Justice for East Timor

Justice for East Timor

The expected arrival of United Nations investigators in East
Timor this week to look into allegations of severe human rights
abuses in the territory, particularly shortly before and in the
wake of the Aug. 30 self-determination ballot, is easily the most
serious blow to Indonesia's international reputation to date. It
also has the potential of bringing the most far-reaching
consequences, whose impact on the country are difficult to
foresee.

The experts UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary
Robinson plans to bring to East Timor this week are well
qualified for the job. They will include field and forensic
experts from the Boston-based U.S. Physicians for Human Rights
and from Argentina. These experts will be looking for evidence of
the alleged killings, torture, rapes and forced expulsions
committed by pro-Jakarta militias, in many cases allegedly
condoned or supported by Indonesian troops.

If such evidence is found, the next step would be for the UN
to appoint a special international tribunal to try the
perpetrators either for war crimes or crimes against humanity. It
is difficult even to imagine how average Indonesians would react
to such an unprecedented experience of seeing some of their most
prominent leaders, either military or civilian, exposed and
brought to account for such abominable crimes.

Considered in this context, it is easy to understand the angry
reaction of Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi on
learning that a number of Australian jurists were planning to
visit East Timor to collect evidence of past Indonesian
wrongdoings in the territory. If that were to occur, the minister
said, Indonesia would have to reconsider its relations with
Australia -- a hint that such "extraordinary arrogance" could
lead to diplomatic relations between the two countries being
broken off.

Yet, though vehemently opposed to the idea of having an
international team of investigators browsing through Indonesia's
dirty linen in East Timor, there is little Jakarta can do to
prevent justice from taking its course in the former Portuguese
colony, short of refusing to cooperate. The territory, after all,
is effectively under UN control. Personal security would be the
only possible hindrance left to bar the investigators' access to
suspected crime sites and witnesses. However, refusing to
cooperate could have dire consequences for Indonesia, in the form
of being regarded as a pariah state and being isolated from the
rest of the world. What that would mean for the crisis-stricken
country is not difficult to imagine.

In this situation, there is an ominous ring to the statement
made by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard
on Thursday, that the UN would hold an inquiry into human rights
abuses in East Timor regardless of whether Indonesia accepted or
rejected the inquiry. If there is any light amid the gloom, it is
in Eckhard's promise the UN would strive to cooperate with
Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

One may ask why the UN cannot just make things easier by
allowing Komnas HAM to lead the investigation, and simply assist
the commission with whatever expertise it may need. Komnas HAM,
after all, has a well-earned reputation of integrity, despite its
having been established by the New Order regime. The answer to
this question, of course, is the lack of credibility -- not on
the part of the rights commission, but of the Indonesian
government.

In the past year since the fall of the Soeharto regime, the
commission has made a number of recommendations to the government
based on its investigations of major incidents, including the
1997 kidnapings of political activists, the May 1998 riots, the
Trisakti University shootings and the shooting of student
protesters at the Semanggi cloverleaf. None of the
recommendations have been followed up by the government.

Not to be overlooked in all of this is the predominant role
the Indonesian Military (TNI) continues to play in the country's
social and political lives. In all of the mentioned cases -- and,
of course, in East Timor -- the military is suspected of being
either directly or indirectly involved.

Obviously, the TNI leadership will resist with all its power a
candid exposure of the military's past wrongdoings. An indication
of this is seen in Muladi's about-face regarding the question of
whether Indonesia should accept foreign investigators in East
Timor. A similar indication was the government's earlier U-turn
over whether to declare martial law in the territory.

It can be said that given the currently prevailing
circumstances in Indonesia, the only way for the UN to
satisfactorily investigate human rights abuses in East Timor
would be to hold its own independent inquiry. Another option
would have been to ensure Indonesia's National Commission on
Human Rights was able to work as a truly independent body, free
of any outside influence, particularly from the government. That,
however, is difficult to achieve as long as the military remains
effectively in control of civilian politics and the civilian
administration.