Rights campaigner Princen fails to meet govt summons
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)