Former key officers deny role in E. Timor mayhem

Former key officers deny role in E. Timor mayhem

JAKARTA (JP): Two key officers who were assigned territorial
responsibility in East Timor claimed they had been "relieved" of
their duties before violence broke out in the territory.

Lt. Col. Tatang Zaenuddin SW, commander of the western region
of East Timor, and former East Timor Police chief Brig. Gen.
Timbul Silaen said during questioning by the Commission of
Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in East Timor (KPP HAM) here
on Wednesday they were no longer in command when the violence
occurred.

Tatang claimed that he was "withdrawn to Jakarta" some two
months before the violence started.

"I was assigned there for about a year, from the middle of
August 1998 up to July 21, 1999.

"So I wasn't involved in the post-ballot mayhem," Tatang told
journalists after his morning questioning adding that he was not
ordered to handover his responsibility to any other officer.

Violence erupted in the former Indonesian province following
the Aug. 30 self-determination referendum. The violence prompted
the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force to East
Timor.

Following numerous accusations of human rights abuses in the
wake of the ballot, the government formed an inquiry under the
supervision of the National Commission on Human Rights to
investigate the charges.

The inquiry has already questioned former Indonesian Military
chief Gen. Wiranto and other top military and police brass
believed to have information about the violence.

Tatang's area of authority in East Timor included the
regencies of Ainaro, Aileu, Liquica, Ermera, Bobonaro, Ambeno,
Sema and Suai, where several killings were reported to have
occurred.

Among these was an incident on Sept. 6 when a pro-Jakarta
militia allegedly attacked a church in Suai. An inquiry team in
November exhumed 26 bodies believed to be of victims of the
attack on the church from a mass grave just across the border in
West Timor.

Tatang said he had little knowledge on the activities of the
prointegration militias, contending his office was merely charged
with territorial defense.

"We were not training militias, but were there to help locals
enhance their lives, both physically and mentally."

Tatang said his office helped build houses and churches for
the community and opened farm land. He said his command also
provided much needed medical services, sanitation and school
teachers to the community.

"If you need confirmation, just go there and ask the locals
yourselves," he said.

Tatang conceded that some militias were trained in the area,
but said this was under the direct authority of the East Timor
military commander.

"We were just overseers of the training and not directly
involved."

While speaking with journalists, Tatang, now a lecturer at an
Army training facility in Bandung, West Java, questioned the
inquiry's work, which he considered one-sided.

"Military officers also got killed and badly injured during
the violence. Which institution is authorized to look into their
deaths," he asked.

Later in the afternoon the inquiry questioned Timbul Silaen
for the second time. Timbul testified that his responsibility had
only been to provide security ahead of the ballot.

He said the Indonesian Military (TNI) had assumed security and
operational control on Sept. 7, before the majority of the
violence took place.

"If what is being questioned are incidents after Sept. 7, then
ask the military. Before that we controlled the situation; even
the international community acknowledged our efforts," he said.

The government-sanctioned inquiry is scheduled to summon Gen.
(ret) Feisal Tanjung, the former coordinating minister of
political affairs and security, on Thursday morning.

UN

In a related development, Reuters reported that United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his staff reviewed on Tuesday a
report from a special UN commission investigating atrocities in
East Timor and planned to issue recommendations for further
action.

The four-member commission of inquiry, led by Sonia Picado of
Costa Rica, has reportedly not drawn any conclusions from its
nine-day probe, which began on Nov. 25.

But Picado said last month her team had found evidence of
"systematic" killings in East Timor, where militias created and
aided by Indonesian troops conducted an orgy of killing, burning
and looting after the territory voted for independence from
Jakarta on Aug. 30.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said the commission's conclusions
would enable Annan "to make recommendations for future action".

He did not say when the report, to be given to the Security
Council, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission,
would be released. (emf/01)