Indonesia criticized at home for handling of row with RP
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government is receiving criticism from its own people for the way it has handled the row with the Philippines over Manila's plan to host a conference on East Timor later this month.
Scholar George Yunus Aditjondro, legislator Aberson Marle Sihaloho and human rights campaigner H.J.C. Princen all agreed that it was wrong for Indonesia to have put pressure on the Philippines to try to cancel the East Timor conference.
By intervening in the Philippine's affairs, Indonesia has adopted a double standard, said George of the Satyawacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central Java.
"Indonesia and the other ASEAN countries have always refuted intervention by Western countries on human rights issues, but by putting pressures on the Philippines, Indonesia is doing just that," he said.
President Soeharto has praised his Philippine counterpart, Fidel Ramos, for barring some foreigners from taking part in the conference, scheduled for May 30 to June 3. Indonesia has maintained that the conference is providing a platform for people opposed to East Timor's integration to attack Indonesia.
Ramos has maintained that the Philippine constitution prevents him from barring the conference from taking place but agreed to limit the impact of the meeting.
George called Ramos' decision "tragic" and said Indonesia should not have gone as far as asking the Philippines to bar the conference, organized by private groups.
George, who has written a number of papers about East Timor, whose validity has been questioned by the government, said the government's action showed that Indonesia still has something to hide when it comes to East Timor. "Why else would it be afraid of the conference?"
He said Indonesia is acting like the big brother to the Philippines and the latter appears to have accepted that role.
George said he is one of several Indonesians who have been invited to address the conference, but said that the chances of him going to Manila are now very small.
George is an honorary member of the International Platform of Juries for East Timor (IPJET) and the Parliamentarians for East Timor (PET), two of the organizations that are sponsoring the conference in Manila.
Publicity
Indonesia's behavior has given the conference undue media publicity, he said.
Princen, who is chairman of the Institute for the Defense of Human Rights, said Ramos appears to have "caught the Indonesian disease" of barring certain individuals from entering and leaving the country.
The Manila conference could provide confidence-building measures that Indonesia and Portugal have been promoting as part of their efforts to resolve the East timor issue, Princen said.
Princen, who said he had been invited to the conference, said he plans to check with the Philippine embassy today to see whether or not his name has been included on Ramos' list of banned foreigners.
Legislator Aberson of the Indonesian Democratic Party questioned the reason why the government wants so badly to have the conference called off, while all this time it had been saying there is no trouble with East Timor.
Aberson said the practice of trying to prevent people from talking about East Timor abroad is "an expensive diplomacy" and questioned whether the effort is really worth it. (mun/prs/09)