Clearance given to question generals over East Timor

Clearance given to question generals over East Timor

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Adm. Widodo
A.S. gave the green light on Wednesday to a government-sanctioned
inquiry to question top generals about their alleged roles in the
massive destruction of East Timor in September.

The chairman of the Commission for the Investigation of Human
Rights Abuses in East Timor, Albert Hasibuan, said Widodo also
agreed to help bring leaders of pro-Indonesia militia in East
Timor to Jakarta for questioning.

The militias have been blamed for the campaign of terror and
destruction that erupted after the Aug. 30 ballot in East Timor.
Albert's inquiry, however, corroborates allegations that members
of TNI were also involved in the mayhem.

"He (Widodo) does not mind if we summon a number of generals.
The chief also said he will facilitate the questioning on militia
leaders and TNI will fly militia leaders over here," Albert told
The Jakarta Post by phone after meeting Widodo.

Widodo, however, rejected the calls for TNI to disband the
militias groups in East Nusa Tenggara, Albert said.

"He (Widodo) said there is no organizational link between TNI
and the militia. He said, however, that he did not want to see
them use West Timor as their base," Albert said.

Most of the militias fled to Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara on
the western half of Timor island when the Australia-led
international peacekeeping force arrived in East Timor in mid-
September to restore peace and order in the territory.

An overwhelming majority of East Timorese voted to reject
Jakarta's offer of sweeping autonomy in the ballot, preferring to
have an independent state.

The commission had earlier said that it wanted to question
Gen. Wiranto, who was the TNI commander and defense minister when
the ballot was held in East Timor, because of allegations that
the military was "directly or indirectly" involved in the East
Timor violence.

Other TNI officers it has listed for questioning are former
Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin; former
military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim; former
East Timor military commander Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman; and
former Udayana military chief Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri.

Meanwhile, Australia estimated that the death toll in the
violent aftermath of East Timor's Aug. 30 self-rule ballot at
between 500 and 1,000, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was
quoted by AFP as saying on Wednesday.

Downer rejected claims that TNI and militia members massacred
tens of thousands of people and had dumped thousands of bodies at
sea, saying they would inevitably have washed ashore eventually.

"This is an assessment that we would make and the UN would
make," he was quoted as saying.

"Believe me, if between 500 and 1,000 people die that's a
terrible thing, that's a lot of people to die. But on the other
hand, it's not tens of thousands."

A parliamentary inquiry into East Timor has been told that up
to 80,000 people were still unaccounted for following the militia
rampage in which most of the population of the territory were
forced to flee their homes.

But Downer said the International Force for East Timor
(Interfet) had not been able to substantiate a large number of
killings and had so far verified only about 130 to 140 deaths.

He said he discussed the death toll with the UN administrator
for East Timor Sergio Vieira de Mello. "He has the same
impression that we do as well," he added.

If thousands of people had been killed, Interfet would have
found more evidence of killings by now, but up to 130,000 East
Timorese refugees remained in East Nusa Tenggara and were yet to
return home, he said.

Although the explanation for what happened to the tens of
thousands of people still unaccounted for remains a mystery,
Australian officials believe it is more likely there was a
miscalculation of East Timor's preballot population. (byg)