[asia-apec 1268] Van Sun: Indonesia, APEC & Jose Ramos Horta

[David Webster]

VANCOUVER SUN

Last updated: Thursday 26 August 1999     NATIONAL NEWS
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                   Indonesians wanted delay in alternative conference to
                   quell embarrassment
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                   DAVID HOGBEN, Vancouver Sun

                   VANCOUVER (CP) - Indonesian officials tried to
                   pressure APEC and government organizers to delay a
                   simultaneous alternative conference so then-president
                   Suharto wouldn't be embarrassed by the presence of
                   Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta, a Canadian
                   official testified Wednesday.

                   Len Edwards, Canada's chairman of senior APEC
                   officials during the 1997 conference in Vancouver,
                   said Canada refused outright to interfere with the
                   People's Summit, of which it was a major sponsor.

                   "It was unequivocal," Leonard said of Canada's
                   response to the pressure. "It was that they were not
                   going to interfere with the plans of the People's
                   Summit."

                   Edwards, now Canada's ambassador to Japan, was
                   testifying at the RCMP Public Complaints Commission
                   hearing into allegations of police misconduct at the
                   November 1997 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
                   summit.

                   The People's Summit was established to provide a forum
                   for groups and individuals opposed to the APEC
                   economic agenda and discuss the impact of preferential
                   trade deals on Asian workers, indigenous peoples,
                   workers' rights, education, the arms trade and the
                   environment.

                   Ramos-Horta, who won the peace prize for his
                   opposition to more than two decades of Indonesian
                   occupation of East Timor, told the summit that APEC
                   leaders were courting revolution if they continued to
                   focus exclusively on economic issues, instead of the
                   needs of the people.

                   Edwards testified about how the concerns of the
                   Indonesian government shifted in September 1997, from
                   Suharto's security and reluctance to being embarrassed
                   by democratic protests, to the attendance of
                   Ramos-Horta.

                   At that time, the Indonesians became aware that
                   Ramos-Horta was to address the alternative summit.

                   Leonard said the Indonesians were continually
                   attempting to push the envelope of security measures
                   Canadian officials thought were necessary to provide a
                   secure meeting for the 18 Asia Pacific economic
                   leaders.

                   "The Ramos-Horta situation was simply the latest and
                   the most difficult one for them to face up to. We were
                   not prepared to take the measures that they wanted us
                   to," Leonard said.

                   During questioning by federal government lawyer Ronald
                   Snyder, Leonard said the Indonesians received no
                   commitments from Canada that they would receive any
                   greater degree of shielding from protesters than
                   representatives of any other country.

                   When Snyder asked what guarantees were given to
                   Suharto that were not given to others, Leonard
                   responded: "There were no such guarantees."

                   Leonard also told the inquiry that Prime Minister Jean
                   Chretien gave him no instructions that the Indonesians
                   should have added security measures or other
                   precautions.



Last updated: Thursday 26 August 1999     
NATIONAL NEWS
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APEC leaders too busy to give protesters time to move, says aide
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          VANCOUVER
          (CP) - Presidents and prime ministers attending the 1997 APEC
summit were too busy to allow protesters time to clear a motorcade route, a
former aide to Prime Minister
          Jean Chretien says.

          Instead of allowing demonstrators to move away on their own, RCMP
decided to pepper spray protesters to speed things up, critics have
suggested.

          "The police had to take an action," said Jean Carle, Chretien's
operations director between 1993 and 1998 and the prime minister's point man
on the summit, told an
          inquiry into RCMP treatment of protesters.

          Carle - an aide so close to Chretien he has been described as
being like a son to the prime minister - said he was not responsible for the
police action.

          But the soft-spoken witness, delivering terse answers, conceded he
told RCMP that the leaders were ready to go following their talks at the
University of British
          Columbia campus on Nov. 25, 1997.

          "Some leaders had a specific timetable to respect," Carle told
anti-APEC protester Jaggi Singh, who was cross-examining him.

          "Often these leaders come to these summits with another agenda as
well, planned for immediately after such a summit," Carle said as he wrapped
up two days of testimony
          in front of inquiry head Ted Hughes.

          Anti-APEC protesters Jonathan Oppenheim said outside the hearing
room that activists paid a painful price for the rush.

          "Pressure put on the RCMP by the Prime Minister's Office clearly
resulted in the people being given a nine-second warning before they were
pepper-sprayed," said
          Oppenheim.

          The reference alludes to widely broadcast television footage which
shows a senior Mountie barking an order to disperse, then nine seconds later
dousing protesters with
          pepper spray to clear the motorcade route at the university.

          Documents show Sgt. Hugh Stewart - a senior officer on RCMP
security lines - was ordered to clear the road because leaders were in a
rush to leave the meeting.

          The APEC inquiry is being held by the RCMP Public Complaints
Commission, an independent body that is processing more than 40 public
complaints about the way the Mounties
          treated protesters during the 1997 summit.

          The RCMP was at the forefront of a massive security force rallied
to protect leaders during the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit that
brought 18 Pacific leaders
          to Vancouver in November 1997.

          As leaders held talks Nov. 25, 1997, protesters and police
clashed. Protesters were pepper sprayed and detained. Female protesters were
strip searched while males were
          not.

          Hughes is assessing various issues but the role of the prime
minister has loomed large.

          Some critics have suggested Chretien or his staff may have
manipulated security plans to shield leaders from embarrassing protest.

          Protesters and lawyers representing them want the prime minister
to be called to testify at the inquiry, something Hughes has not ruled out.

          Carle did not leave a paper trail to help their efforts.

          On Tuesday, he said he kept no notes about his APEC work, which
took up most of 1997.

          The only APEC-related document with Carle's signature on it is a
letter to UBC president Martha Piper on the size of protest area.

          "We don't have from you one scrap of paper with a note, a letter,
a reference to you sending an e-mail - not one," said protesters' lawyer Joe
Arvay.

          "I don't use e-mail," Carle responded.

          "Do you use a pen?" retorted Arvay.

          "Sometimes," Carle replied.

          The absence of any notes meant Carle had no reference with which
to refresh his memory on meetings, conversations and other matters.

          "It's very hard to cross-examine Jean Carle when he has no notes,"
said Oppenheim.

          Anti-APEC activists have said Carle's vagueness bolsters their
argument that Chretien must testify.

          As Carle left the inquiry Tuesday, he refused to comment on
whether Chretien should testify.

          "It was an experience," a grinning Carle said of his appearance
before the inquiry.

          Tuesday's hearing was notable because it was dominated by
cross-examination of Carle by anti-APEC protesters, including Singh and
Oppenheim.

          It marked the first time that the activists have had direct
contact with a representative of Chretien's office.

          Four months after the APEC summit, Carle left Chretien's office to
become a senior vice-president with the Business Development Bank of Canada.