marching orders

DILI, East Timor (JP): Three American journalists and one Briton were given marching orders by the military yesterday for visiting East Timor without the consent of the authorities.

East Timor Military Chief Col. Kiki Syahnakri said the four men were put on a flight to Denpasar, Bali.

They were identified as Jeff Widener and Craig Fujii of the Associated Press, Jonathan Drake of Reuters and Simon Beardsell of Worldwide Television News (WTN). Widener, Fujii and Drake are Americans and Beardsell is a Briton.

In Jakarta, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the authorities found anti-government posters on one of the journalists. The authorities are investigating whether the posters had been placed in his bag without his knowledge. If that was the case, he would be allowed back.

Another journalist came in on a tourist visa which is clearly against regulation while the other two were accredited to cover the OPEC meeting, and not to visit East Timor.

The ministry also said that about 30 journalists have been allowed to visit East Timor in the past week and that as a matter of policy, foreign journalists are welcome but they have to follow established procedures.

Col. Kiki however said yesterday that the presence of foreign journalists have fanned the situation in East Timor.

He stressed that contrary to foreign press reports, the people who oppose the integration of East Timor make up a small minority. The majority of the East Timorese are for the integration of the territory with Indonesia, he added.

"We haven't had a demonstration like this for some time. They only occurred because of the presence of the foreign journalists," he said.

He was referring to a series of events in the East Timor capital over the past week, including an outbreak of violence for three days running early last week and an anti-integration demonstration outside the Roman Catholic Cathedral on Friday.

The expulsion is the latest brush between the authorities and foreign journalists.

Last week, the East Timor military expelled an Australian journalist who was in Dili on a tourist visa. The military has also accused a reporter for the Japanese television network NHK of choreographing a demonstration to dramatize his coverage.

Armed Forces Commander in Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung, during a rare press briefing with foreign journalists in Jakarta on Saturday, also pointed out that some of their reporting has not been fair to Indonesia. He said he believed that this was largely caused by ignorance rather than by purpose.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, a group of young East Timorese continued their sit-in at the parking lot of the American embassy yesterday.

One of the 29 youths, identified as 26-year-old Arlindo Priti Freitas de Araujo Fernandez, was taken by embassy officials to the Persahabatan state hospital in East Jakarta for a treatment on Sunday.

"Arlindo had fever when he was admitted and we're still making some tests to diagnose his illness," Abu Purwanto, one of the hospital's director, said yesterday.

Abu said the patient is still under the U.S. embassy protection but he expected that the Indonesian government will foot his medical bill.

Waiting outside the room which Arlindo shared with two other patients was the embassy's first secretary Thomas Murphy.

Arlindo, who is registered as a student at the Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta, yesterday said he was much better now.

"The hospital had suggested that I move to a special room, where I do not have to share with other patients, but I chose to have this room because I like their company and I do not like being alone when I am sick," he told journalists.

Arlindo suspected that he was having another bout of malaria which he acquired a few years ago.

The protesters at the embassy originally demanded to see U.S. President Bill Clinton or Secretary of State Warren Christopher, both in town for the APEC meeting. They also demanded the release of Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao, who is serving a 17-year prison term for leading an armed rebellion in East Timor.

All their requests were turned down. (yac/emb/mas)

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