'TNI washes hands' of rights abuses in E. Timor

'TNI washes hands' of rights abuses in E. Timor

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Suspicions that the Indonesian Military (TNI) has used the
ongoing human rights trial to wash its hands of human rights
violations in East Timor became apparent on Wednesday.

Witnesses testifying in the trial of former East Timor
governor Abilio Soares told the Central Jakarta Human Rights
Court that the governor had instructed regents in East Timor to
form People's Volunteer Guards (Pamswakarsa), popularly known as
militias, which carried out a bloody terror campaign in the
territory in 1999.

Former Covalima regent Col. Herman Sedyono told the Central
Jakarta Human Rights Court on Wednesday that the militia groups
were set up in anticipation of escalating tension between
proindependence and prointegration groups.

"The governor instructed all 13 regents to publicize the
ballot and urged us to establish the People's Volunteer Guards,"
Herman told the court.

Abilio is charged with crimes against humanity, including
genocide, for failing to prevent violence in East Timor in 1999.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of death.

Earlier, Adam Damiri, former chief of the Udayana Military
Command, which oversees Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa
Tenggara and the former East Timor, told the same court that
Abilio was responsible for establishing militia groups in East
Timor.

Their claims contradicted the belief that military personnel
were actively setting up and giving military training to militia
members in the run-up to the UN-organized referendum in East
Timor in 1999, in which East Timorese overwhelmingly voted to
break away from Indonesia.

Backed by certain elements in the military, the militias
embarked on a bloody terror campaign before and after the ballot,
killing dozens of proindependence supporters, and destroying
almost 90 percent of the infrastructure in the former Portuguese
territory, as well as forcing over 200,000 East Timorese into
makeshift refugee camps in West Timor.

Another military witness said on Wednesday that they had lost
contact with the defendant during the chaotic days after the
announcement of the 1999 popular ballot.

Former chief of the Wiradharma Military Command Brig. Gen. A.
Noer Muis testified that the governor's office had been emptied,
along with other offices of government institutions, while lines
of communication were cut off.

"Moreover, there was no line of command between the governor
and the chief of the military command," he said.

The trial was adjourned until Thursday to hear the testimony
of Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman, Muis' predecessor.