News & issues

Darwin beats Timor for site of LNG plant

The Australian - July 31, 2008

Matt Chambers – Woodside Petroleum has ruled out a $15 billion East Timor liquefied natural gas export plant to process output from its Greater Sunrise fields.

East Timor's natural resource secretary of state said the decision would be a "major problem" for the Government.

A Woodside spokeswoman said yesterday that the Perth company had told East Timorese authorities a local plant was not commercially attractive and it would instead focus on piping gas to Darwin or building a floating LNG plant.

East Timor Natural Resources State Secretary Alfredo Pires said he had not been informed of the decision and the Government, which had to approve the Sunrise project, would still push hard to for an East Timor plant.

"If there is a decision of that nature it will be a major problem for us," Mr Pires said yesterday after being informed of Woodside's statements. "To my understanding we have an agreement that no decision on a site shall be made until early next year."

Mr Pires said he was more than just hopeful an LNG plant would be built in East Timor. When asked if he was instead demanding, he said "yes". "We think it is only fair that the gas pipeline comes to Timor Leste," he said. "Timor Leste's needs have to be taken into account this time round."

After delaying the project since 2004 until fiscal and legal certainty could be obtained from East Timor, Woodside late last year restaffed the project.

That was done after East Timor ratified a treaty splitting royalties from the project 50:50 with Australia, an improvement for the smaller nation on a previous agreement. The Greater Sunrise fields straddle the boundary of the Joint Petroleum Development Area of the Timor Sea. Woodside had previously said the East Timor plant was the least preferred of the three options and yesterday said it was no longer being considered.

"Floating LNG is the most attractive in-field option and Darwin is the most commercially attractive onshore option for Sunrise," a Woodside spokeswoman said.

"The Sunrise joint venture will not conduct any further work on the Timor Leste option. The extensive work that we've done shows it carries the highest capital cost, longest schedule and overall the most risk of the remaining options."

While both the Timorese and Australian governments need to approve the project, Woodside is pointing to treaty arrangements that specify the reservoir needs to be developed to the best commercial advantage in accordance with best oilfield practice.

The Woodside spokeswoman said the company planned to make a final decision on the best way to develop the field in the first half of next year with a view to a final investment decision later in the year, after Australia and East Timor signed off.

Woodside has not said how much the project is expected to cost, not having settled on a site, but Mr Pires has said developing the project with an East Timor plant would cost $15 billion.

Analysts have suggested it would cost a little less using floating LNG or a Darwin plant.

Mr Pires has reportedly employed the services of Malaysia's Petronas to conduct a study on piping the gas to East Timor.

East Timor is closer to the field than Darwin, but the 184 kilometre pipeline would have to cross a 3.3km deep trench in a world first that Woodside describes as having high technical and seismic risk and high cost. Political risk is also a big factor for the project.

The Darwin option, which would require a 530km pipeline, would hook up to a plant next to the ConocoPhillips LNG plant at Wickham Point. ConocoPhillips and Shell are partners in the Sunrise project.

The untested floating LNG plant, while also a world first, would avoid pipeline costs and might ease the political problems of locating the plant in Australia.

Fresh doubts over Ramos Horta shooting

Melbourne Age - July 5, 2008

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – The rebel named as having shot East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta was apparently not the shooter after all, deepening the mystery that still surrounds the February attacks in Dili.

The Age can reveal that Mr Ramos Horta realised that Marcelo Caetano was not the gunman when he met him in Dili after he surrendered in April.

With the investigation into the attacks still weeks away from completion, rumours about what happened in Dili soon after dawn on February 11 are continuing to fuel deep concern among East Timor's political elite.

Caetano had been named in March as the shooter by Mr Ramos Horta's brother, Arsenio, who was at the President's house the morning of the attacks but did not witness the shootings. Mr Ramos Horta's office would not confirm the claim. "It's not clear yet," a spokesman for the President said at the time.

But Caetano became one of the main targets of a hunt in East Timor's mountains by hundreds of heavily armed soldiers and police as the media dubbed him Asia's most wanted man. Australian soldiers in East Timor handed out wanted notices that named him as the man who tried to assassinate the popular President.

Caetano repeatedly denied he shot the President, admitting only that he and other rebels went to Mr Ramos Horta's house on the orders of leader Alfredo Reinado, who was shot dead there.

In 2006, Caetano spent two weeks recuperating at Mr Ramos Horta's home from gunshot wounds.

Now being held in a jail in Dili with other rebels, he has been told that Mr Ramos Horta has not identified him although most East Timorese still believe he was the shooter.

Mr Ramos Horta, 58, has insisted he would be able to identify who shot him twice in the back, telling The Age in March he clearly saw the man's "face and eyes". The President cried when he met 11 rebels who had surrendered on April 29, including Caetano.

It was widely reported in the media that Mr Ramos Horta had come face to face with his attacker. But he told journalists who were present he did not want to lay blame. "I am happy our sons returned to Dili and that they surrendered their weapons," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said. "The truth will be established by the court."

Australian Federal Police examinations of seized weapons and bullets are a key part of the investigation into the attacks. Fragments were removed from Mr Ramos Horta's body as he underwent a series of operations in Royal Darwin Hospital.

East Timor's Prosecutor-General, Longinhos Monteiro, in charge of the investigation, yesterday declined to comment when asked about the status of Caetano after meeting in Dili with Australia's Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus, who has responsibility for Australian Federal Police.

In March Mr Monteiro asked the AFP to provide details about telephone calls that Reinado made and received from Australia before the attacks.

Federal police were also asked to investigate a bank account in Darwin that Mr Ramos Horta told journalists was in the name of Angelita Pires, Reinado's Timorese-born Australian lover.

Mr Debus' office declined to provide any information about the meeting.

East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has resisted calls by MPs to set up an international inquiry into the attacks, saying Timorese can handle the situation. Mr Gusmao's vehicle was ambushed but he escaped unhurt.

Truth & Friendship Commission

Timor Leste Truth Commission report ignores justice, church says

UCAN - July 29, 2008

Dili – The report of the Commission for Truth and Friendship on who was behind the violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999 ignores justice, a Catholic Church official says.

The commission, set up by the Timorese and Indonesian governments, concluded that the Indonesian army directed the violence but also cited allegations of human rights violations by pro-independence groups.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia and President Jose Ramos-Horta of Timor Leste (East Timor) officially received the report at a ceremony on the Indonesian island of Bali on July 15.

Media reported that Yudhoyono expressed regret for the bloodshed but said Indonesia and Timor Leste would examine the report before proceeding further.

However, the committee Dili diocese set up to evaluate the report, comprising six priests and a nun, says it merely confirms what international bodies already surmised and does not recommend prosecuting those responsible.

Carmelite Father Anacleto Maia da Costa, head of that committee, told UCA News on July 24 that the report "breaks the hearts" of those affected by torture, rape and murder. "It ignores the dignity of people, especially the victims and their families," he said, stressing that "in order to have reconciliation, there must be justice."

The position of the Church "is to stand for justice," which demands the "perpetrators should be held to account for the violence before an international tribunal," and it "will continue to urge the two governments to provide rehabilitation for the victims and their families," he explained. At the very least, he added, the two governments must compensate for the loss of life by subsidizing the education of those whose parents were killed.

On July 15, Father da Costa spoke to reporters in Dili on behalf of the Catholic Church in Timor Leste. The Church, he told them, does not accept "regret" from the Indonesian government, which "does not have enough courage to recognize the wrongs they perpetrated on the Timor Leste people."

Elisa Lobato, 55, a survivor of the brutality in 1999, says the killings at a church in Liquica, 34 kilometers west of Dili, still haunt her. "My husband was killed by the militia in the church, and I can't forgive the perpetrators," she told reporters on July 15.

Emilio da Costa, 57, another survivor, said he wants justice and the arrest of persons responsible for the crimes committed at that time. He also called the "deep regret" expressed by the two countries inadequate.

In early April 1999, pro-Indonesia militia killed pro- independence activists inside the Liquica church compound, where they had taken refuge. The number killed is disputed, ranging from a low of 61 claimed by Indonesia to more than 200 claimed by local people. Father Raphael dos Santos, the parish priest, was among the many who witnessed the massacre.

Indonesia and Timor Leste established the Commission for Truth and Friendship in August 2005 to promote reconciliation between the neighboring countries and to investigate rights violations during the occupation of East Timor.

Human rights activists, lawyers, NGOs and the Catholic Church have criticized the commission since its inception, noting that its mandate blocks its findings from being used to prosecute violators.

They also pointed out that the commission focused only on violence around 1999 and not abuses going back to the beginning of Indonesia's occupation in 1975. Estimates of the number of people who died due to the occupation exceed 100,000.

The United Nations boycotted the commission's work largely for the same reasons. The report its Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation published in 2005 documented about 8,000 testimonies of abuse during the almost 25 years of Indonesian rule. The report called for the prosecution of Indonesian military leaders as well as freedom fighters for any offenses they committed.

After a referendum in 1999 produced an overwhelming vote for independence, militias linked to the Indonesian military responded by killing hundreds and destroying much of the local infrastructure. The UN estimates about 1,000 East Timorese died in the violence, but Indonesian officials say only about 100 people were killed.

Timor Leste, which became fully independent on May 20, 2002, has a population of about 1 million, 95 percent of whom are Catholics.

US praises Indonesia-Timor Leste solution

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2008

Kornelius Purba and Tony Hotland, Singapore – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday expressed her appreciation over the findings of an joint government investigation into human rights abuses in the former East Timor.

The report concluded that gross human rights abuses had occurred before, during and after the 1999 referendum where the majority of people in the territory opted for independence. However, the investigation team does not have any authority to conduct prosecutions.

In a meeting with her Indonesian counterpart Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting here, Rice offered to help both countries to follow up on the findings and recommendations of the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF).

"She appreciates the completion of the findings by our Indonesia-Timor Leste CTF. The US appreciates and supports it, and asked what the US can do to help implement (the recommendations)," Minister Hassan told The Jakarta Post after a 25-minute meeting with Rice in her hotel suite.

The State Department allowed the Post to follow Hassan and his delegation into her suite and stay there for about one minute, but forbade reporters from asking any questions.

"I expressed our thanks and appreciation for the understanding and support that the US has extended to us," said the minister about his response to Rice.

Many parties have praised the CTF for its findings and conclusions over the gross human rights abuses.

When asked about Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's criticism of Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand for being late to ratify the ASEAN Charter, the minister replied, "It is not criticism. My understanding is what Prime Minister Lee said about that, was that in a way, even without waiting for the charter to be fully ratified by all 10 members, (it will) enter into force."

Abdillah Toha, legislator from the National Mandate Party (PAN), on Wednesday slammed Lee's remarks. "Lee forgets that the parliaments in these three countries are real parliaments and not the ones in Singapore or Myanmar, which follow whatever their governments wish without any reservation," Toha said.

Individuals may seek justice for Timor violence to UN

Jakarta Post - July 22, 2008

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – Although the government has taken the blame for the East Timor violence in 1999, there remains an opportunity for individuals to seek redress through national or international courts, the National Commission on Human Rights says.

The rights body insisted Monday that both Indonesian and Timor Leste's governments could not stop any individual's effort from filing reports with the courts.

"Political statement of both governments doesn't implicate on victims' efforts in seeking justice," the commission's deputy chairman M. Ridha Saleh said here.

The governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste agreed last week that both parties would not take legal actions against the alleged perpetrators of the atrocities.

The statement followed their acceptance of a report by the Indonesia and Timor-Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF), which concluded pro-Jakarta militia groups, the Indonesian Military (TNI), the Indonesian government and the Indonesian Police were responsible for the gross rights violations, which included murders, rapes, torture, illegal detentions and forcible deportation of civilians.

In the report, the CTF recommended that the Indonesian and Timor Leste governments make "official acknowledgement through expression of regret and apology for the suffering caused by the violence in 1999 and firm commitment to take all necessary measures to prevent the reoccurrence of such events and to heal the wounds of the past".

Ridha said the right body supported any individual effort to take the crimes against humanity to the international court of justice, which will require a UN Security Council's resolution. "The CTF report confirmed our previous investigation which concluded the existence of gross human rights abuses in Timor Leste," he said.

He added that based on the CTF findings, the Attorney General's Office could reopen investigation into the case.

The ad hoc human rights court tried 18 military and civilian officials for the East Timor mayhem, but eventually they were all acquitted.

A coalition of rights groups under the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) threw its weight behind the right commission, saying punishment could be sought against perpetrators as the CTF report did not grant amnesty to actors implicated in the report.

HRWG coordinator Rafendi Djamin suggested establishment of a hybrid court, an internationalized national court consisting local and foreign prosecutors and judges, to hear the East Timor violence.

"A hybrid court is the best alternative for victims so far, as it consists both national and international parties, making it fair and impartial," Rafendi said.

Executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) Agung Putri added the CTF report was merely a political document without any legal consequences, but it could serve as a reference for legal actions.

The House of Representatives, however, previously had shown refusal to bring back the tragedy to court, citing the government's decision to close the case.

TNI responsible for East Timor mayhem: Chief

Jakarta Post - July 18, 2008

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) on Thursday admitted partial responsibility for gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999, saying it would abide by any government decisions to follow up on a joint truth commission report.

The report by the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) blamed the Indonesian government, military and police forces for crimes including murder, rape, torture and forced displacement.

"The government has accepted the report. The TNI will also accept it and wait for whatever action the government considers taking next," TNI chief Gen. Djoko Santoso was quoted by Antara news agency as saying at a press conference at Magelang Military Academy in Central Java.

He said the 1999 mayhem was "the state's responsibility and has become TNI's responsibility".

Djoko added it was still not clear yet what kind of amends the military would have to make in relation to recommendations in the report, because it was still under government scrutiny.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Timor Leste counterpart, Jose Ramos-Horta, received the CTF report at a ceremony Tuesday in Bali.

Indonesia accepted the blame for the gross rights violations that took place before, during and after the 1999 referendum that led to East Timor's independence from Indonesia.

However, both Yudhoyono and Ramos-Horta agreed to consider the report the final authoritative account of what occurred during that period, in a bid to heal the wounds of victims and lay a foundation for stronger relations between the two neighbors.

This means none of the perpetrators of the violence will be prosecuted because "the case is closed", Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said.

Djoko said the military was "part of the state administration that follows the principles of democracy and thus abides by any decisions made by political authorities".

The CTF's establishment in 2001 was part of joint efforts by Indonesia and Timor Leste to resolve the pressing issue of human rights abuses by the TNI. "This effort was a choice to overcome the problem by finding the truth and building friendships, while still looking to the future," Djoko said.

"With friendship, the two countries hope to be able to remember the past and draw wisdom for the future by improving cooperation."

The report said TNI and police personnel, as well as civilian authorities, consistently and systematically cooperated with and provided significant support to pro-Indonesia militias, thus contributing to the widespread violence.

The CTF mentioned the names of former Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto, former transmigration minister Gen. (ret) Hendropriyono, former Udayana military commander Maj. Gen. (ret) Adam Damiri and his former deputy Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon.

Pro-integration militia leader Tomas Goncalves said he met with Prabowo and then East Timor commander Col. Tono Suratman, and former military intelligence commander Lt. Col. Yayat Sudrajat in Oct. 1998 to plan the formation of East Timor militia groups, according to the report.

The CTF also revealed the role of former Indonesian military chief Gen. Wiranto, who was blamed by omission for the violence because as the highest-ranking military officer he should have known of the militia groups' movement.

Indonesia, Timor Leste express remorse over Dili atrocities

Antara News - July 16, 2008

Andi Abdussalam, Jakarta – The governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste in Bali on Tuesday expressed deep regret over the gross human rights violations committed during and after the referendum that led to the secession of East Timor from Indonesia in September in 1999.

The two governments expressed their regret in a joint statement signed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his Timor Leste counterpart Ramos Horta, and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in Bali on Tuesday.

Both governments signed the 14-point joint statement after earlier on the day receiving a final report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) set up by both governments to collect facts on alleged human rights violations in East Timor and to help restore the relations between the two countries.

"We would like to express our deepest regret over the past violence that has claimed so many lives and material loss," President Yudhoyono said after receiving the final report from the CTF at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Tuesday.

The Indonesian government will study and take follow-up steps with regard to the CTF recommendations and take initiatives to improve the friendship between the peoples of Indonesia and Timor Leste.

Meanwhile, Timor Leste President Ramos Horta said his government would study and discuss the report, and carry out the CTF recommendations. "We agree to carry out the recommendations as far as possible," Horta said.

In response to the recommendations and other initiatives suggested by the commission, a joint ministerial commission will formulate an action plan.

The report, leaked to several media organisations including AAP in Australia last week, said that Indonesia bore responsibility for the violations, which included mass murder, rape and torture.

It also said that the pro-Indonesia militia groups, the Indonesian government, military and police "must all bear an institutional responsibility for the gross human rights violations against civilians".

But the report said pro-independence groups in East Timor also committed gross human rights violations, including illegal detentions, for which that country also owed Indonesia an apology.

The Commission was opposed to a controversial option of granting an amnesty to the perpetrators, saying it would not be in keeping with "its goals of restoring human dignity, creating the foundation for reconciliation... and ensuring that violence would not recure".

In response to the report, National Defense Forces (TNI) Chief Gen Djoko Santoso said he was ready to face the possible consequences, if it was true that the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship had declared the TNI institutionally responsible for the human rights violations in East Timor.

"I still don't know (about CTF's statement) but if the TNI as an institution is held responsible, I will be accountable. I have just returned from Lebanon, so I have not yet seen the (CTF)'s formulation," he said at the Merdeka Palace last week.

But Santoso did not explain in what way he would live up to his responsibility. "I still don't know what the (CTF's) has actually said. When I have received it, we will consider in what way we will show our responsibility," he said.

In the meantime, retired General Wiranto, who was the TNI chief during the 1999 East Timor polls, said the East Timor case was already settled and closed.

"All army generals who were suspected of involvement in the East Timor riots had been tried by an extra-ordinary military tribunal and all of them were found not guilty," he said on Tuesday.

He said that should the case be taken to an international tribunal, he should first wait for the decisions of both governments. "We leave it to the governments of both nations and we are of the opinion that there were no mistakes at that time and all were done by the book," Wiranto said.

According to the CTF report, the Indonesian military, police and East Timor government officials were at the time involved in every stage of activities that led to gross human rights violations, including murder, rape, torture, extra-judicial arrests, and forced deportation of East Timorese. The pro- independence militia committed acts of violence during the referendum in 1999.

But the report said that pro-independence groups in East Timor also committed gross human rights violations – namely illegal detentions – and that state must also it is sorry.

Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said human rights violations in East Timor were the responsibility of the governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste. "Joint responsibility is one of the principles that should be put forward or be taken as basis for responding to the report of the CTF," the defense minister said in a working meeting with TNI commander Gen. Djoko Santoso on Monday.

In this case, both sides would not look into the past too long in their attempt to find the truth and justice. "So, there should be no words of apology but an expression of deep regret which is to be conveyed by both presidents to their respective peoples," he said.

He said that what was found by the CTF was a matter of restorative justice whose nature was to restore both nations' relations and peoples, so that both sides should not go too far to question matters done by both countries in September 1999.

The CTF report referred to the principle that both sides had committed gross human rights violations in East Timor. "This must be underlined because media reports in Australia mentioned as if it was only Indonesia which had committed human rights violations in East Timor," he said.

Indonesians rebuffed Timorese call for amnesty recommendations

Lusa - July 15, 2008

Denpasar – East Timorese members of the bilateral commission with Indonesia on atrocities committed in 1999 suggested amnesty recommendations for the crimes but were turned down by their Jakarta counterparts, commission officials said Tuesday.

"It was from the Timorese side that the suggestion arose for the (Truth and Friendship Commission) to recommend amnesties, the opposite of what everyone expected", one TFC source told Lusa after the commission presented its report following three years of investigation.

"The amnesties would obviously have targeted (ex-) pro-Indonesian Timorese militias, but also members of pro-independence groups", said the official, asking to remain unidentified.

The possibility of the bilateral commission recommending amnesties for the rampages around the time of East Timor's 1999 independence plebiscite was a prime reason for the United Nations keeping its distance from the TFC, a Dili-Jakarta initiative that has been widely criticized by human rights bodies worldwide.

Other TFC sources told Lusa that at least on two occasions it was the direct intervention of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that led the commission to "advance its investigations", including his guarantee the commission have access to confidential Indonesian military documents.

"It was clear from the beginning that Jakarta had a message: a report that was not credible would be useless", one commission official said. "The external perception of the TFC was different, sometimes the opposite, of the commission's internal reality", he added.

The senior leaders of East Timor and Indonesia accepted the findings of the commission at a ceremony in Bali Tuesday with both sides acknowledging "institutional responsibility" for the atrocities committed in 1999.

The TCF's final report fingered no individuals and issued to call for those responsible for the violence to be brought to trial. (PRM/SAS)

UN hopes Timor atrocities report can lead to justice

Agence France Presse - July 16, 2008

New York – UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that the early release of a report blaming Indonesia for crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999 would mark the first step toward achieving justice and reconciliation.

A UN statement said Ban looked forward to "the early public release" of the final report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship to the presidents of Indonesia and East Timor.

The UN secretary general, who is currently on a visit to Germany, "hopes that this process will be the first step towards achieving justice and reconciliation."

Ban encourages the governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste to "take concrete steps to ensure full accountability, to end impunity and to provide reparations to victims in accordance with international human rights standards and principles," the UN statement said.

Earlier Tuesday, Indonesia expressed regret for violence in East Timor in 1999 after accepting the report, but rejected calls for an international tribunal.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to implement the recommendations made by the truth commission in its report on the months of violence, including murders and rapes, surrounding East Timor's independence vote.

Ban meanwhile reiterated the United Nations' readiness "to extend its technical assistance in the implementation of such measures."

An estimated 1,400 people were killed when local militias backed by the Indonesian military rampaged through East Timor as the then-province voted to break away from Indonesia, which invaded in 1975.

Until now Indonesia has always blamed the local militias, and no Indonesian commander or civilian leader has ever been successfully prosecuted.

CTF implicates generals in 1999 East Timor violence

Jakarta Post - July 16, 2008

Abdul Khalik, Nusa Dua, Bali – A joint truth commission report has found several high-ranking military officers supported pro- Jakarta militia groups that perpetrated gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

Quoting scores of witnesses testifying during the fact-finding process of the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) from 2005 to 2008, the report said the militia groups were formed by the Indonesian military, and that some generals supplied them with funding and weapons that were later used to attack pro- independence groups.

In its own account on the institutional formation and operational structure linking the Indonesian military with the militia groups, the commission report mentioned names of former Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto, former transmigration minister Gen. (ret) Hendropriyono, former Udayana military commander Maj. Gen. (ret) Adam Damiri and his former deputy Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon.

Pro-integration militia leader Tomas Goncalves said he met with Prabowo and then East Timor commander Col. Tono Suratman, and former military intelligence commander Lt. Col. Yayat Sudrajat in Oct. 1998 to plan the formation of East Timor militia groups, the report said.

Goncalves and his compatriots then met with Hendropriyono in Jakarta in February 1999. "According to Tomas Goncalves, Hendropriyono said the funds from the department of transmigration in East Timor could be used for anything," the report said.

It said that after these series of meetings in Jakarta to build support for the formation of the pro-Indonesia militias, Goncalves and his colleagues then met with Adam and Simbolon in Denpasar before returning to Dili in March 1999.

"The essence of their discussion was to immediately form an armed unit for which the Indonesian military would provide financial and other support," the report said.

Another witness Francisco Lopes de Carvalho then met Maj. Gen. (ret) Zacky Anwar Makarim, who was the deputy head of the East Timor referendum task force, to discuss the strategy of a pro- integration movement right before the referendum.

Carvalho reported the following statement by Zacky during the meeting: "Fifty-fifty can't lose. If we lose, I'll leave it to you. I'm asking, if you swear, don't just swear", the report said.

Goncalves also testified that he and his pro-integration friends met with Lt. Gen. (ret) Kiki Syahnakri, the East Timor province military commander in 1999, about the fate of integration supporters if the autonomy option was defeated, and asked if the Indonesian military would continue to support them.

On its analysis of past documents, especially the indictment of the UN Serious Crimes Unit, the commission revealed the role of former Indonesian military chief Gen. Wiranto, who was blamed by omission for the violence because as the highest-ranking military officer he should have known of the militia groups' movement.

Interview: Gusmao satisfied with Indonesia's regret

Reuters - July 16, 2008

Olivia Rondonuwu, Nusa Dua – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is satisfied with Indonesia's expression of regret over violence surrounding Dili's 1999 independence vote and says it is now time to move on.

Indonesia and East Timor expressed deep regret on the resort island of Bali on Tuesday for the violence after a joint probe blamed Indonesian security and civilian forces for "gross human rights violations".

"I am satisfied," Gusmao, a charismatic resistance hero who fought for independence from Indonesia, said when asked for his reaction to Jakarta's regret at the violence.

"When we initiated the process, we came with a commitment, a commitment to change, a commitment to work together, a commitment to look forward," he told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

"Now, in our country instead of crying everyday, we have to make policies, instead of crying, instead of saying we are victims," he said.

"This is a complex process... Sometimes in our lives we have to look at the priorities. The priority now is to better the standard of lives of our people."

