Government shifts stance on UN probe
JAKARTA (JP): Shifting from its previous acceptance, the government on Wednesday announced its opposition to a planned United Nations fact-finding mission to investigate reported atrocities in East Timor in aftermath of the self-determination ballot there.
Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi said the government rejected the UN resolution to set up the international inquiry because it had already established a national commission to verify the allegations. The government will also form a human rights tribunal to follow up the commission's findings as well as other gross human rights abuses.
President B.J. Habibie is expected to sign on Thursday a Perpu, a government regulation in lieu of a law, on the establishment of the human rights tribunal, which is suggested by the newly endorsed law on human rights, according to Muladi.
Citing Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas' report, Muladi said the UN Human Rights Commission plan was not binding for the government.
"Indonesia rejects the UN fact-finding inquiry on human rights violations in East Timor and also the UN resolution issued on Sept. 27 in New York about the situation in East Timor," Muladi said after attending a Cabinet meeting at Bina Graha presidential office.
Different from Alatas' statement in New York, Muladi earlier said the government had to accept the UN decision on the international inquiry.
"As a member of the UN we have to approve the commission," said Muladi, a professor of law, on Tuesday.
He quoted Alatas as saying that none of Asian countries voted for the UN proposal for the inquiry. "And it's very interesting that Russia, Sudan, China and Cuba were supportive of Indonesia," Muladi said.
Muladi said the President conveyed the government rejection to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a telephone conversation on Tuesday night.
"The President told Annan, within two or three months, the national fact-finding commission would be able to finish its investigation", said Muladi.
He acknowledged international pressure had forced the government to accelerate the setting up the tribunal.
Law No. 39, signed into law by the President last week, actually mandates its establishment within four years.
The minister also conceded government foot-dragging and reluctance to fully follow up any findings of the respected National Commission on Human Rights in the past, had influenced the international community perception about the effectiveness of the commission inquiry.
"This is first test case for the national commission," said Muladi, who is a former member of the commission.
Muladi also pointed out the danger to Indonesia of the UN resolution and plan on East Timor because the fact-finding commission would become an embryo for the birth of an international war tribunal.
"Such a human rights tribunal would be rather unpleasant for Indonesia," warned Muladi.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said in New York on Tuesday the scale of atrocities in East Timor may well warrant an international war crimes tribunal.
"The allegations cover not only actions against individuals but patterns of systematic coordination," Robinson added.
"If that is borne out, that is the kind of evidence that warrants the establishment of an international tribunal," she said as quoted by AP on the sidelines of a humanitarian award ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel.
Robinson said her office would actively support and coordinate a UN inquiry into the killings which was approved Monday. Such an investigation is the first possible step in creating an international tribunal.
She also said work had already started and that evidence was being preserved at the sites. (prb)