Muzi.com : Muzi (English) : News : Falun Gong barred from Jakarta float parade

LatelineNews: 2002-8-25] JAKARTA - The Falun Gong spiritual movement, banned in China [..] was barred in Indonesia from participating in an independence anniversary float parade on Sunday, local media reported.Metro TV private television station reported that although the Indonesian Falun Gong Association had paid an entry fee of five million rupiah ($560), the parade committee wouldn' t let its members march or drive their floats -- decorated in the Falun Gong' s yellow colour -- through the streets of Jakarta.

"The committee barred us from participating in this parade after they got a call from the foreign ministry. We asked them what was the reason but they couldn' t answer," Adiwarman, the group' s lawyer, told Metro TV.

Ministry officials declined to comment, but China is known to look with disfavour on other countries which allow a free reign to the Falun Gong.

Indonesia normalised diplomatic ties with China in 1990 after around two decades of severed relations, and may be seeking to score points with Beijing, which last week criticised a visit to Jakarta by Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu.

Jakarta played down the visit as private but Lu managed to see some Indonesian officials and generate publicity for Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

China bans Falun Gong and has taken a harsh line toward its followers since some 10,000 of them staged a peaceful protest in 1999 around the leadership compound in Beijing to demand recognition of their faith.

[..]It claims up to 3,000 members in Indonesia, mostly residing in the capital.

Indonesia annually holds a float parade through the streets of the capital to celebrate its independence. Indonesian founders declared the independence of the nation on August 17, 1945.