East Timor is rich in oil resources but has an average income of just 50 US cents a day and 42 percent of its population is unemployed. The former Portuguese colony, invaded by Indonesia in 1975, won independence in the violence-marred vote organised by the United Nations in 1999. It became fully independent in 2002 after a period of UN administration.

The statement of remorse from the leaders of the two countries came after the report by the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) was submitted to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta and Gusmao.

Case closed

The report went further than many had expected in blaming Indonesian security forces for the mayhem, although Yudhoyono stopped short of an apology, as recommended by the commission.

"He (Yudhoyono) apologised. He said that," said Gusmao over a melon-and-strawberry breakfast in Bali's upmarket Nusa Dua area. "What's the difference of apology and remorse? How do you measure this?"

He added that Indonesia's former president, Abdurrahman Wahid, also known as "Gus Dur", had apologised when he visited East Timor in 2000 and it would be "unfair" to keep asking for an apology every time Indonesia changed its leadership.

Gusmao, who was jailed by Indonesia for seven years, and Yudhoyono signed an agreement in 2005 to establish the truth commission.

East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to split from Indonesian rule and the United Nations estimates about 1,000 East Timorese died during the post-vote mayhem.

Rights activists say the two governments must continue the judicial process to try the perpetrators from the evidence provided in the report. But Gusmao said the case was closed.

"For us it is (closed). If you want to open it, do it yourself," he said, referring to human rights groups and victims who want to take the case to an international court. (Editing by Sugita Katyal)

A flashback to East Timor violence

Jakarta Post - July 17, 2008

This Report presents the results of the two and a half years of work by the world's first bilateral Truth and Friendship Commission. It is comprised of nine chapters.

I. Mandate and implementation

The Commission's mandate began in 2005 and was extended until 2008 to complete the three main components of its work: (l) inquiry, consisting of document review, fact-finding, and research, (2) making findings on the perpetration of gross human rights violations and institutional responsibility, and (3) arriving at recommendation and lessons learned.

II. The "Conclusive Truth"

There were multiple causes of the conflict in 1999, which are complex and interrelated. Some of these causes doubtless go back to at least 1974 and the events ensuing from the end of the Portuguese colonial presence. Others arose from the more immediate political context of the events of 1998 in Indonesia. The underlying reasons for each aspect of the conflict in 1999 requires further, specialized research in order to fully understand why the conflict happened in specific ways, and how various institutions and individuals participated.

First, the events of 1999 cannot be understood in isolation from the long period of conflict that occurred in East Timor. The nature of the violence that occurred in 1999 was shaped by previous patterns of conflict.

Second, the violence that occurred in East Timor in 1999 also grew out of the unique political circumstances that were created by Indonesia's transition from an authoritarian to a democratic state (Reformasi), which began in 1998.

Third, although in 1999 ABRI was intent on initiating internal reforms to transform itself by stages into a professional military force with particular focus on the external defense function, in early 1999 the political and social dynamics and security defense were still strongly influenced by the legacy of the past.

Finally, the institutional actions that led to violence in 1999 represent the culmination of the actions of those individuals taking part in the violence. However, determining individual responsibility is not the mandated task of this Commission.

Conclusions about Gross Human Rights Violations and Institutional Responsibility

1. The Commission concluded that gross human rights violations in the form of crimes against humanity did occur in East Timor in 1999 and that these violations included murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, illegal detention, and forcible transfer and deportation carried out against the civilian population.

2. The Commission concluded that there was institutional responsibility for these violations.

3. The Commission concluded that pro-autonomy militia groups, TNI, the Indonesian civilian government, and Polri must all bear institutional responsibility for gross human rights violations targeted against civilians perceived as supporting the proindependence cause. These crimes included murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, illegal detention, and illegal detention, and forcible transfer and deportation.

4. The Commission concluded that because of the lack of previous systematic judicial investigations of such violations the exact nature and extent of such violations could not be conclusively determined.

5. The Commission concluded that persistent patterns of organized, institutional involvement in these gross human rights violations provide the basis for its conclusions about institutional responsibility.

How the Commission arrived at these conclusions

A. Conclusions about gross human rights violations

The Commission received a very large volume of documentary, and live, testimonial evidence that gross human rights violations occurred. All of the four major bodies of documents examined in the Document Review agreed that gross human rights violations were perpetrated in East Timor in 1999.

On the basis of its review of all of the evidence, the Commission identified specific cases of gross human rights violations, and determined that there were in fact persistent patterns of organized, systematic violations perpetrated by members or elements of pro-autonomy groups and Indonesian governmental institutions.

B. Conclusions about institutional responsibility

To find institutional responsibility the Commission analyzed whether there was sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the patterns of widespread and/or systematic violations manifested institutional involvement of sufficient scope and duration to justify conclusions of institutional responsibility on the part of several institutions that played a role in the violence in 1999.

On the basis of its analysis, the Commission concluded that the evidence clearly proved that pro-autonomy militias were the primary direct perpetrators of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

In analyzing the extent to which Indonesian institutions also met the criteria for institutional responsibility, the Commission concluded that the evidence was sufficiently clear and abundant to justify such conclusions. More specifically, the Commission found that TNI personnel, police, and civilian authorities consistently and systematically cooperated with and supported the militias in a number of significant ways that contributed to the perpetration of the crimes enumerated above. The evidence also demonstrated that TNI personnel sometimes directly participated in the operations that led to these crimes.

The commission also found that there was abundant evidence that showed the activities of militia groups were also supported by the civilian government in a variety of ways.

III. The Commission's recommendations

The Recommendations respond to the Commission's mandate, the lessons learned, as well as to tangible problems that currently face each country as a result of the violence in 1999. Above all, they are a response to the needs of those whose lives were affected by the violence in 1999.

The mandate authorizes the Commission to make specific recommendations, inter alia, regarding amnesty and rehabilitation. The mandate also asks the Commission to make recommendations that include innovative ways to improve people-to-people relationships in the two countries that are in congruence with local religious beliefs and customs, and to solidify cooperative and reconciliatory processes at the state level.

In addressing these guidelines of its mandate, the Commission aimed to provide realistic and concrete recommendations that are inclusive, forward-looking, based on principles of restorative justice, and which would promote long term friendship, reconciliation and the prevention of future conflicts and violence.

In addition, in preparing its recommendations, the Commission took into account the institutional shortcomings and failures that it had identified as having contributed to the 1999 violence. Remedying systemic and institutional failures through institutional reform is necessary to prevent future reoccurrences of violence and to ensure the foundation for peace and friendship between the two countries.

In fulfilling its mandate the Commission followed two key principles in formulating recommendations. The Commission determined that in order to promote reconciliation recommendations must be inclusive, and must not discriminate between parties, particularly based on political affiliation. The second principle informing the recommendation is that they all take the form of collective reparations, requiring material and other forms of support from the relevant governments and institutions.

The Commission's recommendations for urgent action may be summarized under several themes.

- Recommendations focusing on accountability and institutional reform.

The Commission does not recommend amnesty or rehabilitation for any persons.

A key component of such institutional reforms is a culture of accountability in the institutions whose responsibility it is to maintain peace a security and to prevent and punish violations of law and human rights. Based upon this principle and in accordance with its Terms of Reference and considerations of procedural justice, the Commission made no recommendations for amnesty or rehabilitation of any individuals or groups.

The Commission's Report identifies weak judicial institutions, the lack of an effective commitment to the rule of law, and the lack of accountability in military and security forces, as factors that contributed to the violence of 1999.

On the basis of its reflections on these conclusions and the underlying events, the Commission recommended a series of urgent institutional reform including:

A human rights training program focused specifically on the role of security forces and intelligence organizations in situations of political conflict, mass demonstrations and civil unrest and emphasizing the obligation of the military and intelligence forces to remain neutral in political controversies and elections, to refrain from using state resources in support of political parties or their goals, and to operate solely within the limits of the law and under the direction of civilian leadership.

A human rights training program focused specifically on the role of particular civil institutions in planning for and working to prevent situations of civil and political conflict through mediation, peaceful method of conflict resolution, and the inculcation of a culture of understanding and toleration of political difference, and of the right of citizens to express their differences without fear or intimidation within all levels of the civilian government.

The promotion of institutional reforms that enhance the authority and effectiveness of institutions or agencies charged with the investigation and prosecution of human rights violations alleged to have been perpetrated by members of the armed forces, police or other security agencies.

Specialized training programs for military, police, and civilian officials to promote the protection of women and children and the prevention of sexual exploitation and violence in all forms against women, and other vulnerable populations.

The Commission's findings and conclusions in regard to the nature and causes of the violence in 1999 underscores the importance of institutional reform that will lead to a clearer understanding of the role of a professional military operating in a democratic state solely under the control and authority of the elected civilian government.

On this basis the Commission makes a series of recommendations aimed at preventing recurrence of the kind of violence that occurred in 1999 through a transformation of military doctrine and institutional practices and mentalities from that of a freedom fighting or revolutionary people's army to the kind of professional armed forces appropriate for a modern, democratic state operating under the rule of law and civilian control.

- Recommendations involving joint border and security policy.

Unresolved border and security issues represent an ongoing impediment to achieving peace and friendship between the two nations and to addressing the needs of those individuals whose lives have been adversely affected by the violence in 1999. To resolve these issues the Commission recommended the following urgent measures:

The governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste establish visa-free "Peace "Zones," already informally in existence, on the border between Timor-Leste and West Timor. The establishment or an official Peace Zone(s) will bring legitimacy to these activities and expand the possibility for further widespread bilateral communications, cultural exchanges, and economic development, particularly through the creation of a free trade zone within the Peace Zone(s).

Increasing security on the border zone between the two countries through a mechanism of field cooperation, coordination and training involving joint patrols and joint border posts.

The completion of agreements related to land, sea and air border demarcation and delimitation between the two countries, that have not yet been fully agreed.

- Recommendations to promote conflict resolution and provide psychosocial services for victims.

The Commission recommends the establishment of a Documentation and Conflict Resolution Center tasked with promoting understanding of the past between the peoples of the two nations, providing educational and training programs in conflict resolution and mediation for government, civil society, communities, and educational curricula.

- Recommendations involving economic and asset issues

The Commission recommends the two governments to accelerate the resolution of the complex economic and asset issues including the disposition of public and private assets, addressing unresolved pensions for former civil servants and other related issues.

- Recommendation for Commission for Disappeared Persons.

The Commission recommends that the governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste work together to acquire information/form a commission about disappeared people and cooperate to gather data and provide information. This Commission shall also be tasked to identify the whereabouts of all Timor Leste children who were separated from their parents and to notify their families.

- Recommendation for acknowledgment.

Commission recommends for official acknowledgment through expressions of regret and apology for the suffering caused by the violence in 1999 and a firm commitment to take all necessary measures to prevent reoccurrence of such events and to heal the wounds of the past.

- Long-term and aspirational recommendations.

The Commission made several recommendations that are more general in nature and aim at promoting long term friendship and reconciliation between the peoples of the two nations. They include, cultural and educational exchanges, cooperation and support in the health sector, promoting a wider culture of peace and respect for the rule of law and human rights, continuing security cooperation and bilateral programs in respecting and caring for the remains of the deceased in each country, and consideration of options regarding dual citizenship.

The Commission's recommendations and spirit of truth are a sound basis to further develop the ties between Indonesia and East Timor. Symbolically and through the tangible results of the Commission's work, the two countries have already joined together to face a difficult past, and have promised to take a positive approach to the future.

Indonesia remorseful over East Timor riots

Radio Australia - July 15, 2008

Geoff Thompson

Mark Colvin: Indonesia has accepted that its own officials, military and police, funded, armed and collaborated with the violent anti-independence militias that ran riot in East Timor eight years ago.

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed his "deepest remorse" to those who lost their lives and property.

His East Timorese counterpart Jose Ramos-Horta also joined him in Bali to accept the final report of their nations' Commission for Truth and Friendship.

Both leaders signed a joint statement in Bali expressing "remorse to all those who suffered immeasurable pain and physical and psychological wounds" due to human rights violations in 1999.

Indonesia correspondent, Geoff Thompson, reports from Nusa Dua in Bali.

Geoff Thompson: Until very, very recently, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was among the majority of Indonesian officials who denied the institutional involvement of the Indonesian state, the military and the police in the coordinated militia campaign to terrorise East Timor's people enough to ensure a vote against independence in 1999. Today in Bali, that official position changed forever.

(Sound of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono speaking)

Standing before East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, President Yudhoyono turned a new page in Indonesia's official history.

"Often truth can only be established," he said, "after systematic investigation. Without the substantial truth of such a process, we cannot produce closure. Such closure is crucial," he said. "We cannot move on if we remain focused on the past, but we can't just bury the past unceremoniously. The lies about what happened must be taken out of the process before rehabilitation can operate effectively," he said.

The final report of the two nations' Commission for Truth and Friendship found that both countries bore the burden of institutional responsibility for the gross human rights violations which left up to 1500 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced in 1999.

But President Yudhoyono stopped short of an apology. Instead he expressed his deepest remorse for what happened that led to the victims and the loss of property.

"Let us remember those who fell in those dark days of our past," he said. "By remembering them," he went on, "let us resolve that what befell them shall not happen again in our lives to any human in the future."

Clearly guided by a spirit of reconciliation, East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta said that the tragic events of 1999 were known to all and did not need to be elaborated.

President Horta said that the report made it clear that with the history of the Indonesian military in East Timor it was unrealistic to expect the military to maintain security without emotion. Then he went even further and praised the TNI.

Jose Ramos-Horta: The Indonesian army was not defeated in Timor- Leste. Let no-one harbour such illusions. They obeyed their orders from their leaders and complied with the verdict of the people of Timor-Leste to leave the country.

This was an act of statesmanship, a very painful one for a very proud army and a very proud country.

Geoff Thompson: An international coalition of human rights groups focused on East Timor from Europe, the US, East Timor and Indonesia, have criticised the commission and the report, effectively saying that the work was meaningless without pursuing the prosecutions of those behind 1999's systematic campaign of violence and without reforming a largely unreformed Indonesian military.

After the handover of the report and the speeches, I asked Indonesia's Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono whether the truth was too much for many in Indonesia's military to accept.

Juwono Sudarsono: No, I've talked to most of the senior military officers, retired as well as active. They all accept the wording of the institutional responsibility.

Geoff Thompson: But it is a breakthrough; we've never had an admission, an official admission or acceptance by Indonesia of anything like this before.

Juwono Sudarsono: I think it's a credit to the President because he was a military officer, he served in East Timor and he was chief of the territorial staff. So I think it's a great credit for him.

Geoff Thompson: And in terms of prosecutions, is that door closed or is it still possible?

Juwono Sudarsono: One of the recommendations is that both sides must try and find ways to help resolve the wounds affecting families of the victims. That's not in a prosecutor sense but in a monetary sense, I think that's the key word.

Geoff Thompson: In 1999, Indonesia's current presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal had the unenviable job of selling the official fiction of what was happening in East Timor to the international media.

On the sidelines today, I asked whether he was relieved that he no longer had to be involved in selling a lie. He laughed and said, "I'm very glad."

In Nusa Dua, Bali, this is Geoff Thompson for PM.

Indonesia and East Timor leaders regret vote bloodshed

Reuters - July 15, 2008

Olivia Rondonuwu, Nusa Dua – Indonesia and East Timor expressed regret on Tuesday for violence surrounding Dili's 1999 independence vote after a joint probe blamed state institutions for "gross human rights violations."

The report by the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) went further than many had expected in blaming Indonesian security forces for the mayhem, although Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stopped short of an apology.

The two governments set up the CTF in 2005 to look into the violence, during which the United Nations estimates about 1,000 East Timorese died, but it has no power to prosecute, prompting criticism that it serves to whitewash atrocities. It has been boycotted by the UN.

"On behalf of Indonesia and the East Timor governments, we convey deep regret to all parties and victims, who directly or indirectly suffered physical and psychological wounds after serious human rights violations that occurred ahead of and soon after a ballot for independence in East Timor in 1999," the countries said in a joint statement.

The statement came after the truth commission submitted its report on the violence to Yudhoyono, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta and East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in Bali.

"We convey very deep regret at what happened in the past that has caused the loss of lives and property," Yudhoyono said.

Indonesian security and civilian forces had a major role in systematic, widespread "gross human rights violations," while a small number of East Timor's pro-independence groups also played minor parts in the violence, the report said. These violations included murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and illegal detention, it said.

It called on the two presidents to take moral and political responsibility to apologize to their people, especially the victims, for the suffering afflicted by their institutions during the conflict between pro-integration and pro-independence forces.

The commission said civilian officials provided funding and weapons to militia groups to intimidate, threaten and force people to vote for integration with Indonesia.

The report did not name perpetrators, but also did not recommend an amnesty. Several Indonesian military officials were tried in Indonesian human rights courts following the 1999 violence, but none were convicted.

Activists demand punishment

Rights activists said the two governments must continue the judicial process to try the perpetrators.

"The Indonesian government must reform its institutions, one of the ways is by punishing the perpetrators and making sure similar gross human rights violations will never happen again," said a statement by the HAK foundation, Human Rights Working Group and the International Centre for Transitional Justice.

David Cohen of Berkeley University, a commission adviser, said it was up to the international community to respond to the report, but questioned how much will there would be. An arm of the UN's human rights body said in 2005 the Security Council should hold an international trial.

"I don't think there's a political will of the Security Council to address the issue in a serious way so the question will be I think to what extent the international community accepts the decision of the two governments," said Cohen.

Rights groups have said they will push for a trial of retired General Wiranto, who faced an indictment by a special UN panel, under universal jurisdiction after the report is submitted. Wiranto, who was in charge of security at the time of the independence vote, has denied any wrongdoing.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, after Portugal abruptly pulled out of a colony it had ruled for three centuries, and annexed the territory later that year, maintaining a heavy and at times brutal military presence. (Editing by Ed Davies)

Indonesia accepts damning East Timor atrocities report

Agence France Presse - July 15, 2008

Aubrey Belford, Nusa Dua – Indonesia on Tuesday accepted a truth commission report blaming it for gross human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999, amid fresh calls for the perpetrators to face international justice.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to implement the commission's recommendations and expressed "regret" to East Timor for the months of violence, including murders and rapes surrounding its independence vote.

"We have conveyed our very deep regret about what happened in the past, that caused casualties and material damage," he said alongside East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta on the resort island of Bali.

"We must learn from what happened to find out the facts over who has done what to whom, and who must be held responsible."

But he added: "We cannot move forward and reach our dreams if we always focus our attention on the past," a sign Indonesia wants to draw a line under the matter despite calls for an international tribunal.

An estimated 1,400 people were killed when local militias backed by the Indonesian military rampaged through East Timor as the then-province voted to break away from Indonesia, which invaded in 1975.

Until now Indonesia has always blamed the local militias, and no Indonesian commander or civilian leader has ever been successfully prosecuted.

No final copy of the report was released at the ceremony but a draft obtained by AFP says Indonesia bears "institutional responsibility" for a systematic campaign of abuses that amounted to crimes against humanity.

It says the Indonesian army, police and government encouraged and even participated in crimes including murder, forced displacement, illegal detention and rape.

"Viewed as a whole these attacks constituted an organised campaign of violence," it said.

"Individuals from the (pro-Indonesia) militia, police, local civilian administration and TNI (military) participated in various phases of this campaign of violence and political repression conducted against civilians."

Ramos-Horta said East Timor was not seeking an international tribunal to punish those responsible.

"Justice is not and cannot be only prosecutorial in the sense of sending people to jail. Justice must also be restorative," he said. "We as leaders of our people must lead our nations forward."

The only person ever jailed over the violence, militia leader Eurico Guterres, was cleared of involvement by Indonesia's Supreme Court in April.

Former Indonesian armed forces chief Wiranto, indicted by UN prosecutors in 2003 for crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the violence, is making a second run at Indonesia's presidency in next year's elections.

The truth commission, set up in 2005, did not name names and has no prosecution powers. Its work was boycotted by the United Nations, which has already blamed Indonesia and demanded that those responsible face justice.

Rights activists said its findings should lead to criminal investigations and prosecutions.

"Those who committed crimes against humanity throughout Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor must be identified and prosecuted," a coalition of East Timor human rights groups said in a joint statement.

"If Indonesia truly wants closure and full acceptance by the international community as a rights-respecting nation, there is no alternative but an end to impunity through individual as well as institutional accountability."

The commission found that pro-independence groups also committed crimes but pro-Indonesian militias were the "primary, direct perpetrators of gross human rights violations."

East Timor, which was a Portuguese colony before Indonesia invaded in 1975, finally gained formal independence in May 2002.

No sorry, but regret from Indonesian President

Melbourne Age - July 15, 2008

Mark Forbes, Denpasar – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will reject a recommendation he apologise for Indonesia instigating gross human rights abuses during East Timor's 1999 independence vote, instead expressing regret, according to his Defence Minister, Juwono Sudarsono.

In Bali today Dr Yudhoyono and his East Timorese counterpart, Jose Ramos-Horta, will jointly accept the report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship into the atrocities.

The report, leaked to The Age last week, blames Indonesia for a co-ordinated campaign of violence, including murder, rape and tortures against Timorese civilians. It recommends both presidents apologise for their contribution to the carnage.

Questioned before a parliament yesterday Mr Sudarsono said both sides had made mistakes during the transition to independence. "There will be no apology, it is only about remorse, which is deep regret by both parties, from both governments, both presidents for their people," Mr Sudarsono said.

East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to split from Indonesia in 1999 and the UN estimates about 1000 East Timorese died during the post-vote mayhem. The report found both sides committed human rights abuses, but lays responsibility at Indonesia's feet, stating it sanctioned an organised campaign of violence and terror by pro-Indonesian militias, which led to a military intervention by the UN and Australia.

The commission was established by both presidents in an effort to repair relations. Without the power to recommend prosecutions, it was designed to head off calls for Indonesian officials to be prosecuted for war crimes.

An East Timorese member of the commission, Dionisio Babo Soares, said the report would help bring closure.

"Victims have been the priority of the commissioners in debating the recommendations, so as long as these things are addressed in an appropriate way, I believe very much that people in East Timor, particularly the victims, will not need go beyond the expectations of what the commissioners have written in the report," he said.

The Indonesian Government has said it recognises its "moral obligation" to act on the findings of the East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission. A member of the Indonesian parliament's foreign affairs committee, Djoko Susilo, criticised the attribution of blame to Indonesia. "The report shows moral punishment for both TNI (Army) in particular and the Indonesian people in general. It is not in accordance to what we expect.

"From what I read in the newspapers, the actions committed by the East Timorese militia were not proportionally uncovered." Mr Susilo rejected any moves to prosecute military officials, but supported the report being used to reform the military. (with agencies)

Former Timor militias reject CTF report

Jakarta Post - July 15, 2008

Yemris Fointuna and Abdul Khalik, Kupang, Jakarta – Former pro- integration militias have rejected a truth commission report that blames them and the Indonesian government for gross human rights violations during the 1999 carnage in East Timor.

Ex-militia leader Eurico Guterres said Monday all East Timor (now Timor Leste) residents who became Indonesian citizens after the former Indonesian province voted for independence in 1999 considered the report "unfair and unbalanced".

He said the report fails to take into account gross human rights violations perpetrated by Fretilin and other pro-independence groups from 1975 to 1999, which claimed the lives of thousands of pro-integration supporters.

"We reject the report also because the CTF failed to get officials of UNAMET (UN Assistance Mission in East Timor) to testify. They were the ones to blame because they organized the referendum and then cheated, which led to violence," Guterres told the press in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, where he and other former pro-autonomy militia members live.

The report by the Indonesia-Timor Leste joint Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) found that gross rights violations in the form of crimes against humanity, such as murder, rape, torture, illegal detention and forced deportation against civilian populations, did occur in East Timor in 1999.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post, concluded that pro-autonomy militias were the "primary direct perpetrators" of the gross rights abuses.

The commission said Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel, police and civilian authorities consistently and systematically cooperated with and supported the militias in a number of significant ways that contributed to the perpetration of the crimes.

East Timor voted overwhelmingly to end 24 years of Indonesian rule in a 1999 referendum that triggered of killing, looting and burning that resulted in at least 1,000 deaths, according to witnesses and a previous UN inquiry.

Indonesia established an ad hoc human rights tribunal to try military and civilian officials charged with carrying out the crimes, but all 18 officials and civilians were later cleared of charges.

Guterres, who had been jailed over the violence but was acquitted by the Supreme Court in April, said the former militia groups would file a letter of protest with the government against the report after the commission officially submitted it to the governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta are scheduled to formally receive the report in Bali on Tuesday.

In Jakarta, TNI chief Gen. Djoko Santoso said Monday the military would respond to the report after the government officially received it. "We will study it first," he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency after a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission I for defense and foreign affairs.

A coalition of human rights groups, including the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the Human Rights Working Group, quickly urged the government to establish a human rights court to try those involved in rights abuses as mentioned in the report, as well as to conduct reparations for the victims.

"The report should be used as new evidence for the establishment of a new tribunal court to try the perpetrators," rights activist Hendardi said.

But Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono dismissed any possibility of retrying the perpetrators, saying the goal of the CTF was "restorative justice" aimed at fixing bilateral relations.

