Silaen's appointment slammed

Silaen's appointment slammed

JAKARTA: Rights groups on Tuesday criticized the appointment
of a police officer accused in the 1999 East Timor violence as
the new chief in restive Papua province, saying it showed that
security forces cared little about human rights or justice.

Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen was named on Monday as the new head
of police in Papua, where a small band of separatist guerrillas
is battling Jakarta rule. He headed the police in East Timor when
it voted overwhelmingly for independence in 1999 after 24 years
of brutal Jakarta rule.

Silaen was acquitted by an Indonesian court in 2002 on charges
he failed to prevent the violence. The tribunal, which convicted
just six of 18 Indonesian officials accused in the bloodshed, has
been widely dismissed as a sham.

Since then, a UN-led team of prosecutors in East Timor has
indicted Silaen, and several other Indonesian officials, over
their alleged role in the violence.

Hendardi, who heads the Human Rights and Legal Aid
Association, said the appointment sends a message to police and
military critics that senior officers would never be punished for
alleged rights abuses in East Timor.

"This is to show the public that the military did nothing
wrong in East Timor. It means they do not care about justice,"
said Hendardi, who goes by a single name. "The perpetrators (of
the violence) are being rewarded," he said.

All the six Indonesian officials convicted by the Jakarta
tribunal remain free on appeal, and most continue to hold high-
ranking positions in the police and army.

Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, the highest ranking officer convinced
in the violence, has played a key role in Jakarta's latest bloody
offensive against separatists in Aceh province

Police in Jakarta defended Silaen's appointment.

"The Indonesian police has put its full trust in him to carry
out his duties in Papua," said spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko.
"The charges of human rights abuses in East Timor have been
dropped by the Indonesian court. We are satisfied with that."
--AP