Timor forum to go ahead despite ban

Timor forum to go ahead despite ban

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): A coalition of human rights groups said
yesterday they would go ahead with their conference on East Timor
despite the Malaysian government's threat to take legal action to
stop it.

"We believe our conference is legal," Sanusi Othman, one of
the organizers of the second Asia Pacific Conference on East
Timor (APCET), told a news conference.

The conference is due to take place from today to Monday.

Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Thursday the
government would examine legal avenues to block the conference,
saying it would harm ties with neighboring Indonesia.

East Timor was integrated into Indonesia in 1976. The United
Nations still recognizes Lisbon as the administering authority
for the territory.

"We can't spend all our time guessing what the government is
going to do," conference spokesperson Debbie Stothard said. "We
have a few contingencies, but we just have to hope for the best."

Asked why Malaysia was chosen to host the East Timor
conference, Stothard said: "This is happening in our front yard.
We can't close our eyes and stop our ears to what is happening in
front of us."

She added it was a milestone in the Malaysia's maturation as a
democracy that the conference was being held in the country.

"For too long, people in ASEAN have not had the opportunity to
talk about human rights," she said. The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations groups Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

One of its principles is not to criticize a neighbor's
domestic policies.

Stothard said about 150 people from 20 countries and 70
organizations were expected to gather to denounce Jakarta's rule
of East Timor.

She said a number of would-be participants, including this
year's joint Nobel Peace laureates, political activist Jose
Ramos-Horta and Carlos Belo, a Roman Catholic bishop, were
discouraged from coming to the conference because of Malaysia's
opposition.

On Wednesday immigration authorities refused to allow Renato
Constantino Jr Filipino of the Philippines into the country to
attend the conference. He organized the first APCET conference in
Manila in 1994.