July 09, 2005

RI, Timor Leste to announce commission members next week

Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Indonesia and Timor Leste will continue working on a reconciliation plan through the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) despite a UN team's recommendation for an international tribunal, Indonesian foreign minister
Hassan Wirayuda says.

After a meeting with the Timor Leste delegation led by his counterpart Jose Ramos-Horta, Hasan said on Friday that the two governments would announce the name of 10 members of the commission next week.

The two governments agreed last year to set up a commission to deal with human rights atrocities committed by pro-Jakarta militias in the wake of the 1999 vote for independence in Timor Leste, formerly known as East Timor.

In March, Presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Xanana Gusmao of Timor Leste signed an agreement in which they agreed to appoint five Indonesians and five Timorese to work in the commission, which is to be funded by both governments.

"According to the framework agreement, each country picks up five names as candidates for the commission and three more as alternates. The two governments must consult each other on the candidates before announcing their names.

"On our side, we hope we can finish the consultation next week. We already have the names. These persons have high integrity and we expect them to be able to carry out the herculean task of the commission: They have to finish their job in a year, to dig up the truth, to find the persons or parties responsible (for the 1999 violence) and finally to push for reconciliation," Hassan said.

Horta said that the names of the prospective commissioners would be announced simultaneously in Jakarta and Dili.

Both Hassan and Horta expressed their disappointment in a joint statement from the UN Commission of Experts appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan. The commission's three members visited Indonesia earlier this year
and submitted their report to the United Nations last month.

"Both parties shared the opinion that the Secretary-General's Report of the Commission of Experts to the UN Security Council does not promote the process of reconciliation, and agreed to continue with joint efforts to
begin the work of the CTF within the time frame that was agreed upon," the joint statement said.

The Indonesian government has said that it is prioritizing reconciliation with Timor Leste but has insisted this would include bringing all human rights violators to justice.

Observers, however, have expressed skepticism about the joint commission, arguing that it is merely a ploy by Indonesia to whitewash any human rights violations committed by its citizens.

The government set up an Ad Hoc Human Rights Court for Timor Leste in Jakarta. The Indonesian Attorney General's Office later indicted 18 military and police personnel, two government officials and a militia leader for crimes.

Of the 18 who were tried, only six were convicted, and five of those convictions were ultimately overturned on appeal.

The commission report said Indonesia's efforts to secure justice had been "manifestly inadequate". It urged the United Nations Security Council to establish and international criminal tribunal to try the perpetrators unless the government took "substantive action" within six months.