{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1330397,
        "msgid": "silaens-appointment-slammed-1447893297",
        "date": "2003-12-03 00:00:00",
        "title": "Silaen's appointment slammed",
        "author": null,
        "source": "AP",
        "tags": null,
        "topic": null,
        "summary": "Silaen's appointment slammed JAKARTA: Rights groups on Tuesday criticized the appointment of a police officer accused in the 1999 East Timor violence as the new chief in restive Papua province, saying it showed that security forces cared little about human rights or justice. Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen was named on Monday as the new head of police in Papua, where a small band of separatist guerrillas is battling Jakarta rule.",
        "content": "<p>Silaen's appointment slammed<\/p>\n<p>JAKARTA: Rights groups on Tuesday criticized the appointment<br>\nof a police officer accused in the 1999 East Timor violence as<br>\nthe new chief in restive Papua province, saying it showed that<br>\nsecurity forces cared little about human rights or justice.<\/p>\n<p>Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen was named on Monday as the new head<br>\nof police in Papua, where a small band of separatist guerrillas<br>\nis battling Jakarta rule. He headed the police in East Timor when<br>\nit voted overwhelmingly for independence in 1999 after 24 years<br>\nof brutal Jakarta rule.<\/p>\n<p>Silaen was acquitted by an Indonesian court in 2002 on charges<br>\nhe failed to prevent the violence. The tribunal, which convicted<br>\njust six of 18 Indonesian officials accused in the bloodshed, has<br>\nbeen widely dismissed as a sham.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, a UN-led team of prosecutors in East Timor has<br>\nindicted Silaen, and several other Indonesian officials, over<br>\ntheir alleged role in the violence.<\/p>\n<p>Hendardi, who heads the Human Rights and Legal Aid<br>\nAssociation, said the appointment sends a message to police and<br>\nmilitary critics that senior officers would never be punished for<br>\nalleged rights abuses in East Timor.<\/p>\n<p>\"This is to show the public that the military did nothing<br>\nwrong in East Timor. It means they do not care about justice,\"<br>\nsaid Hendardi, who goes by a single name. \"The perpetrators (of<br>\nthe violence) are being rewarded,\" he said.<\/p>\n<p>All the six Indonesian officials convicted by the Jakarta<br>\ntribunal remain free on appeal, and most continue to hold high-<br>\nranking positions in the police and army.<\/p>\n<p>Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, the highest ranking officer convinced<br>\nin the violence, has played a key role in Jakarta's latest bloody<br>\noffensive against separatists in Aceh province<\/p>\n<p>Police in Jakarta defended Silaen's appointment.<\/p>\n<p>\"The Indonesian police has put its full trust in him to carry<br>\nout his duties in Papua,\" said spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko.<br>\n\"The charges of human rights abuses in East Timor have been<br>\ndropped by the Indonesian court. We are satisfied with that.\"<br>\n--AP<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/silaens-appointment-slammed-1447893297",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}