SBY plans to visit Santa Cruz cemetery
SBY plans to visit Santa Cruz cemetery
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Wellington
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is planning to visit the Santa
Cruz Cemetery, where a massacre involving the Indonesian Military
(TNI) took place in 1991, during his trip to East Timor.
Susilo is scheduled to arrive in the neighboring country on
Friday, the last stop of his overseas trip, which also took him
to Australia and New Zealand.
The visit to the Santa Cruz Cemetery will be made after Susilo
pays homage to Indonesian soldiers buried in the Seroja Cemetery,
which was named after a military operation in 1976 to restore
order in the territory, following the departure of the Portuguese
colonial government.
Susilo will be the first Indonesian president to visit the two
cemeteries since East Timor voted for independence in 1999.
Megawati Soekarnoputri canceled a visit to the Seroja Cemetery in
2003 due to security concerns.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said the visit to
the Santa Cruz Cemetery was aimed at strengthening ties between
the two countries and putting an end to long-standing wrath over
human rights abuses involving the TNI in East Timor.
"The visit is a gesture that we have agreed to leave behind
the past and start a new relationship. It is part of the
reconciliation process for the two countries," said Hasan, adding
there was nothing out of the ordinary about the planned visit.
Indonesian troops opened fire on hundreds of people who had
gathered to stage a rally at the Santa Cruz Cemetery on Nov. 12,
1991 to commemorate the death of an activist who had died three
weeks earlier.
The world condemned Indonesia following the bloodshed, which
eventually caused some military officers on duty in East Timor at
that time to be discharged. Washington was quick to restrict and
eventually suspend the training of Indonesian soldiers and arms
sales to Jakarta.
When asked whether the visit would distress the TNI and the
families of those who perished during the Seroja operation,
Hassan said: "If we only visited Seroja it would distress the
East Timorese."
"Santa Cruz is a special place for the East Timorese. Since
there is no war memorial there for local heroes, the cemetery
also serves that purpose," said Hassan, adding the visit had been
arranged by the East Timorese government.
Susilo's visit to East Timor is aimed at sealing an unfinished
border arrangement and the repatriation of assets that belonged
to Indonesians when the province became an independent state in
2000.