Wiranto too weak to stop Timor abuse: Downer

Radio Australia - July 15, 2008

The Commission of Truth and Friendship will formally submit its findings to Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his East Timorese counterpart, Jose Ramos-Horta later today. The 300-page report was prepared by a Commission set up by both governments, to hear evidence of crimes against humanity committed around East Timor's vote for independence in August 1999. If accepted, it'll be the first time Indonesia acknowledges the role of the military, police and civil government in the violence.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Alexander Downer, Australian foreign minister from 1996 to 2007

Lam: Alexander Downer if the government at the time, the Howard government knew of the impending violence why did Australia not do anything to prevent it?

Downer: Well we did an enormous amount to prevent it, how quickly one forgets what happened. First of all you might recall that there was a commitment of UN police, of course many of whom were Australian but not all of whom were Australian, so that was the first thing.

Secondly in April of 1999 the then prime minister and I organised a summit in Bali with President Habibe, General Wiranto who was the defence minister and also Ali Alatas who's the foreign minister, and that was the point of the summit to talk about the violence that was taking place and our concerns that the Indonesian military were involved in that violence.

Lam: But by then hundreds of people had already died at the hands of the Indonesian backed militias. Why was security precautions not put in place before the vote?

Downer: Well when you say why weren't security precautions not put in place before the vote, they were, but of course this was part of Indonesia and so the Indonesians made it perfectly clear from the time they decided that there would be a referendum, which was I would have to double-check that, which was probably about March, they make it perfectly clear that they wouldn't have any foreign involvement in security. And nevertheless they were prepared to allow a UN presence there and the UN to supervise the vote, and they were prepared to allow some UN police there. But that was all.

So the more that we pushed for some kind of a peacekeeping force the more resistant they were to that idea. Of course it wasn't just us, I mean let's not just focus on Australia, importantly the UN shared this view. The UN's people were on the ground so they were particularly concerned about their own people. So we certainly pushed for it, but you need to understand Indonesia. Indonesia was a country that was colonised by Europeans for hundreds of years and gained its independence formally in 1949, and the last thing Indonesia wanted was to have foreign troops on its soil anymore. That's an article of faith for a country like Indonesia.

Lam: Indeed and you said that helping free the people of East Timor was among your greatest achievements as foreign minister. That's been seen as quite triumphalist in certain sections of Indonesian society. Do you regret saying that?

Downer: No of course I don't regret it, I don't care whether they think it's triumphalist or not, it's not a matter of dramatic indifference to me. I know some sections of Indonesian society you know how it is; you're in the media they're always people who criticise you. That's just how I feel, and I'm not the foreign minister anymore and so I'm quite happy to say what I actually feel. Whether people think it's triumphalist or not it's a matter of indifference to me.

Lam: Well returning to this commission's report, do you think there should be a Cambodia-like international tribunal to bring the perpetrators to justice?

Downer: I think to be honest with you that's really not a matter for me or for Australia, I think that's a matter for the East Timorese. I think they've got to work out in their own minds what they think is the best way forward. There are a number of things that they would like no doubt, I know this from talking to them over the years on this topic. There are a number of things that weigh on their minds.

The first is of course justice, justice for those who suffered. But the second thing that's on their mind is that they've got to live for now and forever with Indonesia. So they have to take all those things into account. That's why it's best to leave that decision to them.

Lam: Well the Commission of Truth and Friendship is meant to help both countries move forward.

Downer: Yeah exactly.

Lam: To manage future bilateral ties, but what's the sense of justice there if the perpetrators are not being brought to book as it were. In fact even President Yudhoyono refuses to apologise?

Downer: Well whether they apologise or not is one thing, but another will be whether the people involved are brought to justice or anymore of them will be brought to justice. There have been some trials in relation to what happened in East Timor.

Lam: Yeah but no one's in jail though?

Downer: No, well I'm not sure about that, maybe or maybe not, but you might be right, but that really is a matter between the East Timorese and the Indonesians. I'm not sure whether Australia should be making that a bilateral issue between Australia and Indonesia. I'm not quite sure why for us we would be making such a big issue of that, I would have though it was much more a matter for East Timor. If East Timor wanted to make a big issues of that and of trials and of in particular fingering people who they felt was specifically responsible then they should take that up with the Indonesians and there may be a case for Australia and perhaps even if the UN supporting them in that context. But of course there are real questions about within the Indonesian military who was behind this.

My own view of it, this is contested by some, but on the other hand I had a fair bit of information available to me at the time, is that this was certainly not the policy of President Habibe. Nevertheless I think General Wiranto as the defence minister absolutely knew what was going on. I mean he couldn't have failed to have known what was going on. I'm not sure whether he particularly supported it, but he simply didn't have the strength to stop it.

Officers named in Timor report

Sydney Morning Herald - July 12, 2008

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – An Australian investigator has named Indonesian military officers responsible for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999, including acts of torture where victims were forced to eat their own ears.

David Savage delivered a report to the Indonesia-East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission that was scathing of Indonesian authorities who have for years denied responsibility for violence that left at least 1400 Timorese dead.

Mr Savage says in the report, which has been obtained by the Herald, there was "either an explicit policy by the government of Indonesia, at least the military branch, to use and support militia groups to intimidate, coerce and even kill the civilian population that supported the option to reject" Indonesia's rule at a UN-supervised referendum.

Mr Savage, a 19-year veteran of the Australian Federal Police, said that in the north-western Bobanaro district, where he was posted in 1999, "there were thousands of witnesses to the involvement of TNI [Indonesian military] members in attacks on the civilian population".

"These TNI members, as part of a disciplined military organisation, could not have escaped punishment from their superiors unless they had the consent and authority of them to participate in their activities," he said.

He said he investigated "forced disappearances, torture, including the cutting off of ears and forcing the victims to eat their own ears, and electrocution" when he worked in the UN's Serious Crimes Unit in Dili between 2001 and 2005.

Indonesian military officers and pro-Jakarta militia created, funded and given impunity from the rule of law by the TNI carried out the atrocities, he said.

Mr Savage dismissed claims by Indonesian and Australian leaders in 1999 that the attacks were spontaneous displays of violence against the result of the referendum where Timorese voted to reject Indonesia's rule. Rather, evidence shows some attacks against pro-independence supporters were planned months in advance by the TNI, Indonesia's civilian administration and militia, he said.

He detailed scores of atrocities where those responsible have not been brought to justice.

Mr Savage named Lieutenant Colonel Burhanuddin Siagian and Lieutenant Colonel Bambang Supryanto as being involved in attacks in the district of Mulau in which at least 26 men were killed. Among 18 others he accused of being involved was an Indonesian police officer, Major Budi Susilo.

But Mr Savage said investigations into atrocities by the Serious Crimes Unit, which is now closed, were hampered by factors including a lack of resources and a lack of co-operation from Indonesia.

He made it clear he believes the Indonesian Government must be forced to co-operate in some kind of reopened inquiry.

"For the complete truth to come to the fore, there needs to be further research/investigations and access to evidence in the possession of the TNI, such as rosters, weapons registers, incident logs and other documents," Mr Savage said.

Murder, mayhem: Jakarta to blame

Sydney Morning Herald - July 11, 2008

Tom Hyland – Indonesian soldiers, police and civilian officials were involved in an "organised campaign of violence" that prompted Australian military intervention in East Timor in 1999, says a leaked report by a government inquiry. It says the Indonesian state bears "institutional responsibility" for atrocities including murder, rape, torture, illegal detention, and forced mass deportations.

The report is an embarrassment – and potential test – for the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is due to release it jointly with East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, on Monday.

The 300-page report was prepared by a commission set up by the two governments in an attempt to blunt pressure for an international tribunal to hear evidence of crimes against humanity committed around East Timor's vote for independence in August 1999. Instead, its findings are likely to reignite calls for such a tribunal, by undermining long-standing official Indonesian denials of involvement in violence that claimed up to 1500 lives.

The Commission of Truth and Friendship report, obtained by the Herald, finds that Indonesian police, army and civilian government officials funded, armed and co-ordinated anti- independence militias that carried out crimes against humanity.

Its findings are consistent with reports by United Nations and Indonesian human rights investigators, who found the military (TNI) was ultimately responsible for attempts to intimidate voters before the referendum, and then unleashed a scorched earth campaign after the vote went against them.

But the report is politically explosive, as it is the result of a government-backed commission, set up by the two countries in an attempt to close a bitter era in their recent history.

Indonesian military and government officials, including Dr Yudhoyono, have consistently played down the extent of the 1999 mayhem, insisting it was spontaneous mob violence carried out by indigenous militias acting on their own.

While the report finds pro-independence groups also committed crimes in 1999, the overwhelming weight of evidence is that pro- Indonesian militias were the "primary, direct perpetrators of gross human rights violations".

It says the TNI, police and civilian authorities "consistently and systematically co-operated with and supported the militias in ways that contributed to the perpetration of crimes".

The TNI armed the militias, was structurally linked to them, helped co-ordinate and direct their actions, and sometimes directly took part in massacres of suspected independence supporters. The civilian government funded militia groups, even when it knew they had committed massacres.

"The provision of funding and material support by military and government officials was an integral part of a well-organised and continuous co-operative relationship, in the pursuit of common political goals aimed at promoting militia activities that would intimidate or prevent civilians from supporting the pro- independence movement," the report says.

"TNI and police personnel, as well as civilian officials, were at times involved in virtually every phase of these activities that resulted in gross human rights violations including murder, rape, torture, illegal detention, and forcible transfer and deportation.

"Viewed as a whole, the gross human rights violations committed against pro-independence supporters in East Timor in 1999 constitute an organised campaign of violence. The TNI, Polri [police] and civilian government all bear institutional responsibility for these crimes."

As a result, it concluded that "Indonesia bears state responsibility" for gross violations of human rights.

Far from being "spontaneous out-of control, mob attacks", the militia violence showed "a significant degree of organisation, direction, and planning".

The former general Wiranto, who was armed forces chief in 1999, has argued the upheaval was the result of mob violence. Indicted by UN prosecutors for crimes against humanity, he has never been tried, and is likely to be a candidate in next year's presidential election.

When he appeared at a Commission of Truth and Friendship hearing in May last year, he dismissed as "absurd" allegations that the military had orchestrated the violence.

But the commission, which does not name names and has no power to recommend prosecutions, says the violence was "systematic, co- ordinated and carefully planned".

Dr Yudhoyono, who was a Jakarta-based army general in 1999, has also played down the extent of the violence.

The report calls for a "transformation" of the army's doctrine and institutional practices to prevent a repeat of the violence. The TNI needs to become a professional armed force "appropriate for a modern, democratic state", it says.

Indonesian government accepts East Timor blame

Agence France Presse - July 11, 2008

Indonesia says it will completely accept a long-awaited report which blames it for murders, rapes and torture in East Timor in 1999.

The landmark East Timor Indonesia Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) report – to be formally handed to both country's presidents in Bali next week – says Indonesia bears responsibility for the violations, which included mass murder, rape and torture.

Indonesian government funds were diverted to pro-autonomy militia groups which committed organised and coordinated attacks, and some Indonesian army personnel sometimes played a leading role in the violence, it finds.

In what was seen as an effort to appease Indonesian sensitivities, the truth commission, set up by both Indonesia and East Timor to help repair relations, has recommended the presidents of both countries acknowledge responsibility and apologise for the bloodshed.

"The commission recommends that the two presidents together acknowledge responsibility for past violence and apologise to the peoples of the two nations and especially to the victims of violence for the suffering they have endured," the leaked report recommends.

Indonesia has previously refused to acknowledge its role in the violence, but Indonesian foreign affairs spokesman Teuku Faiza Syah indicated that could change.

"The spirit of the CTF is reconciliation, the spirit of co- operation and looking forward to the future," he told reporters in Jakarta.

"In a way, we are looking at how to establish a relationship (between the two countries) by establishing the truth itself," he said. "As a government we will accept the report."

The report, obtained by several media organisations including AAP, says the pro-Indonesia militia groups, the Indonesian government, military and police "must all bear institutional responsibility for gross human rights violations targeted against civilians".

But the report says pro-independence groups in East Timor also committed gross human rights violations – namely illegal detentions – and that state must also say sorry.

The Commission decided against a controversial option of granting amnesties to perpetrators, finding it would not be in keeping with "its goals of restoring human dignity, creating the foundation for reconciliation... and ensuring the non- reoccurrence of violence".

It recommends urgent reform, saying that weak judicial institutions, the lack of effective commitment to the rule of law and the lack of military accountability contributed to the bloodshed.

East Timorese victims and rights groups called for justice and compensation, saying an apology was insufficient for their suffering.

"I think an apology alone isn't enough," said Ana Maria de Jesus dos Santos, whose husband and nephew were killed by pro-autonomy militia in 1999. "This conflict happened because our government lost its ability to look after people and therefore, this conflict happened."

East Timorese NGO the Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP) says an apology would not deliver justice to the people.

"If there is no recommendation for the establishment of an international court in Indonesia or East Timor... the victims and their families will be disappointed and the perpetrators will be free from indictments," JSMP director Timotio De Deus told AAP.

"The victims should get reparations from the government – both Indonesian and East Timor – because at the time Indonesian government supported the TNI and financially supported the East Timorese militias to practise crimes, so the governments should pay attention."

But the International Crisis Group's (ICG) South-East Asia project director John Virgoe described it as a "brave" report, which actually achieved the opposite of what it was intended to do.

"It was clearly set up to put the events of 1999 behind the diplomatic relationship, but actually it hasn't – it's done rather the opposite, it's reminded everybody of the truth of what happened in 1999," he told AAP.

The UN boycotted the commission, and human rights groups had feared it would wash over the events of the past, in order to help foster friendship between the two nations.

Virgoe said the report would shock most Indonesians, who have been repeatedly told a different version of events about East Timor.

"Justice and accountability are one thing but equally important, I think, is that the truth of what happened in East Timor in 1999 is revealed and acknowledged, and acknowledged in Indonesia" he said. "Until it is there can be no guarantee that it won't happen again."

East Timor Foreign Minister Zacharias da Costa said the country would try to implement all the recommendations in the report.

"If the report says so, definitely the government is to implement it," da Costa said. "I cannot say if we are going to do it tomorrow or the next day, but certainly we will look at all the recommendations and try to fully implement (them) if Timor wanted to close a chapter in our history and move on."

East Timor's president Jose Ramos Horta would not comment on the report until he formally receives it in Bali on Tuesday.

Truth out of Indonesia's scorched earth

Sydney Morning Herald - July 11, 2008

Lindsay Murdoch – The massacre in the East Timor enclave of Oecussi was supposed to have been kept secret forever.

But Marcus Baquin pretended to be dead when a militiaman, under the command of an Indonesian soldier identified as Anton Sabraka and a militia commander known Gabriel Kolo, slashed the right side of his face and ear with a machete.

Baquin's testimony before the Indonesia-East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission was one of many that led to its finding that hundreds of victims were attacked in East Timor in 1999 because they opposed Indonesia's 24-year-old rule.

Baquin's nightmare began on September 8, 1999, days after the East Timorese had voted overwhelmingly for independence in a United Nations-run referendum.

He ran into the jungle when pro-Jakarta militia attacked his village and two nearby. When he returned, he said he found 65 people had been slaughtered. Baquin explained to the commission that at the time of the attack and arson against his village, all of the houses were burnt but it was the perceived independence supporters who were targeted for murder, the commission's report said.

Baquin reported that the day after the attacks he and other villagers were rounded up by the militia, tied in pairs and herded towards the East Timorese border (the enclave is surrounded by Indonesian West Timor).

In the early hours of September 10, just after the group had crossed the border into East Timor, 74 men in the group were killed en masse.

"The witness stated that most victims fell under the machete blows administered by Gabriel Kolo and his militiamen, as well as being shot by Anton Sabraka."

The commission investigated 14 priority cases of crimes against humanity committed in East Timor between April and the end of September 1999.

They included a so-called "scorched earth" policy to destroy houses and infrastructure, murder, enforced disappearances, deportation, sexual violence, torture, inhumane treatment, illegal detention and persecution.

It named Indonesian military officers who were directly involved in atrocities but did not recommend any be prosecuted.

"Although these allegations do not always completely clarify these individuals' roles in these events, the multiple, detained descriptions [often including the exact date, time, names, ranks, uniform and physical descriptions of the personnel] of TNI [Indonesian military] involvement in many different attacks in locations across East Timor in 1999, lend strong credence to the interpretation that TNI personnel participated, and sometimes played a leading role, in a number of the 14 priority cases," the report said.

The commission found also that Indonesia's police and civilian government officials were "implicated in a number of testimonies as indirectly participating in enabling the commission of human rights abuses", most often providing support to militia groups.

The commission said there were indications of "some officials of the Indonesian civil administration" in the "process of the formation, funding and arming" of militia groups. One unidentified witness gave "important testimony", it said, revealing that Indonesian government offices in Dili distributed money to support Jakarta's efforts to stop Timorese voting for independence.

The commission said the Indonesian military appeared to supply weapons to militia "in a deliberate and systematic manner. The evidence clearly indicates that these weapons were not used primarily for self-defence but were employed in military-style operations in furtherance of the objective of supporting the pro-autonomy [Indonesian] cause," the commission said.

These operations targeted civilians on account of their actual or perceived orientation and resulted in various gross human rights violations, it said.

"While social or psychological bonds and shared political goals forged over a long period of time may explain why individuals became involved in the perpetration of such gross human rights violations, they cannot justify institutional involvement in the perpetration of such crimes."

The commission found multiple indicators in all 14 priority cases "that at the time of the attack there was a significant degree of organisation, direction and planning. In other words, these events appear to be organised, rather than spontaneous, out-of- control mob attacks," the commission said.

An unidentified witness who named an Indonesian army intelligence officer, Tome Diogo, as giving the order to attack and kill scores of people in the Liquica church compound on April 6, 1999, said several other Indonesian soldiers and police were also involved.

The roles of Indonesian military, police and some officials in supporting rampaging militia groups dominate the 321-page report. But East Timorese wanting perpetrators brought to justice will be disappointed to read it.

The report noted the commission created by the two governments had no judicial or quasi-judicial powers.

Its conclusions "do not represent the end of a process of closure and reconciliation but rather a beginning – Healing the wounds of the past and achieving true reconciliation will be the work of a generation."

Leaked East Timor report blames government, military

Radio Australia - July 11, 2008

Rachael Brown reporting

Emma Alberici: A leaked report into the handling of East Timor's 1999 independence referendum is being celebrated as a crucial step on the road to reconciliation.

The ABC has obtained a copy of the report to be released in a special ceremony by the presidents of both nations next week.

The bilateral body, the Truth and Friendship Commission has spent more than two years investigating the events and concludes that the Indonesian military, police and government must all share the blame for gross human rights violations carried out by militias and targeted against East Timorese independence supporters

Australia played a leading role in East Timor and now Alexander Downer, Australia's former foreign minister has found himself defending the Howard government's handling of the situation, as Rachael Brown reports.

Rachael Brown: As violence gripped the streets of Dili in 1999, many working on the ground doubted the militia was behind it.

James Dunn: But actually by Indonesian troops using militia cloaks to look as if they were militia. There's no doubt about that and of course there was no doubt about those earlier atrocities. The one at Liquica earlier, and then of course later at Suai, Maliana, were actually conducted by Indonesian military officers.

Rachael Brown: James Dunn was one of them, appointed a UN expert on crimes against humanity and stationed in Dili during the independence vote, he witnessed the violence first hand.

He's stunned by the findings of the bilateral Truth and Friendship Commission. The report which is yet to be released publicly, details murder, rape, torture, illegal detention and forced mass deportations.

James Dunn: What is very strong about it, is that Indonesia has virtually agreed, consented to the release of a report which points to the responsibility of the Indonesian military.

But, you know, its shortcoming of course it that it only deals with events of 1999 and that was merely the tip of the iceberg.

The biggest atrocities took place during earlier periods of the Indonesian occupation. One of the them when over 1,000 people were killed in a couple of days as a reprisal. These aren't really taken up in that report.

Rachael Brown: And it also doesn't name any names or recommend specific prosecutions so can it be argued, it's really not that beneficial?

James Dunn: Well, I think it is beneficial in one way. That the presence of the powerful military as it stands, largely unreformed, is still a major obstacle to the fulfilment of democracy, and they would like it brought out and there is this new mood about it.

I think many Indonesians would like to see this brought out. It's the kind of report which really, we can't turn away from.

All the parties involved must now face the reality that the issue has to be taken seriously and it does now require a much more serious legal action.

Perhaps that international tribunal that the Indonesians didn't want and nor did the Howard government and other, some other Western governments. They were opposed to it.

Rachael Brown: How do we go about getting an international tribunal?

James Dunn: Well, I think one way of doing it would be to raise the issue with the Indonesians and encourage them to move in that direction. It really means exposing those elements, really the hangover the Suharto regime whose presence in senior posts or in politics really is an embarrassment to Indonesia.

And I think really, for Indonesia it's the best way to go. Indeed, it would be tragic if they didn't face it.

Rachael Brown: Australia responded to the violence in East Timor by sending in a peacekeeping force. But that doesn't let Australia off the hook, says retired diplomat, Bruce Haigh. He served in Indonesia in the '80s and says Australia knew who was behind the atrocities, but chose to sit on the information.

Bruce Haigh: Why did they sit this information? Why didn't they make it public? To what end were they withholding this information? Why is it that Australia has consistently, when under pressure, sought to protect the evilness that exists from time to time at the hands of the Indonesian police?

Rachael Brown: The former foreign minister, Alexander Downer, who's soon to take up a peacekeeper posting with the UN, has fired back.

Alexander Downer: But I mean, what were we supposed to do? I often say this; what were we supposed to do? Were we supposed to send the SAS into Indonesia, into East Timor which was then part of Indonesia?

Should we have declared war on Indonesia over East Timor, and I think the answer to that is no and I think Australia, by the way did a magnificent job through all the difficulties and they were manifold difficulties on the East Timor issue through 1999 and into 2000.

Rachael Brown: Mr Downer says he's always believed elements of the Indonesian military and perhaps officials were behind the East Timor atrocities, but he says he doesn't know the extent to which the then Indonesian military commander, General Wiranto, sanctioned any of it.

Alexander Downer: My guess is he knew what was going on, and contrary to a popular belief that he was a big strong man, he didn't really have the strength within the Indonesian military to close it down. I don't think he was particularly in favour of it, but he didn't have the strength to stop it happening.

Emma Alberici: That's former foreign affairs minister, Alexander Downer.

Balibo 5 killings

Balibo film shows suffering of Timorese

Australian Associated Press - July 27, 2008

Australian Paul Stewart was just 15 when Indonesian soldiers murdered his cameraman brother in East Timor.

More than 30 years later, he hopes a new film about the Balibo Five killings will be as much about the suffering of East Timorese during Indonesia's 1975 invasion as it is about the newsmen who died.

Stewart is in East Timor's capital, Dili, working as an adviser during the filming of Balibo, the movie, starring Anthony LaPaglia.

LaPaglia plays the role of Roger East, who was killed in East Timor in December 1975 while trying to uncover the truth about the deaths of five Australian-based newsmen, including Tony Stewart, in the town of Balibo two months earlier.

No one has ever been tried over East's death but witnesses have said he was shot after being captured by Indonesian troops.

Few in Australia would be unfamiliar with the Balibo case. Just last year a high-profile coronial inquest in Sydney found the newsmen were deliberately killed by Indonesian forces to stop them from covering up Jakarta's invasion of East Timor.

But Paul Stewart wonders if Australians have a true sense of the horror East Timorese experienced during the invasion.

For him, that story is as important as the loss of East, and his Channel Seven cameraman brother alongside newsmen Brian Peters, Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham and Malcolm Rennie.

He said the legacy of the Balibo Five was their determination to inform the world of what went on in East Timor more than three decades ago.

Indeed, the last piece of footage shot by the group captures the journalist Shackleton explaining how he will forever remember the plight of the Timorese. Very soon after, he was dead.

"Their story is everybody's story because they set it up like that," Stewart said of the slain newsmen.

Part of the film is presented through the eyes of a young Timorese girl who witnessed East's death.

Stewart says it's vital for the grieving process of Timorese for that perspective to be told.

"I don't think they acknowledge their own losses well," says Stewart, who after his brother's death became an activist fighting for the independence East Timor now enjoys.

"I'd get taken to demonstrations and I'd meet Timorese mob and they would say 'Paulie, mate, we are so sorry about your brother,' and I'd say 'did you lose anyone?' and they'd say 'oh, yeah, 10 members of my family'. "This is a bigger picture than just my brother."

Balibo director John Maynard expects the film will be controversial because it graphically depicts the atrocities perpetrated by Indonesian forces, and highlights the role the Australian and US governments played in sanctioning the Indonesian invasion.

"But we are not inventing anything, it is a matter of record now what happened to the Balibo Five and it is a matter of record what happened to Roger East."

Despite the Australian inquest that found the Balibo Five were killed to stop them exposing Jakarta's invasion, Indonesia maintains they were accidentally killed in crossfire.

Jakarta recently stressed that it wants the film to include Indonesia's point of view. Filming began in East Timor last week.

Film gives voice to Timor victim

The Australian - July 15, 2008

Natasha Robinson – A few grainy photographs, a couple of dog- eared letters home, and the contradictory memories of friends. For actor Anthony LaPaglia, piecing together the life of executed Australian journalist Roger East has not been an easy task. A little-known figure in history despite the highly publicised fate of the five fellow reporters also murdered in East Timor in 1975, East has been described as the "forgotten man" of the Balibo saga.

