West Timor/refugees

No rice for Timorese refugees

Jakarta Post - July 19, 2002

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang -- Hopes for East Timorese refugees to escape starvation went up in smoke in just 24 hours on Thursday as the East Nusa Tenggara administration announced it did not have enough rice for them.

The news came after a Wednesday statement by the provincial administration's spokesman Johanis B. Kosapilawan, who said that the local government had agreed to distribute rice to the refugees based on need.

However, on Thursday, Husein Pancratius, head of the provincial social affairs office, said the rice stocks that he had were too limited to be distributed to the refugees.

"There are only 26 tons of rice in our warehouses but we won't release it, because we are anticipating some extraordinary circumstances or natural disasters that may hit local people [East Nusa Tenggara-born]," he told The Jakarta Post.

There are between 20,000 and 50,000 East Timorese refugees remaining in the province and famine is looming in their camps since the rice assistance was halted on December 31 last year to speed up the repatriation program which has been ongoing since late 1999.

Earlier, the Coordinating Minister for Peoples' Welfare Jusuf Kalla asked the head of the provincial social affairs office in an official letter to distribute the rice to the refugees.

Husein said that the letter did not explain clearly who should receive the rice. "I admit that the letter mentioned that the rice should be given selectively, but it did not point out how to do that. This is where the difficulties came in for my officers in the field," he explained.

Husein suggested that the central government provide the rice for the humanitarian program.

Demands for rice and other aid have been aired many times of late by the refugees. Last week, they demanded the government to disburse the Rp 53 billion in aid money from Japan which is still being held in Jakarta.tate of emergency] does not reflect the aspiration of Acehnese people," said Husni, referring to Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's statement on Thursday that the Aceh councillors and Governor Abdullah Puteh did not represent the Acehnese people as a whole.

Chairman of the Aceh Ulemas Council Tengku Imam Suja' voiced a similar opinion on Friday. "Imposing a state of emergency in Aceh is against the wishes of the Acehnese people," said Imam Suja', who is also chairman of Muhammadiyah Aceh branch.

Susilo, who just returned from a five-day visit to Aceh to assess whether or not the situation there warrants a state of emergency, said Thursday that the government would pursue its plan to impose a state of emergency in Aceh.

He also claimed that the near-unanimous rejection by the Acehnese legislative representatives and Governor Puteh did not represent the Acehnese people who had been urging the government to deal firmly with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Imam Suja' said Minister Susilo had heard it for himself that Acehnese ulemas, the local administration and other social elements flatly rejected a stronger military approach in Aceh. "What Acehnese people want is a dialog between the government and GAM to be pursued," Imam Suja' told the Post.

Aceh councillor Muhammad Nasir Djamil warned Susilo on Friday against ignoring the aspirations of Acehnese people which was clearly conveyed to him last week.

"Jakarta should not disregard those voices as it was conveyed directly to the minister," Muhammad said. "Should Jakarta insist on imposing a state of emergency in Aceh, it will only deepen the scars in the hearts of Acehnese people," he said.

Despite the peace calls, Iskandar Muda (Aceh) Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djali Yusuf said in Jakarta on Friday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) would intensify its military operations in the province.

"With or without a decision on a state of emergency in Aceh, we, the TNI, will continue with our military approach there. I guess it's the only way to protect civilians because the rebels threaten security," Djali told reporters after holding a meeting with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu at Army Headquarters.

According to Djali, the meeting also discussed the deployment of an additional four battalions to the province. He said reinforcements were needed in Aceh to overcome the forces of GAM, which had been fighting for independence since the 1970s.

He predicted that GAM currently had 3,962 combat troops on the ground, with 1,800 various weapons. The government, on the other hand, has a reported total of some 21,000 TNI troops and 12,000 police personnel.

"If GAM launched a conventional war, I believe that we could crush them in one day," Djali said. As the rebels conducted guerrilla warfare, TNI needed more troops to track down and attack them, he said.

He said the additional 4,000 troops would mostly be deployed in West Aceh regency, despite the hotbed of rebellion being in East Aceh regency. Djali did not provide further explanation.

TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto added that the Aceh question needed an effective solution. "Dialog is good, but if GAM continues to demand independence, dialog is impossible ... we have to settle the Aceh issue once and for all," Sutarto said after meeting President Megawati Soekarnoputri at the State Palace Friday. The four-star general also proposed an amnesty for GAM members who wanted to return to the Indonesian side.

"Once they [GAM] agree to accept the special regional autonomy, then the government would arrange an amnesty for them," he added. However, he said the president had yet to decide a new policy on Aceh and TNI would only follow the instruction from the government.

Timor Gap

East Timor lays claim to Australian oil field

Dow Jones Newswires - July 17, 2002

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne -- East Timor is getting down to business. And that means playing tough, even with your friends.

The world's newest country, and one of its poorest, wants a big slice of the billions of dollars of royalties set to flow from the undeveloped Timor Sea oil and gas fields it shares with Australia. Unfortunately for Australia, that could mean almost all of the royalties. For Woodside Petroleum of Perth, it is an issue that needs to be keenly watched.

East Timor's fledgling Parliament last week endorsed legislation defining its boundaries for the first time, and claiming a maritime border with Australia extending 200 nautical miles, or 368 kilometers, from its coast. While in accordance with international law, the claim now leaves the two countries with overlapping borders above a seabed stuffed with trillions of cubic feet of natural gas.

East Timor's boundary claim takes in all of the Sunrise field, 80% of which currently lies in Australian waters. Sunrise holds over 30 billion Australian dollars (US$16.8 billion) of gas and is expected to be in production around 2007 or 2008. The other major oil and gas development in the Timor Sea is the US$4.8 billion Bayu-Undan project to which East Timor is already entitled to 90% of the royalties. East Timor's boundary claim would give it 100%.

