Government pressed ahead with rights tribunal
Government pressed ahead with rights tribunal
JAKARTA (JP): An interministerial team set a two-day timeframe
on Tuesday to complete a draft of a government regulation in lieu
of a law which will constitute the establishment of a national
tribunal to prosecute human rights abuses in East Timor.
Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi said after
presiding over the team's initial meeting that the regulation,
widely known as Perpu, would then be promptly enacted by
President B.J. Habibie.
The team involves the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the State
Secretariat.
"This (Perpu) is important because it is related to our
national pride and sovereignty," said Muladi.
The team met with Habibie and his team at Merdeka Palace later
in the day.
Indonesia decided to set up the national human rights tribunal
in a bid to reject the presence of a United Nations inquiry to
probe alleged human rights abuses in East Timor after the Aug. 30
self-determination ballot.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas reiterated on Tuesday
that the government would not cooperate with the United Nations
human rights commission in probing alleged atrocities in the
former Portuguese colony. He said the government had assigned the
National Commission on Human Rights to follow up on the
allegations.
The minister also warned the international fact-finding
inquiry it would be barred from entering East Timor without prior
permission from Indonesia.
"We will not accept it, we cannot accept it, because there is
already a national team headed by the National Commission on
Human Rights," Alatas said on Tuesday evening after reporting to
Habibie his recent visit to the UN annual general assembly in New
York.
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard however said the international team
would go ahead with the inquiry with or without cooperation from
Indonesia.
"The commission of inquiry will go ahead in any case," Eckhard
said last week, as quoted by AFP. (prb)