Findings on Timor don't jar military<\/p>\n
DILI, East Timor (JP): The local military is not shaken by the
\nNational Commission on Human Rights' recent finding that troops
\nviolated basic rights when they killed six people in a Jan. 12
\noperation in Liquisa.<\/p>\n
Chief of the Udayana Military Command Maj. Gen. R. Adang
\nRuchiatna, who oversees security in East Timor, Nusa Tenggara and
\nBali, said the finding would not inhibit the military from
\ncarrying out its day-to-day duties.<\/p>\n
\"ABRI (the Armed Forces) will not hesitate to decide and act
\nas it believes is necessary in order to protect the people,\" he
\ntold journalists when hosting an Idul Fitri gathering with local
\nofficials and community leaders at his residence.<\/p>\n
The commission's fact-finding team concluded last week that
\nmilitary personnel intimidated and tortured six villagers in
\norder to extract confessions in the Jan. 12 operation against
\nFretilin rebels.<\/p>\n
ABRI, which has set up its own fact finding team, has found
\nthat troops \"deviated\" from standard procedures during the
\noperation, but insisted that two of the deceased were rebels and
\nthe rest were sympathizers.<\/p>\n
The Army has set up a 36-member Officers' Honor Council to
\nfollow up on ABRI's investigations and recommend the necessary
\nactions.<\/p>\n
\"What was said by the commission is correct as far as human
\nrights is concerned. They see it from the human rights point of
\nview. ABRI's fact finding team focuses on its military aspect,\"
\nRuchiatna said.<\/p>\n
\"Obviously, the conclusions drawn by the commission and by
\nABRI will be different because they have different focuses in
\ntheir investigations,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Ruchiatna said that he would personally be glad if more
\nparties formed their own fact-finding teams so as to obtain more
\nevidence concerning the incident, which has sparked an
\ninternational outcry.<\/p>\n
Ruchiatna said he could not say at the moment what had gone
\nwrong in the operation in Liquisa, an area about 60 kilometers
\nwest of here, which the military believes is a stronghold of pro-
\nindependence rebels.<\/p>\n
The Officers' Honor Council will examine the military aspects
\nof the operation, such as what the orders were and how the troops
\nimplemented them in the field, he added.<\/p>\n
Ruchiatna said that as whole, security in the former
\nPortuguese colony is well under control. He stressed that ABRI
\nclosely monitors Liquisa and areas around Dili.<\/p>\n
\"It's foolish to assume that rebels stand still at one place.
\nThey will do everything they can to operate as close as possible
\nto the capital,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He added that following the Liquisa incident, many citizens
\nhave approached and asked him for arms so that they will be able
\nto help ABRI track down rebels in the jungle.<\/p>\n
Australia<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Sydney, Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans
\nsaid yesterday that Indonesia recognized it would have to
\nconfront allegations about human rights abuses in East Timor.<\/p>\n
The country's recently-established Human Rights Commission
\nissued a report Wednesday contradicting military accounts of the
\nkilling of six people on Jan. 12 in the territory's Liquisa
\nregency, AFP reported.<\/p>\n
It said Indonesian soldiers killed six non-combatant
\ncivilians. The military had said the casualties were two Fretilin
\nguerrillas fighting for independence and four members of a pro-
\nindependence clandestine network.<\/p>\n
\"I think the Indonesians fully recognize that this is an issue
\nthey have to confront and deal with head on,\" Evans told a
\ntelevision interviewer.<\/p>\n
He said the situation in East Timor had \"obviously been
\ndeteriorating, particularly over the last three months or so.\"<\/p>\n
But Evans said Indonesia also seemed \"capable of applying this
\ncorrective approach,\" citing the fact that it had established the
\ncommission which produced \"these rather striking and startling
\nfindings.\"<\/p>\n
The foreign minister said the Indonesian army's investigation
\nthrough the Military Honor Council was still underway.<\/p>\n
\"The Military Honor Council, although it seems an
\nextraordinarily named institution, is the traditional
\ninvestigative court-martial type institution in Indonesia and I
\ndon't think there is any grounds at all for skepticism at this
\nstage about how that process will work itself out,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia seized the former Portuguese colony in December 1975
\nand annexed it the following July in defiance of the United
\nNations. (yac\/pan)<\/p>",
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