[Kabar-indonesia] ETAN: Joint Commission Unlikely to Further Truth or Friendship Between Timor and Indonesia

[John M Miller]

Joint Commission Unlikely to Further Truth or Friendship Between 
Timor and Indonesia

For Immediate Release

Contact: John M. Miller, 718-596-7668; mobile: 917-690-4391, john at etan.org

February 22, 2007 - The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network 
(ETAN) said today that the joint Indonesia-East Timor Commission of 
Truth and Friendship (CTF) can not further either goal its name suggests.

"The current public hearings give us no reason to change our view 
that the CTF is meant to prematurely close the books, leaving those 
who masterminded Indonesia's campaign of violence in East Timor in 
1999 unrepentant and untouched," said John M. Miller, National 
Coordinator of ETAN. "A whitewash is not a basis on which to create 
justice or build friendship between peoples or nations."

"The truth of 1999 is known. The joint commission's quest for a 
consensus history will only lead to a watered-down version of events 
which have already been well-aired. Instead of offering amnesties in 
exchange for self-serving statements by Indonesian officials, 
resources would be better used educating the Indonesian public about 
its military's sordid actions in East Timor and prosecuting the 
officials who organized and conducted those crimes," said Miller.

The CTF was formed in March 2005 by the presidents of Indonesia and 
East Timor in an unsuccessful effort to dissuade then UN 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan from appointing a Commission of Experts 
(COE) to make recommendations to ensure justice for human rights 
crimes committed in East Timor in 1999.

"We support good relations between the Indonesian and East Timorese 
people, but they will not overcome their tragic pasts or build 
democracies until there is genuine accountability for decades of 
systematic human rights violations by the Indonesian military," said 
Miller. "This de facto impunity has an impact on East Timor today, 
contributing to the current security crisis which has forced tens of 
thousands in the capital from their homes."

"Victims testifying to the commission have been treated insensitively 
at best by some of the Indonesian commissioners," said Miller.

Background

Formed over the objections of East Timor's Catholic Church and both 
countries' civil society organizations, the CTF is to establish a 
"shared historical record" of human rights violations before and 
after Timor-Leste's independence ballot in 1999. It can recommend 
amnesty for those who "cooperate fully" with it and can propose 
people-to-people reconciliation efforts, but it cannot recommend 
prosecution or other judicial measures. It has no power to compel 
testimony or cooperation.

The UN's COE found that the CTF's Terms of Reference contradict 
international and domestic laws, and offer no mechanisms for 
addressing serious crimes. The COE report recommends that the 
governments revise the terms of reference as a precondition to 
receiving international support. Indonesia's Constitutional Court 
recently cast further doubt on the CTF's legal basis. Among other 
principles, the CTF is supposed to operate under the guidelines of 
Indonesia's own Truth and Reconciliation Commission. However, 
Indonesia's Constitutional Court recently declared the Indonesian 
commission unconstitutional, citing provisions allowing for amnesty 
for serious crimes and conditioning reparations on victims forgiving 
their tormentors.

The CTF has access to the records of East Timor's Commission for 
Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR), the joint UN-East Timor 
serious crimes process, the Indonesian National Commission of Inquiry 
on Human Rights Violations in East Timor in 1999 (KPP HAM) and the 
deeply-flawed Ad-hoc Human Rights Court on East Timor. However, 
Indonesia's military and ministries are not required to open their 
records, which might actually provide additional evidence.

Unlike the CAVR, the CTF will not address events prior to 1999, when 
the majority of the deaths and human rights crimes during Indonesia's 
invasion and occupation violations occurred.

Rafendi Djamin of the Human Rights Working Group told the Jakarta 
Post, "It has been agreed by the international community that gross 
human rights violations did take place in East Timor and the 
perpetrators must stand trial for that." East Timor's Judicial System 
Monitoring Programme has said that any amnesties would likely be the 
result of "a high level political conspiracy between the Government 
of Indonesia and Timor-Leste," undermining the rights of victims and 
paving the way for further rights violations.

ETAN was formed in 1991. The U.S.-based organization advocates for 
democracy, justice and human rights for Timor-Leste and Indonesia. 
For more information see ETAN's web site: http://www.etan.org.

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ETAN welcomes your financial support. For more info: 
http://etan.org/etan/donate.htm

John M. Miller         Internet: fbp at igc.org
National Coordinator
East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668      Fax: (718)222-4097
Mobile phone: (917)690-4391  Skype: john.m.miller
Web site: http://www.etan.org

Send a blank e-mail message to info at etan.org to find out
how to learn more about East Timor on the Internet

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