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.