"The more research you do, the more mystifying it is as to why more hasn't been done over the years to really get to the bottom of not only just what happened, but also where the remains are, so there can be some kind of closure," LaPaglia says.

The story of the Balibo Five is well documented. Five young newsmen travel to Timor two months before Indonesia's invasion in December 1975. The journalists are shot during a military incursion in Balibo by Indonesian troops, who ignore a scrawled painting of the Australian flag on the wall of a house. Indonesia sends what may or may not be human remains in a small box to Australian foreign affairs officials.

After their deaths, East, then working as a public relations officer in Darwin with the government's Cyclone Tracy reconstruction commission, travels to Timor to investigate. At the same time, he hatches plans with the young Fretilin rebel and future East Timorese president Jose Ramos Horta to set up a Timorese news service.

Less than two months later, on December 8, East is seen being dragged, hands bound, across Dili's main square. An Australian inquiry 20 years later concludes he was shot at Dili's wharf.

East's news reports of the Indonesian invasion and massacres never reach the outside world. He files an incomplete transmission for the wire service Reuters. No record of the story remains.

While outrage about the killings of the Balibo Five has continued for decades, East's brutal killing quietly faded from view. His family does not want headlines but peace for his restless soul.

"My family didn't press for an inquiry," says Glenise Bowie, East's 83-year-old sister, who lives in Sydney. "They didn't want anyone to be tried or judged. I'm sure that Roger would not have wanted revenge either."

Holding an unlit cigarette, LaPaglia sits on a Darwin balcony and tells how he has tried to understand the journalist who recorded others' stories but left only scattered records of his own. He plays the role of East in Balibo, which began filming in Darwin two weeks ago and will also be shot in East Timor.

"When I first started researching, I was in the States, so I was just using the internet, and there was nothing I could find on him," LaPaglia says.

"And then I started getting a few more contacts, a few more people, and bit by bit, everything started coming in. All of a sudden people started coming out of the woodwork who knew him."

Darwin is like that. Ever ready with a sweaty tropical embrace for those coming from the big city south, or north from Asia, the town has not forgotten East, its brief, bluff resident.

East became a newspaper man after exiting the navy with jangled nerves, craving more out of life. Trained at Dubbo's daily newspaper in central NSW, East worked in local newspapers in Australia.

As a freelancer, he travelled the world, from Hong Kong to the Isle of Man, from Franco's Spain to gloomy Liverpool in England. With many more foreign assignments in between, East put down few roots in a life spent in continual travel. "A tube of toothpaste and a skipping rope, that's what he used to say," Bowie says.

In February 1975, then prime minister Gough Whitlam created the Darwin Reconstruction Commission and East was recruited as its press officer.

For Balibo director Robert Connolly and producer John Maynard – whose Arenafilm has produced a swag of Australian stories often based on real life, including Romulus, My Father and The Boys – re-creating the Cyclone Tracy-razed Darwin of 1975 proved a challenge. Corrugated iron is hard to find these days; modern apartments dot the skyline. Even the simplest set prop has been difficult to track down.

Last month, Darwin author Andrew McMillan – guardian of the clapped-out typewriters that knock out rhythms in the Darwin press corp's band, the Fourth Estate – got a knock on the door from a Balibo assistant. McMillan's Shepherd Street bunker was the only joint in town known to contain a collection of typewriters. He handed them over on loan.

East, an experienced reporter who grew up on the rural fringes of Sydney, was born on February 5, 1923, into a working-class family from Merrylands. His mother's death, when East was just two, shattered the family. His father sent the four East children – three boys and a girl – to live with their aunt in a small village near the New England town of Inverell.

"We don't know how our mother died," Bowie says. "If there was ever any talk of it, it was whispered."

Despite his abandonment, East had fond memories of his father and would often regale his mates with stories of how the old man was a "wobbly", a member of the radical organisation called the International Workers of the World, who were far left but rejected established political parties.

Jill Jolliffe, author of Cover Up: The Inside Story of the Balibo Five, says East's politics were shaped by his family.

"He got into trouble for his left-wing politics and was often called a communist, which I don't think he denied," Jolliffe says. "But I don't think he was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party."

Jolliffe has worked with Connolly and playwright David Williamson on the film's screenplay. The author has also been in touch with LaPaglia as he worked to build the character of East. "As far as I can see, Rob Connolly has a gift for getting actors to identify very strongly with the characters and let it come from within them," Jolliffe says. "He tries to get the actors to live their characters in preparing themselves.

"In this case, he's got together the actors of the young men playing the Balibo Five. There's this fantastic bonding process that seems to have gone on with the families."

From Jolliffe, LaPaglia gleaned some knowledge of what took place in the week leading up to East's murder. Jolliffe, East and Michael Richardson were the only three journalists in Timor when Fretilin declared unilateral independence on November 28, 1975.

"I distinctly remember Roger coming into the dining room of the Hotel Turismo at one breakfast time and saying, 'There's troops gathering in the town square,"' Jolliffe says. "We all grabbed our notebooks and walked down there. There were troops gathering, more and more, until someone came with a big smile and said, 'Hey, we're going to declare independence."'

On December 2, the journalists received a message from Australia's foreign affairs department via the International Red Cross. Indonesia was about to invade Timor, the message said, and Australian citizens should evacuate Dili while they still could. Jolliffe and Richardson decided to go. East stayed.

"We only had several hours to decide," Jolliffe says. "It was a very hard decision indeed."

During their last conversation with East, Jolliffe and Richardson urged him to get out of Dili and head to the mountains. "And unfortunately he didn't get to the mountains," Jolliffe says.

It was Jolliffe who travelled to Sydney to tell Bowie the painful truth. "Jill came out and sat on my lounge and she said: 'Roger is dead'," Bowie says. "That was the first time I had real tears. And I knew that she knew (what had happened). She knew exactly."

For Bowie, who still goes to the movies even though her old eyes can barely see what is on the screen, the film will finally bring public recognition for a brother who, despite the risks of his profession, never imagined he would meet such a brutal fate.

"We don't feel any different," Bowie says. "We'll always feel the same big, sad hurt. It was just a senseless killing."

LaPaglia – who with Connolly and Maynard has pushed for more than five years for the film to be made – says it was the core group of Australian writers, activists and surviving relatives who have kept the Balibo story alive. "I asked them all the same question: Why? Why would you devote your life to this?" he says.

"There's an old saying: 'There's a special place in hell for those who witness atrocities and do nothing about it.' And I don't think they want to go there."

Balibo is due for release in Australian cinemas next year.

Death in Balibo: film takes forgotten victim's point of view

The Australian - July 11, 2008

Natasha Robinson – As Anthony La Paglia sits on a Darwin balcony overlooking over the Timor Sea, he insists that his latest project, Balibo, is much more than a ripping Australian political thriller.

"Balibo is not a parochial Australian film about a parochial Australian event," the Australian-born actor says. "I haven't seen a story like this since The Killing Fields or Salvador."

La Paglia, who plays special agent Jack Malone in the US missing persons drama Without A Trace but retains a strong commitment to the Australian film industry – has begun shooting photography in Darwin for the film.

Balibo is the story of the 1975 slaughter of five Australian journalists in then-Portuguese Timor in October 1975, told through the eyes of Australian freelance journalist Roger East, who is played by La Paglia.

East travelled to Timor following the Balibo killings and was himself executed by an Indonesian soldier at Dili wharf on December 8, 1975.

The young future East Timorese president Jose Ramos Horta, played by Oscar Isaac, is the other lead role in the film.

Directed and produced by Melbourne-based Arenafilm duo Robert Connolly and John Maynard, the film will be shot in Darwin and East Timor.

More than five years ago, David Williamson's daughter Rebecca, also one of the film's producers, approached La Paglia in Los Angeles and told him the story of the Balibo Five and the decades-long political aftermath.

After reading Australian journalist Jill Joliffe's book Cover Up: The Inside Story of the Balibo Five, La Paglia was committed to the project, and rallied his mates Connolly and Maynard to make the film happen.

"Getting here hasn't been an easy road," said La Paglia, who has partly financed the film. La Paglia sees his character, a left- leaning reporter from a radical NSW family, as the forgotten man in the story of Balibo. "Whenever they talk about the journalists that were killed in Balibo, or in East Timor, they talk about five," the actor said. "He's always been left out."

Young actors Damon Gameau, Gyton Grantley, Nathan Phillips, Mark Winter and Thomas Wright play the roles of the Balibo Five.

The Australian Film Finance Corporation, now under the umbrella of Screen Australia, has also partly financed Balibo, along with private investors Andrew Myer, venture capitalist Andrew Barlow, and Madman Entertainment's Paul Wiegard. The film is expected to be released by July next year.

Death of newsman: Star calls for inquiry

Sydney Morning Herald - July 11, 2008

Lindsay Murdoch – The Hollywood actor Anthony LaPaglia has called on the Northern Territory Government to hold a coronial inquiry into the assassination of Roger East, a largely forgotten Australian journalist he is portraying in the movie Balibo.

The Australian-born LaPaglia also called on the Rudd Government to send a forensic team to East Timor to recover the remains of East and the five Australian newsmen killed in Balibo in 1975.

In comments likely to anger the Indonesian Government, LaPaglia said he believed a shoebox supposedly containing the remains of the five newsmen that authorities took to Jakarta to be buried contained only dirt.

"Dig a couple of feet into the ground at Balibo and I reckon a good forensic team could find their remains," he told the Herald in an interview in Darwin, where the movie is being shot.

LaPaglia criticised NT authorities for deciding last year not to hold an inquiry into East's murder, partly on the grounds that he had lived in Darwin for only 10 months before his death aged 51 in December 1975.

"Roger was an Australian citizen – so why does it matter where he was from – the Northern Territory is still under Australian jurisdiction, right?"

LaPaglia is intrigued by East, a "seasoned" journalist who had covered wars and coups around the world. He agreed to take the role because "Roger's story is an important one to tell".

East ignored warnings and stayed on in the East Timorese capital, Dili, when Indonesian soldiers invaded, saying he would go into the hills with Fretilin soldiers. But witnesses saw soldiers from Indonesia's 502 Battalion march East to Dili's wharf where they saw him with his hands in the air shouting, "Not Fretilin – Australia."

East was cut down by automatic weapons fire. Nobody has been brought to justice for his killing.

Social conflicts/refugees

Shame of Timor's forgotten people

Australian Associated Press - July 26, 2008

Dawn Gibson – As the mini-bus pulls to a stop, a swarm of excited children press their faces against the windows, all big brown eyes and grins.

Their T-shirts are grubby but not puffed out by swollen bellies, the tell-tale sign of malnutrition. While there are no obvious signs of rampant child neglect in Noelbaki, one of the main camps for East Timorese refugees on the outskirts of the bustling West Timorese city of Kupang, appearances are deceiving.

The stench of human desperation is not as pungent as in African refugee camps, but there is no question that these children are among those who the world has chosen to forget.

Most know no other life except for Noelbaki, a ramshackle "village" of corrugated-iron shacks and traditional thatched-roof homes built hastily on the site of a former bus station. They are the poorest of the poor in one of the most destitute parts of Indonesia, Nusa Tenggara, an arc of islands a short flight from Darwin where infant mortality is high even by Indonesian standards. In the province of West Timor, more than half of all children under five are underweight or stunted.

The families of Noelbaki fled East Timor to escape the bloody aftermath of the vote for independence in August 1999, when militias supported by the Indonesian military massacred about 1500 people and burnt most of the houses and buildings in the capital Dili to the ground.

In June 2006, Dili again saw violence as gangs torched buildings and hit refugee camps.

The plight of the East Timorese attracted a fresh ripple of global attention this month when the Indonesia-Timor Leste Joint Commission for Truth and Friendship released a report critical of Indonesian military involvement in the bloodbath.

However, it is hard to see how the report will make a difference to the people of Noelbaki and its two sister camps, which Indonesia is trying to shut down.

Winston Rondo, who has worked for several international aid agencies assisting refugees, said about 150,000 people fled across the East/West Timorese border to camps near Kupang in late 1999. Other groups estimate 250,000 people left East Timor.

Almost a decade later, about 5000 people remain in the camps, including about 2000 in Noelbaki. Some fear violent retribution from neighbours if they return to East Timor because family members were involved in the violence or they were among the minority who voted for autonomy rather than independence. Others believe they have nothing to return to.

Mr Rondo, the co-ordinator of refugee support group CIS Timor, believes the camps have become a sad footnote to the 1999 conflict.

The Australian Government, through AusAID, runs programs in Nusa Tenggara, including a $49 million project to cut the mortality rate of babies and mothers.

However, because the Indonesian Government wants to close the camps, international aid agencies have been discouraged from giving direct support to the refugees, relabelled as "new residents" of Indonesia.

While conditions have improved as residents have faded, malaria and dengue fever remain all too common in the camps. There is no clean drinking water and sanitation is all but non-existent. Most children will not be educated beyond primary level.

It is hard to believe this camp is less than a 15-minute drive from Kupang, a former Dutch trading port that has sprawled into a bustling centre of more than 300,000 people.

The grime and heavy traffic that characterise Indonesian cities is offset in Kupang by a plum coastal location which attracts international businessmen and a stream of tourists, who enjoy seafood feasts in ritzy restaurants and stay in opulent hotels.

For Noelbaki residents, leisure is a rougher affair. A couple of beaten-up pool tables take pride of place near the community square, while cock fights are popular. Bemos adorned with decals of sexy women honk their way through the camp, blaring Eminem and Indonesian boy bands.

John Magno Dearaujo, at 77 one of the oldest refugees, is one of many who believe there is no way home to East Timor. With the help of a translator he explained that while he felt an ancient tie to his homeland, he would stay in West Timor because he voted against independence.

Those who refuse to return to East Timor are persuaded to relocate to "re-settlement areas". In one such area about 20 minutes from Noelbaki, about 200 people live a hand-to-mouth existence farming corn and cassava. Though the single row of stone and wood homes is not dissimilar to those found in villages all over Indonesia, Mr Rondo said the refugees did not own the small patches of land they farmed and they could not access Government subsidies.

Even so, they were one step up from the camp dwellers. "When you ask about the children born in the camps, their future is just like water flowing," he said.

Too scared to go home, Timorese in limbo

Melbourne Age - July 27, 2008

Ben Doherty – There is food now, for the markets are open, and the men have found work on local farms.

But Dominges Enriques has lived too many – nine – of her 34 years at Noelbaki to believe it will last. Her family has no land of its own to work, and without it she must buy her food. Soon it will be expensive once more. She knows her children will go hungry again.

Ms Enriques is proudly East Timorese, but she has not been back to her homeland since the violent birth that gave her country its independence in 1999. As she was married to an Indonesian, East Timor was not safe for her at emancipation, and she fears it is still not: "Timor Leste now, it has many problems, and it makes me afraid to go back."

So she finds herself still in Noelbaki, an ad hoc refugee camp built abutting a bus terminal on the outskirts of the port town of Kupang in West Timor. She has lived here for almost a decade.

Noelbaki is a shantytown of tumble-down lean-tos, half-tarpaulin-half-corrugated-iron shacks, and traditional one- room thatched huts. At its peak immediately following the independence violence it housed about 20,000 people. Now, it is home to about one-tenth that number.

It remains a bare and desolate place. Concrete floors are rare. Electricity and running water are unimagined luxuries. There is no grass.

During the dry season, the earth is baked hard, turned to dust. During the wet, homes are filled with water for days at a time, and the land is unworkable mud. Outbreaks of dengue fever, malaria and chicken pox sweep through the camp with depressing regularity, aid workers say.

"The children don't have many fruits and vegetables and they don't get healthy from eating," Ms Enriques says. "Some-times they are very sick."

But Dominges Enriques is not a unique case. There are more than 20,000 refugees (former refugees, officially) in West Timor, but almost the entire population of 1.6 million is vulnerable to famine and rising food prices.

A five-year drought was broken this year by flooding rains that swept away or ruined almost every crop.

A study in May by aid agency World Church Service of nearly 5000 families in West Timor found 91% of homes are classified as "food insecure", meaning they don't have regular, affordable access to safe, nutritionally adequate food.

As a result, the survey found, 61% of children aged under five in West Timor are chronically malnourished and suffering from stunted growth.

Thirteen per cent of children under five are classified as suffering acute malnutrition – ttheir bodies are wasting away for lack of food. Fifty-eight per cent are suffering from anaemia, 80% of those under two. About 50% of West Timorese children are underweight, more than twice the figure in Africa.

There is concern from aid agencies that the current situation could result in a "lost generation" of West Timorese due to the irreversible damage to cognitive and physical development caused by malnutrition.

The Australian Government's aid arm, AusAid, has a long-standing presence in West Timor, running programs to tackle infant mortality and help the fledgling provincial government administer its funds.

But aid workers say while the problems of West Timor are myriad, it is the food shortage that is most pressing, exacerbated this year by crop failure and imported food prices pushed up by the cost of oil. Even rice subsidised by the Government is too expensive for some.

There is despair all around in Noelbaki. Winston Rondo, co- ordinator of CIS Timor, an NGO which has helped East Timorese refugees since 1999, says few in the camp can see a way out. "The people here do not know what is their future," he says. "They are just like water flowing; they will see what will happen tomorrow."

Most of the men here are farmers, and, without the prospect of getting any land, have no skills to parlay into an income. Some are drunk when The Age visits, as they watch preparations for another cockfight on a blood-stained patch of bare earth.

The police are called. They come this time, but not always. This is not a safe place. Domestic violence is common, according to Mr Rondo, as are sexual assaults.

But the residents of Noelbaki are trapped. These people are not refugees but "new citizens", according to Jakarta. But it provides precious little support. Save for a bare primary-level schooling at a half-converted bus shelter and rudimentary health checks at village health posts, they feel ignored by a distant Government.

Their relationship with their homeland is equally fraught. Most at Noelbaki supported East Timor becoming an autonomous region of Indonesia in 1999 rather than an independent nation. But with the vote for secession overwhelming, the non-believers were driven out of East Timor, attacked in the streets, their houses razed.

Few believe their "problems" are forgotten back home, nor do they trust life has improved there since 1999. And so they remain, neither one, nor the other. They carry a past they cannot leave behind, and a future that, for many, is without hope.

It is this that troubles Filipe de Araujo. Three of his four children were born at Noelbaki. They know no other life. He desperately wants to take them back to East Timor but cannot say when he will.

"For me, right now, it is too hard," he tells The Age through an interpreter. "I am afraid of the situation (in East Timor), afraid for my children to be safe. It is not OK for us there."

But he says life in the camp offers his children little hope: "We have given up. This is our life, this is our future, but what is there? We have given up."

[Ben Doherty travelled to West Timor as a fellow of the Asia Pacific Journalism Centre.]

Justice & reconciliation

East Timor: Remorse without reform

Australian Network - July 20, 2008

A recent report into the violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999 places the blame for crimes against humanity squarely at Indonesia's feet.

Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has since expressed his 'deepest remorse' for the violence, making him the first Indonesian leader to formally acknowledge the institutional responsibility of the Indonesian state, its military and police.

However, he stopped short of an official apology and the author of the report, the joint Indonesian East Timorese Commission of Truth and Friendship, has no power to prosecute.

Human rights groups have dismissed the commission as meaningless without prosecutions or the substantial reform of the Indonesian military.

Jim Middleton spoke to Usman Hamid, the coordinator of the Indonesian human rights group Kontras.

Jim Middleton: Welcome to the program.

Usman Hamid, Indonesian Human Rights Activist: Thank you.

Jim Middleton: As a person involved in human rights in Indonesia, what's your reaction to the findings of the Truth and Friendship Commission?

Usman Hamid: Yeah, thanks. Actually, it is important to emphasise about the major findings of the report concluded that crimes against humanity took place in East Timor in 1999, around the time of referendum. Killing, tortures and false disappearances, rapes and sexual violence took place before, around and after the referendum. So it is important for Indonesia and Timor Leste to open for more prosecution in the future. And I think despite criticisms the conclusion should be considered as a positive development of both governments as part of – as the form of – official acknowledgement that crimes against humanity were, exist in East Timor.

Jim Middleton: President Yudhoyono offered regrets on behalf of the Indonesian people rather than a full apology. Why did he not go the whole way, the full way?

Usman Hamid: I think first of all, he really wants to show there is a change, that Indonesia would not deny the crimes against humanity in East Timor, like it did in the past. But of course Indonesia is not really wants to be too defensive on denying or accepting the findings of the CTF reports. On the other hand, it is not really easy for the current governments to pursue accountability to criminal prosecutions against individuals who are responsible for the crimes since they have influence in Indonesian politics. So I think we are not satisfied with the 'deeply regret'. It should be apology because apology can be very important in acknowledging... the wounds of the victims and the families.

"It should be apology because apology can be very important in acknowledging... the wounds of the victims and the families."

Jim Middleton: What would have been the consequences for President Yudhoyono had he suggested a move to criminal prosecutions?

Usman Hamid: I think from the legal point of view there is no negative consequence since the report concludes crimes against humanity took place in East Timor. Crimes against humanity are not subject to statutes of limitation, are not subject to amnesty and crimes against humanity are not subject to non retroactivity, therefore criminal prosecutions in the future is still open, but politically I think it will take some time.

Jim Middleton: If prosecutions are to proceed some time in the future, do you believe that General Wiranto, who was head of the military at the time, ought to be one of those indicted?

Usman Hamid: He should be one of the person to be indicted, because the name of Wiranto is already in the serious crimes unit recommendation and also commission of expert set up by United Nations Secretary General, recommended to Indonesia to prosecute high level suspect like Wiranto. So I think the current situation in Indonesian politics shows a sickness – that military impunity has been reduced, but not significantly.

Jim Middleton: General Wiranto is of course supposed to be a candidate in next year's presidential elections. Wouldn't it complicate matters if he were to be under threat of prosecution?

Usman Hamid: This is a real challenge for the current leadership in Indonesian politics and the prosecution against Wiranto can give political benefit to Yudhoyono, but on the other hand Yudhoyono, as former military seems to be reluctant, seems to not really want to take strong actions against senior generals like Wiranto. But I think the CTF report has very important aspect where it can say that what has been explained by Wiranto as the military chief at the time was wrong. What has been explained by Wiranto that the crimes against humanity were not took place and it's just about the horizontal conflict between East Timorese was wrong. And I think this is a very positive development where in the future it can be used for criminal prosecutions.

"The current situation in Indonesian politics shows a sickness – that military impunity has been reduced, but not significantly."

Jim Middleton: Former Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer thinks that while the Indonesian President at the time, BJ Habibie did not sanction the violence, he thinks it is possible that General Wiranto disobeyed the President's instructions. Do you think that's what happened?

Usman Hamid: I think it has to be brought to the court. I mean, in, during the times, President Habibie was the one who has been considered as opening Democratic space for East Timor by offering democratic solution for referendum but I think to make sure there is responsibility for the president or just at the level of the chief it should be brought to the court. But Wiranto I think must be its one amongst those responsible persons for the crimes to be brought to justice. And unfortunately the CTF report fails to name any individuals.

Jim Middleton: Thank you very much for your time.

Usman Hamid: Thank you very much.

Push for war crimes trials

Melbourne Age - July 18, 2008

Ben Doherty, Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, who plans to contest next year's election, has supported the establishment of a war crimes tribunal to try Indonesian military figures accused of inciting violence during East Timor's independence vote in 1999. Mr Wahid said further formal investigation of alleged human rights violations was needed urgently.

"We have to be clear on this. There were violations of human rights in both countries, and that's what the commission discovered," Mr Wahid said. "But going further means further research, opening the facts... and not burying everything under the covers."

His comments follow the release this week of a report by the Indonesian and East Timorese governments' Commission for Truth and Friendship, which found the Indonesian government and military were "institutionally responsible" for a campaign of violence and intimidation. More than 1400 people were left dead and tens of thousands without homes or basic infrastructure.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed "very deep regret" in accepting the report. But his Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, said: "The case is closed. There will be no legal prosecution against individuals as the state has taken over the responsibility."

Mr Wahid was elected president in October 1999, just two months after East Timor seceded and as departing troops wrought a violent "scorched earth" policy on the fledgling nation. He told The Age he had no prior knowledge of the actions of the military, but has said those in authority who did know should be brought to justice. Asked whether a war crimes tribunal should be established to try those suspects, Mr Wahid said: "Yes, precisely."

He named former army head General Wiranto – whom he sacked from his cabinet in 2000 – as one of the military officials he suspected of having ordered the violence, as well as Chief Lieutenant-General Prabowo Subianto. Both General Wiranto and Lieutenant General Prabowo are also expected to run for president.

Timor militia chief accuses generals

Australian Associated Press - July 14, 2008

A former militia leader who claims the Indonesian military drugged him and gave him weapons to kill independence supporters in East Timor says the generals responsible must be held to account.

Joni Marques spent eight years in jail for crimes he committed as leader of a brutal pro-Indonesian militia, including the murder of nuns and a priest, around the time of East Timor's 1999 independence vote.

Marques claims that drugs he was fed by the Indonesians "destroyed his mind" and allowed him to join in the violence. The generals responsible must be held responsible for the devastating violence that surrounded the ballot, he said.

Marques made the call ahead of the formal release in Bali on Tuesday of a report resulting from the landmark East Timor Indonesia Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF).

