[asia-apec 259] APCET II, Kuala Lumpur

[sonny at nation.nationgroup.com]

Melee over a meeting: Umno's leaders get more than they bargained for. Or
did they?
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By Joseph Nagy and Roger Mitton, Kuala Lumpur, Asiaweek, November 22,
1996

An air of quiet civility reigned at the Asia Hotel in central Kuala Lumpur
on the morning of Nov 9. Hotel guests, many of them delegates to the 2nd
Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor, chatted amiably over their
breakfast. The planned three-day meeting brought together activists from a
dozen nations, including Malaysia to discuss human rights and democracy in
the former Portuguese colony, whose forcible annexation by Indonesia in
1975 is unrecognized by the UN. The first such meeting was held in Manila
two years ago. At that time, President Fidel Ramos, in deference to
Indonesian sensitivities, barred entry to about 40 prominent participants,
including Nobel Peace Prize-winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The Malaysian government had made it plain last week that it did not want
the conference to take place on its soil. But it took no steps to prevent
it -- until the commotion began later that morning outside the 4th floor
hotel hall where about 100 delegates had assembled. On the street below,
men were haranguing a crowd to break up the meeting. Some 200 stormed into
the lobby and headed up the stairs.

Inside, the organisers locked the doors and stacked chairs against them.
Some delegates, including elderly people, one in a wheelchair, huddled in
front of the stage. The mob began battering the doors. Inevitably they
gave way and the crowd rampaged in, overturning tables and chairs and
ripping down banners. Former Malaysian MP Fan Yew Teng said: "It makes me
think of the Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution and the invasion of the
US embassy in Tehran. It's mob rule."

Many of the protesters were pumped up for action. Some carried sticks,
other bottles of water which they rained over the cowering delegates,
others with bull horns carried out a verbal assault. Shrieked one: "We
love Indonesia! We love Malaysia! We want harmonious neighbours! If you
want to discuss this issue, go somewhere else! Don't come and jeopardise
our country! Get out! Out! Out! Out!" Several women delegates were crying.
Said opposition MP Lim Guan Eng, who was present: "It makes you ashamed to
be Malaysian." Bar Council president Hendon Mohamad said: "It tarnished
the image of the country overseas."

It was not the ugly mood of the mob that stunned observers, but the people
leading it: they were members of the parties that make up Malaysia's
governing National Front coalition. Spearheading the attack was Saifuddin
Nasution, political secretary to the Defense Minister and secretary of the
Youth Wing of the dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno).
With him were Dr Rahim Ghouse, head of the wing's economic bureau, Nadzri
Ismail, deputy head of its international affairs division, and other
executive committee members including Ruslan Kasim, Jema Khan, Supardi
Noor and Zein Isma Ismail.

When the police arrived a half-hour later, they separated the two sides.
Foreign delegates were bused to the airport for deportation. Meanwhile
police arrested a handful of Umno Youth leaders, including Saifuddin, for
refusing to disperse. They were released on bail within a few hours. The
remaining delegates and several journalists (Including Asiaweek Senior
Correspondent Roger Mitton) were detained several nights in over-crowded
cells in a downtown lock-up. Over the next few days, most were released,
but 10 remained in detention.

>From the start, the affair was marked by mixed signals. Rather than
issuing a blanket ban, the government at first appealed to the organisers
to cancel the conference. It did not want an event that criticised
Indonesia, a fellow member of ASEAN, and more to the point, a fellow
Malaysian Muslim state. One concession came from the other side when East
Timor activist Jose Ramos-Horta, this year's Nobel Peace Prize recipient,
decided not to attend "as a gesture of goodwill towards Malaysia and to
avoid putting it in a difficult position." But the organisers were not
about to cancel.

On Nov 7, with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on an African visit, Deputy
Premier Anwar Ibrahim said bluntly that the Cabinet had decided the
conference should not go ahead and that any foreign delegates would be
deported. Still the organisers said they would proceed.

Said Umno's Nadzri: "They showed disrespect to our government."

The unanswered question: Was it the consensus of the leadership to order
the party's Youth Wing? Or was it done independently by Mahathir or Anwar
-- or someone else? Mahathir in a typically enigmatic fashion, did not let
on. He merely said the organisers had been irresponsible in defying the
Cabinet directive. Anwar denied that the government had arranged the
disruption. Yet, many of those involved, especially Saifuddin and Dr
Rahim, rarely make a major move without clearing it with Anwar.

Umno Youth leader Zahid Hamidi, who was travelling with Mahathir,
confirmed he had directed his people to break up the conference. Back in
Kuala Lumpur, he explained to Asiaweek: "I told them to stop it
peacefully. I did not expect them to go breaking down doors, overturing
chairs and entering in such an unruly way."

On Zahid's word, Saifuddin had assembled the attack force on Nov 8, a day
before the meeting began. After storming the event, Saifuddin said: "We
had no option. The leaders of the conference were told the government did
not want them to go ahead. They were asked again yesterday to cancel. They
refused. They are so stubborn."

Indonesia appeared to appreciate Malaysia's action. State Secretary
Murdiono, in Jordan with President Suharto on a stste visit, said the move
against the conference "reflected the ASEAN members' commitment not to
interfere in the affairs of other countries and their highest solidarity."
President Ramos could hardly demur, having recently denied entry to Horta.
Said he:"We must respect the Malaysian system of policies, rules and laws,
beacuse that's their system."

Some in Umno were critical of the raiders. While agreeing with the
sentiment against the conference, deputy Youth leader Hishammuddin Tun
Hussein distanced himself from the attack. Anyone who broke the law, he
said, would not be protected. The Women's Wing deputy head, Napsiah Omar,
called on authorities not to practice double standards and to apply the
law equally to demonstrators as well as conference participants.

Yet most accept that the senior Umno leadership had given enough signs to
its Youth members for them to know what to do. The Youth Wing has a
history of being used in frontline actions where discretion precluded
overt government involvement: "Nobody was hurt," said Dr Rahim of the
weekend ruckus.

Some wondered whether the leadership was not completely unhappy that
attention was focused on Indonesia's most troubled province. Many
Malaysians, remembering Konfrontasi and more recent slights, feel their
giant neighbour has sometimes treated them badly, and take satisfaction in
its occassional discomfort.

Then again, the entire affair could have been one big foul-up. Whatever
the cause, it certainly succeeded in turning a minor meeting into an
international brouhaha, and blemished Malaysia's reputation for adherence
to the rule of law.