Gusmao Plays a Dangerous Game

1 June 2004 - East Timorese President, Xanana Gusmao, is in danger of becoming isolated from his own people and risks being accused of unwarranted interference in Indonesia's political affairs following "reconciliation talks" in Bali with former military commander and presidential candidate, Gen (ret.) Wiranto, last weekend, says TAPOL,
the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.

Wiranto is indicted on crimes against humanity charges by East Timor's UN-backed serious crimes tribunal. He was reportedly accompanied to the meeting with Gusmao by former general Zacky Anwar Makarim, a senior officer facing the same charges.

The meeting is likely to have caused grave offence to the victims of military violence in Indonesia, as well as East Timor, perpetrated under Wiranto's command.

Wiranto was armed forces commander at the time of East Timor's 1999 vote for independence when systematic and gross violations of human rights were perpetrated against the civilian population by the Indonesian army and its militia proxies.

According to Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), as military commander, he was also responsible for killings and rights abuses committed by military personnel during the Trisakti University incident and Jakarta riots at the time of the downfall of former President Suhharto in May 1998, and during the Semanggi I and II incidents in November 1998 and September 1999.

For these reasons alone, the meeting should not have taken place, says TAPOL. "Gusmao has understandably been keen to promote reconciliation with Indonesia, but it is clear that meaningful reconciliation cannot be achieved without accountability and justice. Wiranto has refused to account for his involvement in the East Timor violence and has treated East Timor's serious crimes process with contempt," said spokesperson Paul
Barber.

"The meeting may also have boosted Wiranto's presidential campaign and was
therefore an entirely inappropriate intervention in Indonesia's electoral process. Wiranto is one of several presidential candidates, he does not represent the Indonesian overnment and has no mandate from the Indonesian electorate so it is difficult to see how the meeting could have advanced Gusmao's laudable objective of improving relations with Indonesia," said Barber.

Gusmao has already been criticised for his apparent interference in East Timor's judicial process by pressing the prosecutor general not to seek an international arrest warrant for Wiranto.

On his return to East Timor, Gusmao was confronted by angry demonstrators denouncing his dialogue with Wiranto and demanding justice for atrocities committed by the ndonesian army. He has also been criticised by Indonesian NGOs, including his former lawyer and chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), Hendardi.

Gusmao's predicament has been caused to a large extent by the failure of the UN and the international community to secure timely justice for the victims of violence in East Timor. The international community has the primary responsibility to ensure that those responsible for gross violations of human rights are held to account for their crimes, but its inadequate efforts to date have simply served to strengthen the impunity enjoyed by those who orchestrated the violence while punishing low-level militias who helped to carry out the Indonesian army's dirty work.

TAPOL urges the UN to review the options for justice for East Timor and in particular to consider the establishment of an international tribunal as recommended by its own Commission of Inquiry on East Timor and to ensure that East Timor's serious crimes process receives the political and financial support it needs to complete its work.