"We are not asking for less or more than the international law allow[s] us to claim," East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, a former independent fighter, said last week on a trade visit to Australia's Northern Territory.

The Timor Sea oil and gas fields are critical for poverty stricken East Timor. Over its 17-year life, the Bayu-Undan project will generate about US$3.2 billion in revenue. That compares with a current annual East Timor government budget of just US$80 million.

"It isn't going to be Brunei, but there will be pretty serious oil revenue that will allow East Timor to have proper schools, hospitals and infrastructure," said Jonathan Morrow, head of the country's Timor Sea office in Dili.

While East Timor is claiming a 200-nautical mile boundary, it is only the opening gambit in a negotiation that could take years. In response, a spokesman for Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia "will listen to what East Timor has to say."

The convention for settling such overlapping maritime claims is for the two sides to sit down and simply draw a line equidistant from their coasts. But when money is involved nothing is ever so simple.

For a start, even agreeing on an equidistant boundary would leave Australia with none of the Sunrise field. But there are greater implications. There are fears in Australia that if it gives up any ground to the East Timorese, Indonesia will be encouraged to seek to renegotiate its own maritime boundary. Australia's entire northern boundary could be pegged back, giving away even more oil and gas reserves such as the Laminaria and Corallina field areas.

The problem for Australia is that when it agreed on its maritime border with Indonesia in the early 1970s, it was able to claim all of its offshore intercontinental shelf as Australian. But times have changed. Under a 1982 convention on the Law of the Sea, Australia's border would arguably now lie well to the south.

Australia has already taken action to strengthen its position in any boundary talks with East Timor. In March it withdrew from the maritime jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, blocking any East Timorese appeal should the two sides prove unable to agree a boundary. That could make it almost impossible to force Australia to do anything.

Still, the move isn't foolproof. Lawyers are debating the technical validity of Australia's withdrawal, and East Timor may still be able to force the issue to arbitration by an international panel.

In the meantime, both sides are going out of their way to reassure the oil companies that the dispute doesn't threaten their projects and capital. Key to that is the ratification of the Timor Sea Treaty that sets the fiscal regime for the so- called Joint Petroleum Development Area of the Timor Sea. This zone is jointly administrated by Australia and East Timor.

The JPDA replaced an original pact between Australia and Indonesia that carved up the Timor Sea oil and gas fields on a 50-50 basis. When it came to agreeing on the new deal with East Timor, Australia agreed to give East Timor 90%.

According to the East Timorese, it is tacit recognition of East Timor's claim for a larger maritime boundary. For now, though, both sides are putting the boundary issue aside, focusing instead on ratifying the treaty while specifically allowing for a later agreement on the maritime boundary.

Woodside, the operator of the Sunrise project joint venture, says it isn't surprised or fazed by East Timor's maritime claim. Instead it is looking forward to the finalization of fiscal terms under the Timor Sea Treaty's unitization agreement, which is expected to be signed before the end of the year.

"Both governments have shown goodwill to want to keep the Timor Sea investors interested, and the Timor Sea Treaty has stated an intention to complete the unitization agreement by the end of the year," said Niegel Grazier, Woodside's head of government and public affairs.

It isn't just governments, however, that are at odds over the Timor Sea. The Sunrise field development partners can't even agree on the best development route.

In a dispute that threatens to delay the project, Royal Dutch/Shell Group wants to develop Sunrise as an offshore floating liquefied-natural-gas operation that would export LNG to California. But Phillips Petroleum of the US, wary perhaps of Shell competition on its own patch, wants to pipe the gas ashore in Australia's Northern Territory to supply the local market there. Shell has the support of the other two partners, Woodside and Japan's Osaka Gas, leaving Phillips on its own. But any development decision needs to be unanimous.

Government & politics

Gusmao approves budget, but laments lack of 'healthy' debate

Lusa - July 16, 2002

After signing and approving East Timor`s state budget Tuesday, President Xanana Gusmao called for revision of the measures within four months, while also lamenting the lackluster nature of parliamentary debate and opposition parties in the new country.

Addressing parliament in a nationally broadcast speech, Gusmao called for a more "balanced" budget for 2002-2003, with less expenditure on equipment and communications and public spending more in keeping with the government`s development agenda.

Timor was fortunate to receive financial support from the international community, Gusmao said, but soon this burden would fall on Timorese people "who will pay the government`s expenses in taxes".

Without an "awareness of rationalizing expenditure, projects to combat poverty could become a utopia", said Gusmao.

Dili`s head of state also directly addressed MPs, saying that taking part in the process of government was not just about voting, but "knowing what is being done".

After his speech in parliament, Gusmao told Lusa "healthy political debate does not exist in Timor".

"The opposition regret that they are few in number. They are few but they can speak coherently and wisely. They must avoid petty disputes which don't benefit anyone and only bore the people", said Gusmao.

Defending his government`s budget, which was rushed through parliament on June 28, Prime Minister Alkatiri told Lusa that Gusmao should have first contacted the government to see how the budget was devised.

"This budget was not invented by the government. It was negotiated point by point with donor countries and this was not easy", said Alkatiri.

Alkatiri said he hadn't found Gusmao`s speech critical of his government. However, if "there had been more dialog" with the executive, the head of state`s speech "would have been more positive", said Alkatiri.

Dili`s head of government used his broad Fretilin parliamentary majority to limit debate and approve the budget two weeks ago, triggering protests from opposition parties that he was reducing the 88-member legislature to a mere "rubber stamp".

The government has descibed its first budget, at slightly over euros 85 million, as "realistic", and some 50 percent less than first estimated.

