[asia-apec 169] Philippines: Ban on ET Nobel Laureate

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Date: 96-10-16 20:38:11 EDT

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     October 17, 1996

  Anger at ban on Nobel laureate

     By MARK BAKER, Herald Correspondent in Bangkok

     The Philippine Government is facing protest over plans to stop the
     Timorese activist and Nobel peace laureate, Mr Jose Ramos Horta,
     from attending a human rights forum at next month's Asia-Pacific
     Economic Cooperation summit.

     Regional human rights groups are planning demonstrations in the
     lead-up to the summit if the Philippines refuses to lift a
     long-standing ban on Mr Ramos Horta entering the country.

     They warned the protests could disrupt the Manila summit on
     November 24-25, to be attended by leaders of 18 nations including
     the United States President, Mr Bill Clinton, and the Australian
     Prime Minister, Mr Howard.

     Mr Ramos Horta, who was named joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
     last week, is due to give the keynote address at an alternative
     forum to be attended by about 400 representatives of human rights
     groups.

     But the Philippine Government is believed to have recently renewed
     a blacklist under which Mr Ramos Horta and about 100 other Timorese
     activists are banned from entering the country.

     Under pressure from Indonesia, the Philippines barred Mr Ramos
     Horta from attending a conference on East Timor in Manila in 1994,
     provoking an international outcry.

     Governments of the seven-member Association of South-East Asia
     Nations, including the Philippines, accept that the Timor problem
     is an internal matter for Indonesia. But the convener of the Manila
     People's Forum on APEC, the Bangkok-based academic Dr Walden Belo,
     said the Philippines would face international condemnation if it
     did not drop its ban.

     He said the APEC meeting would be overshadowed if the ban stayed.
     "It would be fairly stupid for the Philippine Government not to
     allow a Nobel peace prize winner into the country, but they are
     under intense pressure from the Indonesians," he said.

     Despite the country's generally favourable human rights record, he
     said, the Philippine President, Mr Fidel Ramos, was indebted to
     Indonesia for brokering a peace deal with Muslim rebels on the
     southern island of Mindanao.

     Mr Ramos Horta said in Sydney that he remained optimistic the ban
     would be lifted. "It is just too humiliating for the Philippines
     for Indonesia to keep dictating what they should be doing," he
     said.

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