Ever illusive justice<\/p>\n
Many Indonesian officials and legal experts have gone up in
\narms after hearing the news on Tuesday that East Timor has
\nindicted seven top Indonesian Military (TNI) officers on charges
\nof crimes against humanity. The typical official response was
\nthat since East Timor has no authority to issue such an
\nindictment, Jakarta would ignore the summonses issued for the
\nArmy generals.<\/p>\n
Experts in international laws backed the government's stance.
\nBesides lacking the authority to indict, they pointed to the
\nabsence of an extradition treaty between Indonesia and East Timor
\nas a reason for not complying, even if Jakarta had wanted to.<\/p>\n
Their arguments, therefore, rests largely on legal
\ntechnicalities. But can they seriously maintain a similar posture
\nfrom the point of justice? Can Indonesia ignore the call for
\ncooperation from a neighboring country to help uphold justice?<\/p>\n
The seven TNI officers and a top civil servant are wanted by
\nEast Timor for their alleged roles in the mayhem that erupted
\nthere in the last weeks before the territory broke away from
\nIndonesia in October of 1999.<\/p>\n
Hundreds if not thousands of people were murdered, and more
\nthan 200,000 East Timorese were forced to leave their homes after
\nit became apparent that the pro-Indonesian forces were losing the
\nUN-sponsored vote on self-determination to the pro-independence
\ncamp in early September, 1999.<\/p>\n
While most of the atrocities were blamed on pro-Indonesian
\nmilitias, there have been suggestions that the TNI, which was in
\ncharge of security in East Timor at the time, played a part in
\ninstigating the violence.<\/p>\n
This part about the TNI role was never clear, and this is what
\nthe newly formed independent East Timor state is trying to
\nestablish by issuing indictments against the TNI officers.<\/p>\n
Heading the list is Gen. (ret) Wiranto, the TNI chief in 1999,
\nmaking him the man most responsible for the security, as well as
\nthe safety of the people, in East Timor at the time.<\/p>\n
Indonesia managed to evade international wrath over what
\nhappened in East Timor in 1999 when it promised to bring those
\nTNI officers responsible for the mayhem to court. But as time
\npasses, it becomes clear that the Human Rights Court established
\nto hear the cases has failed in its job, which is to uphold
\njustice. Wiranto was never put on trial, and most of the officers
\ntried by the court were either acquitted or let off lightly.<\/p>\n
Now with the trials of the East Timor mayhem reaching the
\nfinal stages, it is clear that Indonesia has failed to meet its
\nresponsibilities as a member of the international community in
\nupholding justice. These trials, held in Jakarta, failed to
\nanswer the single most important question: Who was, or were,
\nresponsible for the atrocities? And consequently, to this day and
\nafter so many trials, we have not seen anyone in Jakarta being
\npunished for those heinous crimes.<\/p>\n
With the Human Rights Court in Indonesia failing to meet even
\nthe basic expectations to uphold justice, it should come as no
\nsurprise that Dili has now moved to indict the seven TNI
\nofficers. And given that the East Timor administration receives
\nadvisory assistance from the United Nations, it is also clear
\nthat the international community, as well as the East Timorese
\npeople, will not rest in their quest for justice.<\/p>\n
It is not just the East Timorese who are finding that justice
\nis an elusive thing in Indonesia. Many Indonesians craving for
\njustice have also come across a thick brickwall. There are just
\nsimply too many issues of human right violations committed by the
\nstate and the military in the past, most notably in Aceh, Papua
\nand here in Jakarta, that have not been addressed by the court.
\nEast Timorese must count themselves lucky because they have the
\ninternational community behind them in constantly putting the
\npressure on the Indonesian government to act.<\/p>\n
When Indonesia decided to let go of East Timor through the
\nreferendum in 1999, it was with the strong expectation that it
\nwould remove, once and for all, a controversial international
\nissue that had been \"a pebble in the shoe\", to use the expression
\npopularly used by officials then, for more than two decades.<\/p>\n
More than three years has now passed, and it seems that this
\n\"pebble\" is still bugging Indonesia. We know that we have
\nourselves to blame. We can run, but we cannot hide. Sooner or
\nlater, we have to come to terms with the fact that Indonesia was
\nresponsible for the 1999 mayhem in East Timor, and that some
\npeople in the TNI should be held accountable.<\/p>\n
If not the Human Rights court in Jakarta, this will happen in
\na court in Dili, or in The Hague, where the International Court
\nof Justice resides. The choice is Indonesia's alone to make.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ever-illusive-justice-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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