Timor trials set to downplay role of Indonesian military
Australian Financial Review
May 8, 2002
Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific Editor
The human rights trials under way in Jakarta over the events in East
Timor in
1999 are reinforcing the near-universal image in Indonesia of the conflict
as
a civil war between equally matched Timorese factions, with Indonesian
security forces as bystanders.
That is the conclusion of a new report from the International Crisis
Group,
whose president is former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans.
"Within Indonesia, the trials have generated little interest, nothing
approaching the attention given to the prosecution of Tommy Soeharto,
the
former president's son," the report said.
The ICG said the problem was not with the way the cases were being judicially
conducted: "Inexperienced as they are, the judges have thus far exceeded
expectations, rejecting military arguments and demonstrating a willingness
to
use international human rights law in a way that defies a common perception
of them as incompetents or political hacks."
The problem, rather, was with "the limited mandate of the ad hoc
court and
the very weak way in which the indictments have been drawn up and presented
by the prosecution".
The military was presented as failing to prevent violence rather than
actively orchestrating it. Thus, "the indictments suggest little
more than
criminal negligence on the part of the accused".
"Had the indictments been better prepared, they not only might have
helped
illuminate the political dynamics in East Timor in 1999, but might have
led
to more effective policies in Aceh and Papua."
The ICG said that through the trials, the United Nations would continue
to be
seen as "a biased and manipulative actor, further reducing the already
slim
chance that it could be an acceptable mediator in future conflicts".
Efforts to curb human rights violations in areas of separatist conflict
would
be portrayed as anti-nationalist. And the Indonesian army's role in creating,
equipping, training and funding militias in Timor would remain unexamined.
The failure of the trials to constitute a genuine domestic remedy for
the
1999 crimes would generate fresh calls for an international tribunal,
said
the ICG. But the chances of this happening "are close to nil".