Malaysian govt bans meeting on East Timor

Malaysian govt bans meeting on East Timor

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned yesterday that action would be taken against the organizers of a regional conference on East Timor if they proceeded with the meeting.

Anwar said the police were monitoring the movement of the organizers and would take appropriate action against them if they remained stubborn and refused to call off the Nov. 9 to 11 conference.

"We have forbidden it and we hope they will abide by the decision of the government," he was reported saying by Bernama news agency.

The conference organizers said early yesterday that a Philippine delegate had been deported from Malaysia after being denied entry by immigration authorities.

Renato Constantino of the Asia Pacific Coalition for East Timor chapter in the Philippines, who slammed the move as "an act of suppression," was deported at 0700 local time (2300GMT), Sanusi Osman, spokesman for the Malaysian hosts told AFP.

Sanusi said the organizers would proceed to hold the conference, saying it was meant to find new ways to resolve the East Timor conflict.

Malaysia's key opposition leader, Lim Kit Siang, slammed the deportation as "most deplorable," and warned it could mar Malaysia's "good international image."

"Even if the government has decided to ban the conference, there is no reason for banning Constantino's entry -- as if his entry would pose a threat to the security or well-being of Malaysia," said Lim, the secretary-general of the ethnic-Chinese based Democratic Action Party.

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated into Indonesia in 1976, but the United Nations and a number of countries still recognize Portugal as the territory's sole administrator.