(Courtesy of East Timor Human Rights Centre)
Vancouver Conference on East Timor & Indonesia
Introduction --
Canada Program --
U.S. Program --
Guest Participants --
Web Links
A conference on East Timor and
Indonesia was held in Vancouver, Canada at Simon Fraser University and
University of British Columbia on March 6-8, preceded by various
similar conferences in
the USA. Names of local organizers, contact
persons, foreign participants, and where possible the local participants
are given. Themes discussed are also included.
The goal of these initiatives was to spread knowledge in North America
about the general situation and the oppression and the suffering of the
peoples of East Timor and of Indonesia, and to raise the commitment
toward finding a global solution for the drama of East Timor, in accordance
with International Law. The improvment of Human Rights and of Democratic
values in East Timor and Indonesia was also an objective of the conferences
and meetings.
The Portuguese Universities Foundation provided the funding and
the sponsorship to bring to Canada and the United States some Timorese
representatives, including the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr.
Jose Ramos Horta, a few Indonesian democrats and a small number of other
personalities like Bishop Hilton Deakin, from Melbourne, Australia, for
his special link with the diocesis of Dili and the people of East Timor.
The Portuguese Universities Foundation is a Non Governmental Organisation
(NGO) created by the Council of Rectors of the almost twenty Public Portuguese
Universities (which includes the Portuguese Catholic University, the first
non-stateowned Portuguese University)
Those initiatives were jointly organised by U.S. and Canadian Universities
and academics with a Committee of Portuguese Academics, on behalf of the
Portuguese Universities Foundation.
This Committee consists of:
- Prof. Abmlio Hernandez, Deputy President of the Coimbra University
(created in 1290)
- Prof. Antonio Barbedo de Magalhaes, Engineering Faculty, representing
the President of the Porto University,
- Prof. Armando Marques Guedes, Law Faculty, Lisbon University (Ex-President
of the Constitutional Tribunal),
- Dr. Josi Alberto Azeredo Lopes, Secretary of the International Studies
Center of the Catholic University (R.S.Porto), Lecturer (AT) of International
Public Law at the Catholic University, Porto.
- Prof. Luis Filipe Lobo Fernandes, President of the Association of Professionals
of International Relations and Assistant Prof. of International Relations
at Minho University, Braga,
- Prof. Maria Laura Bettencourt Pires, Head of the Institute of Long
Distance Teaching and Director of the Center for American Studies of the
Open University, Lisbon,
- Prof. Vasco Garcia, President of Azores University.
The participation of U.S. and Canadian academics, politicians, journalists
and other personalities was welcomed in these initiatives, and
local participants were invited to participate in each of the
events. But it was an important opportunity for the Timorese representatives
and Indonesian democrats to speak.
Providing the opportunity for the Timoreses to come from East Timor
and finding the Indonesian guest speakers to participate was fraught
with difficulties. Many could not come to North America at all to participante
in those meetings: they are in jail, have seen their passports confiscated
or not renewed by Indonesian authorities, or are on a blacklist, forbidden
to leave the country. Others, even if allowed to travel, fear the consequences.
And fear is well founded, especially if one is reminded that two Indonesian
citizens who came to Portugal, at the invitation of Oporto University,
to participate in a Conference titled :
Solidarity of Indonesian Youth,
Hope for East Timor,
in February, 1996, are both now in jail, accused of having participated
in this conference and defending there the right to self determination of
East Timor.
They are Mochtar Pakpahan, trade unionist leader of SBSI, and the young
Wilson, graduate in History from Indonesia University (Jakarta) and Head
of the Education Department of PPBI.
On behalf of the Portuguese Universities Foundation,
Antonio Barbedo de Magalhaes
Coordinator of the Symposia on Timor of Oporto University
PROGRAM FOR CANADA SYMPOSIUM Human
Rights and Democratic Development - The case of East Timor and Indonesia
(as of 17.02.97)
Foreign Participants:
-Dr. Jose Ramos Horta (March 7 and 8)
Current Nobel Peace Laureate,
Personal Representantive of Xanana Gusmco,
Leader of CNRM (National Council of the Maubere Resistance).
-Bishop Hilton Deakin
Auxiliar Bishop (Catholic) of Melbourne (March 6 and 7)
He visited East Timor several times in the last years
Chairman of the East Timor Human Rights Center in Melbourne, Australia.
Eng. Joao Carrascalao (March 7 and 8)
President of UDT (Timorese Democrat Union )
Lecturer at Sydney Institute of Technology
-Liem Soie Liong (March 7 and 8)
editor of TAPOL Bulletin
-Lojang Soenario
Born 1969 in Berlin to Indonesian parents, founding member
of Watch Indonesia (in Germany)
She did Political Science and Indonesian Studies in Berlin (1991-1996).