The report, which Jakarta has said it will accept, blames Indonesia for murders, rapes and torture in East Timor in 1999. It says government funds from Jakarta allowed pro-Indonesian militias to carry out coordinated attacks, and that some Indonesian army personnel played a lead role in the violence.

But it also says pro-independence groups in East Timor committed gross human rights violations, namely illegal detentions, and that Dili must join Jakarta and offer an apology.

Marques said the Indonesian generals who directed his group must pay a price for the violence that erupted at his own hands, and at the hands of his operatives.

"Those generals – the leaders who were in East Timor at the time, they must take responsibility," he said. "[The Indonesians] must take the responsibility for the victims, for the people dead. Those people died because of the weapons given by them."

Marques claims a member of the Indonesian military in East Timor fed him drugs that led him to be involved in murders. "They gave a me a capsule to take [and] that medicine destroyed my mind and I killed the nuns."

He said it took six days for the drugs to wear off and only then did he realise what he had done.

The truth and friendship commission's mandate did not make any provisions for it to recommend prosecutions, nor does the final report name the individuals responsible for the violence.

Equally, though, the report does not say that an amnesty should apply – something that could prompt fresh calls for an international tribunal or court to hear specific cases.

While Marques blames the Indonesians for his actions, he also takes a degree of personal responsibility. He points to the eight years he served of a 33-year sentence, before being handed a pardon by East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta.

"I'm an East Timorese, so I must take the responsibility here. If they (the Indonesians) want to do over there what I have done here, it can give a good image for their country," he said. "I took a 33-year prison sentence because I did something bad, I [too] must take responsibility."

Justice and compassion in East Timor

BBC News - July 4, 2008

Lucy Williamson, Dili – "That's him," our guide told me. The man in the sagging brown vest was sitting at the entrance to his home, enjoying the morning sun. A mundane moment of freedom for a man convicted of the most serious crimes.

Nine years ago, during East Timor's vote for independence, Joni Marques was the leader of a brutal pro-Indonesian militia, Tim Alpha; a group that murdered and tortured fellow East Timorese.

Now, newly-released from prison after a presidential pardon, he is just another one of Dili's shifting residents, surviving in the rudimentary family home, trying to pick up the strands of his life. But how do you start again after a life like his?

"I'm already starting to forget what I did," he said. "At the time, the Indonesian military give us drugs that made me unafraid of killing anybody. But now – little by little – I'm already forgetting."

But others are finding it harder to forget – least of all about the attack by Joni Marques and his men on a convoy of eight civilians. They shot, burned and hacked to death every one of them – including priests and nuns, one of them at prayer by the roadside In deeply Catholic East Timor, it is an event that has not lost its power.

Joni Marques told me they never planned the attack, but the drugs would make them lose control. "I have to forget those things," he said. "I have to go forward, not just stay like this. The problem I face now is whether the victims' families will accept me."

Many of them do not yet know he is free. Others are all too aware.

'Not fair'

A few metres from where Joni Marques lives is the home of Adorito da Costa Freitas, the nephew of one of the victims in the clergy attack.

"It's not justice," he said. "I can understand that the president forgives him for what he did – but I still feel it's not fair. It's bad that someone who was sentenced for 33 years now lives free and very close to us, as victims."

Joni Marques is surrounded by uncomfortable neighbours.

If you come out of his new home and head in another direction, you come face to face with the headquarters of the UN mission in Dili. He was indicted eight years ago by the UN's Serious Crimes Unit and convicted by the special panels set up to try them.

Sentenced to 33 years for crimes against humanity, he served just a quarter of that. So how is that going down at the UN?

"Clearly, it's not a good message with regard to impunity and accountability for serious crimes," said Louis Gentile, country representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

But it is important to remember, he indicated, that in the case of Joni Marques and his men, there was a legal process, there was a conviction, and there was time served.

That is not case with many others accused of violent crimes during Indonesia's occupation, during the independence vote in 1999 and even in the more recent violence of 2006.

The real damage, in other words, may be to future trials. Getting people to give difficult evidence now, some believe, may have just got a little harder.

Sixteen men have so far been released as a result of the president's pardons. Four of them – all members of Tim Alpha – were guilty of crimes against humanity.

President Joe Ramos-Horta has sternly defended his right to issue the pardons, a right that is given to him under both domestic and international law.

And he has emphasized the need for compassion and forgiveness in dealing with East Timor's troubled past. He is even reported this week to be putting forward plans for an amnesty covering most of those accused of violence in 2006.

Poor deterrent

Justice is a broad concept in East Timor. It is not necessarily seen as the exclusive preserve of the formal judicial system. Community reconciliation is seen as important too, as is forgiveness.

But there are those who believe that unless these kinds of crimes are dealt with by the judicial system, security will continue to flirt with East Timor.

Not necessarily because the people released onto the streets – or never picked off them – are still dangerous, or their freedom is politically motivated. But simply because a visibly porous, erratic justice system is a poor deterrent.

And that goes for East Timor's security forces as much as for its civilians. Reforming the country's army and police is essential for stability.

Two years ago, they were fighting each other, a fight that sucked in politicians and civilians alike. It led to 37 deaths and the fall of a government.

The UN is due to begin handing back policing control to the Timorese force this month. But without a strong justice system, a reformed police service will be of limited use.

And if few people pay for the crimes of the past, what message does that send for the future?

Students/youth

Police brace for more protests in East Timor

Radio Australia - July 9, 2008

Police and security forces in East Timor are braced for a further day of protests outside the National University in Dili.

Since Monday, dozens of the students have been arrested as part of a continuing demonstration against what they say is government waste in the mid year budget review and a proposed new law that would allow civilians to carry guns.

Presenter: Stephanie March

Speakers: Caralino Marquez from Universities of East Timor Combined Action group; Marcos Gusmao, student representative; Carlos Pereira, UN police Dili District Commander.

March: Students gathered at the National University early in the morning as tear gas from the previous day's clash with police still filtered through the building-holding a scarf in front of his face to stop the effects of the gas, Caralino Marquez who is one of the leaders of the Universities of East Timor Combined Action group told the ABC they would continue protesting regardless of how many members of the group are arrested.

Marquez: Yesterday's action was not a violent action it was a peaceful action and we had a silent protest. We did this action not on parliamentary grounds but on our own campus on the verandah.

March: A further 18 demonstrators were taken away by police mid- morning after forming a human barricade in front of the building. With white tape covering their mouths the group held signs saying they represent the poor people and their families. Hundreds of students inside the building sang the national anthem and chanted "viva" as their friends were put into waiting police vans.

Another group of students have a permit to demonstrate at Dili's Democracy Field, and have vowed to continue their protest for the rest of the week. Standing in front of the university United Nations Police Dili District Commander Carlos Pereira says he believes the group at the university are fully aware their actions are illegal.

Pereira: After eight hours of discussion they don't agree with the law and they insist to have the demonstrations here. As you probably know demonstrations here are illegal because they are less than 100 metres from government buildings and the law doesn't allow that.

March: The students first began protesting a month ago against a unilateral decision by the parliamentary president Fernando Lasama de Aroujo to purchase vehicles for each of the 65 members of parliament. The $1.4 million purchase is accounted for in the mid year budget review which is being debated by parliament this week. Concerns have been raised by NGOs and members of parliament over the large sums of money included in the review that's allocated for government ministers and MPs. If the review is passed it will double the current budget of around $400 million.

A delegation of students from the legal Democracy Field protests presented a letter and petition to the president of parliament outlining their concerns. Their spokesperson Marcos Gusmao says despite the hour long conversation they failed to reach a solution.

Gusmao: What did he say to us? He said that everything he is doing has a legal basis. But we would say it's got no moral conscience. It's got no consideration for the people. As students we maintain our position.

March: Student representative Carolino Marquez says this weeks protests are also about a gun law proposed by the Xanana Gusmao government that would enable civilians to carry arms. Several MPs almost came to blows in parliament during the debate over the proposed bill, that has now been pushed aside for further consideration after the mid year budget review is complete.

Marquez: The debate in the parliament was important because the law could allow for civilians to get guns and thus there will be an impact because it will allow people to kill one another. And I think we can't allow that. We don't agree with that.

March: Carlos Pereira from the UN police says they are trying to contact the dean of the university to organize a peaceful end to the demonstrations, but so-far their phone calls have gone unanswered.

Pereira: Well we are prepared to have the same situation the same scenario tomorrow the day after tomorrow until Friday.

March: Are there any concerns it could lead to violence? PEREIRA: No, our intelligence report says that...we hope we don't have to use violence against them, so far it has been calm and quiet.

East Timor students oppose new cars for lawmakers

Associated Press - July 7, 2008

Dili – Police in East Timor's capital fired tear gas Monday to disperse students protesting a plan by lawmakers to buy themselves new cars with state funds, authorities said.

Officers detained 21 students during the rally in Dili for "investigation purposes," said National Police Chief Inspector Afonso de Jesus. He did not elaborate.

He said officers fired the tear gas to scatter the students because they violated an earlier agreement not to get too close to Parliament. There were no reports of injuries.

Parliament voted last month to buy new Japanese-made cars for its 65 members. The students carried banners protesting the decision, saying state money should be spent on rice, not cars.

East Timor's 900,000 people are among the poorest in Asia and have been battered by soaring fuel and food prices.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, broke from 24 years of Indonesian occupation in 1999, when 1,500 people were killed by militias and departing Indonesian troops. After three years of UN governance, it declared independence in 2002.

The country descended into chaos again in April 2006 when security forces split into warring factions and the government collapsed amid widespread looting and arson.

Gunbattles and gang warfare killed 37 people, and more than 150,000 were forced to leave their homes. Tens of thousands still live in squalid camps.

Sixteen arrested in East Timor demo

Agence France Presse - July 7, 2008

Dili – East Timorese and UN anti-riot police arrested at least 16 students Tuesday during a second day of protests at the national university against a plan to import cars for lawmakers.

Around 500 students rallied outside the National University of Timor Leste to condemn the procurement plan, after 21 were arrested in a similar protest there on Monday.

The students carried banners reading "Stop plan to buy luxury cars" and "We need lower food prices" as they gathered on the campus, which is opposite parliament.

Police used a loudspeaker to remind the crowd that protests are not allowed within 100 metres (yards) of public buildings.

The students claim the government has ordered 65 Toyota Landcruisers from Japan for more than two million dollars but the government says the order is for only 26 cars at 900,000 dollars.

East Timor, which gained independence in 2002 after 24 years of Indonesian occupation, is one of the world's poorest nations with an unemployment rate of around 50 percent.

Feeling deceived by parliament, students threaten hunger strike

Suara Timor Lorosae - July 3, 2008

Dili – The East Timor Students Forum is threatening hunger strikes because its members feel deceived by the National Parliament about the agreement to purchase luxury motor vehicles being reduced from 65 to 26 vehicles.

The threat was pubicised by the spokesperson for the ETSF, Sisto dos Santos, in a press conference at the East Timor National University Old Campus in Kaikoli, Dili on Wednesday (2/7).

Previously, ETSF demonstrated outside the national parliament for two days 11-12 June 2008) to demand that the national parliament cancel the purchase of luxury cars. The demonstration ended after there was an agreement that the national parliament would buy on 26 instead of 65 luxury cars. However, the national parliament secretly authorised a budget of US$1.400 thousand to buy 39 of the cars.

It is because they felt deceived (lied to) that the ETSF is going to distribute a film throughout the whole country about the national parliament's action in respect of the agreement between the parliament and the students about the plan to reduce the luxury motor vehicle purchase.

He explained that the students forum will press the President, Jose Ramos Horta, to veto the ratifying budget which will take about 3% of the Petroleum Fund.

"If all of our demands are not heeded by the National Parliament, then the students will go on a hunger strike in front of the offices of the national parliament until parliament's plan to buy the luxury cars is cancelled," said Sisto.

Earlier, the President of [the National Parliament's] Commission C on Economic, Financial and Anti-Corruption Affairs, Cecilio Caminha Freitas said that the 2008 ratifying budget was taken to the cabinet of the National Parliament and was in the sum of US$1.400 thousand to buy 39 luxury cars. It has already been registered and can not be disturbed again.

According to him, the cars are not to be owned by members of parliament but will be national parliament assets. That means that, after 5 years, all of the cars will be taken back.

At the same time, Andre da Costa (L-4), who was asked his opinion about the planned purchase of the motor vehicles, said that the principle of the resistance was to struggle to free the people from the shackles of colonialism for the sake of independence not to fight to own luxury cars.

"The struggle has achieved its objectives. But the people are still suffering hunger and there is no employment. Even the veterans have yet to receive a single cent. So the plan to buy luxury cars is an extravagance on top of the people's suffering," he added.

Agriculture & food security

Timor-Leste: Fragile environment in jeopardy

IRIN - July 31, 2008

Dili – Since it was built in 1983, residents of Dili have watched the retaining wall of the Pantai Kelapa road along Timor-Leste's coastline slowly erode.

Some say it is because of the effects of climate change – increasing numbers of ferocious storms have caused waves to batter the edges of the road. But it is impossible to be certain because of a 25-year gap in environmental data.

"There is data starting from the 1950s but it's not complete because of the Indonesian occupation," Adao Soares, Timor-Leste's national focal point for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told IRIN. "So starting from 1975 there is no climate data for Timor-Leste until 2000."

A lack of data is not the only challenge. Limited human resources make it difficult to undertake impact, vulnerability and adaptation studies. The fledgling nation is seeking funding to tackle climate change from various places – including the Global Environment Facility, but it is unlikely to come through before 2010.

"[Also] as a new country we have not completed our environmental legislation so we have limited capacity to deal with climate change issues or environmental issues in general," Soares told IRIN.

Deforestation and slash-and-burn farming practices make Timor- Leste vulnerable to climate change

Signs of trouble

"People in Timor-Leste are basically living on the edge anyway," Lynne Kennedy, Oxfam livelihood and food security coordinator, told IRIN. "They are living in a country where the climate is very variable and not predictable in some places," she said. "It's becoming increasingly more so."

Signs of an environment in trouble are everywhere in Timor-Leste. Rivers are filling up with silt washed down from higher ground as the hillsides erode, causing water to breach the banks. Landslides destroy roads in the wet season, causing havoc for rural residents.

"As for bio-diversity, there is no data that indicates we have lost it, but a few communities say some native trees are already gone because of the climate changing," Soares told IRIN.

Mountain communities are reporting an increase in temperature, Soares said, adding that rising sea levels also pose a dire problem for coastal areas – including the capital, Dili, which is only several metres above sea level.

Farmers and food security

Farmers too are noticing changes in the environment. Despite the lack of data, agricultural experts cite farmers who say traditional practices and planting cycles no longer fit with the changing weather patterns.

"The seasons are no longer clear for them, they are confused about it," Arsenio Pereria from HASATIL, an NGO that focuses on sustainable agriculture, told IRIN. "In Timor-Leste we have two seasons and two times for planting, but right now that has all moved."

The usual challenges faced by farmers – including those posed by the El Niqo effect – are now being exacerbated by changing weather patterns.

"You can have crops that fail one year because of a lack of rain and you'll have crops that are washed away the next year by flooding," Kennedy told IRIN. "Then you might get attacked by locusts which aren't behaving in the same way the locusts have behaved previously... anything you can think of."

Education and change

"Poor agricultural practices are evident, many of which are driven by a lack of education or poverty," Soares said, adding that while most Timorese are aware that climate change is an issue, they are forced by poverty to over-farm the land and degrade the soil and the environment.

Soares said the government had to realise poverty reduction goes hand-in-hand with improving the environment. "We should have a programme on renewable energy – solar power for example, [so] we don't have to spend a lot of money on fuel."

The young nation also requires the financial and technical support of the international community.

"We have limited capacity to deal with climate-change adaptation in Timor-Leste, that is why we need capacity-building for our people – especially experts – and meteorology equipment to monitor [changing weather patterns]," Soares said.

The increasing challenge is also convincing the international community that additional money is needed to deal with disaster preparedness and mitigation, Kennedy said, on top of current funding for environmental development projects.

"We are fighting on all these fronts at one time and we can't do it with the same resources – it is nonsense to say we should be using development money to try to protect people against increasing natural disasters," Kennedy said. (sm/bj/mw)

A million dollar view in impoverished East Timor

AlertNet Blogs - July 30, 2008

Katie Chalk – Every morning, when Madalena opens her front door, she is faced with what has to be one of the most beautiful views on earth. High in the mountain ranges of Lequidoe, East Timor, she watches the sun spill over countless unspoilt peaks, with distant mists dissolving into a sky of impossible blue.

When I mention how much land like hers would be worth in my home country of Australia, she looks at me as though I am an idiot. Or tactless. Or both.

A widow with no regular source of income, Madalena may have a better grasp on economic realities than I do. She does not think of her view as a marketable entity. The beauty of her surroundings cannot help her to feed her children.

The basic rules of economic growth are simple. If people want something, then it is worth something. If they will pay more for it, then it is worth more. The expectation of profit is integral in transactions, but if the price is too high, people will stop buying it, at which stage the price will fall.

But recently, something has gone horribly wrong with these rules. The growing gap between rich and poor has seen the wealthy agree to buy global commodities at rates that push them beyond the reach of communities living in poverty.

This phenomenon has been dubbed the global food crisis. In Asia, it may as well be called the rice crisis. Thais and Cambodians don't ask if you have eaten; they ask if you have "had your rice."

It doesn't need to be jasmine or basmati – throughout the continent, from tropical Malaysia through to wintry China, the measure of a family's food security is their ability to purchase and lug home their own 25 kg (55 pound) bag of basic and beloved white goodness.

In the last year, prices for rice have risen in every country in the region, in some cases by 100 percent or more. A variety of economic justifications can be made – rising cost of fuel, decline of the US dollar, an emphasis on exporting over local market supply, reduced agriculture industries, low harvests due to natural disaster.

But none of that means much to people like Madalena. She used to be able to buy a little rice to put on her table each day. Now, ashamed, she says her family eats rice once a week. "I try to feed my children three times a day," she says, "but they don't get rice very often."

The sting in all this is that rice is an introduced dependency in East Timor, its roots in a former wave of economic colonisation that pushed out traditional food crops like beans, maize and cassava, despite the land and irrigation requirements of growing rice successfully.

East Timor grows some rice, but nothing near enough to be sustainable. Most of the rice in Dili markets is imported from Indonesia and ranges in price as well as quality. It's slightly more expensive in remote Lequidoe because the cost of transport needs to be covered.

It's not even particularly nutritious. Children growing up in poor rice-based communities can suffer malnourishment because rice is pure carbohydrate, without vitamins or protein. Purchased, processed rice even lacks the healthy fibre present in its cruder form.

Madalena would be better off returning to local crops of organic, healthy, fresh vegetables, but a rice-driven cash economy has now become a way of life. Even up here.

The capacity for residents of Lequidoe to earn money is a fundamental challenge. There are no jobs around here. The ground is rocky and lack of irrigation infrastructure means only one harvest a year. Most families have a small plot of land where they grow cassava, corn and a few greens. They hope for a good enough yield to sell some at market, the only chance they have for cash.

Madalena has given up on farming her land. She is not strong enough to do it alone. She survives by selling the oranges from one tree, and every couple of years a calf from her one cow.

Madalena's children mainly eat steamed cassava, donated by her farming neighbours. Her youngest daughter Dilsia, 5, is "moderately" malnourished, though (revealingly in this land of large families) her condition has improved since three of her older siblings moved away from home to go to school in a nearby town. With less competition for food, she is getting a fairer share.

This is good news for Madalena, who has been worried, not just about Dilsia's health, but also about how to find money for medicine and the food she knows Dilsia needs.

She and Dilsia have been attending classes at a nutrition post set up by World Vision to monitor and improve children's health in this village. She makes sure they go to the cooking class whenever it is on; she learns about local ingredients she can add to cassava or rice to make it more nutritious, and Dilsia enjoys the food they prepare together.

At home, she tries to make the same dishes, measuring out her dwindling rice supply carefully. Six months ago she bought a sack for $18. When she went back recently the same sack was $25 – more than Madalena is able to earn in a month.

A kilogram of rice in Australia, locally grown or maybe imported from a high-export Asian country like Vietnam or Thailand, costs two to three times as much as it would in East Timor. But the average wage in Australia is just under $200 a day. In East Timor, where jobs are scarce and farming difficult, 40 percent of people earn 55 cents or less. This makes a kilogram of rice the equivalent of more than a day's wage.

Would I pay $200 for a kilo of rice? Unlikely. Instead I would protest and write letters and join movements, citing my rights, to end an illogical inflation beyond any possible sustainability of economy. But the world's poor have never thought of themselves as powerful consumers; there are no food riots in this quiet, malnourished, struggling village.

I ask Madalena how she has managed alone to survive, keep her children clothed, fed and in school.

"We have found it very hard," she says. "Every day is a challenge. But I am not really alone. My neighbours have supported me a lot.

"I send my children to school because it is something for them to do. What they do in the future is up to them, and their education will help. But I think they will find it hard to be anything but farmers – there is nothing else to do here."

I look again at the breathtaking view. It looks like a land of plenty – chickens chase their mother hens into the bushes, a goat with her kid bleats and rears by the side of the dirt road. Madalena's orange tree is heavy with fruit.

But none of it is destined for her table. So far down in the economic hierarchy that nobody can even see her, she still thinks of it all in terms of cash. She would rather have the money that the chickens are worth, so that she can buy what she needs – medicine, house repairs, clothes for her children, and most importantly, three meals a day for her malnourished Dilsia.

Gusmao's $15 million rice deal alarms UN

The Australian - July 7, 2008

Mark Dodd – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has signed a $US14.4 million ($14.9 million) food security contract giving sole import rights to the vice-president of his political party – a deal that is ringing alarm bells at the UN and among the impoverished country's main donors, including Australia.

Dili-based diplomatic sources said they had strong concerns about the deal, seen as a blow against efforts to improve governance and transparency in one of Southeast Asia's most troubled and poorest countries.

Speaking on national television on Saturday night, Mr Gusmao defended the contract, saying it would ensure food security for the country at a time of need.

A copy of the contract signed on May 7 – entitled "The Supply and Warehousing of White Rice" – which has been obtained by The Australian, shows Mr Gusmao's signature authorising the procurement of 16,000 tonnes of white rice for $US14.4 million.

The beneficiary is given as Germano AJda Silva, director of Dili-based Tres Amigos Company and vice-president of Mr Gusmao's CNRT party. The contract is an amendment to an earlier procurement for 8000 tonnes of rice for a price originally set at $US4.08 million.

"The Ministry of Finance Procurement Service hereby declare the following amendments to the above mentioned contract," it says. "The contract price is hereby changed from $US4.08 million to $US14.4 million. The price increase has resulted from changes to the contract quality and unit price."

The opposition Fretilin said yesterday the rice contract was evidence of growing corruption involving the Prime Minister and close associates.

Fretilin's Arsenio Bano – who sits on the parliamentary committee for financial oversight, defence, national security and foreign affairs – said in addition to conflict of interest concerns, the deal had major national budget implications for this year.

Mr Bano alleged that Mr da Silva had been involved in an earlier case of misappropriation of public monies in 2000 in which Mr Gusmao was forced to replace a $US20,000 accounting shortfall in his then presidential office with his own money.

The latest allegations are a blow to the image of Mr Gusmao, a celebrated former leader of the pro-independence FALINTIL guerilla force that spearheaded the territory's bloody 24-year struggle to separate from Indonesia. Like many guerilla leaders turned politicians, Mr Gusmao, while personally popular, has shown himself to be less adept at public administration.

"The Prime Minister said on the weekend on national television that he prefers not to let the people of East Timor starve of rice." Mr Bano said. "But this statement is very concerning for us because it could be seen to be promoting even wider conflict of interest and collusion. What does this statement promote as an example for the other ministers?"

It is understood that the UN's World Food Program, US and Australian embassies in Dili have raised concerns about the deal following several other contentious multi-million-dollar contracts, including the procurement of Chinese patrol boats and two heavy fuel-oil powered electricity plants.

To cover these and other contracts, the Government has sought a supplementary budget increase for 2008 of more than 122 per cent, up from a parliamentary approved $US425.5 million to $US773 million.

According to Mr Bano, the Government has shown an inability so far to spend even a fraction of its original budget allocation and moves to raise more money from the public coffers are matters of extreme concern.

"What we are very concerned about is the Government's capacity to spend this money properly. Between January and March this year, the Government spent only $US32million – that is just over $US10 million a month," he said. "Why on earth would they now be wanting an extra $US425 million?"

UNMIT/ISF

Military exercises in East Timor under fire

Canberra Times - July 9, 2008

Philip Dorling – The Australian Defence Force has begun a series of controversial exercises in East Timor involving Black Hawk helicopters firing live machine-gun rounds.

Advertisements warning of the exercises appeared in East Timorese newspapers last week. Australian Black Hawk and New Zealand Iroquois helicopters attached to the International Stabilisation Force in East Timor are training in the Fatin Tiru firing area off the north coast.

The exercises are about 6km from the town of Liquica, the scene of a massacre by pro-Indonesian militias before East Timor's 1999 independence ballot. The advertisements say the helicopters will fire their door-mounted machine guns to "maintain crew skills and... operational effectiveness". East Timorese non-government organisations expressed concern yesterday about the exercises.

