By Jon Land
The Philippines government is under pressure from Indonesia to prevent the first Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (APCET) from taking place in Manila. The conference, scheduled at the University of the Philippines May 31-June 3 is the first of its kind to be held in an ASEAN nation.
President Fidel Ramos Philippines has already banned at least eight international guests from attending. They include Fretilin leader Jose Luis Gutteres, Timorese Democratic Union leader Joao Carrascalao and the special representative for the National Council of Maubere Resistance, Jose Ramos Horta.
The Indonesian embassy in Manila has repeatedly issued strong statements condemning the conference. One embassy spokesperson told a Japanese news service that "holding a meeting that slurs the name of East Timor is an infringement of [Indonesian] sovereignty". The Indonesian government has threatened to hold a counter-conference next month on human rights in the Philippines, raising the suppression of the Islamic Moro movement in Mindanao as an example.
There have been reported incidents of the Indonesian navy harassing Filipino fishing and cargo vessels. Jakarta has also threatened to withdraw $300 million from joint ventures in the southern Philippines if the conference goes ahead.
The diplomatic rift has become front page news for the Manila dailies. Ramos has used the issue to gain political mileage for his government, portraying it as a Western-style democracy "constitutionally constrained" from intervening in the conference.
Ramos does not wish for the rift to deepen, however. He issued a statement saying that his government "disassociates itself from the conference on East Timor"
The secretary general of the mass socialist organisation MAKABAYAN, Dennis Mendiola, told Green Left, "President Ramos has requested the president of the university not to hold the conference because it is a state funded university; it should be held at another venue, preferably outside the Philippines. This government is giving way to Indonesian pressure and trying to scuttle this conference."
MAKABAYAN, one of the mass organisations on the APCET organising committee, held a picket in protest outside the Indonesian embassy on May 20. Concerned about adverse media coverage, the Indonesian embassy sent an employee to "check out" the MAKABAYAN office and find out what it was planning.
The APCET organising committee issued a press release stating: "The issue of East Timor has been silenced for two decades and it can not be silenced now. If they can pressure the Philippines government this way, we can only imagine what they have done in East Timor ... the conference will push through despite the collusion of the Indonesian and Philippine governments."
Messages of support can be faxed to APCET on 63 2 921 6774. Messages of protest can be faxed to President Fidel Ramos c/- Press Secretary, 63 2 731 1325.