Indonesia appreciates Malaysian attitude

Indonesia appreciates Malaysian attitude

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia expressed its "highest appreciation"
to the Malaysian government and Malaysian youth yesterday for
shutting down a controversial conference on East Timor in Kuala
Lumpur over the weekend.

Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono described the Malaysian
government decision as "appropriate", and a reflection of Kuala
Lumpur's recognition that East Timor is an Indonesian internal
affair.

Moerdiono was speaking in Amman, where he was accompanying
President Soeharto on a four-day visit to Jordan. His remarks
were broadcast by the state television TVRI last night.

A group of youths allied to the ruling coalition of Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad forced their way into the Second Asia
Pacific Conference on East Timor as it got underway Saturday.

The meeting, hosted by Malaysian non-governmental
organizations, was subsequently disbanded. Its Malaysian and
foreign participants were arrested but by yesterday, all but 10
have been released.

The conference went ahead in spite of a Malaysian government
ban which had been issued because of fears that the meeting could
damage relations with Indonesia.

The Malaysian decision "reflected the ASEAN members'
commitment not to interfere in the affairs of other countries,
and their highest solidarity," Moerdiono said, referring to the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which Indonesia
and Malaysia are members.

The Malaysian position reaffirmed its recognition that the
East Timorese people have exercised their right to self
determination in choosing to integrate with Indonesia, he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysia yesterday deported the 10 remaining
foreigners, all Filipinos, who were arrested after the conference
was disbanded, AFP reported.

Thirty-six foreign activists were already expelled on Sunday,
including two Roman Catholic bishops -- Nobuo Somo of Nagoya,
Japan and Hilton Deakin of Melbourne, Australia.

One of the deported Filipinos, Gus Miclat, said they "were
accused of trouble-making".

Eight Malaysians and a Singaporean who took part in the
conference were also freed yesterday, as was Asiaweek's Kuala
Lumpur correspondent Roger Mitton.

Singaporean human rights activist Samy Dorai and Malaysian
journalist Sonny Imbaraj Krishnan were among the dozen that were
released yesterday after two nights in jail.

Krishnan, 37, a journalist for the Nation newspaper in Bangkok
said: "It's horrible inside. We were kept in a 10-by-12 foot
(three by 3.6 meter) cell together with rapists, murderers and
drug addicts."

Krishnan said the detainees were told to report back to the
Kuala Lumpur police station on Nov. 23 to hear what charges, if
any, were being made against them. By late on Monday, 18
Malaysian activists were still in jail.

Seven youth group demonstrators, who were arrested along with
the conference participants, were all released on Saturday. It
was not clear if they faced charges.

Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Sunday the
protesters, who belonged to youth wings of the three main
political parties in Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's ruling
coalition "acted on their own. I was not notified by them."

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, youth wing leader of Mahathir's United
Malays National Organization, said on Sunday it was he who
ordered the youth group to take action to stop the conference.

The presidents of the Malaysian Indian Congress and the
Malaysian Chinese Association -- the two other main parties in
Mahathir's coalition -- said they endorsed the action.

The opposition leader in Parliament, Lim Kit Siang, said in a
statement that the disruption of the conference "was a blot on
the human rights record of Malaysia".

"It is obvious from the course of events that the ugly
demonstration was orchestrated with the full knowledge of the
authorities concerned so as to give a pretext to the government
to stop the conference from taking place," he said.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister John Howard yesterday
reacted to Malaysia's crackdown on East Timor conference
activists by telling Australians they had to live and let live.

"Let me simply say that different countries do things
differently," he told reporters. "We do things our way, other
countries do things their way."

"If we are to have sensible relations with the nations of the
region we ought to understand what they are and also what they
are not," Howard said. (emb)