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THE NATION: East Timor peace confer



East Timor peace conference criticizes Thai ''harassment''

posted at 16:55 hrs (Bangkok time) 

BANGKOK, March 6 -- An East Timor peace conference finished in Bangkok Friday with
organizers calling for self-determination for the former Portuguese colony while criticising the Thai
government for obstruction. 

Organizers of the Third Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor called on Indonesia to enter into
dialogue on the disputed territory and criticized the Thai government for using ''low-intensity
harassment'' to disrupt the meeting. 

''We were subject to low-intensity but highly visible harassment by the Thai government, special
branch police and labour department,'' one conference organizer said. 

''This intimidated many of our participants and caused considerable delay in conference
proceedings.'' 

Organizers said the behaviour was not what had been expected of a democracy like Thailand which
had a ''people-oriented'' constitution protecting basic freedoms. 

However, organizers thanked the Thai authorities for not deporting any of the conference
participants as had happened at previous events held in Kuala Lumpur and Manila. 

In a written statement, organizers called on Indonesian President Suharto to recognise the right of
the East Timorese to self-determination as well as the United Nations (UN) and the international
community for continued support. 

Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1975 and has been fighting an armed resistance movement as well
as peaceful dissenters in the former Portuguese colony ever since. 

The United Nations refused to recognise Jakarta's claim and still regards Lisbon as the rightful
administrator. 

The conference statement, calling for a special UN committee to be set up and for a human rights
representative in Dili, the capital of East Timor, was delivered to the Bangkok office of the
international body Friday morning. 

Australia-based representative of the East Timor relief Association, Agio Pereira, also stressed that
East Timor was a regional rather than an Indonesian problem and should be dealt with as such. 

''For many years the issue of East Timor has been abandoned by governments, not only by ASEAN
but others that say they are democratic,'' Agio said, adding that the issue was a sticking point
between ASEAN and the European Union. 

Police and government officials gathered outside the East Timor peace conference as it began
Monday, demanding that organizers show work permits for foreign delegates, including politicians,
academics and social workers. 

They have continued throughout the week to monitor the meeting, tactics which organizers said
hindered the proceedings and were a blot on Thailand's record, particularly during the government's
high-profile ''Amazing Thailand'' tourism campaign. 

The apparent move to muzzle the conference was backed by Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan,
who was quoted in the press here as saying that work permits were needed by visiting conference
speakers to deliver speeches at the seminar. 

The conference opened the same day Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai began meetings with
President Suharto in Jakarta as part of an effort to show Thai support for economically struggling
Indonesia. 

But despite official obstruction and ASEAN intransigence, organizers and delegates were up-beat
saying that they felt the East Timor issue was ripe for resolution given Indonesia's current political
and economic turmoil. 

''I believe we are now closer to a resolution on East Timor,'' an Indonesian non-governmental
organization delegate said. 

''In this crisis we can see opposition to Suharto... We strongly believe that within three years there
will be changes in Indonesia which will create space for greater freedom.'' 

Earlier two Timorese Nobel laureates and critics of Indonesia, Bishop Carlos Belo and a former
resistance leader Jose Ramos-Horta, allegedly cancelled plans to attend the meetings amid
apprehensions they would not be granted Thai visas. (AFP)