Delayed budget focus of Gusmao 's speech

Lusa - July 15, 2002

President Xanana Gusmao will address the East Timorese Tuesday in a nationally broadcast speech that an aide described Monday as centered on his two-week delay in signing the government's budget.

Declining to give details, a spokesman told Lusa that Gusmao would focus on the issue of the 2002-2003 budget, Dili's first as an independent nation, which was rushed through parliament June 28.

Government sources told Lusa the president might criticize the speed -- three months -- with which Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's cabinet drafted document and pressed its approval by the legislature.

Finance Minister Madalena Boavida told Lusa that the government had informed Gusmao of its preoccupation over his delay in signing the budget. She underlined that the government was hobbled in its ability to make payments and that civil service salaries were being delayed.

Gusmao, Boavida added, had communicated his intention to the prime minister to promulgate the budget in order "not to cause more problems for civil servants".

Alkatiri used his broad Fretilin parliamentary majority to limit debate and approve the budget two weeks ago, triggering protests from opposition parties that he was reducing the 88-member legislature to the status of "rubber stamp".

The government has described its first budget, a bit more than euros 85 million, as "realistic", and some 50 percent less than first estimated.

Justice & reconciliation

East Timor amnesty bill flawed

Human Rights Watch Press Release - July 18, 2002

New York -- A proposed amnesty law in East Timor could undermine due process and equal protection of the law and allow those responsible for some of the most serious rights abuses to go unpunished, Human Rights Watch said today.

In a letter to the newly elected East Timorese leadership, Human Rights Watch expressed concern that the amnesty law pending in parliament contains vague and broadly written provisions that would lead to serious problems if adopted.

"It is difficult to achieve reconciliation without justice," said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director for Asia at Human Rights Watch. "We hope that parliamentary debate will lead to a stronger law that will allow realization of these complementary objectives."

The letter was sent to President of the Parliament Francisco Gutteres, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and President Josi Alexandre Gusmao on July 16, 2002.

President Gusmco has long advocated an amnesty to speed reconciliation in East Timor after almost three decades of conflict and Indonesian occupation. Amnesty is also seen as a way to encourage the return of thousands of East Timorese now in refugee camps in Indonesian West Timor. The proposed law is primarily meant to address crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation and an explosion of violence by Indonesian-armed militias, following a referendum on independence in September 1999.

The draft law was to be passed by May 20 independence celebrations, but was withdrawn for revisions before being resubmitted to the parliament by the cabinet. The draft extends amnesties to all of those guilty of crimes against property prior to May 20, 2002, and to any members of the resistance not guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. It also extends sentence reductions to all other prisoners, including those convicted of crimes against humanity.

The law fails to clearly define crucial terms such as violent crimes. Nor does it specify a process for making difficult distinctions regarding membership in the resistance or what it means to be compelled to join a militia. These gaps raise fears of violations of due process and the possibility that perpetrators of serious crimes could go unpunished.

If not carefully designed and implemented, amnesties may undermine reconciliation efforts and weaken the rule of law, Human Rights Watch said. In Dili, Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and nongovernmental organizations have also raised concerns about the draft amnesty law.

Human Rights Watch urged the Timorese parliament to continue to solicit the input and views of East Timorese citizens, nongovernmental organizations and civil society institutions when considering the law.

Proposed amnesty bill proves controversial

Lusa - July 16, 2002

A draft bill on amnesty and pardoning of sentences has been criticized as being "unconstitutional", "too general" and open to "dangerous interpretation", by a leading Timorese nongovernmental organization concerned with legal matters.

Justice System Monitoring Program (JSMP) has analyzed the proposed amnesty bill, currently before East Timor`s Parliament, and a copy of the report has been seen by Lusa. According to JSMP, the new legislation does not make a distinction between crimes committed during conflict periods and those committed in situations of peace.

"Granting amnesty to everyone who robbed or destroyed property after the UN arrived undoes all the police and court work in the past three years", says the JSMP report.

There is clear divergence in the position of Timor`s leaders on the amnesty question, with President Xanana Gusmao advocating a more general pardoning than the head of the country`s Catholic church, Bishop Belo, who has called for "justice" to be invoked in the matter.

The amnesty bill was approved by the Dili cabinet on May 24 and some government sources say the proposals were "hurried" in their preparation.

The amnesty controversy comes ahead of a seminar Wednesday, entitled Amnesty or Reconciliation, to be held at the Dili headquarters of East Timor`s Commission on Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR).

The one-day meeting will discuss the different viewpoints and implications of the draft law before the Dili Parliament.

Human rights trials

Ex-army chief in Timor goes on trial for rights abuses

Associated Press - July 16, 2002

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta -- The former commander of Indonesian troops in East Timor went on trial Tuesday on charges of crimes against humanity for allegedly allowing his soldiers to commit atrocities in the former province.

"I am not a human rights abuser," declared Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman -- now Indonesia's deputy military spokesman -- moments before his trial began.

Suratman is the second-highest ranking Indonesian commander to go on trial and one of 18 military and government officials indicted for the violence that left hundreds dead and destroyed much of the half-island territory. Most of the destruction occurred after a UN-sponsored independence referendum in August 1999.

Critics have dismissed the trials as a farce, saying their purpose is to deflect criticism and prevent the United Nations from creating an international war crimes tribunal for East Timor similar to those for ex-Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Suratman is accused of allowing his subordinates to join pro- Jakarta militiamen in three separate attacks in East Timor that left 34 independence supporters dead.

Suratman said nothing in court but he earlier told reporters he had done nothing wrong. "I maintained the security and order before and after the (referendum)," he said. "During the time I was there, not a single foreign observer was hurt." Meanwhile, an intelligence officer who served under Suratman also went on trial in a separate courtroom.

