Crimes against humanity

A cautious welcome should be given to the news that charges are at last to be laid against those named by the Attorney General's Office as responsible for the September 1999 violence in post-referendum East Timor. However, it needs to be stressed yet again that the list is incomplete and does not include the names of Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, intelligence chief, and General Wiranto, then head of the Indonesian Military. James Dunn, whose 60-page report to the UN names both (see the executive summary in The Sydney Morning Herald) says of Wiranto, "...I share the view of the Commission of Enquiry into Human Rights Violations in East Timor that it is inconceivable that he did not know of the activities of his subordinate general".

The 1998 statutes of the International Criminal Court, which would apply to crimes against humanity, make it quite clear that the Supreme Commander is responsible for such crimes that "he knew of or should have known of". And there is the rub, the "should have known".

DAVID JARDINE

Jakarta