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."