Govt pooh-poohs int'l rights standards

Govt pooh-poohs int'l rights standards

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia should not be obliged to meet international standards
in prosecuting the human rights abuse cases in East Timor,
because the trial of perpetrators was conducted in mostly in
accordance with the local law, says a government official.

Director of human rights affairs at the Foreign Affairs
Ministry I Gusti Agung Wisaka Puja said that the United Nations
(UN) Human Rights Commission had never asked Indonesia to try
those held responsible for the 1999 East Timor rights abuses in
accordance with international standards.

"It is a loophole that benefited Indonesia. However, we must
admit that our legal action in handling the East Timor cases has
not been perfect because we have judges who lack experience and
professionalism," Puja said at a seminar about the human rights
court here on Thursday.

"But, of the utmost importance is that we have a strong
commitment to bringing a number of rights abuse suspects to
justice via the ad hoc trials," he added.

According to Wisaka, it is also unfair to criticize the court
verdicts imposed on a number of former government and military
officials in East Timor since further legal proceedings at the
High Court were still under way.
East Timor declared its full independence on May 20, 2002 after
the 1999 vote.

"Let's wait for the final verdicts from the higher courts," he
said.

The human rights court has tried 18 civilian and military
leaders that were working in East Timor in 1999 in connection
with the carnage carried out mostly by militia groups.

Six were found guilty, but most were given lighter sentences
than the minimum stated in the law, and several others were
acquitted of all charges.

Thousands of East Timorese were believed to be killed in the
massive scorched earth campaign that erupted following the
ballot's results, in which nearly 80 percent favored
independence.

Meanwhile, human rights activist Ifdhal Kasim of the Institute
for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) said the only possible
solution to such cases was to accept universal jurisdiction in
human rights cases.

"Belgium is one example of a country that has accepted such
universal jurisdiction to penalize the human rights violators
even without the presence of the defendants in court," he said.

"If the defendants are found guilty they could face arrest in
some countries."

He said that the option of setting up an international
tribunal would not be needed at present as the world was focusing
on its fight against global terror.