According to the indictment, Col. Yayat Sudradjat allegedly allowed subordinates to join militiamen in attacking a church full of pro-independence supporters.

In a third Timor trial Tuesday, prosecutors recommended sentences ranging from 10 years to 10 1/2 years in prison for five senior police and military officers charged with crimes against humanity. Last week, prosecutors recommended that East Timor's former governor be sent to prison for 10 1/2 years for his role in the violence.

Judges are not required to follow a prosecutor's request should the men be found guilty. Under Indonesian law, anyone charged with crimes against humanity faces penalties ranging from 10 years in prison to death.

UN legal investigator concerned about Timor trials

Reuters - July 19, 2002

Jakarta -- A UN legal investigator looking into Indonesia's judiciary added his voice on Friday to criticism of how the trials into East Timor violence in 1999 were being handled.

But United Nations special rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy declined to specify the problems he had raised in a meeting on Friday with Indonesian Attorney-General Muhammad Abdul Rachman.

"There are some concerns and I discussed these with the attorney general ... but it's not my place to comment at this stage," Cumaraswamy told reporters.

A new human rights court in Indonesia began its first trials this year into the violence that racked East Timor after it voted to split from Indonesian rule in a UN-sponsored ballot in 1999.

The United Nations has estimated more than 1,000 people died at the hands of pro-Jakarta militias, backed by the Indonesian military.

The international community has pressed Indonesia to punish those responsible but leading rights groups have branded the trials a farce, sceptical they will lead to any convictions.

A key criticism has been the failure to try General Wiranto, Indonesia's military head at the time of the East Timor violence.

Cumaraswamy, who arrived in Jakarta on Monday for a 10-day visit, believed Indonesia was not making an effort to consider all the evidence, a senior official at the attorney general's office said.

"He said ... we are not doing our best on a couple of things like the court is not using evidence submitted by UNTAET, which actually we are," said Haryadi Widyasa, referring to the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor which ran the territory after the vote until formal independence in May this year.

Cumaraswamy will look into judicial corruption and the independence of the judiciary before reporting to the UN Human Rights Commission in April.

His trip comes amid several court cases against high profile Indonesians and concerns by independent lawyers over a perceived lack of genuine legal reform for a judicial system critics say favours the rich and powerful.

The legal system has been criticised over issues ranging from lack of transparency to unpredictability. It faced fresh criticism last month after a controversial bankruptcy ruling against the country's fourth largest life insurer, Manulife Indonesia.

Parent company Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO) had said bribery influenced the ruling by the Jakarta Commercial Court on June 13. Indonesia is investigating the allegations.

Indonesia's Supreme Court last week overturned the Manulife ruling but some foreign investors say they remain worried by a lack of legal certainty.

Prosecutors could drop charges against East Timor accused

Australian Associated Press - July 17, 2002

Catharine Munro, Jakarta -- Indonesian human rights prosecutors today raised the prospect of dropping charges against some defendants facing trial for gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

Prosecutors have already sought minimum sentences for Dili's former governor Abilio Soares and for five officers stationed in the town of Suai, the scene of one of the worst massacres in East Timor in 1999.

But the cases of the most senior military officers among 18 defendants being tried for human rights abuses in Jakarta are yet to finish. The cases of Bali-based regional commander Adam Damiri and East Timor commander Tono Surtaman began this month.

"If we believe that they are not guilty then we will ask for their release," said prosecutor Darmono, referring in general to all of the remaining defendants.

All defendants have been charged with neglecting to prevent lethal attacks by the men under their command in the year of East Timor's vote for independence. The charge of neglect has already been criticised by international observers as being too weak.

Prosecutor Darmono, who goes by one name, confirmed he had yesterday sought sentences of 10 to 10-and-a-half years for five low level commanders in Suai. "They sacrificed a lot of themselves and their families" Darmono said.

The death sentence or life terms in jail were available to the prosecutors, he said.

In the case of Suai, prosecutors alleged the five men -- four from the military and one from the police -- had been negligent by failing to stop an attack on refugees sheltering in the grounds of a half-built cathedral in Suai on September 6, 1999.

Indonesian investigators later found the bodies of 26 victims of the Suai massacre just across the border but East Timor's human rights group Yaysan HAK claims between 50 and 200 people, including three priests, were killed.

The massacre occurred in the week of violent ransacking by militia, aided and abetted by the Indonesian military, that followed the vote for independence on August 30.

The prosecutor's application for minimum sentences came despite earlier evidence from an East Timorese witness Dominggas dos Santos Mouzinho that on the day of the attack she saw one defendant Lt Col Herman Sedyono in civilian clothing carrying a gun near the site of the attack.

Dos Santos also told the court another defendant, Lt Sugito, had entered the church.

Last week the former governor of capital Dili, Abilio Soares, also had a minimum of 10 and a half years sought by prosecutors.

Former East Timor governor says rights trial bogus

Reuters - July 18, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesia's last governor of East Timor said on Thursday his trial for crimes against humanity during the territory's independence vote in 1999 was bogus and aimed only at deflecting international pressure.

Prosecutors last week called on the Jakarta human rights court to sentence Abilio Soares to 10-years in jail for failing to stop the orgy of violence before and after the ballot in which East Timor overwhelmingly voted to split from Indonesia.

"The trial is formed only to avoid international threats and it ignores the essence of the law," said a sombre-looking Soares as he read from his 38-page defence speech.

"I'm afraid in this court there is a shadowy power that stimulates the twisting of justice and truth," Soares, who is East Timorese, told the court.

Much is at stake for Indonesia over the trials, including the possible restoration of military relations with the United States and threats by several European nations to cut aid if the violence isn't investigated properly.

