Rights campaigner Princen fails to meet govt summons

JAKARTA (JP): A leading human rights campaigner failed to show up yesterday at the attorney general's office for questioning on his presence at last week's aborted conference on East Timor in Kuala Lumpur.

Attorney general's spokesman Suhartoyo said that H.J.C. Princen was unable to comply with the summons because he was too busy.

Princen was summoned in connection with his presence at the Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (APCET) II in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 7, Suhartoyo said.

"We summoned him to explain why he attended the meeting," he said, declining to elaborate.

The conference was prevented from taking place when it was stormed by youths allied to the Malaysian government last Saturday.

Indonesia's ruling Golkar political grouping said Wednesday it had sent a letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad expressing gratitude for the break-up of the conference.

"The action is a reflection of the good and positive relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia. We are not interfering with each other's problems," Golkar's Chairman Harmoko told state-run TVRI television.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said last week that cabinet had demanded the conference be called off.

"Public order and our good relationship with Indonesia is more important," Anwar was quoted by Reuter as saying Sunday when asked if Malaysia's image had been tarnished by the incident.

Chairman of the youth wing of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's United Malays National Organization (UMNO) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said he ordered the youths to disrupt the conference.

Following the near riot break-up of the conference, Malaysian police detained 106 people. Forty seven foreign detainees have been deported and 49 others released.

Police had sought a court order extending the remand period of the remaining 10 activists to allow them to identify the "mastermind" behind the aborted meeting.

But a Malaysian High Court yesterday ordered their immediate release, quashing a three-day remand order from a lower court.

Judge K.C. Vohrah ruled as void the remand order issued by a magistrate Wednesday.

"The detention is illegal as the extension of the remand by the magistrate was wrong in law," Vohrah said.

He ordered the release, saying the 10 should not be held "a second more," quoted AFP. (26)