Untitled Document

East Timor war crimes trials a sham, says influential group

South China Morning Post
May 9, 2002

VAUDINE ENGLAND in Jakarta

Trials being held in Jakarta to prosecute generals, policemen and civilians
for crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999 are a sham, according to a
paper released yesterday by the respected International Crisis Group (ICG).

It says that any plan by leading Western nations to restart
military-to-military ties with Indonesia as part of the so-called war on
terror would be wrong.

"At least for the moment, no amount of international or domestic pressure is
going to produce justice for serious human rights crimes by military officers
in East Timor," the report says after a detailed case-by-case analysis.

"At the same time, it would send precisely the wrong signal to the Indonesian
Government and, for that matter, to supporters of military and judicial
reform, to ease existing restrictions on aid to the Indonesian military.

"To waive those restrictions would be to reward an incompetent or
obstructionist prosecution and a dissembling officer corps; it would also
undermine those within Indonesia's political elite and civil society who have
been pressing for accountability as an essential aspect of military reform."

The trials have always been the litmus test for Indonesia's claims of reform,
and the West insists a credible legal process is required before military
ties can be revived.

Leaders of the Indonesian armed forces deeply resent the pressure, fighting
off legal processes for as long as possible and now attending the courtroom
en masse in a silent show of support for their prosecuted comrades. Leading
generals now feel the war on terror will see them let off the hook of human
rights crimes, military analysts say.

The ICG's damning judgment of the East Timor trials has implications partly
because the group has built a reputation for influencing policy, thanks to
its board membership which comprises leading world figures.

It is also a wake-up call to the Government which had hoped the trials,
albeit limited in scope, would be enough to deter international demands for a
war crimes tribunal.

The paper concludes: "Weak indictments and a limited court mandate means the
trials have failed to address the way in which the military's creation and
use of militia forces contributed to human rights violations.

"Though purporting to identify crimes against humanity, the indictments as
drafted suggest little more than criminal negligence on the part of the
accused."

The report says these indictments trivialise the issue, and suggests they
will only reinforce some Indonesian attitudes about East Timor - that East
Timorese fight readily among themselves, that the UN was biased and part of
an international conspiracy against Jakarta, and that criticising the
military for its actions against separatism is unpatriotic.