[asia-apec 221] Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor (APCET II)

[by way of daga <daga at hk.super.net>]

Dear Friends,

The second Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor (APCET II) has just launched
its website. Please visit:

http://www.gv.net.my/apcet

for the latest developments. Please alert other journalists and supporters
about the webpage.

Also included is the first press release which follows. Please pass it on to
all interested media and groups. 

A REPEAT OF MANILA 1994?

Human rights organisations and East Timor solidarity groups in the
Asia-Pacific are set to meet in Kuala Lumpur this coming week. Their last
meeting, at the inaugural Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor (APCET) in
Manila 1994, created world-wide news as the Indonesian government threatened
to cut ties with the Filipino government unless the meeting was stopped. The
meeting, which persisted despite an attempted court injuction and minus
barred foreign dignitaries, challenged Indonesia's annexation of East Timor
and condemned the brutal acts of human rights violations committed against
the Maubere people. The coming APCET II, promises to be just as
controversial and will throw the spotlight not just on East Timor but also
on the ASEAN policy of "non-interference" and the Indonesian-Malaysian
"special relationship". 

While the Malaysian government has yet to make any official statement on the
conference, the conference organisers suspect that the former will be
watching and reacting very carefully. On  the one hand, they have to appear
to be doing something in order to appease Indonesian anxieties. On the
other, they have to resist appearing subservient to Indonesia and the
Suharto regime. 

The fact that APCET II comes in the wake of the Nobel Peace prize being
awarded to two outstanding leaders of the East Timorese struggle - its
special representative to the United Nations Jose Ramos Horta and East Timor
Bishop Carlos Belo - further binds the Malaysian government's response. No
longer is the East Timor issue just another independence struggle to be
sidelined at the convenience of the world media. The current centrality of
the East Timor issue will force the Malaysian government to walk the
tightrope between Indonesia's demand for silence and the international
media's hunger to show Malaysia and Prime Minister Mahathir as cohorts in
the East Timor scandal. Malaysia is also bound to come under pressure at the
United Nations where its chief diplomat Razali Ismail is currently serving
as the General Assembly President. In his inaugural speech, Razali promised
to deal with "all out-standing resolutions ... before my term is up" -
presumably this would include the various resolutions which call for
Indonesia to withdraw and respect the right of self-determination of the
East Timorese. Any harsh actions at the domestic level will severely affect
the credibility of one of Asia's top UN personalities.  

The conference itself, carrying the theme "The Search for Peace", will focus
on the role of NGOs and people's organisations in the Asia-Pacific region in
supporting the peace process outlined by the East Timorese resistance
movement. Additionally, the conference will host a core group of
Parliamentarians for East Timor (PET-Asia). The conference will also declare
November 12 as the International Day of Solidarity with East Timor to
commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Dili Massacre where over 200 East
Timorese and a 20-year old Malaysian student, Kamal Bamadhaj were gunned
down by the Indonesian military.


END 

To keep abreast with developments, interested parties are invited to visit
the APCET web page at: <http://www.gv.net.my/apcet> The webpage will be
launched on Sunday, November 3 and will be updated daily to bring you the
latest developments surrounding the conference. Prior to the start of the
conference, daily briefs will highlight the Malaysian governments response
to the conference. During the conference, stories on the conference
participants, speeches and resolutions will be posted regularly. The
conference organisers will also try to respond to queries sent to us at our
email address above within 24 hours.