Soares has denied any wrongdoing over charges that carry the death penalty and has also dismissed a separate indictment of failing to prevent torture.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, become formally independent on May 20 when the United Nations handed over power after running the territory in the wake of the 1999 violence.

US military links were slashed in response to rampages by pro- Jakarta militias who, with backing from the Indonesian military, left much of the territory in ruins after the vote. The United Nations has estimated more than 1,000 people were killed in the carnage.

But lawyers for Soares said prosecutors had failed to prove there were organised attacks against East Timorese civilians and that the killings had anything to do with their client.

"Systematic attacks means there's a planner and plan but on this matter, the prosecutors can't prove it because no witnesses said anything about it," said lawyer Indriyanto Seno Adji.

The trial was adjourned for a week and the judges are expected to deliver their verdict next month.

However, leading rights groups are sceptical the trials will result in convictions and say other elements of the process are also farcical, including the failure to try General Wiranto, Indonesia's military commander at the time of the violence.

Soares is the first among the 18 suspects on trial over the massacres to make his defence speech.

The top Indonesian field commander at the time of the vote went on trial for his life on Wednesday, while last week the general in overall charge of East Timor was also in the dock, also accused of crimes against humanity.

TNI formed East Timor militias: Eyewitness

Jakarta Post - July 18, 2002

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta -- After two months of hearings by the East Timor ad hoc human rights trial, held in the absence of eyewitnesses from East Timor, an East Timorese finally took the stand on Wednesday to testify about the military's support for pro-Jakarta militia groups at the time.

Testifying against former Liquica officials being tried for an attack on a church on April 6, 1999, Antonio da Concesau Santos told the court that he saw militia groups gather in the Liquica military subdistrict headquarters before the assault was launched.

The church, he said, was sheltering more than 1,500 pro- independence supporters after their pro-Jakarta rivals forced them from their homes and onto the streets.

Now a police officer in East Timor, Antonio was a clerk to the Liquica Church besides being a member of the National Police at the time of question. The church's priest, Rafael dos Santos, is his uncle.

"The Besi Merah Putih [BMP] militia was established by the Armed Forces [former name of the Indonesian Military/TNI] ... I saw it myself... I saw them gathering in the military command headquarters before attacking the church." The church is located near the military compound.

Antonio said he saw soldiers "holding M-15 rifles standing around the church compound during the attack", but he failed to clearly specify whether they participated in the attack, which resulting in the deaths of 22 people. "The attack was launched by East Timorese," he said, adding that the Mahidi and Halilintar militias joined the BMP in the attack.

Reportedly, at least 30 people were killed during the attack, mostly women and children, and their bodies thrown into the sea and a lake.

The defendants -- former Liquica military commander Lt. Col. Asep Kuswani, former police chief Lt. Col. Adios Salova, and former regent Leonito Martins -- rejected Antonio's testimony. The three are charged with failure to prevent human rights abuses and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Antonio arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday along with Timor Leste Attorney General Longhinus Monteiro, who was here to meet his Indonesian counterpart M.A. Rachman at the latter's office.

The two agreed to renew the Memorandum of Understanding to ensure that the difficulties in producing witnesses would not obstruct the trial of alleged human rights attrocities in East Timor.

"Attorney General M.A. Rachman accepted my proposal to set up a video link should the witnesses refuse to come to Jakarta due to fears for their personal security. For those who are willing to come, we'll do our best to get them here," Monteiro said.

In separate hearings, human rights ad hoc prosecutors are to summon victims Manuel Viegas Carrascalao and his daughter Maria Christina Carrascalao to testify against former Dili Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hulman Gultom.

The first hearing in the case against former East Timor military command chief Brig. Gen. Noer Muis was delayed until next week because the defendant was attending the burial of his father in Aceh.

Survivor says soldiers, police fired shots at Timor church

Agence France Presse - July 17, 2002

A survivor of a bloody attack on a refugee-filled church compound in East Timor in April 1999 said Wednesday he saw uniformed Indonesian soldiers and police fire shots into the compound.

Antonio Concecao Santos, 27, was testifying to Indonesia's human right court in the trial of two officers and one former official for gross human rights violations in the territory.

Santos, an assistant to the pastor at the time, said that "not only police but soldiers also fired shots" at the compound at Liquica on April 6, 1999. "The shots were all directed towards the church," he said, adding that all the windows of the priest's residence were smashed by bullets.

Santos, now a policeman in newly independent East Timor, was the only East Timorese witness to appear at the trial. Prosecutors had asked for six to appear.

Official Indonesian accounts portray the violence before and after East Timor's independence vote in August 1999 as spontaneous clashes between pro- and anti-Jakarta local factions, which the military could not control.

But evidence is emerging at the rights trials that some Indonesian soldiers were directly involved in the bloodshed, as many observers have long claimed. Santos said he particularly remembered one soldier in full uniform shooting towards the church.

Santos said the shooting took place during an attack by pro- Indonesian local militias on the church compound, where thousands of civilians had sought refuge following a spate of violence between rival groups in the area in previous days.

The witness, who said he was later sheltered at the district military headquarters, said the attack began with a tear-gas bomb thrown into the compound.

Santos said he saw at least four people being killed by machetes but he knew of 11 people who had died. Prosecutors say 22 people were killed. The witness identified the attackers as members of three local militias.

In the dock were army Lieutenant Colonel Asep Kuswani, 44, police Lieutenant Colonel Adios Salova, 43, and civilian Leoneto Martins -- the former heads of the Indonesian military, police and civil administration in Liquica district.

They face sentences ranging from 10 years in prison to death if convicted of gross human rights violations.

Several soldiers packed the courtroom in a show of support for the defendants while some 120 police were deployed at the courthouse to assure security for the witness.

