Thailand ban another backfire

[agptimor@xxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Thailand ban another backfire

/* Written  6:07 pm  Jul 20, 1994 by maggie@xxxxxxxxxx in gn:reg.easttimor */
/* ---------- "Thailand ban another backfire" ---------- */
THAI MOVE TO BLOCK HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE 
BACKFIRES

Source: The Asian Age
Date: July 20
Dateline: Bangkok
Scope: unabridged

Thailand's attempts to block a Southeast Asian human 
rights conference coinciding with this week's Asean 
ministerial meeting have backfired, drawing even greater 
attention to rights problems in the region.

Despite Thailand's efforts to keep human rights issues from 
interfering with the July 22-28 meetings of the Association 
of Southeast Asian Nations, it was virtually inevitable rights 
questions would be raised by Asean members or dialogue 
partners, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Thai human rights groups told a crowded news conference 
on Monday that they will proceed with the conference later 
this week despite attempts to stop foreign guests from 
attending. The Southeast Asian Human Rights Network will 
hold the meeting between July 20 and 25.

Among the guests and observers joining the Asean meeting 
is Burma, widely regarded by international human rights 
groups as Southeast Asia's worst rights violator.

Asean comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the 
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The controversy over the rights meeting, now hitting the 
front pages of Thailand's newspapers, is virtually a repeat 
of an episode in the Philippines in May when the 
government there, bowing to pressure from Indonesia, 
prevented foreigners from attending a meeting on East 
Timor.

"It is unfortunate that they did not learn the lesson from 
the Philippines, that by trying to block the conference they 
have given it much more publicity than it would have had 
in the first place," one political analyst said on Tuesday. The 
government announced that foreigners planning to attend 
the rights conference should have applied for work permits 
30 days in advance.

Authorities refused to confirm newspaper reports that 11 
East Timorese were blacklisted. Officials say the presence of 
the East Timorese activists would be an embarrasment to 
Thailand. It is a violation of the Asean spirit of not allowing 
one member to be used as a platform to criticise another.