Noted religious leaders call for cessation of current E. Timor rights trials

Noted religious leaders call for cessation of current E. Timor rights trials

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Noted religious leaders grouped in the National Moral Movement
(GMN) called on the government to halt the East Timor human
rights trials, claiming that they were politically motivated.

A member of the movement, Hasyim Muzadi, told a media
conference on Tuesday the reason the rights cases should be
halted was because diplomatic ties between Indonesia and East
Timor had improved.

"This call is not meant as interference with the courts. But
the prosecution of the East Timor human rights abuse cases is
more political (matter) than criminal," said Hasyim, who leads
Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization.

A new chapter in relations between Indonesia and its former
province started when East Timor's first ambassador to Indonesia,
Protestant minister Arlindo Marcal, presented his credentials to
President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Feb. 7.

Jakarta has appointed a charge d'affaires for its
representative office in East Timor.

Hasyim convened the conference to publicize the results of a
visit by GMN figures to Australia to campaign against a war in
Iraq. The religious leaders flew to Europe later in the day,
where they are due to visit Pope John Paul II in the Vatican and
the European Union's headquarters in Brussels as part of the same
mission.

Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja of the Indonesian Council of
Bishops (KWI) and Protestant minister Andreas Yewangoe of the
Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) are joining Hasyim on the
round-the-world trip.

During the Australian visit last week, Hasyim said he met with
Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer to discuss the East
Timor rights trial issue.

"I asked Australia during the meeting to put the rights
violations in East Timor behind it given that Indonesia and its
former province have established diplomatic relationship. There's
no more point in talking about the issue (of rights abuses) now,"
Hasyim said.

Downer promised to bring the matter to the Australian
parliament, according to Hasyim,

East Timor seceded from Indonesia in 1999 when a massive
majority of East Timorese voted for independence during a UN-
sponsored ballot. In the presence of a number of world leaders,
including Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, East Timor
declared its independence as a republic on May 20, 2002, with
Dili as its capital.

Several Indonesian civilians, and police and military officers
have been tried for instigating the violence that erupted in East
Timor in 1999. Most of the defendants have been found not guilty
by the human rights tribunal.

Rights activists have expressed their disappointment with the
course of the trials, which failed to sentence those few
convicted to the maximum permissible sentences. They also accused
the government of lacking the political will to put an end to
impunity by leaving top military commanders untouched despite
their duty to prevent violence at the time.