[asia-apec 211] EAST TIMOR/APEC

[sonny at nation.nationgroup.com]

Free to circulate and reproduce.

THIRD EYE column in The Nation, Bangkok by Sonny Inbaraj
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Wednesday, October 30, 1996:

When Thai Prime Minister Banharn Silapa-archa referred to Queen Elizabeth
II as Elizabeth Taylor, he became the butt of jokes. Now, it seems,
Philippine President Fidel Ramos has caught this "disease" carried by the
winds of authoritarianism blowing through the Asean region. 

In a gaffe that titillated Manila's rambunctious press, Ramos referred on
Saturday to the very much alive widow of late French preident Francois
Mitterrand as already dead. 

All this came about because of an immigration ban list of about 100 people
who have been invited by the Manila's People's Forum for an alternative
conference to the Apec heads of state summit, scheduled to be held in
Subic Bay on Nov 25. Among the issues to be discussed in the alternative
forum is East Timor, and the Philippine government has officially banned
this year's Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta from entering the
country, for fear that admitting him might embarrass Indonesia's President
Suharto. 

Also in the ban list is Danielle Mitterrand, the former French first lady,
South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Japan's workers' rights
advocate and East Timor activist Bishop Aloysious Nobuo Soma. 

When questioned about the ban list by reporters, President Ramos replied:
"Why should we (ban) the French first lady, Danielle Mitterrand, who died
already," he said. "I should know. I wrote a letter of condolence to
President Mitterrand," he said, apparently referring to condolences he
sent Mrs Mitterrand when her husband died of cancer in January. 

Early this week, Malacanang Palace went into damage control. "Okay, I made
a mistake and I apologise to everybody and I will apologise by way of a
letter to Madame Mitterrand," Ramos told reporters. 

"I'm sorry about it. We'll try to make amends to Madame Mitterrand and the
people of France and the government of France." 

This is not the first time that President Ramos is apologising to Danielle
Mitterrand. In 1994 after he banned her from entering Manila to address
the first Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor (Apcet), he later went on
an official tour of Europe and stopped by in Paris to meet the first lady,
with his tail behind his legs -- after doing Suharto's bidding. 

The former French first lady heads the human rights group Fondation
France-Libertes which also campaigns for Tibet's independence from China. 

In her speech, read in absentia at Apcet, Mrs Mitterrand strongly
condemned Indonesia for interfering in an international conference. 

"Does Jakarta fear that solidarity for East Timor might spread? Do they
fear to such a degree the incontrovertible reports emanating from NGOs
represented here? Or do they fear the calls that have been smothered since
the invasion in 1975, might at last be heard by political leaders in each
country of the region?", she asked. Later at a press conference in Paris,
the former first lady told reporters that Jakarta blackmailed Manila into
blocking her visit by threatening to suspend contracts worth US$30 million
to the Philippines. 

Further gaffes cannot be ruled out, if Ramos' insistence to please
Indonesia at all costs goes overboard. In May 1994, when Apcet was going
on, one of the embarrassing incidents, besides the forceful deportation of
Irish Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire, was the turning away of an
Australian businessman, Harold Moucha, who had arrived in Manila for a
holiday. 

Speaking to journalists at Sydney airport, after he was deported from
Manila, Moucha demanded an apology form the Philippine government for
detaining him for 28 hours, failing which he threatened a legal suit
against President Ramos. 

"I went there for holidays and to visit friends. Just because I was born
in East Timor doesn't mean I should be banned". 

Despite appeals from regional and international human rights monitors,
like the New York-based Human Rights Watch Asia, there is little
likelihood that President Ramos will reverse his ban on Ramos-Horta and
other Timorese pro-independence activists who have been invited to the
parallel Apec forum. 

Even to the extent of compromising the Philippines' sovereignty, Ramos
will please Suharto, regardless of the damage done to the country's
international reputation. The president's behaviour in 1994 can serve as a
good indication. 

Despite the scathing attacks he had been subjected to for banning foreign
participants to Apcet, President Ramos remained confident that he had made
the right decision. In a reception for visiting television executives from
Asean, the Philippines president voiced confidence that the Apcet flap,
would eventually be a "win-win" situation for his administration. Ramos
defended his decision banning foreigners from the country, saying US$700
million of Indonesian investments to the country were at stake. 

A day after the end of Apcet, Jakarta said it was satisfied with Manila's
reaction to the conference. As if patting President Ramos on the back,
Jakarta announced that Suharto's daughter Siti Hardiyanti, would be
visitng the Philippines in July to present a proposal for a US$450 million
road project in Manila. 

On June 15, President Ramos delivered a letter to Suharto, through his
sister, Senator Shahani Ramos Leticia, who was on an official visit to
Indonesia. In the letter, Ramos gave his assurances that the Philippines
would host no more conferences on East Timor. 

The people Asean have always looked up to the Philippines as a democratic
country with high regard for the rule of law and respect for human rights.
Now, however, the Philippine body politic under Ramos is a sorry sight,
with public opinion being disregarded completely for the sake of the
president's date with free trade at the Apec summit. 

Ramos must seize hold of himself and learn to govern the country for the
good of every Filipino and not just the scabrous, self-important filth
that call themselves the political and business elite -- men and women who
have, through their corruption and evil, previously reduced the Philippine
nation single-handedly to a half-living cadaver scouring the dung heaps of
Asia.