A total of 17 military, police, militia and civilian officials have now gone on trial and one more soldier is due to face the rights court.

Pro-Jakarta militiamen, created and supported by Indonesian military elements, waged a brutal campaign of intimidation before East Timor's vote to separate from Indonesia.

At least 1,000 East Timorese are estimated to have died from the intimidation efforts and in a violent scorched-earth revenge campaign after the vote.

Indonesia set up the court to deflect pressure for an international war crimes tribunal. The trials are being watched closely by the world for proof that Jakarta will punish those behind the violence.

Human rights/law

Timor will soon adopt treaty protecting children

UN News - July 19, 2002

East Timorese officials today told a United Nations meeting on children that the new nation was on the verge of adopting an international treaty that protects the rights of youngsters.

The announcement was made at a briefing by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on "The Protection of East Timorese Children and the Convention on the Rights of the Child." The event in Dili drew a wide range of government and UN officials, civil society groups and journalists.

East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri told the briefing that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is currently being considered by Parliament, which he expects will soon endorse East Timor's adoption of the measure.

The Prime Minister also said he hoped that the current generation of East Timor's children that have been raised in a climate of violence will now be able to enjoy the country's newly achieved stability.

Mehr Kahn, the Director of UNICEF's Southeast Asia regional office, opened the briefing by congratulating East Timor's government for moving quickly since the country's independence to bring about improvements and take many new and important initiatives.

Ms. Khan also said she was "very encouraged to learn that when East Timor takes its place in the United Nations General Assembly in September, the Government hopes to be able to accede to the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as other human rights instruments."

She also said she was pleased to see that East Timor's recently adopted Constitution explicitly recognizes many of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Indonesia may renew probe of Dutch journalist's murder

Associated Press - July 17, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesian prosecutors said Wednesday they would seek to reopen the investigation into the killing of a Dutch journalist in East Timor, after receiving new evidence from Dutch authorities.

The announcement is an about-face for the Attorney General's Office, which only last month said it was dropping the murder investigation of Financial Times reporter Sander Thoenes for lack of fresh leads.

Prosecutors met with Dutch authorities Wednesday in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and said they will ask a judge to reopen the case.

"The Dutch police gave us a lot of information," said Barman Zahir, spokesman for the Attorney General's office. "We will go through it and compare it with what we have."

Thoenes was forced off his motorbike and shot dead in East Timor's capital, Dili, soon after he arrived in the city to cover the arrival of an international peacekeeping force and the withdrawal of Indonesian troops in 1999.

Peacekeepers were deployed in East Timor after the Indonesian military went on a rampage following a UN-sponsored vote for independence. Hundreds of people were killed and much of the territory was left in ruins.

Gerrit Thiry, a Dutch detective who has worked on the case for more than two years, said the Indonesian army was behind the murder, identifying 2nd Lt. Camillo dos Santos as the alleged killer. Dos Santos has denied he was involved, and Indonesia has said it lacks the evidence to arrest anyone for the murder.

Thiry told reporters in Jakarta Wednesday that he was happy to see the investigation continue, and urged Indonesia to present its findings to an independent judge.

"I think the family of Sander Thoenes will be more than happy to accept the verdict of a judge," he said. Thiry said he gave prosecutors his findings, including a videotape that shows members of the Indonesian Army's Battalion 745 loading Thoenes' motorbike onto their truck.

Thiry said the videotape helps corroborate the testimony of eyewitnesses who said they saw two soldiers from the battalion standing over Thoenes just before he was killed.

"What the videotape shows is that the Indonesian soldiers were not truthful in their statements to prosecutors and what eyewitnesses said was right," he said.

Thiry said he was not sure how Indonesia would proceed, and that he would be saddened if the killers are not punished. "I would feel sorry," he said. "Not for myself, but for the family, if there is not justice."

Probe into Dutch journalist's murder still open, policeman says

Agence France Presse - July 17, 2002

Jakarta -- An investigation into the murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor in 1999 is still open, a Dutch police officer said Wednesday after giving Indonesian prosecutors fresh evidence in the case.

"There is more than enough [evidence] to arrest at least several TNI [Indonesian armed forces] members as suspects in the hope that they will be questioned as suspects, not just as witnesses," said Superintendent Gerrit Thiry.

He told a press conference he came to Jakarta at the invitation of Indonesian Attorney-General Muhammad Abdurachman, who asked him to bring any new evidence.

Thiry said the new evidence was a videotape. The tape appears to support witness statements that implicated Indonesian soldiers in the murder of Financial Times correspondent Sander Thoenes.

"I more than welcome the fact that the case isn't closed, in contradiction of the messages in the press," Thiry told reporters.

Indonesian prosecutors last month said they had suspended their investigation into the murder of Thoenes, who was killed just outside the East Timor capital Dili on September 21, 1999. But Thiry said the attorney general's spokesman had told him the case is not closed.

Thoenes was riding pillion on a motorcycle at the time of his death. He saw approaching troops from Indonesian Battalion 745, Thiry said. The rear tire of the bike went flat and Thoenes fell.

Other witness testimony says soldiers were seen standing over Thoenes' body as a shot was heard and the motorcycle lying on the road was loaded onto an Indonesian army truck, Thiry said.

On the videotape which Thiry said he obtained Tuesday, a black motorcycle is seen being unloaded from a truck at a Dili military base in the presence of soldiers and police wearing bandanas.

Thiry said the tape showed the rear tire of the motorcycle was flat. "At school I learned one and one is two but still of course we have to prove that that motorcycle is the motorcycle. We hope it is."

The video will be shown on Dutch and American television Wednesday, he said. "It makes clear that statements that the Indonesian soldiers made to the Indonesian prosecutors were not really truthful and I think it gives a boost to the statements of the witnesses I spoke with," Thiry said.