Australian Defence Force Academy senior lecturer and former army officer Clinton Fernandes also questioned their military necessity and political wisdom. "There is plenty of opportunity for this sort training to be conducted in Australia before units are deployed to East Timor," Dr Fernandes said.

"It is far from clear what current security contingency in East Timor requires regular training in the use of Black Hawks as helicopter gunships. "At a time when East Timor needs peace and quiet, this sort of activity sends the wrong signal."

At a meeting with La'o Hamutuk, a prominent East Timorese non- government organisation, an ISF liaison officer confirmed that a "visual scan only" would be employed to check that there were no people or wildlife in the firing area. Asked how local communities would be informed, the ISF said that East Timorese authorities were responsible for providing warnings.

But inquiries by The Canberra Times confirmed that no special precautions were being taken apart from the newspaper advertisements. The gunnery trials are taking place over three days and will be repeated monthly. According to the ISF, the helicopter exercises will help bring "stability, security and confidence to the Timorese".

Government/civil service

Questions over East Timor's budget review

Radio Australia - July 2, 2008

Questions are being asked about a proposal to massively increase government spending in East Timor. A mid-year review has recommended that parliament approve a doubling of the state budget for this year. Dili says it needs to set up an Economic Stabilisation Fund to manage public anger over rising food and fuel prices. Critics say the extra spending is irresponsible.

Presenter: Karon Snowdon

Speaker: Charlie Scheiner, researcher with La'o Hamutuk

Snowdon: The East Timor government says it's got two main reasons for doubling last December's budget... oil prices and oil prices.

Firstly, higher global prices for oil means East Timor is getting paid more for its resources. By the end of this year its three- billion dollar Petroleum Fund is expected to have 200 million dollars more than previously forecast.

Secondly, on the other side of the same coin, living costs are going up for its people. In a mid-year adjustment, the government is proposing to more than double the budget to 774 million dollars, most of it to come from the Petroleum Fund.

Keeping on eye on this is La'o Hamutuk, the East Timor Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis. La'o Hamutuk Researcher Charlie Scheiner accuses the government of a lack of transparency. He says a lot of the extra money is going into questionable projects, including more than one million dollars for government cars.

Scheiner: We have two concerns about this. Firstly many of the new projects are major commitments over many years that have never been discussed publicly, that haven't gone through any kind of environmental assessment. The other concern is that the road that they're going down is a classic recipe for the resource curse that afflicts many countries that depend on petroleum revenues.

Snowdon: East Timor's oil reserves are estimated to last perhaps 15 years.

The Petroleum Fund set up by the previous government was designed to fund the country for much longer through careful investment management and to avoid the resource curse of squandered wealth. Charlie Scheiner says few of the funding proposals will contribute to lasting development.

Scheiner: Very little of it is for education, for health, for infrastructure, for things that actually will in the long run make people's lives better. And it's why Timor Leste in 2005 setup a Petroleum Fund. It's to smooth out the flow of incomes. When you look at in the first six months of this year, from January until now, even though they were authorised to spend 294 million dollars from the Petroleum Fund they haven't withdrawn a penny. So it's a totally crazy thing to think that they can spend 686 million in the next six months.

Snowdon: Can you give me any examples of some projects that have been nominated that you think are questionable? Where is this money going to be spent?

Scheiner: Well the biggest single project that's included in this budget is for a pair of heavy oil electric generating plants. This is a 390 million dollar project. Heavy oil is a technology that most of the world is abandoning now because it's so difficult to manage and because it's so environmentally destructive.

Snowdon: And part of the budget increase includes a 240 million dollar economic stabilisation fund. Now I've heard talk of possible demonstrations being planned in East Timor because people are finding that price rises of food and fuel are causing quite a lot of distress. So again doesn't this make sense for the government to spend their money in this way and ease for itself some problems, but certainly to ease the pressure on people?

Scheiner: In Timor Leste, 80 per cent of the population lives by subsistence agriculture and grows their own food, and so they're not affected by the price of food, and they don't have cars and they don't have motorcycles. There is a middle class, an urban middle class in Dili that is affected by that. But more importantly than that if they're going to spend 240 million dollars they should be spending it to provide longer term food security to this country to support agriculture to replace imported products with locally produced products. But what we've seen is the main agricultural support projects that this government is promoting is to support agrofuels products; sugarcane and jatropha that they want to export and bring in more money.

Snowdon: Last year, East Timor was unable to spend its more modest budget. It simply doesn't have the human resources to realise some of the planned projects.

The Finance Minister Emelia Pires was today in the Parliament arguing her case for the revised budget and was unavaliable for an interview which Radio Australia hopes will be possible later this week.

Human rights/law

Fears over Timor defamation law

The Australian - July 31, 2008

Stephanie March, Dili – East Timor's inaugural Journalist of the Year awards last week provided much-needed encouragement for professionals facing an uncertain future, as authorities draft a press law that could make defamation a criminal offence.

At a ceremony in Dili on Saturday, Nelson Filomeno De Jesus from Radio Timor-Leste took the top award, named after five international journalists killed by Indonesian troops in Balibo, East Timor, in 1975.

His story about a failure of the justice system to deal with child sexual abuse won both the top prize and the Roger East award for Best Electronic Journalism, presented by Hollywood actor Anthony LaPaglia.

In the film Balibo, LaPaglia plays East, another Australian journalist murdered while investigating the deaths of the men known as the Balibo Five.

Journalists are continuing to express concern over proposed criminal defamation laws and a plan that could lead to mandatory licensing of journalists in the territory.

East Timor Journalists Association head Gill Gutteres said he was "deeply concerned" that legal advisers hired to draft the defamation law came from countries where it was a criminal offence, and feared they would recommend that.

UN-sponsored Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte has recommended that journalists be licensed to practice and that defamation be included in the country's criminal code.

"Defamation then becomes a government or state instrument to suppress public criticism of the government," Gutteres said.

"That was what happened in Indonesian times and we don't want that repeated." Journalists in East Timor are covered by the Indonesian penal code and press law, which includes criminal penalties for defamation, but they have yet to be used.

Since independence, two newspapers – The Timor Post and Suara Timor Lorosae – have been sued for defamation. Both were found guilty and fined.

The full weight of Indonesian law was not previously applied, according to Francis Suni, from the International Centre for Journalists in East Timor.

"In the examples I have seen, they didn't use the Indonesian press law," Suni said. "However, that doesn't necessarily mean it cannot be applied or that it won't be," he said.

Those in positions of authority were showing signs of support for criminalisation, he said. They argued that fines might not be enough of a deterrent.

Horta pushes amnesty laws

Australian Associated Press - July 13, 2008

Stephanie March, Dili – East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta is pushing for new laws to grant amnesty to perpetrators of the violence that wracked the tiny nation in 2006.

Under the draft legislation – yet to go before East Timor's arliament - perpetrators of crimes including murder during the 2006 political crisis could avoid going through the courts by instead issuing a public apology.

And families of victims killed during the unrest could be in line for $10,000 compensation, a vast sum in the poverty-stricken nation.

"The priority is not to punish the perpetrator, but is to restore the situation of the victims prior to the crime as much as possible," the draft law states.

The move follows the recent controversial move by the head of state to slash the sentences of numerous prisoners, with several ex-militia jailed for crimes against humanity over the 1999 violence now free from prison.

It also comes as the landmark East Timor-Indonesia Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) is due to formally hand down its report into the 1999 bloodshed surrounding East Timor's historic vote for independence.

The report blames Indonesia for murders, rapes and torture in 1999, with a lack of accountability among security forces a key cause.

Brussels-based think-tank the International Crisis Group (ICG) says the new draft law, if passed, will erode people's confidence in East Timor's justice system, and the rule of law.

"Serious crimes were committed in 2006, including arson and murder," ICG South East Asia project director John Virgoe told AAP. "If the perpetrators and the political and military figures behind the violence are not held to account, there will be no deterrent against future outbreaks of political violence."

He said the president's decision to grant full or partial pardons to 94 prisoners in May will also make it difficult for East Timor to move forward.

"People's sense of justice is not satisfied, their belief in the rule of law is undermined and the message is sent that, in East Timor, you can, quite literally, get away with murder," he said.

Local MP Fernanda Borges, of the minority party PUN, said the political nature of the 2006 conflict was clouding the judgment of many politicians. More than 30 people were killed when sections of the police and army turned on each other in Dili's streets.

"There is a lot of political conflict of interest that makes it very difficult for people to have an independent view of the situation without feeling like: 'Whoa, if we don't have this we might all be held responsible for it' and I think that is clouding their judgment," she said.

An East Timor court is reportedly also set to consider a request that an alleged key player of the 2006 violence travel overseas for medical treatment.

Vicente da Conceicao, known as "Railos", who is alleged to have led armed civilians in attacks against East Timor's military personnel in 2006, was arrested in October last year and remains in pre-trial detention.

Former government minister Rogerio Lobato – one of the few people ever jailed over the 2006 crisis – is yet to return after he was sent to Malaysia for medical treatment in 2007. He received a pardon from Ramos Horta earlier this year.

Ramos Horta has defended his decision to grant pardons, including to militia leader Joni Marques who murdered nuns and a priest in violence surrounding the 1999 independence vote.

He said it was enough that Marques had served eight years, when no Indonesians would serve time over the violence. "What do I tell my conscience," Ramos Horta told the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

"This militia (has) already served eight years. Can you imagine? There is no Indonesian military on trial or in prison and East Timor, showing great heroism of its judicial system, keeps an idiot, an unfortunate guy, in prison."

Concern over new law to allow Timorese gun ownership

Australian Associated Press - July 2, 2008

East Timor's Prime Minister is supporting a new law that would allow civilians to own guns, less than five months after illegally armed rebel soldiers tried to kill him and the president

The proposal has sparked heated scenes in parliament, with MPs almost coming to blows over what some say is a dangerous development that could threaten the nation's fragile security.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao last week introduced the proposed gun law to parliament for "urgent debate" – pushing back scheduled budgetary discussions.

Under Article 4 of the law, civilians would be allowed to own firearms. Currently, only police and military personnel can carry weapons. The law, if passed, could have grave consequences for East Timor, where memories of February's attempted assassinations of Gusmao and President Jose Ramos Horta are still fresh.

In 2006, East Timor was rocked by violence that involved illegally armed civilian militias. Dozens died in the unrest, and 100,000 people were forced from their homes.

Former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was forced to resign over the unrest, and former interior minister Rogerio Lobato was later convicted of illegally arming civilian hit squads tasked with eliminating political opponents.

The United Nations, which heads a stabilisation force in the young nation, has expressed concern over the proposed gun law. "The less weapons we have on the streets, the safer it is," said acting United Nations Police Commissioner Juan Carlos Arevalo.

MP Fernanda Borges said Article 4 of the proposed law was initially voted down, but was resubmitted for another vote in what she calleda"highly unusual" move that saw the vote tied on Monday.

A physical fight almost broke out after two parliamentarians – from a party with Gusmao's ruling coalition, and who had initially abstained – voted in favour of Article 4, resulting in the tied result. Parliament subsequently decided to sit on the issue for later consideration.

MP Fernanda Borges said she and many other members of parliament were opposed to any plan to allow civilians to own guns. "The danger here is the parliament is not really voting on its conscience, but receiving orders from the government, which is not helping democracy," Borges said.

Jose Texeira, a member of opposition party Fretilin, said members of Gusmao's CNRT party had been pressured to support the plan. "CNRT members have come under tremendous pressure to get this through," Texeira said.

State Secretary for Defence Julio Tomas Pinto defended the proposed law in parliament on Monday. He said the plan to allow civilians to bear arms should not alarm anyone, and many countries in the world allowed citizens to own guns.

"We would not hand guns out to just anyone," he said. "Our citizens would have to get certified through the police before they were allowed to carry guns."

Ramos Horta's office said the president had no comment to make on the issue, and had not yet decided if he would veto the law should parliament pass it.

Major Ian Toohill, a spokesperson for the Australian International Security Forces stationed in East Timor, said the army had no comment because it was a matter for the government.

If the law is passed it could affect security firms, whose employees are currently unable to carry guns.

But Philip Knight, the technical director of Maubere Security, one of the oldest security firms in the country, said he was unaware the gun law was even being debated as no one from the prime minister's office had sought his opinion.

In any case, Knight said there was no reason to arm civilians. "Definitely not," he said."I go on the policy, if you've got a guy with a gun at the gate and the security guard has no gun, then he's more likely not to get shot. But if they both have guns, someone's going to get shot."

In February this year Ramos Horta was shot twice by illegally armed rebels. Gusmao was attacked in a separate ambush an hour later, but he escaped unharmed.

Opinion & analysis

CTF Report: Maintaining friendship at the cost of justice?

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2008

HS Dillon, Jakarta – The report of the joint Commission for Truth and Friendship, recently presented to the two heads of state who established the body, could certainly be lauded for ending a culture of denial by affirming that gross violations of human rights preceding and immediately after the East Timor referendum did indeed take place.

The commission went to great lengths to stay within the confines of its mandate by not arriving at the logical conclusion that the perpetrators of crimes against humanity should be brought to justice.

Instead, it heaped the blame upon faceless institutions, just as the UNHCHR's so-called Commission of Inquiry had done many years earlier.

After talking to people in Indonesia, Australia and Timor Leste, this UN commission had simply stated the TNI was among the institutions responsible for all the crimes.

However, its credence was overshadowed by the superior methodology employed by our own commission of inquiry established by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham). It managed to build a strong case in identifying a number of key perpetrators and recommending they stand trial.

The institution of an Indonesian human rights tribunal for the express purpose of trying these perpetrators had been one of the preconditions demanded by the president prior to Komnas Ham establishing its commission. Thus convinced that Indonesia was committed to the pursuit of justice, the international community dropped its demands for an international tribunal.

Politics of expediency, however, took precedence over justice. Then president Megawati Soekarnoputri appointed an attorney general who immediately proceeded to carve up these crimes into separate cases, effectively demolishing the systematic and widespread underpinnings of the crimes-against-humanity case painstakingly built by the rights body. It was a sad day for justice in both countries when the Supreme Court absolved all Indonesians, convicting two ethnic East Timorese instead.

The words of Eurico Guterres, the young pro-Indonesia militia commander found guilty by Indonesian courts, continue to echo in my ears. "You sacrifice me for the sake of the generals!" he said upon entering the room of inquiry. "No, my dear brother," I tried to assuage his fears, "we will not sacrifice you to protect our generals." But events have borne him out and made liars of me and my colleagues in Komnas Ham's commission of inquiry.

Thus, a historic opportunity to firmly establish that the rule of law applied to all was missed because the entrenched politicians were more bent upon regime maintenance. Instead, they fueled a culture of violence that continues to plague us today.

This culture of violence has manifested itself time and again; Ambon, East Kalimantan and Poso, to name just three. We had witnessed it before, most notably during the May 1998 riots, which left thousands of victims in its wake. Before that, one of the prime suspects in East Timor had set up a 5,000-strong militia with the express purpose of smashing the student protests against the autocratic regime.

None of the commanding officers responsible for the troops that murdered innocent students around Semanggi have been brought to justice. The culture of violence is flourishing, with the selfsame group which had demonstrated against Komnas Ham and demanded its dissolution when it was questioning the generals resorting to violence whenever it so desires.

Was this inevitable? If the prosecutors had aligned all findings toward proving, beyond any doubt, that the then TNI commander was responsible – on account of his position – for the systematic and widespread violence, the courts might have convicted him of crimes against humanity. Would the commander-in-chief have been convicted, too? I very much doubt that, even though his unstatesmanlike decision brought great grief and shame upon the nation.

I, for one, think it highly unlikely that professor B.J. Habibie ordered the violence. However, even if the courts had passed down a sentence, president Megawati could have easily pardoned him. The human rights minister spent several days in Seoul meeting the South Korean speaker of the House, the attorney general and the prosecuting attorney himself to try to understand how they had arraigned two former commanders of the army and presidents and then convicted and pardoned them to put closure on the crimes against humanity for which they had been responsible. We, too, could have traveled down a similar path.

What would have been the implications of such an outcome? If the commanding general had been convicted, the dignity and honor of our nation (including our institutions such as the TNI) would have been restored. The restitution of the victims would have served as a salve on their wounds, paving the way for a friendship based on sound foundations, while measures instituted to prevent recurrence would have nipped the culture of violence in the bud. Only then would restorative justice have truly been served.

There is no denying that friendship with Indonesia is crucial to Timor Leste's development, and in the counterfactual case with restorative justice, we would have forged even closer friendship. For under such a scenario the people of both nations, and not just their ruling elites, would also have been able to forgive and put all that transpired behind them.

Is all hope lost? Are our children doomed to live amid a culture of recurring violence and impunity, all the while carrying the burden of shame? No, not if President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono acknowledges his debt to those who founded the TNI, sacrificing their lives in the process. He needs to remember his oath of office to uphold the integrity and dignity of our republic, and not allow cowards hiding behind uniforms to bring shame upon our people.

A single stroke of the president's pen could set the wheels of justice into motion once again, and bring the CTF findings – that gross violations of human rights had been committed in East Timor – to bear fully upon those who were responsible for the institution of the TNI then. The fearless dedication of a single commission had enhanced our credibility and prevented Indonesia from being condemned by the international community in 2000; there must certainly be some Indonesians left with enough courage to prosecute the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and restore our national dignity.

[The writer was a member of the National Commission on Human Rights from 1999 to 2002.]

Alexander the OK with hubris and chutzpah

The Australian - July 24, 2008

Mike Steketee, National Affairs Editor – Downer's achievements as our longest serving foreign minister aren't all he claims and must be balanced against some calamitous mistakes

Savouring his record as Australia's longest serving foreign minister, Alexander Downer offers as his greatest achievement the creation of a free and independent East Timor.

Funny, then, that this is not quite the result that Downer and John Howard had in mind at the time. In fact, Hugh White, who as a Defence Department deputy secretary was involved in Australia's response during those years, says the outcome in the form of the vote for independence at the end of 1999 "differed in every respect from the government's objectives at the start of the year".

Call it characteristic Downer chutzpah, somewhat similar to taking a paid job as UN special envoy to Cyprus after spending most of the past decade bagging the UN as worse than useless.

Australia's intention had been for East Timor to stay part of Indonesia. Howard made that clear in the letter he sent to then Indonesian president B.J. Habibie, a letter that Downer says he initiated.

It suggested a process that would "allow time to convince the East Timorese of the benefits of autonomy within the Indonesian republic", followed by an act of self-determination. Like every government before and after, whether Labor or Coalition, the Howard government placed much higher priority on a good relationship with Indonesia than on the fate of a few hundred thousand East Timorese.

There was no enthusiasm for a new and potentially unstable mini- state on Australia's doorstep.

But the mercurial Habibie opted instead for a ballot offering East Timorese a choice between autonomy under Indonesian rule and Full independence. From there, events moved largely out of Australia's control.

So keen was Downer to keep the Indonesians on side that he denied Jakarta was orchestrating the violence in the months leading up to the vote. "Rogue elements" might be involved, he said, but "I do accept the Indonesian government's word for it that it's not official Indonesian policy".

Last week a three-year joint inquiry by the Indonesian and East Timorese governments confirmed what Australian intelligence was telling Canberra in 1999: that the Indonesian military, together with police and civilian authorities, organised and funded the violence that left 1500 people dead and destroyed significant parts of the country. Downer's response? He had known that elements of the Indonesian military were behind the violence but he didn't think Habibie had sanctioned it.

Writing in a recent edition of the journal Security Challenges, White, now professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University, says Downer's comments in 1999 went "against the clear weight of intelligence reporting and assessment", and adds tactfully: "This perhaps reflected a desire not to damage relations with Indonesia and especially with TNI (the Indonesian armed forces)."

But at what cost? In early 1999, before the vote at the end of August, US assistant secretary of state Stanley Roth wanted a concerted international push for a peacekeeping force. Then Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Ashton Calvert argued such a course would be counterproductive.

White says it is uncertain whether Howard pushed for an international peacekeeping force when he met Habibie in April and, if so, how hard. He adds that there was strong resistance from Indonesia to such an idea. But he concludes: "It may well be that by not pushing harder at this time, both directly with Habibie and through others like the UN and the US, we missed the last best chance to avoid the disasters of September (the post- ballot violence)."

The initiative Howard took after the ballot for an Australian-led international force succeeded in restoring order and Australia maintains an important presence in East Timor today. But White's point is that it turned out very differently to what the government had intended. The aim had been to avoid sending a large Australian military force to East Timor. The belated intervention severely strained relations with Indonesia and the Indonesian army. Hopefully, even if its creation was more by accident than Australian design, East Timor will be able to develop beyond a fragile state with Australian assistance.

Downer is in New York, sizing up his job as UN special envoy to Cyprus. Presumably, all is forgiven, including his lecture to the UN General Assembly two years ago: "Effective international action on the great global challenges of our time requires more than resolutions in the (UN)... It requires proactive policy, not political posturing and personal abuse from this podium."

Of course, Downer has a point about the UN's lack of effectiveness. Hopefully, he will find a resolution to the Cyprus problem that has eluded the Greeks, the Turks and the UN for the past 34 years. But it is a pity the Howard government did not take more notice of the UN when it was asking for more time for its weapons inspectors, rather than barging into Iraq with the US and Britain.

Downer maintained his confidence about finding weapons of mass destruction months after the invasion and when it had become clear to many others that none existed. When Downer was looking for a scapegoat for AWB paying huge bribes to the tyrant we went to war against and doing so under the noses of the Australian government, he picked the UN.

Downer has achievements to his name as foreign minister, including a peace agreement in Bougainville and the regional assistance mission to Solomon Islands.

He contributed to what diplomats call the international architecture, gaining Australian access to the East Asia group, initiating negotiations on free trade agreements with Japan and China, and coming up with a trilateral strategic dialogue with Japan and the US.

But he also was involved in some calamitous mistakes. And we could have done without the hubris.

CTF report: Burying some inconvenient truth

Jakarta Post - July 22, 2008

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Jakarta – The final report of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF), titled Per Memoriam ad Spem (Through memory toward hope) is a political document of compromise rather than a complete and verified factual report on what, when and why violence occurred in connection with the August 1999 popular consultation in East Timor.

Indeed, it has been intended as such from the very inception of the CTF. Its aim is to bury not just the 1999 issue but the whole tragedy of the East Timor conflict.

These two nations were involved in one of the thorniest and bloodiest conflicts in Asia. It was resolved through a United Nations agreement and plebiscite in 1999 which resulted in establishing Timor Leste as an independent state. But the plebiscite ended badly. The ensuing mayhem has plagued the two countries in recent years.

Once these neighboring states were forced to address the issue of truth and justice concerning their common past, they unfortunately chose to jointly ignore the greater part of a quarter century of conflict which began with aggression (1974). continued with invasion (1975) and escalated to war and, on an even greater scale, to crimes against humanity with the bloody Matebian encirclement (1975-1978) and other atrocities.

Instead the CTF, constituted in 2005 and consisting of experts from the two states, focused on the violence in the run up to the plebiscite and thereafter.

Now, with the conflict resolved and the long-awaited CTF report focusing exclusively on the 1999 mayhem and thus politically constrained by its terms of reference, probably neither will the victims' families ever receive recognition nor will the full truth of the whole conflict ever be established.

The commission said they recognized the important influence of pre-1999 events on the period they investigated. They claimed to have considered the four key documents related to justice efforts and processes: Indonesia's human rights commission preliminary investigation, KPP-HAM; Indonesia's ad hoc human rights tribunal; The UN-sponsored Timor Leste Serious Crimes Unit investigation; and Timor Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation report.

But since they chose to resolve only the concluding episode of violence from April to September 1999 – a period which consumed so much domestic and international attention that the two states could not avoid addressing it – the CTF thus becomes a most pragmatic method to deal politically with the easier part of the conflict.

In addition to this political choice, three basic premises shaped the terms of reference, leading the commission to find results that more or less satisfy both sides instead of the full truth. The two governments have prescribed the commission, first, to seek a consensus without voting, second, to identify not individuals but institutions responsible for the violence and, third, not to ask for prosecutorial justice.

The implication is those responsible for the violence are not to be prosecuted. This is tantamount to perpetuating impunity; the UN has lodged its protest by refusing to attend CTF hearings.

The CTF final report, therefore, is a political discourse framed by the two states to bury the shame and human tragedy once and for all in order to foster friendship between states – leaving several truths – most of the conflict's tragic history ignored, hundreds of thousands of victims' families left unrecognized, and the questions of justice and reparation cast into limbo.

However, Indonesia was not only found guilty for the 1999 violence that took about 1,400 lives but they accepted the report. This fact should be appreciated.

Strangely, though, the commission referred to the reforms that engulfed Indonesia after 1998 to explain the mayhem. The killings, rapes and scorched earth policy in East Timor were ascribed to vast changes toward law enforcement and respects for human rights.

Evidence suggests that the police, then under the authority of the military, were in a state of disarray. By contrast, far from being confused, the military had a clear plan and developed a network of intelligence and political support. As the commission confirmed, they indeed sponsored, financed, trained and armed local civilian groups called "pro-autonomy militias". In fact, some of these groups had been set up was early as the 1970s in other guises.

