Timorese's trust in military needs restoring: Muladi
Timorese's trust in military needs restoring: Muladi
SEMARANG, Central Java (JP): The army has been urged to give soldiers involved in the Jan. 12 killing of six people in Liquisa, East Timor, the freedom to defend themselves in the military tribunal.
Muladi, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, hailed yesterday the army's move to form the Officers' Honor Council to probe the Liquisa incident.
"What counts most to us is that the council should give those involved in the Liquisa incident the chance to defend themselves in the military tribunal," Muladi told The Jakarta Post.
The human rights' fact-finding team has found that the troops violated basic rights when they carried out the Jan. 12 operation that left six Liquisa villagers dead.
The army has formed an Officers' Honor Council to further assess the Armed Forces (ABRI) investigation team's conclusion that those killed were Fretilin rebels and sympathizers and that the troops deviated from standard procedures.
Muladi, who took part in the commission's fact-finding missions last month, said he hoped the Officers' Honor Council would obtain as much information as possible which would enable the best possible recommendations to be put forth.
The world is now waiting for the recommendations the officers' council comes out with, he added. "Besides, Indonesia should learn from the incident and find proper ways to handle East Timor affairs."
Muladi said that the government should unearth the reasons for certain trends, like why East Timorese people opt to recount their plight to institutions like the local branch of the International Red Cross or the church.
"It seems that they (local people) distrust security officials. I think their trust in the security forces should be restored," said Muladi, who is also rector of the Semarang-based Diponegoro University.
One way to restore the local people's trust, he said, is by the military proving that law enforcement truly guarantees the principle of equality before the law.
"Whoever commits a crime in East Timor should be brought to a court of justice," he said.
Muladi said the commission on human rights would open its office in East Timor to help accommodate the people and what they see as injustices in the former Portuguese colony.
Meanwhile, Army chief of Staff Gen. Hartono said in Pamekasan, East Java, on Sunday that punishment for those found guilty in the Liquisa affair should not necessarily be the same as that for officers in the Dili incident on Nov. 12, 1991.
ABRI sacked the East Timor army field commander Brig. Gen. Rudolf S. Warouw and chief of the Udayana Military Regional Command Maj. Gen. Sintong Panjaitan, who oversaw security in East Timor, Nusa Tenggara and Bali. Eight lower ranking officers were court-martialed.
The punitive measures were recommended by a military honorary council formed to investigate the incident in which about 50 pro- independence demonstrators were killed.
"We do not know yet whether they (soldiers taking part in the Liquisa operation) did anything wrong. Let's wait for the officers' council's decision," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
Hartono, who hails from Pamekasan -- a town on the Madura island well-known for its bull racing -- denied allegations that troops' burnt down a hut at the scene of the Liquisa incident to destroy material evidence.
"That (destroying the hut) is common in a battle," he said. (pan)