He said Indonesian investigators should conduct follow-up interviews with the soldiers about what is shown on the video.

Asked whether he thought Indonesian authorities were deliberately stalling the case, Thiry said, "I don't know their agenda. Let's say I'm more eager maybe than they are." He expressed hope the case will be brought before an independent judge.

Thoenes died the day after a UN-sanctioned Australian-led peacekeeping force landed in Dili amid widespread looting, murder and destruction of property by Indonesian forces and their local militia allies.

The violence followed an overwhelming vote by East Timorese in August 1999 to separate from Indonesia.

UN probe into judiciary likely to up pressure on government

Jakarta Post - July 19, 2002

Berni K. Mustafa, Jakarta -- Legal experts have welcomed the presence of the United Nations' special rapporteur on the Indonesian judicial system, saying it should increase the pressure for legal reform amid mounting criticism that the government is not doing enough.

Achmad Ali, a legal expert from Hasanudin University in Makassar, said the arrival of the UN special rapporteur here underlined international concern over the prevailing legal uncertainty in Indonesia. "At least we can expect more pressure on the government to improve Indonesia's legal system," he told reporters on Thursday.

The government invited UN special rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy to spend 10 days here assessing the country's judicial system. But according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was the UN that initiated the visit.

Achmad said the poor state of Indonesia's judicial system was undeniable and could not be kept hidden from the world. Asked whether the UN may be losing confidence in Indonesia's legal reforms, he answered, "I would say we have to accept this as a sad fact."

Cumaraswamy in his first comments after arriving here on Monday said that Indonesia's judicial system was in serious trouble. He said he expected to conclude his visit with recommendations for the government.

But lawyer Frans Hendra Winata said the government may lack the political will to actually follow up on any UN recommendations. "The political will of this and the previous government has not been very apparent. Do they really want to uphold the law?" he asked.

Teten Masduki, a member of the National Ombudsman Commission and chairman of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), was pessimistic about the government's response to the possible UN suggestions.

The problem, he said, was not so much whether Indonesia could reform its judicial system but how strong the commitment to do this was. "Political corruption is getting worse and that's why there is no political commitment to fix it; politicians need to keep corruption going in order to maintain power." However, he said the international community had a stake in ensuring the law was upheld in Indonesia, especially foreign investors.

He added that Indonesia risked isolation from the international business community if the government failed to act on the UN recommendations. "The terms for foreign loans will also become stricter."

Investigations without conviction

The Guardian (UK) - July 18, 2002

John Aglionby -- Since the fall of the dictator Suharto, Indonesia's reputation in the field of law enforcement has always been near the bottom of the scale -- for instance a British police officer who was meant to stay for 18 months to help improve the local force left half way through his term in despair.

But the presence of two separate visitors to the country this week is highlighting just how woeful the situation is.

Visitor number one is a Dutch police superintendent, Gerrit Thiry. He is leading the Dutch investigation into the murder of Sander Thoenes, the Dutch journalist working for the Financial Times who was killed in the East Timorese capital, Dili, on the afternoon of September 21, 1999, just as the dejected Indonesian army was withdrawing following the nation's overwhelming vote for independence.

Mr Thiry is visiting Jakarta to try and persuade the Indonesian authorities to take a more active interest in the case. Mr Thoenes was riding on the back of a black motorbike through the Becora suburb of Dili when the driver saw soldiers on motorbikes and in trucks coming towards them. He quickly did a u-turn and sped off. The next thing he remembers is hearing shots and then his back tyre went flat.

The bike fell but the driver managed to escape; Mr Thoenes did not. An eyewitness said he saw soldiers standing over the body shortly afterwards and he heard a shot, although he did not see where the shot went.

He later identified one of the soldiers as being a lieutenant in the notorious army battalion 745, which has been held responsible for widespread atrocities in eastern East Timor earlier in the year and was passing through Dili at the time.

When questioned by Mr Thiry, the battalion commander could not satisfactorily account for his actions that afternoon following an incident involving his troops and two other foreign journalists in which their driver was beaten up and their interpreter was taken away and has never been seen since. Mr Thoenes was killed within an hour of that attack.

New video evidence has just come to light which shows a black motorbike with a flat tyre being lifted off a Battalion 745 truck later in the day. An additional nugget of information is that the troops' appearance in the video contradicts what Battalion 745 members told Indonesian investigators they were wearing.

Even without the new evidence Mr Thiry believes there is sufficient reason "to arrest several members of the Indonesian military as suspects and question them as suspects and not witnesses". The Indonesian authorities do not seem to agree.

The attorney general closed the case earlier this year, citing "insufficient evidence" to proceed -- despite his officials having access to the witnesses who spoke to the Dutch detectives.

However, after a four-hour meeting yesterday between the Dutch team and officials from the attorney general's office (the attorney general himself could only spare the Dutch detective 20 minutes even though he was given plenty of warning that Mr Thiry had flown halfway round the world to meet him), the case is going to be reopened. In theory.

What this means in practice is anybody's guess. But unless there is a massive sea change in the Indonesian government's political will, the officers of Battalion 745 are unlikely to see their careers interrupted in the near future.

Campaigners looking for signs that the situation might be on the cusp of change for the better are focusing on the other international visitor currently in Jakarta, the United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Param Cumaraswamy.

Mr Cumaraswamy is in Indonesia because there has been one high- profile case too many involving international companies being on the wrong side of inexplicable verdicts. Among the victims are Canadian insurer Manulife, American energy firm Karaha Bodas, as well as BP and the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto.