The argument the violence may have been triggered by confusion stemming from he democratic transition in Jakarta is unconvincing. Some of the violence and destruction directed at former Indonesian properties resembled retaliatory violence exercised not only in Timor Leste but in Aceh and elsewhere after the national political reforms introduced human rights imperatives.

To say, moreover, that the mayhem might have been a consequence of a transitional power vacuum is to deny the very responsibility for conducting a peaceful public consultation which Jakarta insisted it would take on in the Indonesia-Portugal Agreement of May 1999.

Indeed, as the CTF report points out, the military has yet to offer a coherent explanation for the existence and role of the militias accused of being the primary perpetrators of the violence.

While Gen. Adam Damiri explained that these militias were not part of any lawful armed civilian groups, Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim argued almost the contrary: the militias were indeed an unlawful project planned to keep East Timor on board.

The CTF report needs to be viewed as a way to get past this issue and refocus on pushing for reform of Indonesia's military.

For Timor Leste, however, the CTF recommendations may be more significant as that country, flanked by such a giant neighbor, needs greater assurance for its survival and long-term stability. It's a geopolitically awkward predicament, a bit similar to Finland during the Cold War which had to maintain strict neutrality vis--vis the neighboring Soviet Union.

Hence, the CTF report is basically a geopolitically constrained document that tells its readers a story of mayhem which ends somehow happily for the sake of friendship between the two states.

But, given the report ignores the greater tragedy perpetrated during the pre-1999 period of conflict, it's certainly an unhappy story to the many in Timor Leste victimized during the conflict.

Alas, to them, the two heads of states who received the CTF report, said nothing. And to the 1999 victims and victims' families, they only offered "deep regret". No mea culpa. No apology.

[The writer is a journalist who covered the 1999 East Timor mayhem for Radio Netherlands.]

East Timor: 'An unfortunate chapter?'

Jakarta Post - July 22, 2008

Eko Waluyo, Sydney – At the handover of a report by the joint Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) in Bali, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accepted the report and expressed deep regret for the role the Indonesian military played in systematic human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999. He did not, however, follow up his expression with the intention of making a formal apology to the victims.

He talked about "an unfortunate chapter of our shared past". As a consequence of his statement, he has created a new chapter in the culture of impunity, which has been a part of Indonesian history since Soeharto's rise to power in the 1960s. From the beginning, some human rights bodies thought the establishment of the CTF by both governments was suspicious. They thought it questionable that the human rights atrocities in Timor Leste could be settled by diplomatic means rather through legal processes. The role of the CTF is non-judicial.

However, the report found that Indonesian state institutions were directly behind the atrocities. This conclusion counters former Australian prime minister John Howard's argument, which he presented the Australian public at the time, that rough elements within the TNI were behind Timor Leste atrocities.

The report also sends a message to the Jakarta ruling political elites that their political view on East Timor, that Soeharto created political dogma by using the security approach, nationalism and chauvinism to create national unity, is already bankrupt.

Justice for Timor Leste must be parallel to eradicating the culture of impunity in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, there is a long list of impunities from the holocaust of 1965, conflict in Aceh, human rights abuses in West Papua and other abuses that needs to be address.

The report by the CTF is a critical step toward opening the Pandora's Box that contains these cases of impunity. The report, as a result, could create a strong foundation for democratic principles in Indonesia.

The genuine relationship between Indonesia and Timor Leste can only be based on that principle.

It is an opportune time for Jakarta to continue the judicial process to try the perpetrators on the basis of the evidence provided in the report.

In addition, recommendations enclosed in the report – to create a commission for people made to disappear, to rehabilitate and improve human dignity, to give amnesty with certain conditions and to establish a center of documentation and conflict resolution – are critical to create peace and stability.

Although Yudhoyono has accepted the recommendations from CTF, his statement can only be interpreted as empty words to please the world. The role of the international community, particularly the Labor government in Canberra, should be to encourage Yudhoyono's government to fully implement the recommendations and follow up the report.

Meanwhile, Canberra's reaction to the CTF report was cautious. In an interview with ABC Radio on July 12, Australia's Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said that his government wanted to look forward, not backward, toward peace and stability in Timor Leste and its long-term relationship with Indonesia.

Learning from history is critical to looking forward. Has Canberra examined their foreign policy to see whether to engage in security cooperation with Jakarta? Great mistakes have been made in Timor Leste. Repeating the same mistakes should be avoided.

The report also emphasized that to avoid such atrocities in the future, Indonesia needs to genuinely implement security sector reform according to democratic principles.

Reform toward a transparent and accountable security sector is only at the beginning rather than being finalized. Empowering security sector reform within Indonesian security institutions not only benefits the maturation of the Indonesian democracy, it can also create the maturation of international relationships with Indonesia.

The current Australian government's position to create a healthy relationship with Indonesians needs to be proven by addressing obstacles to the democratic process in Indonesia, including the legal impunity of high officials. The participation of Kevin Rudd's administration to address impunity in Indonesia through the justice principle will be accepted by many Indonesian as a great achievement to create a healthy relationship. By contrast, Canberra's unwillingness to participate in eradicating impunity in Indonesia is only creating a political soap-operatic relationship with Jakarta ruling elites.

Canberra's aid excludes the justice issue (truth and reconciliation) in Aceh. This has created great concern.

The removal of the Howard government from office in Canberra and the strong support behind Democrat presidential candidate Obama are signals that the political ideology about the benefit of global markets and the neglect of social justice, is not the solution to create peace and stability today.

This message is also echoed within Indonesian social and political life. The reports says former armed forces commander Wiranto and former Army Special Forces (Kopassus) and Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) chief Prabowo Subianto were perpetrators of the atrocities toward Timor Leste.

Wiranto and Subianto are currently running for presidential election. In the Indonesian media, they promote themselves as the saviors of the nation. But current polling shows their support is less than 5 percent, indicating Indonesians widely reject the old Soeharto ideology.

The cold war era is over, so too is the Indonesian occupation of Timor Leste under the West's blessing. The world should start a new chapter and support those in Indonesia and Timor Leste seeking justice for the millions of human rights victims in both countries.

After all, human rights, social justice and democracy have become the global standards worldwide today.

[The writer is the program coordinator for Indonesian Solidarity, a non-profit organization that supports human rights in Indonesia. Indonesian Solidarity is based in Sydney, Australia.]

What value Australia's intelligence apparatus?

Online Opinion - July 23, 2008

Warren Reed – By any measure, our intelligence agencies are the eyes and ears of the nation. But in the lead-up to the violence and killings of 1999 in East Timor it seemed that Canberra's political masters were like two of the wise monkeys, seeing nothing and hearing nothing. The third monkey, however, had a lot to say, the nature of which bore little resemblance to the truth.

And truth – or at least, the portrayal of reality for what it is rather than what someone else wants it to be – is the essence of intelligence work. This applies as much to the gathering end of the process as to the analytical end. Muck with that and you destroy the raison d'jtre for an intelligence system. You also destroy the belief that the people who work in that system have in their profession and in its charter to protect and enhance the national interest.

With this in mind, it was interesting to note two things that coincided in mid-July. One was Alexander Downer's public assessment of his own performance over 11 years as Australia's Foreign Minister. The other was the release of the report of the joint Indonesian-East Timorese Commission for Truth and Friendship.

The latter report confirmed what we had always known: that the Indonesian authorities, especially the armed forces, or TNI, were behind the atrocities committed by the militias. President Yudhoyono acknowledged "institutional" responsibility for this and while not apologising, expressed his remorse for the acts of rape, murder and torture visited upon the East Timorese that were brought forth by their independence vote.

But Mr Downer, in rebuffing a Sydney Morning Herald article critical of his years in office, told its readers (Downer, Bias ignores years of hard work on foreign policy", SMH, July 11, 2008) that he often cited East Timor as his greatest achievement.

He wrote that he had "commissioned the 1998 survey of East Timorese opinion which led to the Howard letter, which was initiated by me and drafted in my department. The intensity of the subsequent diplomacy led, eventually and untidily, to a free and independent East Timor."

The Foreign Minister, it should be pointed out, is also the minister responsible for the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), which is the country's overseas spy agency. One of the reasons for having the Service is to avoid bringing "untidiness" – hardly the most respectful of euphemisms – into the lives of people around us.

How can Mr Downer's pride in his accomplishment be reconciled with what actually happened in 1999? It can't be.

Three crucial questions arise, each of which the former minister should be obliged to address. They should have been looked at many years ago.

First, did Australia's intelligence agencies fail to provide the government of the day with a reasonable picture of what was coming in East Timor? If that were so, it would have constituted an exceptional failure of our system, especially vis-a-vis a major neighbour, and would have required a broad-ranging inquiry. No such inquiry has ever been called.

Second, was appropriate intelligence gathered and analysed and then passed on to the Government, but ignored? And third, was appropriate intelligence available but not passed on to the government in the knowledge that it would be regarded as unpalatable and hence not be acted upon?

Here are some of Mr Downer's statements on the matter.

In a recent article in The Age (July 12, 2008), he noted that in 1999, "it was widely known that elements of the Indonesian military were behind the violent militia activity in East Timor".

He added that those elements were defying the orders of Jakarta and suggested it was highly unlikely that then President Habibie sanctioned the violence. Nevertheless, he felt that General Wiranto, the head of the military, was aware of it, though "I suspect he felt powerless to stop it on the grounds that there were significant elements of the TNI that felt bitter and vengeful towards the East Timorese".

The day before, on July 11, Mr Downer told ABC Radio (see Bruce Haigh's article, "We need to clarify Timor role", in On Line Opinion, July 23) that in contrast to the common image of Wiranto as a "big strong man, he didn't really have the strength within the Indonesian military to close it down".

Surely, if Mr Downer and his government colleagues believed this, they should have moved quickly to bring in an international peacekeeping force to guard against carnage in East Timor.

Instead, this was resisted at every turn, despite the fact that Australian missionaries, aid workers and media reporters were regularly informing us of reality on the ground there.

Along the way, in June 1999, the Australian Government's failure to pass on to its American allies an accurate picture of the trouble brewing in East Timor aroused US suspicions and resulted in tragedy for one unfortunate Australian caught up in the deception.

Former Army lieutenant-colonel Mervyn Jenkins, a widely respected expert in electronic warfare, was working in the Australian Embassy in Washington where his role was to pass on intelligence to the Americans. In order to protect the long-term relationship with this key ally, he passed on both a true portrayal of reality in Indonesia and East Timor along with the lesser version that Canberra required him to supply. In the intelligence partnership that Australia belongs to, along with the US, the UK and others, lying is considered a cardinal sin.

When Canberra discovered what Jenkins was doing he was so badly treated by the Australian Government that he committed suicide on his 48th birthday. Those responsible for this heinous act have never been called to account.

When a government puts spin on intelligence it is telling the agencies that it prefers to tailor its own reality. The message is clear to everyone that those who deliver the goods will be favoured and those who remain loyal to the principles that underpin the profession won't. In effect, promotion is on the line, if not also your career. There are always those in the intelligence community who will jump at the opportunity to further their personal cause.

Sending the message that regime survival is more important than the truth is one of the most callous ways of politicising the machinery of government.

While President Yudhoyono's acknowledgement of wrongs that were done – genteel and inadequate as it might be – is one small step on Indonesia's road to democracy, there's also a salutary warning in it for us. That is that for decent men and women in our intelligence agencies to do their job confidently and securely, watching and listening on our behalf, they need us to bother to stay awake while they're doing it. If we want to recruit quality people of integrity into the system we need to show them that we care how they're treated.

Democracy should never be taken for granted.

Building future friendship without past violence

Jakarta Post - July 19, 2008

Usman Hamid, Jakarta – On July 15, Indonesia and Timor Leste officially accepted a report produced by the joint Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF). The report concludes crimes against humanity took place, with militia groups, the military, the police and the civilian government bearing institutional responsibility.

Human rights violations – such as killing, rape and sexual violence, torture and forced disappearances – were committed in East Timor (now Timor Leste), both during and after the 1999 referendum on independence.

The report constitutes an official acknowledgment of this on the part of the Indonesian state. In response to the report, however, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Timor Leste President Jose Ramos Horta only expressed their deep regret over what took place in East Timor.

Apparently, Yudhoyono's administration does not want to seem too defensive.

A joint statement from human rights organizations has requested the report be made public as soon as possible, signaling what they hope is only the beginning of efforts to assign responsibility for the violence committed in 1999 and before.

Although I am not completely satisfied with it, the official acknowledgment that crimes against humanity did occur in East Timor should be considered a positive – and certainly, quite surprising – development in the history of the CTF.

However, there are several problems with the commission and its report. With respect to the CTF's very founding, both countries agreed to ignore universal human rights principles – for example, see the clause that offers amnesty without due process of law and exonerates the CTF from future responsibility.

Doing so jeopardizes both countries' commitment to promote peace at the international level, such as Indonesia's efforts at conflict resolution in Myanmar's ongoing democratization process. Also flawed is the MoU that contradicts the pledges and commitments made by Indonesia as a member of the UN Human Rights Council.

The CTF's report bolsters previous reports and investigations of crimes committed in East Timor, such as Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights, Mary Robinson's UN Commission of Inquiry, a commission of experts set up by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, as well as East Timor's Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Timor Leste (CAVR).

Crimes against humanity are not subject to amnesty or a statute of limitations, and are retroactive. Therefore, the CTF's report can be used for the future prosecution of those found most responsible.

Institutional accountability implicates parties responsible for maintaining national security, such as territorial security institutions, the armed forces and the police. A careful review of the CTF report shows the commission holds these very institutions responsible for crimes against humanity – institutions that have been implicated in past violence. To quote the CTF's conclusion, "there was institutional responsibility for these violations". Point 5 of the report's conclusion says the decision to hold institutions responsible was based on evidence of organized violence.

Separating past from present institutional responsibility will be necessary if we are to avoid political meddling in the future reconciliation process – this is especially true because the CTF report blames the Indonesian armed forces (read: TNI), the police and Indonesia as a whole.

Initially, the CTF was mandated to clear the names of perpetrators, through amnesty and rehabilitation; however, in the end, the commission failed to live up to its mandate. Neither is the final CTF report firm about granting amnesty or rehabilitation to either individuals or groups (see point 1 of the CTF report recommendations, focused on accountability and institutional reform).

The report's first recommendation is significant as it seeks to strengthen the effort to reform state institutions through advancement of a culture of responsibility, thereby preventing future human rights violations. This will not be enough, however, because the CTF report fails to mention a single person as directly responsible for these serious crimes.

From a conservative point of view, the report may draw criticism because the patterns of violence and group characteristics it focused on are considered ambiguous. On the other hand, many are concerned the report simply mimics or repeats what prior reports have said about the events surrounding the 1999 referendum – but the public seems to demand something be done in the name of justice and accountability, which means reparation for victims and individual accountability, decided in a court of law.

Of course, priority should be given to public dissemination of the report: As past experience has taught us, non-judicial inquiry reports can be ignored or buried, without implementation of their conclusions and recommendations, even if the teams conducting such investigations won support from the government.

Over the past 10 years, Indonesia has ratified several international legal instruments, as part of its move to implement the National Human Rights Plan of Action for 1998 through 2003 and for 2004 through 2009. In 2006, Indonesia ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

Indonesia also gave support to the newly adopted Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, in addition to ratifying the Rome Statute.

Aside from being a general member of the United Nations, Indonesia is widely recognized as a member of the UN Human Rights Council and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. At the national level, Indonesia has set up the Constitutional Court, the Human Rights Court, the Human Rights National Commission, the National Commission on Violence against Women, the Anti-Corruption Commission and other auxiliary state institutions.

These institutions are supposed to safeguard Indonesian democracy. However, what meaning will any of them have, if we continue on this excruciatingly slow path toward justice and accountability for crimes against humanity?

[The writer is executive director of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).]

Flawed truth and fatal consequences

Sydney Morning Herald - July 19, 2008

Hamish McDonald – Hilario Madeira was the sort of priest who makes you understand how the balance of the global Catholic congregation is shifting to the developing world, away from a jaded Europe.

I met him in August 1999 about two weeks before his martyrdom, in his simple church in the town of Suai on the south coast of East Timor, after he conducted a mass for the hundreds of villagers taking refuge in the church grounds and the half-built shell of a new cathedral.

It was a tense time, just before East Timorese were to vote on staying with Indonesia or independence in a referendum run by the United Nations but with security "guaranteed" by Indonesia and its armed forces.

Around Suai, two pro-Indonesia militia groups, Laksaur Merah Putih and Mahidi, were terrorising villages, taking out and killing suspected independence supporters, with no visible interference from Indonesian army and police. Indeed, the militias were operating from the local police station, and using government facilities, rice hand-outs and vehicles for their campaigns.

On Friday, September 3, the UN announced that Timorese had voted 78.5 per cent against staying with Indonesia. Retributive attacks were already taking place across the territory as word of the count seeped out. On the Sunday night, Hilario phoned his bishop in Dili, Carlos Belo, saying he feared it was their last night.

At 2.30pm the next day, Laksaur and Mahidi militia gathered outside the Suai church compound, supervised by the head of the surrounding Covalima civil district, a seconded colonel of the Kopassus (Indonesian special forces) named Herman Sediono, along with the local military commander, Lieutenant Sugito, and many police and army personnel.

Sugito fired his pistol, and the militia attacked. Hilario was shot dead on his veranda and a frenzy of shooting and hacking with machetes followed in which at least 40 people were killed (including two other priests), possibly as many as 200. The aim, according to a defecting militia commander, Rui Lopes, was to drive the entire population into West Timor, a "voting with the feet" that would convince the world the UN result was a fraud.

An Indonesian government-appointed human rights investigation, known as KPP-HAM, later found a burial site just across the border where Sugito and militia had hidden the bodies of the three priests and 23 other men, women and children.

What then to make of this week's report of a joint Indonesia-East Timor "Truth and Justice Commission" which has blurred the blame for the horrors of 1999, in which some 1500 people died and a truly scorched earth was left behind the departing Indonesians?

To some extent it is an advance. It accepts "institutional" responsibility on the part of the Indonesian armed forces, or TNI, and the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, expressed "remorse".

Yet the rush to "friendship" by East Timor's leaders – understandable given the lack of support from countries like Australia for an international criminal tribunal – is coming at the cost of full "truth" and undermines the whole exercise. As James Dunn, the veteran analyst of East Timor, observed this week: "We need to know, and the victims deserve to know, exactly how these crimes against humanity took place – who gave what orders to whom, and what were the roles of senior levels of the military, police or Indonesia's political leadership."

Sugito is the highest-ranking military person among only 14 people named in the commission's report for involvement in atrocities, although he and three others were acquitted in 2002 of charges relating to the Suai massacre. But the chain of responsibility went much higher.

From leaked Australian intelligence and other sources we now know the militia operation was run by a command chain of most Kopassus officers running back to Jakarta, leading to then co-ordinating security minister, General Feisal Tanjung. Defence minister and TNI commander General Wiranto kept his distance.

One mastermind of the post-ballot population transfer to West Timor was the then transmigration minister, General Hendropriyono. In 2001, he was made chief of Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency, BIN, by the new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

In September 2004, mounting evidence suggests, BIN orchestrated the murder of the human rights activist Munir Said Thalib on a Garuda flight to Amsterdam.

Hendropriyono was sacked by Yudhoyono when he won office later in 2004. Last month, Indonesian police arrested the former deputy head of BIN, General Muchdi Purwopranjono, a former Kopassus commander, also appointed to BIN in 2001. He had been phoned 41 times by the off-duty Garuda pilot alleged to have given Munir arsenic but claims not to have known the pilot.

A proper accounting for crimes against humanity in 1999 and earlier would have kept such sinister individuals out of Indonesia's government. Instead, their patron, Megawati, is leading the polls for next year's presidential election.

Even more tainted figures such as the former Kopassus chief and son-in-law of the late president Suharto, Prabowo Subianto, and General Wiranto think they have a chance too. Ex-BIN chief Hendropriyono is still seen about with Megawati's husband, Taufik Emas. Incomplete truth can have fatal consequences.

Jakarta regrets...

The Australian - July 18, 2008

Paul Toohey – There was never any question that it would tread softly. After all, it was called the Commission for Truth and Friendship, not the commission for truth. It was set up by the leaders of East Timor and Indonesia not merely to rake over the horrors of 1999 but most of all to find a way forward for two neighbours with a history of bad blood.

There was also never any question that the Indonesian military, police and civilian officials – that is, the Indonesian government – would be found responsible for urging and participating in atrocities in which an estimated 1400 (mostly) East Timorese were killed about the time of the independence referendum. For the commission to have concluded otherwise would have rendered the report an embarrassing lie.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says he will abide by the commission's outcome and accept responsibility for what happened in East Timor on behalf of his nation. It has been a relatively painless thing for him to do because the violence did not occur on his watch. But that does not make his gesture meaningless.

"We convey very deep remorse at what happened in the past that has caused the loss of lives and property," Yudhoyono said in Bali this week, as East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao stood by his side to formally receive the report. It really couldn't be put more strongly than that. Or could it?

Yudhoyono spoke in Indonesian while reporters were handed an English language translation of his remarks, from where the above quote is drawn. It was immediately suggested that Yudhoyono in fact had used a much softer word than remorse, more along the lines of regret.

The event nevertheless carried the appearance of a historic moment, with Yudhoyono officially ending nine years of denial by accepting, without equivocation, the verdict of the 10 commissioners, five of them from East Timor, five from Indonesia.

It did not matter that the whole world already knew it to be the truth. Certainly East Timorese have never doubted Indonesian involvement for a second. Those people who lost loved ones in 1999 will take little satisfaction from Yudhoyono's remarks.

But the report serves SBY well, allowing him to further strengthen his authority over the main culprit in the 1999 violence, the TNI, or army, in the run-up to next April's presidential election.

Marcus Mietzner, who has just taken up a post at the Australian National University in Canberra lecturing in Indonesian studies after 10 years in Jakarta working on military reform issues, points out that several of Yudhoyono's political opponents are named in the report as direct militia backers, most notably retired general Wiranto, who plans to run against SBY. Already, Mietzner says, Indonesians are declining to blindly vote in retired military figures as their local governors or bupatis.

"We do have now for the first time civilian governors in key provinces, where before they were positions reserved for the military," he says. "In a sense it's significant that the Indonesian side would accept such a harsh judgment. But that some of SBY's rivals are mentioned in that report would not be unwelcome to him. It damages them politically."

The report recommends that Indonesia clarifies and emphasises "the legal boundaries between civil authorities who are exerting the authority and responsibility of making policies, versus the military and police forces who are exerting operational responsibility".

Yudhoyono – also a former general – has already embarked on this course, particularly in Aceh, making it clear that his generals toe the line or face the sack.

Mietzner thinks it unlikely Yudhoyono will urge further action against the likes of Wiranto on the basis of the report. "Not moving with legal action is an ideal solution for him," he says.

Yudhoyono said in his Bali statement: "We must learn from what happened in the past to find out the facts over who has done what to whom and who must be held responsible. Only the truth will free us from those past experiences."

It does indeed seem that the truth can free people. The TNI leaders will go unpunished. The commission did not have the power to recommend charges and, despite Yudhoyono's words, Mietzner says there is little sympathy among Indonesians for what happened in East Timor. He says any further internal self-examination – beyond the bogus human rights trials that have already occurred, in which a handful of militia and mid-ranking military serve short terms – would not go down well domestically.

The commission's terms of reference, as agreed to between East Timor and Indonesia, cast its mandate in such a way that it could deliver only positive results, one being the ability to reward co-operative witnesses with amnesties from any later prosecution.

But in a clear statement of intent, the commission refused to recommend any amnesties because it found Indonesian military witnesses evasive and untruthful. The Australian understands it was the Indonesian CTF commissioners, not the East Timorese, who were most insistent on not granting amnesty to Indonesian soldiers.

That suggests one of two things: the Indonesian commissioners are enjoying their new democracy and want results or the East Timorese commissioners are meek and want no trouble.

The UN refused from the start to co-operate with the commission because its terms of reference gave it power to grant amnesty. The UN believes convicted war criminals should face the consequences. So it is interesting that Ramos Horta, who several weeks ago made a public play for the job of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, then withdrew, revealed in Bali how out of step he was with UN thinking by endorsing the CTF findings.

"Justice is not and cannot be only prosecutorial in the sense of sending people to jail," he said. "Justice must also be restorative. We as leaders of our people must lead our nations forward."

As far as East Timor and Indonesia are concerned, the fallout over the events of 1999 ends here and now.

The report recommends no individual receive financial reparation. It suggests, vaguely, that both Indonesia and East Timor employ "collective reparations". One can imagine this would work similarly to the approach taken to Australia's Stolen Generations: no personal payouts but assistance in the form of grants to offer group comfort; counselling, if you're lucky. Maybe tea and biscuit money for survivors to sit around and discuss their grief.

It is admirable that the leaders of East Timor and Indonesia want to put it all behind them, whatever the motives may be. But it's easier for them. Gusmao led a guerilla insurgency that directly attacked and killed (he has never admitted it) patrolling Indonesian soldiers. He lost comrades. Ramos Horta travelled the world and won a Nobel Peace Prize. He lost family members to the Indonesians. Yudhoyono was a soldier, now he's a president.

It is not possible to dismiss the motivations of any of these men. But how do Ramos Horta and Gusmao explain their stance to ordinary East Timorese who lost their loved ones in 1999? It remains to be seen whether they share their leaders' geopolitical imperative.

