BY VANNESSA HEARMAN
On the eve of an official visit to Jakarta, Timorese PM Mari Alkatiri on May 30 called for an international tribunal in a "neutral country" to try those responsible for serious crimes in his country in 1999. He likened the current Indonesian trials to "a piece of theatre".
However, on June 11 foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta said East Timor would not press for an international tribunal and that it wasn't on the government's agenda. He refused to comment on the trials of 18 people currently being held in Indonesia, in regard to 1999 crimes.
During the Jakarta trip, on June 12, Horta said Indonesia had made a "tremendous effort" on the trials front. The next day, on a visit to Singapore, according to the Straits Times, Horta said that the government was leaving the 1999 events well behind it, and concentrating instead on jobs and reconstruction. He praised the Indonesian government for showing "true statesmanship" in its relations with East Timor.
Amnesty
Alkatiri went one step further, calling for an amnesty for all those in prison for crimes committed in 1999. He even criticised some of the sentences handed down by the United Nations Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) in Dili as "excessive". In an interview with the Portuguese news agency Lusa, Alkatiri said that Timorese leaders must "look for a pragmatic approach that allows relations [with Indonesia] to progress".
In 2001, Timorese President Xanana Gusmao had also called for an amnesty to encourage the remaining Timorese refugees to return from the camps in West Timor. His comments shocked many Timorese and, until Alkatiri's recent statement, they were seen as a poorly conceived tactic to encourage returnees.
Alkatiri says an amnesty for those in prison for committing crimes in 1999 is fair given that Indonesian military officers are unlikely to ever stand trial. In February, Gusmao and Ramos Horta criticised the SCU's indictment against former Indonesian military chief Wiranto for crimes against humanity. They argued that it had no jurisdiction in an independent East Timor.
The prosecution of serious crimes was a part of the mandate of United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, as contained in UN Security Council Resolution 1272. Even though the UN retains the authority to investigate and prosecute serious crimes committed in 1999, even after independence, the UN mission also disassociated itself from the Wiranto indictment.
In a May 13 letter, the National Alliance for an International Tribunal for East Timor, consisting of a range of Timorese NGOs and victim support groups, condemned the UN for shirking its responsibilities.
Predictably, Wiranto welcomed the UN and Timorese leaders' statements against his indictment, arguing that the SCU had no legal standing. PM Alkatiri also criticised the SCU's US$4 million budget, arguing that it is too large relative to US$150,000 for the entire legal system.
The UN has already reduced its international prosecutors from 13 to nine, and will not guarantee the SCU beyond June 2004. With no prosecutions against senior military officers, either in Indonesia or internationally, the serious crimes panels were the only mechanism the Timorese had to see justice done.
Trials
Some militia members are serving long sentences following trials in East Timor. One of them, Joni Marques, is a leader of the Los Palos-based Tim Alfa militia. He was convicted for a series of crimes including the murder of nine people in a roadside ambush, among them clergy members and a journalist. Marques was sentenced in 2001, together with eight other militia members, to more than 33 years' jail.
During the Tim Alfa trial, Syaiful Anwar, an Indonesian military officer, was accused of slitting the throat of an alleged independence supporter.
The indictment issued in April for the Suai Church massacre on September 6, 1999 listed eight members of the Indonesian army (TNI), including the district and sub-district commanders, the former Indonesian district civilian administrator (also a TNI officer), the former Indonesian district chief of police and six East Timorese TNI soldiers.
They were charged with 31 counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, enforced disappearance, torture, deportation and persecution committed against the civilian population of the district. However, Indonesia has refused to allow the extradition and trial of anyone indicted by the SCU.
The UN, as the former transitional government, argued that Indonesia must first try those accused of crimes against humanity in 1999. This is despite a UN recommendation in 2000 for an international tribunal.
An Indonesian tribunal specifically focused on East Timor was only set up in 2001. Until then, cases such as that of Tim Alfa were tried under international law by the serious crimes panels consisting of three judges in Timorese courts.
The Indonesian human rights tribunal for East Timor was to hear cases against 18 people charged in Indonesia over the 1999 violence. The list did not include Wiranto. So far, 12 have been acquitted, five have been found guilty, though several remain free on appeal, a process which could take years.
Amnesty International and the Judicial Systems Monitoring Program have criticised the trials saying they "have not been performed in accordance with international standards, and have delivered neither truth nor justice".
The court decision against Adam Damiri, a former TNI regional commander, is pending. The prosecutor has argued that Damiri be acquitted of all charges, and in an unprecedented move, Damiri has been permitted leave several times to prosecute the war in Aceh.
International pressure
East Timorese Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo has been a lone voice among Timorese leaders in calling for an international tribunal. More than 90 religious leaders in the US recently signed a statement demanding an international tribunal be set up "regardless of the outcome of the Indonesia trials".
On May 20, the first anniversary of East Timor's independence, the International Federation for East Timor and the US-based East Timor Action Network called on the UN Security Council and the US government to support the creation of an international tribunal for East Timor.
In April, the British-based TAPOL Indonesian Human Rights Campaign and the Catholic Institute for International Relations condemned the soft stance taken by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights towards the sham trials in Indonesia. TAPOL spokesperson Paul Barber said that Indonesia had forfeited its chance to ensure justice for East Timor.
Hendardi, chairperson of the Indonesian Legal Aid Association, said on May 31 he feared that the trials were a lost opportunity for Indonesia to stop the military's impunity for human rights abuses.
"The farcical nature of the trials is an argument in favor of establishing an international tribunal for East Timor", said Jon Lamb from Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific. "Clearly, there needs to be more pressure built for an international tribunal, the only chance the East Timorese people now have to see justice done."
From Green Left Weekly, June 25, 2003.
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