Monday, June 2, 2003
East Timor cases will always haunt RI: Activist
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Pressure
for the establishment of an international tribunal to try
Indonesian Military personnel accused of gross human rights violations
in
East Timor will never end following the poor result of a series of trials
by the country's ad hoc human rights tribunal, an activist says.
Hendardi,
chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association
(PBHI), said on Saturday that calls by the international community to
bring
military personnel to an international court was "logical as Indonesia's
judiciary has failed to convince them" that justice was being served.
"East
Timor is not be the only country in the world that will continue
calling for the establishment of an international tribunal (to try
Indonesian Military officers accused of human rights violations there),"
Hendardi told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.
East Timor
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has called for the establishment of
an international tribunal in a neutral country to try Indonesian Military
(TNI) personnel allegedly involved in the 1999 mayhem.
In response
to Alkatiri's statement, foreign ministry spokesman Marty
Natalegawa said on Sunday that the Indonesian government had summoned
the
East Timorese ambassador to clarify Dili's request.
Marty said Ambassador Arlindo Marcal would fulfill the summons on Monday.
"We
would like to seek a clarification as to the request, as it goes
against our countries' stance toward developing relations," Marty
told The
Jakarta Post by phone.
He asserted
that Alkatiri's statement, if true, would be "a source of
concern" for Jakarta.
"We
consider the statement to be a premature judgement on the ongoing ad
hoc human rights tribunal here," he said, adding that some of the
cases
remained unresolved pending appeals.
Eighteen
civilian leaders and security personnel, including three Army
generals, were charged with gross human rights violations for their failure
to prevent a violent rampage carried out by pro-Jakarta militia members
and
their military backers in 1999.
The Jakarta
ad hoc human rights tribunal, which was set up under strong
international pressure, has so far acquitted 12 defendants and convicted
five with jail sentences of three to 10 years, including former militia
commander Eurico Guterres and former East Timor governor Abilio Soares
who
remain free pending appeal at the Supreme Court.
Alkatiri
said after a meeting with Gusmao on Friday that he was not
satisfied with the prosecution of 18 civilian leaders and security personnel.
He also
said that he and several ministers would discuss the issue of an
international tribunal with President Megawati Soekarnoputri during their
visit to Jakarta on June 10.
Hendardi,
who once served as a defense lawyer of Xanana Gusmao before he
became East Timor president, said Alkatiri's comment, which contradicted
a
previous statement by Gusmao, reflected mounting pressure from East Timor
people for fair trials for perpetrators of the bloodshed.
Gusmao had
said earlier that East Timor would prefer to maintain ties with
Indonesia rather than pursue the trials of those accused of human rights
violations in 1999.
"The
United Nations gave Indonesia a chance to try the perpetrators of
violence in East Timor. Unfortunately, Indonesia squandered the
opportunity," Hendardi said.
Hendardi
said the tribunal was merely a trick to avoid an international
tribunal to try the East Timor cases.
He admitted
it was not easy to get the United Nations to set up an
international tribunal for the East Timor case.
"But
Indonesia cannot escape from this issue as the UN might set up an
international tribunal due to the poor results of the country's ad hoc
court," Hendardi warned.
The United
Nations set up an international tribunal to prosecute those
accused of fomenting the 1994 Rwandan genocide after Rwanda failed hold
fair trials itself.
The appeals
court still has an opportunity to correct the verdicts of the
East Timor cases, Hendardi said.
"But
I think it would be a bit difficult because most of the defendants
have been declared innocent," he said.