The rapporteur says he is also planning to study the progress of Indonesia's East Timor tribunal -- where 18 former government officials, military officers and militia leaders are on trial for crimes associated with the violence in 1999.

Thus far little has come out of the tribunal that inspires confidence and prosecutors have yet to ask for little more than the minimum possible sentence. The first cases are due to conclude in about a month.

But anyone hoping Mr Cumaraswamy's visit will precipitate improvements should not hold their breath. He is not due to submit his report until next April and even if he is critical, the chances of the Indonesian government doing anything about it are not high, if past experience is anything to go by.

Jakarta has mastered the art of rolling out the red carpet for "inconvenient" foreign visitors and then rolling it back up again and forgetting about them after they have left.

Indonesia

Indonesia offers to train Dili's officers: UN mission

Lusa - July 17, 2002

The Indonesian military, until recently occupiers of East Timor, may soon begin training officers for Dili's fledgling defense force, the UN mission in the newly independent country said Wednesday.

In a communique issued in Dili, UNMISET said the offer to train officers was made earlier this week in talks between Indonesia's regional military commander, Brig. Gen. Willem da Costa, and the commander of East Timor's UN forces, Thai Lt. Gen. Winai Phattiyakul, in Bali.

The regular, quarterly meeting was attended for the first time, with observer's status, by the chief of Dili's defense force, Brig. Gen. Taur Matan Ruak, UNMISET said.

News & issues

Defense handover begins next week

Lusa - July 18, 2002

The East Timor Defense Force (ETDF) assumes responsibility next week for all aspects of security in part of the new nation, and the Dili government was informed Thursday of progress in transferring defense control into Timorese hands.

On Tuesday, the ETDF takes over all defense duties in Lautem, Timor`s most easterly province, and the handover of military responsibilities from UN peacekeepers begins a process that will hopefully conclude in June 2004.

Timor`s fledgling defense force will be responsible for all border security in Lautem, including conducting patrols in the area and coordinating with local authorities and police forces. The ETDF`s small naval force will also patrol Timor`s territorial waters around the province.

Meanwhile, heads of the ETDF development bureau have confirmed that the next defense sector donors` conference will take place in Dil on August 28-29.

UK to release Balibo Five papers

Sydney Morning Herald - July 19 2002

Jill Jolliffe, Dili -- The British Government has told families of the two British journalists killed in Balibo, East Timor, in 1975 that it will soon release classified documents concerning the deaths.

Margaret Wilson, a cousin of Malcolm Rennie, one of the slain reporters, said she was surprised at the news. "We were always told there was nothing to release," she said.

In 1996 the British Foreign Office told Ms Wilson that documents concerning Rennie's death had been destroyed.

The move follows pressure on the British Government from Ms Wilson and Maureen Tolfree, the sister of Brian Peters, the other British journalist.

Rennie and Peters were part of a group of television reporters, now known as the Balibo Five, who were killed when Indonesian special forces attacked the border town on October 16, 1975. The others were Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, both Australians, and Gary Cunningham, a New Zealander.

Several East Timorese witnesses have identified General Yunus Yosfiah, a former Indonesian minister for information, as the man who led the attack and who personally fired on the five reporters.

The British families are also demanding that their Government take action to shore up an investigation by United Nations prosecutors in East Timor that began in 2000 but which has virtually collapsed because of Indonesian obstruction.

Mike O'Brien, Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, wrote to the families on June 24 "to confirm officially that the Foreign Office is reviewing the 1975-1976 files referring to the Balibo case in order to release the documents ahead of their projected release date in 2006-07".

He said the review had already begun and was expected to take two months, "but that some documents will need to be referred to the Australian Government".

The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, authorised a similar early release of Balibo documents in September 2000. They confirmed suspicions that Gough Whitlam's Labor government had been compromised in 1975 by its advance knowledge of the Indonesian government's plans to attack Balibo.

International relations

Gusmao urges 'good governance' in exchange for debt pardon

Lusa - July 18, 2002

President Xanana Gusmao called Thursday to the nations of the North to grant debt relief to the countries in the South, who would, in their turn seek to implement "good governance" with transparency and responsibility.

Gusmao was speaking at the summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of Countries (ACP), which is taking place in the southwestern Pacific republic of Fiji until Friday.

"While we call to the rich to pardon the debts of the poor of the South, we must heighten our efforts to practise good governance, with transparency and responsibility and free ourselves from corruption and bad rule", said Gusmao.

East Timor has formally applied for membership of the 78-member ACP, whose third summit is being attended by a minority of its heads of state and government. President Gusmao is accompanied by Dili`s foreign minister, Jose Ramos Horta.

Economy & investment

Dili, Portugal Telecom sign 'historic' 15-year concession

Lusa - July 19, 2002

Dili and a Portugal Telecom-led consortium signed a 15-year concession Friday for the Lisbon-headquartered company to establish and operate the new country's telecommunications systems.

The Timorese minister for transport, communications and public works, Ovidio Amaral, described the accord as "historic", saying it would permit "fixed and mobile telephone services, Internet access, and radio and television transmissions" to every part of the country.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, who also attended the signing ceremony in Dili, said the concession was "crucial" for the country, representing Portugal's largest investment in East Timor and a catalyst for further investments.

Financial figures for the deal were not made public, but Portugal Telecom's (PT) representative in Dili, Jose Rodrigues Jardim, told Lusa the investment was of "many millions of dollars".

Lisbon's ambassador, Rui Quartim Santos, said the concession would stimulate Portuguese investors, adding that "the business and economic sector had been in need of a stimulus and example".

Under the concession, the PT-led consortium, agreed to provide all 13 East Timorese districts with telecommunications services at the lowest possible tariffs within 15 months.

When the 15-year concession expires in 2017, the telecommunications system will be transferred to the government.