KL risks image to keep Jakarta ties
KL risks image to keep Jakarta ties
By Bill Tarrant
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): The ugly break-up of a conference on
East Timor shows Malaysia will not tolerate criticism of
sensitive issues affecting its neighbors, even at the risk of
embarrassing itself, analysts said on Monday.
Jomo Sundaram, a University of Malaya political scientist and
one of a group of conference participants arrested after the
meeting, said the incident was an embarrassment for the country.
He said the Malaysian government should "recognize, respect and
protect the rights of Malaysians and others to maintain and
express dissenting views".
A mob comprising members of youth groups allied to the
government barged into the conference of Malaysian and foreign
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Saturday, shoving people
aside, overturning furniture, ripping banners down and shouting
at the participants, witnesses said.
It was a shocking sight in a country whose culture puts great
emphasis on courtesy and non-confrontation and where such scenes
are a rarity.
After the near-riot at a central Kuala Lumpur hotel, Malaysian
officials said that while they did not know the youths were going
to disrupt the conference, they endorsed the action.
Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said last week the Cabinet
had demanded APCET II be called off, saying it would harm ties
with Indonesia.
The newly-elected chairman of the youth wing of Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad's United Malays National Organization (UMNO)
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the national news agency Bernama it was
he who ordered the youths to disrupt the conference.
"Public order and our good relations with Indonesia are more
important," Anwar said on Sunday when asked if Malaysia's image
had been tarnished by the incident.
The Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor II (APCET II) had
planned to condemn Jakarta's rule in the former Portuguese colony
which was became an Indonesian province in 1976. The United
Nations recognizes Lisbon as its administering power.
Conference organizer Sanusi Osman said the meeting would have
proposed that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
mediate the dispute -- a quixotic idea given the group's aversion
to interfering in the affairs of its neighbors.
Jomo said the youth group's action undermined the prime
minister's goal of becoming a developed country by the year 2020,
"as well as any sense of Asian values".
Diplomats said it appeared the government had both tired of
non-government groups and was keen to signal it would not
tolerate criticism of what it regarded as the internal affairs of
a neighbor.
"The government is clearly sending a signal to the Malaysian
NGOs," said an Asian diplomat.
Malaysian activists have been strident about a range of issues
recently, from the controversial Bakun dam in a Borneo rainforest
to mistreatment of foreign workers in immigration camps and other
human rights issues.
Malaysia and other members of ASEAN have been pressured by
Western governments and human rights groups to take a stand
against repression of democracy in Myanmar.
But ASEAN -- grouping Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- has steadfastly
resisted, saying a founding principle of the group is to avoid
criticizing each other's domestic policies.