Crimes against humanity

Sat, 28 Apr 2001, 00:00 WIB | Source: JP

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

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