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)