-Dr. Madalena Veiga
Lawyer, Assistant of European Law at Fernando Pessoa University (Oporto)
-Prof. Antonio Barbedo de Magalhaes
Full Professor of Engineering
Author of 4 books on East Timor
Coordinator of the Symposia on Timor of Oporto University.
Additional Guests include:
-Prof. Geoffrey Robinson (March 6 and 7)
Department of History, UCLA,
Head of Research Desk for Island SE Asia, World Headquarters
of Amnesty International, 1989-95
-Sharon Scharfe
International Secretariat Parliamentarians for East Timor
Author of book "Complicity: East Timor and Canadian Foreign Policy"
-Chuck Demers (March 6)
Burnaby Central High School student
The symposium is a collaborative effort also involving the Institute
for the Humanities and the Centre fro Education, Law and Society at SFU; the
Centre for Southeast Asian Research at UBC; the East Timor
Alert Network/Vancouver; and Take Back the News
Thursday 6th March, Simon Fraser University,
Burnaby, Canada
- Local organizers include Professors:
- Jery Zaslove, Inst for the Humanities (phone 291-4868/5855,
email: Zaslove@sfu.ca)
- Robert D. Russell, Dept of Math and Stat (phone 291-4819,
email: rdr@sfu.ca),
- Michael Manley-Casimir, Faculty of Education (phone 291-3529,
email: manleyc@sfu.ca),
- Klaus Rieckhoff, Dept of Physics, (phone 291-4848,
email: k_rieckhoff@sfu.ca),
- Itinerary:
- morning: Sessions with Special Interest Groups
- 12:30-1:30:
Screening of the film: Bitter Paradise: The Sell-out of
East Timor by Elaine Briere
- Academic Quadrangle Room 3182, SFU Burnaby Campus
- 2:30-3:30:
East Timorese perspectives on history and the future
- Images Theatre, SFU Burnaby Campus
- Moderator: Prof. Michael Manley-Casimir, Faculty of Education
- Welcoming Remarks: Prof. Robert Russell
- short presentations by Professor Barbedo and Bishop Deakin,
followed by discussion and questions
to the invited guests
- 3:30-4:30: East Timor, Indonesia and SFU
- Images Theatre
- presentation by Professor Robinson on "The Issue of
`Asian Values' and Human Rights", comments from Sharon
Scharfe, Chuck Demers and SFU professors Zaslove,
Griffiths and Rieckhoff, followed by discussion
and questions
- 4:30: Meeting between visitors and interested Students/Faculty,
- Rooms CC5120
- Friday 7th March, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, Canada
- Location: The Asia Centre Auditorium
- Main Organizer:
- David Webster (email: davidweb@unixg.ubc.ca),
- Itinerary:
- 12:30-1:30
Screening of the film: Bitter Paradise: The Sell-out of
East Timor by Elaine Briere
- 1:30-4:30
Panels (5-minute presentations followed by question/discussion period)
- 1:30-2:30
Panel on East Timorese perspectives
- Participants: Antonio Barbedo de Magalhaes (on history), Joao Carrascalao,
Liem Soei Liong, Lojang Soenario, Bishop Deakin (on Bishop
Belo's role)
- 2:30-3:30 East Timor as a Canadian issue
- Participants: Geoffrey Robinson, Sharon Scharfe and others
- 3:30-4:30 East Timor, Indonesia and UBC
- Mostly local participants
- 4:30-5:00 Keynote address by Jose Ramos Horta, on East
Timor's prospects in the international arena after the Nobel Prize,
introduced by Geoff Robinson. Introduced by Prof. Geoff Robinson
- Saturday 8th March, Simon Fraser University
Harbour Centre Campus & Robson Media Center, Vancouver, Canada
- 2:30-4:30 Freedom of Conscience - Religious Perspectives on Human
Rights in East Timor
- Room 1700, SFU Harbour Centre Campus
- Prof. J. Zaslove, Joao Carrascalao, Liem Soei Liong, and
Professor Barbedo:
- 8:00PM:
- Closing Event (Sold Out)
Screening of the film: Bitter Paradise: The Sell-out of
East Timor
- by Elaine Briere, nominated for Best Political Documentary, Hot Docs
1997 and the 1997 Chalmers Award
- with introduction by Svend Robinson, MP
- and followed by speech by Dr. Jose Ramos Horta
- Room 3225, Robson Square Conference Centre, 800 Robson St.
