We the non government organizations of Timor Leste and Indonesia regret the stance taken by the governments of Timor Leste and Indonesia who officially established a Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) on 9 March 2005. We are of the opinion that this political decision made by the two aforementioned countries has disregarded demands for justice made by victims of serious human rights violations that occurred in East Timor in 1999. Moreover, we suspect that political deals were made over the establishment
of the CTF which was done so hurriedly and contains draft terms of reference that are appalling.

Efforts to improve the contents of the draft terms of reference (TOR) for the CTF have been restricted to replacing a few words without actually changing the meaning. For example, in point 14 (c) (i) the word "amnesty" has been changed to 'pardon'; the sentence "rehabilitation for those accused of arbitrarily violating human rights" has been replaced with "rehabilitation for those wrongly accused of violating human rights." In the section entitled aim, the sentence "to establish the conclusive truth" has been replaced with "to establish the final truth". In the section entitled mandate, the sentence "to reveal the factual truth" has been replaced with
"to reveal the facts."

In our opinion the establishment of the CTF contradicts statements made by senior officials from the two countries who initially guaranteed that the CTF would grant no impunity. An examination of the approved draft TOR shows that the political decision to establish the CTF is clearly intended to pardon those guilty of serious human rights violations in East Timor, without regard to their degree of culpability.

We must emphasize that the principle of reconciliation and friendship, or whatever it may be called, must be rooted in justice. It should not merely be intended to pardon, but to also determine culpability. And it should not
aim for the exact opposite, by contributing to current impunity by denying justice, or sacrificing justice in the interests of the current political-economic needs of the two countries. Therefore, we urge the governments of these two countries, in the interest of the victims' rights, to take responsibility before the public and parliament for their decision to establish the CTF.

Jakarta and Dili, 18 March 2005

Non Government Organizations of Indonesia; HRWG (Choirul Anam) KONTRAS (Usman Hamid/+62.811812149) ELSAM, (Ifdhal Kasim), PBHI (Jhonson Panjaitan), IMPARSIAL (Rachland Nashidik), Jaringan Kerja Budaya (Hilmar Farid).

Non Government Organizations of Timor Leste; Perkumpulan HAK (Jose Luis de Oliveira/ +670-7237172, Judicial System Monitoring Program (Tiago Amaral Sarmento)/+670-7233725, Fokupers (Manuela Leong), Lao Hamutuk (Akara), SAHE (Nuno Rodrigues), Forum Tau Matan (Joao Pequinho), Khadalak Sulimutu
Institute (Lita Sarmento).