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.