'World has no trust in rights trials'<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The recent indictment of several Indonesian military officers in
\nEast Timor shows that the international community has no trust in
\neither the ongoing human rights trial or the country's judiciary,
\na noted rights activist says.<\/p>\n
Sholahuddin Wahid, deputy chairman of the National Commission
\non Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said on Wednesday that the
\nsuspicion stemmed from the poor performance of the human rights
\ntribunal, which had acquitted most of military and police
\nofficials prosecuted for gross human rights violations in East
\nTimor in 1999.<\/p>\n
A total of 18 military and police personnel, including three
\nArmy generals, and civilians were brought to trial for their role
\nin the bloodshed in the run-up to, during, after the United
\nNations-sponsored referendum, in which the East Timorese people
\nvoted to break away from Indonesia in 1999.<\/p>\n
The rampage, perpetrated by thousands of pro-Jakarta militias,
\nclaimed hundreds of lives and destroyed almost 80 percent of
\nbuildings and infrastructure there. It also drove some 250,000
\nEast Timorese into West Timor, where they lived in squalid
\nmakeshift refugee camps. Most of them, however, have returned to
\nEast Timor.<\/p>\n
The human rights court has acquitted most of the defendants
\ndespite international calls to bring to justice those responsible
\nfor the violence.<\/p>\n
Sholahuddin said the human rights court was part of the
\ncountry's judiciary, which is notorious for corruption and
\nunfairness.<\/p>\n
\"Our judicial system is far from satisfactory, but that's what
\nwe have,\" he said, suggesting that East Timor should wait for the
\nresults of the human rights trial here.<\/p>\n
East Timor, Indonesia's former 27th province, had charged,
\namong others, former TNI chief Gen. (Ret) Wiranto, Lt. Gen. Kiki
\nSyahnakri, Maj. Gen. Zaky Anwar Makarim, and Maj. Gen. Adam
\nDamiri, with crimes against humanity and asked Indonesia to
\nrepatriate those implicated in the violence.<\/p>\n
Sholahuddin said the fact that prosecutors failed to bring
\nWiranto, who had been considered by some to be the person most
\nresponsible for the violence, to justice showed that Indonesia
\nwas unable to administer justice.<\/p>\n
\"But, maybe the international community would remain
\nsuspicious even if Wiranto went to trial as well,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In 2001, the House of Representatives said the human rights
\ntrial was needed to prevent international intervention in the
\nEast Timor case.<\/p>\n
House Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Suryoguritno said then that the
\ncase should be solved immediately in order to prevent
\nintervention by outsiders.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the House's defense and foreign affairs
\ncommission threw its support behind Wiranto, saying that an
\nindictment by prosecutors in East Timor was simply a political
\nmaneuver to discredit Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The commission suggested that all parties respect the ad hoc
\ncourt specifically organized to try perpetrators of human rights
\nabuse in East Timor.<\/p>\n
The meeting also recommended the government pay more attention
\nto the East Timor issue and proposed the formation of a small
\nteam to assess the case.<\/p>\n
\"The commission rejects any attempts to make (the legal case
\nof) the human rights abuse into a political issue, mainly an
\nindictment of Pak Wiranto and his associates,\" commission deputy
\nchairman Effendy Choirie said, summarizing a more than three-hour
\nlong hearing with former defense minister and former chief of the
\narmed forces Gen. (ret) Wiranto, former minister of foreign
\naffairs Ali Alatas, and former legal adviser for the military
\nNatabaya.<\/p>\n
The hearing was held apparently to respond to the indictment
\nby East Timor prosecutors of Wiranto for gross human rights
\nviolations after East Timor's break away from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, Wiranto insisted that there was no
\nthought, intention, plan, or even action to decimate East Timor.<\/p>",
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