Biased article

Biased article

Your article on Aug. 20, 2003 by Aboeprijadi Santoso
(Radio Netherlands Amsterdam) titled Jakarta rights tribunal
buries E. Timor atrocities disgusted me. The article is full of
hatred, is extremely biased, and the writer clearly misunderstood
the legal aspects of the Human Rights Tribunal (the Tribunal) in
Indonesia.

The Tribunal in Jakarta was conducted fairly in accordance
with due process of law under the legal system of Indonesia as a
sovereign country. During the proceedings, all the witnesses gave
their evidence freely without any intervention. One key witness
was former president B.J. Habibie, who personally testified
before the Tribunal.

Unexpectedly, Bishop Carlos Belo and other persons from East
Timor refused to testify as witnesses or to provide the Tribunal
with written testimony. I think they were afraid because the
cases were heavily blown-up by certain elements of the press (as
Santoso did to disgrace and slander Indonesia), in a way that had
nothing to do with the legal aspects. Evidently, these East
Timorese witnesses felt they would find themselves in a very
difficult situation if they testified.

Santoso said the European Union (EU) in its declaration
deplored the conduct of the Tribunal. The EU says it cares about
justice in East Timor. But, what did the EU say about the
devastation of Iraq by the U.S. and some members of the EU, which
was flagrantly contravened international law. The killing of
innocent Iraqi people, including women and children, is
tragically still occurring.

The fighting between the pro-independence and the pro-
integration groups started because the United Nations Mission in
East Timor (UNAMET) sided with the pro-independence group (see
Florence Dos Santo's letter in the Post, Aug. 5, 1999). The
military were proved during the Tribunal's proceedings not to
have been involved in the fighting.

On July 8, 2003, Santosa wrote an article in this paper titled
Unspoken protest amid prolonged war in Aceh. This article was
criticized by Hilda May from Jakarta as "unfair and one-sided".
A certain gentleman (I am sorry but I forget his name), fully
agreed with Hilda May and concluded his letter with the comment
"What a shame".

MUHD. RAMZY HASIBUAN
Jakarta

Jakarta.