Timor conference debacle
Timor conference debacle
For the last several weeks, after Philippines President Fidel
Ramos, obviously under "pressure" from Jakarta, decided to stop a
controversial conference on East Timor in Manila, no day has
passed without world media reports on the conference.
The other day, for instance, one could watch the television
image (and read the printed media's reports) of the Northern
Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, who came to
participate in the conference, being escorted back to the plane
upon arrival in Manila for expulsion from the country.
And yesterday we read the report of a scuffle in front of the
Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur between Indonesian workers and
members of a Malaysian non-governmental organization who came to
protest Indonesia's "occupation" of East Timor. Meanwhile, the
Manila conference itself continued to get major world media
coverage.
As we watch those images on the television and read the media
reports on the furor over the conference, one question keeps
nagging in our minds: Is this the kind of publicity that we
really want?
It is easy enough to see that the answer could well be: "No."
By putting "pressure" on Manila, instead of stopping the
conference as apparently some of us naively expected, the event
has taken a twist. And all of a sudden, helplessly, we are having
to watch an obscure conference develop into a media blitz which
is sure to damage to our reputation.
A few weeks before, for instance, one never would have
expected that Danielle Mitterand, the wife of French President
Francois Mitterand, who was also blacklisted from attending the
Manila conference, would accuse Indonesia of exercising a "kind
of blackmail" and of exerting "tyrannical pressure" on her not to
attend.
Moreover, one can also feel the slow rumble of the tremor
rising beneath us, a growing feeling of disappointment from the
neighborhood over Indonesia's way of handling the issue. There's
even a hint of a whisper that Indonesia has applied "big
brotherly" pressure to another Association of Southeast Asian
Nations member under the pretext of the ASEAN spirit of
solidarity.
Whatever the case, damage has been done and we have to address
this. Perhaps, it is too farfetched to liken the damage of the
"Manila incident" to that of the "Dili incident" of November,
1991. But there are some similarities.
Among others, one can expect that for a long time to come the
world's attention will continue to focus on East Timor because
many people who previously knew nothing about East Timor are now
aware of it. And, possibly, some of them may raise questions in
the future.
Of course, nobody should wash their hands of the situation by
claiming that the misfortune is not of our doing and rather blame
it on the Philippines government. Instead, we should admit that
mostly the current view was influenced by our poor judgment and
over-sensitivity to the East Timor issue.
One lesson we should learn is that it is time to realize that
the world has changed and a new sense of democratization and
openness is in the air. Each and every country has its own
system. Thus, one should not expect that the government of any
given nation would have control over such groups as non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), or the judiciary, for that
matter.
On the governmental level, one can expect that the ASEAN
spirit of solidarity will continue to prevail, but one should not
take it for granted that, for example, all ASEAN NGOs will
maintain the same spirit.
In the past, Indonesia has played a model role in ASEAN
through a low profile and strong self-restraint, while continuing
to maintain its dignity. And undoubtedly, the very success of
ASEAN is partly caused by this kind of stance. Thus, let's heal
the wounds and try to return to the "basics."