Wiranto and Timor Leste

Wiranto and Timor Leste

In the commentary Wiranto must face the storm by Pitan Daslani
(The Jakarta Post, April, 26) there appears a truly astonishing
paragraph, "Everybody put the blame on Wiranto as well as the
Indonesian Military (TNI) and the police, despite their self-
sacrificing devotion to the conception of the Republic of Timor
Leste."

Self-sacrificing devotion? Pardon me? They were devoted to
bringing to the new state into being? This flies in the face of
all the evidence. It is an insult to the intelligence.

I suggest Pitan just sits down and coolly examines the record,
which will show that Wiranto and TNI were instrumental in the
creation and sustenance of the murderous pro-Jakarta militias
such as attacks led by the self-proclaimed nationalist hero
Eurico Gutteres and these militias were abetted throughout by the
Indonesian Military, in particular units such as Battalions 744
and 745.

Command responsibility rested with Wiranto as the head of the
Armed Forces at the time, as any international court would
readily prove. I suggest that Pitan goes back and looks at some
of the news footage of the time and sees for himself how
Indonesian soldiers and police simply stood by and let the
militias burn, loot and kill.

The Indonesian security forces were wholly responsible for
this situation. East Timor was, after all, under martial law at
the time!

What Wiranto's book says I do not know but I can readily
guess. It will be the usual gruel of obfuscation and plausible
denial, the workings of a very dishonest mind.

DAVID JARDINE
Jakarta