The fracas started when Ambassador Matnai paid a pre-arranged courtesy visit to Kraisak at the parliament building on October 31. According to Thai news reports, the discussion became heated when the Israeli envoy attempted to refute the one-sided allegations against Israel contained in the letter and, Kraisak alleged, "pointed in my face and said some strong words". The committee’s deputy chairman Ibran Maloolean later said the ambassador "did not have the right to point in our face. We are an independent country."

Matnai, a career diplomat, later said the controversy was "really a big, big balloon about a very trivial matter." He maintained that the exchange was civil throughout, despite Kraisak’s depiction of Israel as the "aggressor" and "the killer of children", and added that Kraisak was forced to admit "he doesn’t know all the facts". At any rate, the committee’s deliberations have no direct effect on Thai foreign policy and ties with Israel remain unaffected.

SPEAKING OUT: As a recent meeting of Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Doha, Qatar, struggled to reach unanimity in opposing Israel’s role in the unrest in the Palestinian territories, it was Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad who took centre stage. Bemoaning the inability of the conference to corral all member states into severing ties with Israel, Dr Mahathir said "There are more conflicts within Muslim countries and between Muslim countries than there are between Muslims and their detractors." Making his own view plain, the Malaysian PM observed, "Sadly, Muslim countries… watch helplessly as Israel continues with impunity and arrogance to kill innocent Palestinians."

Meanwhile, four Malaysian Muslims have been jailed for three years for refusing to repent their involvement in ‘deviationist teachings’ and for renouncing Islam. A Shariah court in the PAS-controlled Kelantan state found them guilty of defying an order by the Shariah Appeals Court in 1996. The four were charged under a section of Kelantan state’s Islamic legislation, which provides for a maximum jail term of three years as well as a fine and whipping.

FAMILY TIES: In Indonesia, an appeals court overturned the dismissal of a multimillion-dollar corruption case against former President Suharto and ruled that the case should resume. The court said the trial could proceed even if the former leader failed to appear in court. A Jakarta district court in September dismissed the case after doctors said that Suharto was physically and mentally unfit to stand trial. Meanwhile, Suharto’s son Tommy remains a fugitive from justice after evading a police summons following his conviction on corruption charges. Officials are now turning to Tommy’s web of associates in the hope of ascertaining his whereabouts, but so far the Suharto family’s old network of patronage has played dumb.

Hundreds of thousands of people called for a UN referendum on independence during days of rallies in Banda Aceh, capital of the volatile, Muslim-dominated, northern province of Aceh. Security forces had prevented many more from reaching the city. At least 39 people have died in the region since people started heading for the rallies. President Abdurrahman Wahid has blamed the army and police for the violence. Leaders of the Aceh Independence Movement said they would not take part in peace talks with Jakarta in protest at the violence.

Meanwhile, United States Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Gelbard, who has been embroiled in a war of words with ministers in the Indonesian government, has returned to Jakarta with a message that Washington would like to see a stable Indonesia. At a seminar hosted by the Golkar party Gelbard said that instability in Indonesia "would serve no national interest of the US or other friends of Indonesia". In the statement, Gelbard also lashed out at some Indonesians whom he said were claiming that foreign governments were "trying to destabilise" the country. Those people were promoting "some undefined goal of their own" and clearly had "not thought the matter through rationally", he said.

Ambassador Gelbard’s Indonesian critics have in recent weeks demanded that President Abdurrahman Wahid declare him persona non grata for his outspoken remarks. He has drawn the ire of legislators and some politicians, including Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab and Defence Minister Mohammad Mahfud, for his blunt condemnations of Jakarta’s failure to address problems such as the militia threat in West Timor.

BEAUTY BEHIND BARS: The notorious former leader of the Japanese Red Army, Fusako Shigenobu, is back in Japan and behind bars after almost three decades on the run. A revolutionary once admired by radicals for her beauty, Shigenobu moved to Lebanon in 1971 to form the ultra-leftist Red Army and launch her fight for world revolution. She was arrested near Osaka on November 8 on suspicion of masterminding the 1974 seizure of the French embassy in Holland.

Shigenobu has not been charged in connection with any other incidents but police believe she was behind Red Army hijackings, kidnappings and bombings worldwide. The deadliest attack came at Israel’s Lod Airport in 1972, when at least 24 people were killed. The Red Army fell quiet during the 1990s as Cold War ended and the Middle East peace process gathered momentum. Some Japanese suspect 55-year-old Shigenobu came home to try and revive the crippled group, although most believe her capture, which follows that of eight other key members since 1995, is its final death knell.