Adhoc tribunal on rights abuses

State Secretary/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo said on Wednesday that he had not yet received the names of the 32 judicial candidates needed for the implementation of the adhoc tribunal for human rights abuses in East Timor from the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Supreme Court.

"I haven't received the list. I do not know, maybe the list was already sent to my office, maybe it was lost, but I have not gotten it," Bambang said.

Komnas HAM chairman Djoko Sugianto urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri earlier to issue a presidential decree to name the judges for the adhoc tribunal as soon as possible.

The plan to establish the much-awaited, yet highly sensitive, tribunal has been postponed several times by officials due to some fancy administrative sidestepping. The hearing will reportedly be opened in January.

"As soon as I receive it, I will give it to the President," Bambang remarked.

Megawati, in the early days of her presidency, issued a presidential decree to establish the adhoc tribunal to try those suspected of involvement in human rights violations in the 1984 melee at Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, and the 1999 atrocities in East Timor before and after the UN-administered popular consultation.

Several high ranking military personnel have been named as suspects in both cases. --JP