- Note: March 7-30,
Exhibition on Elaine Briere's photographs of East Timor
at A WALK IS gallery (phone 682-0060), 976 Denman Street,
Vancouver, BC.
PROGRAM FOR U.S. SYMPOSIA (as of 17.02.97)
February 20-22, 1997 - New York, NY
New School of Social Research (Dr. James Nolt)
- Last Update of program for U.S. portion:
Porto, 2 February 1997
Prof. Antonio Barbedo de Magalhaes
Coordinator of the Symposia on Timor of Oporto University
FAX: 351 (2) 2002148
TEL: 351 (2) 2041710-2041756-9537348
E-MAIL: barbedo@garfield.fe.up.pt
GUEST PARTICIPANTS INVITED BY THE PORTUGUESE UNIVERSITIES FOUNDATION
AND ORGANISERS
TIMORESE GUESTS
- Dr. Jose Ramos Horta
- Current Nobel Peace Laureate,
- Personal Representantive of Xanana Gusmao,
- Leader of CNRM (National Council of the Maubere Resistance).
- Eng. Joao Carrascalao
- President of UDT (Timorese Democrat Union )
- Lecturer at Sydney Institute of Technology
- Dr. Mari Alkatiri
- Secretary for Foreign Relations of FRETILIN
- Teacher of International Law at the Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo,
Mozambique.
- Prof. Armindo Maia
- Vice President of Dili University, East Timor.
- Rev. Arlindo Marcal
- Leader of the Protestant Church, East Timor
- Constancio Pinto
- Representative of the CNRM (National Council of the Maubere Resistance)
- Senior Student at Brown University, Providence, USA.
INDONESIAN GUESTS
- Dr. George Aditjondro
- Lecturer of Sociology and Anthropology at Newcastle University, NSW,
Australia.
- Ex-lecturer at Christian Satra Warana University, Salatiga, Indonesia.
- Former -journalist and environmentalist.
- Author of many articles and some books on East Timor.
- Dr. Kastorius Sinaga
- Lecturer at the Social Science Postgraduate
Program,University Indonesia,Salemba, Jakarta
- Director, Pact/Indonesia NGO Partnership Iniative, a USAID funded
project on Strengthening Democracy and Rules of Law in Indonesia
- Sugeng Bahagijo
- Indonesian Democrat
- Member of Human Rights Watch in New York
- Others TBA
AUSTRALIAN GUESTS
- Bishop Hilton Deakin
- Auxiliar Bishop of Melbourne (Catholic).
- He visited East Timor several times in the last years
- Chairman of the East Timor Human Rights Center in Melbourne, Australia.
- Dr. Juan Federer Darwin
- Australia based Consultant on South East Asia,
- Occasional lecturer at Northern Territory University,
- Former Consul in Jakarta
GERMAN GUESTS
- Dr. Monika Schlicher
- Researcher at Heidelberg University, Dept. of Political Science
of SE Asia Institute.
- Ph.D. in History of East Timor.
- Lojang Soenario
- Born 1969 in Berlin to Indonesian parents, founding member
of Watch Indonesia (in Germany)
- She did Political Science and Indonesian Studies in Berlin (1991-1996).
PORTUGUESE GUESTS
- Madalena Almeida Veiga
- Lawyer, Assistant of European Law at Fernando Pessoa University (Oporto)
- Pedro Pinto Leite
- Lawyer (living in Leiden, the Netherlands )
- Secretary of IPJET (International Platform of Jurists on East Timor).
PORTUGUESE ORGANISERS, ON BEHALF OF THE FOUNDATION OF PORTUGUESE
UNIVERSITIES
- Prof. Antonio Barbedo de Magalhaes -
- Full Professor of Engineering
- Author of 4 books on East Timor
- Coordinator of the Symposia on Timor of Oporto University.
- Member of the New York Academy of Sciences
- Dr. Jose Azeredo Lopes
- Lecturer (TA) of International Public law at Catholic University (Oporto)
- Dr. Luis Filipe Lobo Fernandes
- Assistant Prof. of International Relations, Minho University (Braga).
- President of the National Association of Professionals of
International Relations
- Member of the Greatest Cincinnati Council for World Affairs
- Dr. Maria Laura Bettencourt Pires -
- Prof., Open University (Lisbon)
- Professor Vasco Garcia
- President of Azores University
- Member of the European Parliament between 1986/94; presently Honorary
Member
- Former Director of the Center for Strategics and
International Relations of Azores University
Number of visits to this page since February 24, 1997:
Solidarity of Indonesian Youth,
Hope for East Timor,
Antonio Barbedo de Magalhaes
