Agence France Presse
August 4, 2005 Thursday 8:50 AM GMT

Indonesia and East Timor open truth commission on atrocities

KUTA, Indonesia Aug 4

Indonesia took another step towards reconciliation with East Timor Thursday with the first meeting of a truth commission to look into its bloody handling of its tiny neighbour's push for independence.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda and his East Timorese counterpart Jose Ramos-Horta were addressing the inaugural meeting of the joint Commission of Truth and Friendship on the resort island of Bali.

"The preliminary meeting of the commission has started but the two foreign ministers are now addressing the members of the commission," Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin, who was in the closed-door meeting, told AFP by telephone.

Modelled along lines similar to South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the body aims at reconciliation rather than recrimination over deadly violence by pro-Jakarta militias during East
Timor's push for independence.

The neighbours are trying to leave the past behind by rejecting prosecutions in favour of looking towards the future.

"This is the approach that has been chosen by the two nations, the two parties involved," Thamrin said on Monday.

Dili and Jakarta have both avoided addressing military-backed atrocities committed after Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and before it pulled out in 1999.

Ramos-Horta has said the commission would provide the means for both countries to move on. "Where else have two nations who have shared a turbulent past been bold enough to face the future in such a way?" he said
last month.

Indonesia withdrew from East Timor in an orgy of violence surrounding the independence vote.

Militia gangs, which the United Nations has said were recruited and directed by Indonesia's military, went on a rampage of killing and arson before and after East Timorese voted for independence from Jakarta in a
UN-sponsored ballot in August 1999.

They killed about 1,400 independence supporters and laid waste to much of the infrastructure.

East Timor gained full independence in May 2002 after more than two years of UN stewardship.

Jakarta and Dili have rejected a call from the United Nations to set up an international court to investigate the bloodshed. This would "distract" from reconciliation efforts, Indonesia has said.

An Indonesian tribunal set up to try military officers and officials for atrocities in East Timor has drawn international criticism for failing to jail any Indonesians.

The joint Commission of Truth and Friendship will not have the ability to prosecute but will make recommendations on "appropriate matters to heal the wounds of the past," Indonesia's Thamrin said.

It was also likely to look for some form of compensation or cooperation for East Timor.

The two-day meeting starting in Bali on Thursday was expected mainly to deal with procedural matters such as choosing a chairman and vice chairman and deciding how the commission would work.

East Timorese commission member Dionisio Babo Soares said it would discuss a work plan, preparations for the operation of the office in Bali and other "technical preparations".

"Included are matters such as the recruitment of staff," Soares was quoted as saying by the state Antara news agency.

END