"As a first step," the CTF report states, "the two presidents should make a joint statement inviting both nations to overcome the legacy of past violence and work together towards preventing reoccurrence of conflict and promotion of lasting friendship in the future. The commission recommends that the two presidents together acknowledge responsibility for past violence and apologise to the peoples of the two nations and especially to the victims of violence for the suffering they have endured."

It is a little unclear to whom Ramos Horta must apologise. The report found that the Indonesians "systematically co-operated with and supported the militias in ways that contributed to the perpetration of crimes". While it is certainly true that East Timorese citizens cut the throats of their own people, burned them out of their homes, raped and then ran west across the border where many still live, these ruthless automatons were doing the bidding of the TNI.

For all the report's apparent shortcomings, it has met with the approval of the toughest critic of all, Darwin's Rob Wesley- Smith, an activist who has fought tirelessly for East Timor's freedom for the best part of 35 years.

"I had zero expectations about the report but I feel it is positive, even if it is minimalist," he says. "They've laid blame squarely on the command structure of the Indonesian military. The important thing here is that an Indonesian-commissioned report blames the Indonesian government and the military. That, to me, means a lot. It is great acknowledgment from an Indonesian government."

Suharto-era critic George Aditjondro, an academic who left Indonesia for Australia in 1995 for his own safety and is now back in Indonesia, does not share the joy.

"By laying blame on the TNI, SBY is also laying the blame on Wiranto," Aditjondro says. "This is a sign to the international community not to support Wiranto's candidacy but continue support for (Yudhoyono's) candidacy. There's already an understanding that there will be nobody taken to court. There have already been Indonesian-style courts in which the Indonesians were absolved and they turned the East Timorese (militia) into scapegoats.

"I personally feel people starting from Wiranto down should be prosecuted. His immunity has allowed him to run for the coming election. He doesn't have to fear anyone. He should have been the first person taken to court as an international war criminal.

"This report shows that there has been high-level politicking between Jakarta and Dili. It is a gentleman's agreement not to pursue anybody about war crimes in Timor. It is more a symbolic event. Human rights groups do not forget about the violations. For Indonesia's sake, it would be a good thing to take those who committed atrocities to courts because it would put pressure on the TNI."

Jamie Mackie, a visiting fellow at the ANU, says the report may become a factor in the election, especially the demand, to which SBY has agreed, to at some point down the track issue a formal apology to East Timor.

"I don't think the report was been geared towards the election but it's something SBY now cannot afford to ignore," Mackie says.

"The implication of him either giving or not giving an apology to East Timor could become critical. And the human rights groups in Jakarta might continue to keep this in the forefront, partly as a way to keep the army on the back foot.

"My guess is that the report in a way makes it easier for Wiranto. Two months ago I would have said SBY has it safely made for the election. I'm a lot less sure now, not just because of Wiranto but also because of rising fuel and food prices. At a time like this I suspect SBY couldn't afford to take too many risks, therefore I suspect he's gone as far as he will go."

Australia needs to clarify Timor role

Canberra Times - July 16, 2008

Bruce Haigh – The release of a joint Indonesian-East Timor report on Tuesday by the Commission for Truth and Friendship into the causes of the crimes against humanity in the run-up to East Timorese independence in 1999, raises the issue of the culpability of Australia in the crimes committed by Indonesia's military, the Tentara Nasional Indonesia or TNI, and its militia surrogates.

During his tenure as foreign minister and afterwards, Alexander Downer argued that neither he nor Indonesian ministers and senior military commanders knew of the backing and control of the anti- independence militia by the TNI.

On the delicate diplomatic issue of forcing the Indonesian government to acknowledge its backing of militia to bring to an end the resultant human-rights abuses in East Timor in 1998-99, Downer, his department, the Australian prime minister and cabinet members sought to spin. They sought to spin a truth of which they were well aware, namely that to frustrate progress towards East Timorese independence the Indonesian government through the agency of the TNI was prepared to intimidate, torture and kill pro-independence activists.

As foreign minister, Downer had the means at his disposal to spin. Loss of office has denied him that, yet he still attempts to deceive and by so doing absolve himself of any responsibility towards the abuse of human rights in the last two years of the last century in East Timor.

Displaying his trademark, one-line attention to detail, Downer, in an article in The Age on July 12, began by saying that in 1999 "it was widely known that elements of the Indonesian military were behind the violent militia activity in East Timor". Three paragraphs later, he says, "In early 1999, the Australian government's view was that there were elements of the Indonesian military which I referred to as 'rogue elements' that were defying the orders of Jakarta..." I would have thought "widely known" and "view" are quite different.

Without citing evidence, Downer says it is, "highly unlikely that Habibie sanctioned the violence" and he claims that Wiranto was aware of the violence, "but I suspect he felt powerless to stop it on the grounds that there were significant elements of the TNI that felt bitter and vengeful towards the East Timorese". The previous day Downer told the ABC that, contrary to popular belief that Wiranto was a "big strong man, he didn't really have the strength within the Indonesian military to close it down". Which explanation do we put our money on? Neither.

In an AFP/AAP-sourced article in The Australian on February 24, 1999, Downer was quoted as saying, "We don't want to see the Balkanisation of East Timor," and in May 1999 he told Paul Kelly of The Australian that "as many as one in three East Timorese want to stay with Indonesia".

On September 24, 1999, James Dunn, the former Australian consul in Dili, told the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee that the militia were getting orders from the TNI as part of an intentional and carefully worked out strategy. Dunn was supported by the respected former Australian ambassador to Indonesia who had the courage to say that Australia had all along known that the militia were trained and controlled by the TNI under the active authority of the then head of the Indonesian armed forces, General Wiranto. This was conveyed to journalist Lindsay Murdoch and reported in The Sydney Morning Herald on November 20, 2000.

A leaked Defence Intelligence Organisation report published in The Bulletin as part of a story by John Lyons on November 30, 1999, pulled no punches in naming Wiranto as the puppeteer of the TNI and its militia. Writing in The Age a few days earlier, Paul Daley said, "Intelligence and military sources say they can already paint a picture of systematic killing and then attempted cover-up by the Indonesian military and police and militias..."

In 1998 an Australian aid worker in East Timor, Lansell Taudevin, was asked by the Australian government to report on the unravelling situation. He reported that the majority of East Timorese appeared to favour independence and that the TNI was running the militia and involved in murder and mayhem. In March 1999 his mandate was withdrawn and his contract with AusAID cancelled. He took the matter to court and eventually won an out-of-court settlement.

Laurie Brereton, shadow minister for foreign affairs, accused Downer in Parliament on November 24, 1999, of lying over the issue. In his defence, Downer said, "We have had a large number of sources of information. Different analysts have written different things and put forward different ideas and advice."

The moves which Downer and Howard eventually made in the face of concerted domestic and international pressure should have occurred months earlier. Their prevarication in the face of fear, the fear which has so long marked Australia's relations with Indonesia and led to the existence of the appeasing Jakarta lobby, caused suffering, injury, rape and death. And there was the belief that it would be easier to deal with Indonesia over seabed oil reserves than an independent East Timor.

On September 6, 1999, against a background of unprecedented cruelty and violence, Australian defence minister John Moore said Australia would commit troops to East Timor only if Indonesia invited Australia to do so. On the same day Radio Australia reported that the TNI had given up any pretence of not backing the militia and were openly attacking independence supporters.

If Downer believed that "rogue elements" of the TNI were abroad in East Timor it should have spurred him to press for their removal and for an international peacekeeping force to ensure that further rogue TNI behaviour could be curtailed.

The truth will come out and hopefully soon for the family and relatives of Lieutenant-Colonel Merv Jenkins, military attache at the Australian embassy in Washington in 1999. Ashamed of its fearful prevarication the Australian government, for the first time ever, decided to withhold information from its United States allies. It chose to hide its knowledge of the involvement of the TNI in the bloodshed in East Timor, fearing the US response to its perfidy to the people of East Timor. Jenkins told his US interlocutors the facts to preserve the broader and long-term relationship. Found out, he killed himself soon after interviews with visiting Australian officials.

If Australia wants to have a reasonably healthy long-term relationship with Indonesia, unpleasant matters need to be dealt with. Australia must examine its own role in this sorry affair in the interests of the health of our democracy, public service and parliamentary institutions.

[Bruce Haigh is a retired diplomat who worked on Indonesian and East Timor issues in his career and has written a book, The Great Australia Blight, which covers the issues canvassed and on which he has drawn for this article.]

Commentary: A nation found guilty by omission in East Timor

Jakarta Post - July 15, 2008

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta – The casualty list piled into the newsroom like a high-scoring sports box line. Even in Jakarta little imagination was needed to hear the distant screams as gloomy dispatches filled the day.

For a confused Indonesian nation, 1999 was another bad dream to compound the ongoing calamity of the year prior. For Timorese, those early weeks in September 1999 were a living nightmare.

Nine years after post-referendum violence swept through East Timor, two-and-a-half years after the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) began its work, Indonesia must come to terms with something it already knew but never accepted: Its forces committed "organized gross human rights violations" in the former province in 1999.

News of the commission's findings have trickled in several days ahead of the report's official release in Bali today. Whatever the conclusion, many will not be happy.

For victims and their families, the absence of retributive justice is scorn on the pain already suffered. Parties felt "accused" – despite none being named – and the egoist nationalist will feel an affront to pride.

Despite a restrictive mandate, the commission still produced a candid, progressive yet prudent report to serve the goal of restorative justice sought by the governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste.

Likely missing from the headlines will be the political context which the commission so deftly identified as helping permeate the violence.

"Events cannot be understood in isolation from the longer period of conflict that occurred in East Timor," said the report.

The violence "grew out of the unique political circumstances that were created by Indonesia's transition from an authoritarian to democratic state" where "there was no effective mechanism for abandoning the previous repressive security enforcement strategies and replacing them with new methods".

The commission conceded that while instructions were issued to prevent rights violations, these orders "did not serve as an effective mechanism to prevent such violence" for a military "still strongly influenced by legacies of the past".

The Greek playwright Aeschylus once wrote that "one's moral strength comes out of pain". The foreboding gravitas of the commission's report can be Indonesia's source of strength. There is no shame in accepting guilt.

There is indignity, however, in veiling culpability behind a whitewash of legalese and historical circumstance. Those of us who had personnel on the ground in Timor in late August 1999 – the military, civilian authorities and even the media – will remember we had more than an inkling of the impending violence. It was not a case of "if", but "when".

No words in the report should ring clearer than the call for the parties to "accept state responsibility" for the violations.

If Indonesians wonder how a seemingly cultured nation could foster brutality, then the report is a window into the mores of authoritarianism.

The report shines a light on the nation's darker side that Indonesians often choose to ignore: On structures that need correction but refuse intervention, and the subterfuge nuance of "military occupation" and "military presence".

Hence the need to underscore the commission's exhortation to promote "a culture of accountability" within the state's tools of coercion (military, police).

Timor Leste Prime Minister Kayrala Xanana Gusmao has said his nation has to be "strong enough to put the past in the past".

The question for Indonesia is whether it is willing to face its own past. As the report is disseminated, public reaction, or lack thereof, will speak volumes of our moral courage.

What should serve as a further impetus of internal reform could easily twist into an outcry of nationalist chauvinism as villains pose as martyrs.

The extended delay of the commission's report is perhaps unhelpful in the present political setting.

Entering an election period when overt nationalist fervor is in vogue, it will be a test to induce change, as recommended by the commission, born out of national culpability.

If at best there is silent disregard, then the efforts of the commission to begin healing the social, political and cultural fabric will have been in vain. Eventually the report would serve only as a political solution, without a noble conclusion.

Then perhaps, Indonesia would deserve to be put before an international tribunal.

If there is truth to Edmund Burke's adage "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing", then the report confirms we – good Indonesian men and women – did not do enough to stop brutality on people once considered kin.

Inquiry into Dili violence a farce

Canberra Times - July 16, 2008

Clinton Fernandes – Imagine the reaction if an inquiry assigned responsibility for the Holocaust without mentioning Hitler, and focused only on the last few months of World War II. Yet that is what the Truth and Friendship Commission has tried to do in the case of East Timor.

Established by the governments of Indonesia and East Timor in March 2005, the commission was prevented by its terms of reference from assigning any responsibility to individuals, and focused only on the violence that accompanied East Timor's 1999 independence ballot. It released its report yesterday.

The product of delicate diplomatic compromise between newly independent East Timor and its vastly larger neighbour and former occupier, Indonesia, the commission was created as a way of avoiding an international tribunal for Indonesian military personnel who committed crimes against humanity during the 24- year occupation of East Timor.

By its own admission, the commission lacked the power to compel witness testimony and demand documentary evidence. It could not recommend prosecutions of any sort. It could do little more than recommend amnesties. Unsurprisingly, the United Nations boycotted the commission's proceedings altogether, saying it did not condone amnesties regarding war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

In Dili, several East Timorese participants in the commission informed me that in the absence of international allies supporting a war crimes tribunal they felt obliged to go along with the charade.

The commission's proceedings soon descended into farce, with senior Indonesian leaders and officials claiming that the atrocities were everyone else's fault but their own. As the commission concluded, "their answers were often evasive, irrelevant, too general or incomplete". Embarrassed by the international scorn it received, the commission has just recommended that no amnesties be given because none of the perpetrators met the criteria of "telling the complete truth" and giving "full cooperation".

Despite its weaknesses, the commission has found that the Indonesian military, the Indonesian civilian government and anti-independence militias bore institutional responsibility for thousands of "gross human rights violations in the form of crimes against humanity" including "murder, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, torture, illegal detention and forcible transfer and deportation" against the East Timorese civilian population. Clearly, international criticism has had an effect on the final report.

The East Timorese are receiving help from an unexpected quarter. Every major Indonesian human rights group has come out in support of justice for East Timor.

These campaigners consider the military officers who presided over carnage in East Timor are a continuing threat to their own country's democratic transition. After all, these officers have gone on to commit atrocities elsewhere in Indonesia. As Indonesia democratises, others may join its human rights groups in calling for a war crimes tribunal. Indonesia's military personnel are likely to find that their impunity is temporary indeed. Australian policymakers would do well to take this looming reality into account.

[Dr Fernandes is a senior lecturer with the University of NSW at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He is the coordinator of the Australian Coalition for Transitional Justice in East Timor.]

The silence of the dead demands the voice of an apology

Melbourne Age Editorial - July 16, 2008

In 2000, the then Indonesian president, Abdurrahman Wahid, performed one of the most difficult acts a nation's leader can perform. He apologised to the victims, both dead and maimed, of his country's violent actions.

Mr Wahid went to the Santa Cruz cemetery in East Timor where in 1991 dozens of people were massacred and said: "I would like to apologise for the things that have happened in the past. To the victims or the families of Santa Cruz and those friends who are buried in the military cemetery – these are the victims of circumstances we didn't want."

Although he was not leader in 1991, Mr Wahid accepted that as leader he had a responsibility for his country's past deeds. Two recent examples of this ethic have been the German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressing the Israeli Parliament in March of her country's "historic responsibility" to the victims of the Holocaust; the second was the apology of Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to his country's indigenous population for past government policy. There was also, of course, Kevin Rudd's apology to the stolen generation.

Indonesia's responsibility for its actions, and its obligation to acknowledge them, have been brought into focus this past week with news of the report by the Commission of Truth and Friendship into the 1999 atrocities that occurred during the period of East Timor's vote for independence.

Yesterday in Bali, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta officially accepted the report. However, in doing so, Yudhoyono only expressed regret at his country's involvement. An apology was not mentioned. This is not good enough. It is an elemental link in the chain that to accept responsibility for an act of violence carries with it the duty to say sorry for that action. In this case, there were many acts and they were of the most heinous kind.

The commission's report details a co-ordinated campaign by Indonesia of violence, including massacre, rape and torture, against Timorese civilians. It is estimated that about 1500 died.

The Indonesian Government's stance was foreshadowed on Monday when Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said: "There will be no apology; it is only about remorse, which is deep regret by both parties, from both governments, both presidents for their people."

Given that the report recommends an apology, this attitude is regrettable. Indonesia has indicated it recognises its "moral obligation", yet it seems that obligation only goes so far. Expressing remorse does not bring closure in the same way or with the same commitment that an apology does.

The East Timorese in 1999 were witnesses to one of the historic moments of a people: the birth of a nation. It was to be their fate that its creation came through violent opposition. The report released yesterday, and which the The Age reported exclusively last Saturday, found that Indonesia's police, army and civilian government officials provided funds, armed and co- ordinated militias opposed to independence. Indonesia bore "institutional responsibility" for the deaths of up to 1500 people, and the rape, torture, illegal detention and deportations. The report, which was commissioned by both governments to try to thwart a UN investigation into the events of 1999, did find that both sides committed offences, but that Indonesia was the prime agent of the violence.

Recognising those responsible, and apologising, however, is only one side of the coin. The other is bringing the perpetrators of the violence to justice. It is here that a resolution of the past faces a troubled future. The report concedes that its findings have "no judicial or quasi-judicial powers". In other words, it cannot compel prosecutions despite finding that crimes against humanity had occurred. In fact, not one person is serving time in jail for any offence that occurred in 1999. In April this year, Eurico Guterres, a militia leader, was freed from jail after his conviction was overturned.

Dr Yudhoyono does himself no services by trying to play down his country's role in the human rights abuses. In 1999, he was a general based in Jakarta, and was reported to have said at the time that he was worried international opinion might view events in East Timor as a "great human tragedy... when in reality it is not". Australia has also done itself no services in the past by trading speaking out against abuses for good relations with Jakarta.

The findings of the Truth and Friendship Commission clearly have shown Dr Yudhoyono's perceptions of reality to be false. The 1500 victims of 1999 cannot speak for themselves. It behoves the leader of the state that led to their deaths to speak to them, and to say sorry.

Australia's shame over East Timor

Sydney Morning Herald - July 15, 2008

Daniel Flitton – The sorry history of violence in East Timor did not begin with the militia rampage following the 1999 independence ballot. For more than two decades after Indonesia's 1975 invasion, the Timorese suffered. Thousands needlessly died.

And all the while, the tiny country's powerful southern neighbour did worse than stand idly by – instead, successive governments in Canberra supported Jakarta's illegal occupation.

Australians are rightly proud of the tremendous role played in establishing and leading the international peacekeeping force deployed in September 1999. Alexander Downer, foreign minister during the Howard years, ranks it among his greatest achievements. But none of this absolves Australia of the responsibility of pursuing a shameful and ultimately self- defeating policy over many years, one that valued close ties with Indonesia ahead of human rights for the Timorese.

Both sides of politics share responsibility for this mistake, and the lessons should not be ignored.

Australia was so eager to maintain good relations with Jakarta, that the Howard government refused to acknowledge what was plain in the run-up to the independence ballot and has once again been demonstrated by the official inquiry into the episode – the Indonesian state "organised (a) campaign of violence" to intimidate the local people.

When that effort failed, and the East Timorese voted bravely for independence, the military-backed militias forced thousands of people across the border.

The signs of this impending violence were clear to the Australian government months before, as was the complicity of the Indonesian military.

As early as March 4, 1999, the Defence Intelligence Organisation sent a confidential report, warning "the (Indonesian) military in East Timor are clearly protecting, and in some instances operating with the militias". It went on to claim the military "will continue to support intimidation and violence, or at least won't prevent it".

A few days later, Downer defended Australia's refusal to push for international troops to protect the Timorese, saying: "We hope that there won't be a need for a peacekeeping force because if you need a peacekeeping force, you need a peace to keep and peace first has to be negotiated and we hope that when the peace is negotiated it will be a peaceful peace that won't require a peacekeeping force."

The Australian government put its faith in the Indonesian military to provide security, even though it knew those same forces – local commanders with the tacit support of senior Indonesian generals, according to DIO – were orchestrating a campaign of violence in Timor.

An Australian parliamentary inquiry in late 2000 drew similarly damning conclusions: "Until the latter part of 1999, all governments have publicly played down reports of human rights abuses in the territory. They were prepared to accept Indonesian Government assurances and explanations, and support them, even in the face of other contradictory evidence."

Downer often cites a letter John Howard sent to Indonesian president B.J. Habibie in late 1998 as the turning point in Australia's approach to East Timor. This is a partial reading of history.

For years, successive Australian governments defended inaction on East Timor by claiming it had very little influence in Jakarta on the issue, so the significance of the letter is debatable. Indeed, the letter actually pushed for an entirely different outcome – autonomy for East Timor, under formal Indonesian sovereignty.

In other words, Australia still hoped East Timor would remain part of Indonesia. It was Habibie's impulsive gesture to offer the Timorese the choice of independence or autonomy almost immediately, a decision that shocked Australia.

Howard has previously defended his government's approach to the independence ballot, claiming to push for early Australian boots on the ground would have been tantamount to an invasion of Indonesia. No doubt this was a delicate situation, and in the aftermath of the ballot when the militias unleashed their fury, Australia was a leader in putting together a quick response. But the genesis of Australia's flawed approach to Timor lay much earlier, in the recognition of Indonesia's illegal takeover and occupation of East Timor.

In this, the Australian government was out of step with Australian public opinion. More importantly, it ignored the will of the Timorese people.

[Daniel Flitton is diplomatic editor.]

Between the Lines - Truth and justice for Timor

James Dunn - July 14, 2008

This week we are facing two challenging humanitarian issues, the situation in Zimbabwe and the findings of the Indonesia-East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission.

From Australia's point of view the Zimbabwe problem is an urgent human rights issue, one that has stirred the passions of most of us. The reality, however, is that we can't do much to influence the outcome.

That role is left to Zimbabwe's neighbours and the major world powers, which seem to have settled on a more conciliatory response than we would prefer. What we can do is to press for a UN response that might ease the humanitarian crisis facing the people of Zimbabwe.

What to do about the findings of the commission (CTF) report is a very different matter.

It might seem of little real relevance, involving, as it does, a situation that no longer exists.

In reality though it is quite important, because Australia's reaction just might be able to influence the outcome for the people still traumatised by the horrendous human rights abuses they endured over a 24-year period, when to the shame and dismay of many of us, Australian governments gave diplomatic support to the perpetrators, helping shield them from international scrutiny.

The final decision will, of course, be up to the political leaders of East Timor and Indonesia, but we have an opportunity to encourage a just resolution of the problem in keeping with the international standards that prevailed in relations to similar situations in Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda, and underlie our concerns about Zimbabwe.

In this latest report on past events in East Timor, two of these key principles are at risk of being pushed aside – justice for the victims and no impunity for those responsible for crimes against humanity.

In this respect, the findings of the CTF report (which I have now seen) are encouraging but they still fall well short of an appropriate response.

One problem is the mandate of the CTF which confined its investigations to events between January and October 1999. It meant that the commission took little account of the general pattern of human rights abuses that began with the attack on Balibo in October 1975. It also meant that the commission apparently did not take into account the fact that the militia and their agenda of violence was, in the first instance, carefully organised by Kopassus generals in July-August 1998.

The report does conclude, that Indonesia's military was responsible for supporting and equipping the militia units responsible for the massacres in 1999 and the many cases of torture and intimidation. However, it seeks to soften the blow by accusing pro-independence supporters for illegal detention.

For all its shortcomings, the report is an important document that will stir the political scene in Jakarta, increasing pressure for a wider and more comprehensive inquiry, and, immediately, it should lead to demands for a comprehensive reform of the TNI, especially its still powerful Kopassus. The CTF report is an important step in the right direction, but to take up the challenge calls for the kind of political will and humanitarian commitment that has in the past given way to political opportunism.

[James Dunn is an author with four decades of experience as a foreign affairs official and with UN agencies.]

East Timor report encourages culture of impunity

Damien Kingsbury - July 11, 2008

The long-awaited report by the Indonesia-East Timor 'Commission on Truth and Friendship' (CTF) has been handed down, confirming what we already knew about the events in East Timor in 1999; that the crimes against humanity committed by the military and their proxy militias were an all of state affair. The real question now, though, is where to from here, given that charges for these crimes are unlikely.

The CTF has been widely criticised as being a toothless tiger, with the UN refusing to participate in it. From the outset, the CTF did not have any power to lay or recommend charges and, being held in Jakarta, did not have access to many of the witnesses.

Yet the CTF report has confirmed that the violence and destruction of 1999 was orchestrated by the Indonesian military (TNI), with the support of other government departments.

As Indonesia travels further down its sometimes bumpy road of democratisation, one might have expected it to pursue judicial redress. However, an earlier inquiry which led to the charging of 18 suspects ended up convicting just one militia leader Eurico Guterres, who on appeal was released from prison after just two years.

It was as though, according to the Indonesian courts, the violence and destruction never happened.

Indonesia's President Yudhoyono has also been reluctant to pursue the matter, mostly because he is already in campaign mode for next year's elections. Indonesia's so-called 'nationalists' who remain angry about 'losing' East Timor would howl him down if he tried to pursue this matter.

Despite the facts of 1999 being clear that the TNI recruited, financed, trained and armed militias, and led them against the people of East Timor when they were finally allowed to determine their own future under international law – many in Indonesia still believe that East Timor was 'stolen' from them by the United Nations, with the connivance of Australia. So, attempting to re-open judicial proceedings would on one hand be met with the view that this avenue has already been pursued, while on the other anyone who supports further investigation is in league with those allegedly trying to dismember the Indonesian state.

Perhaps some comfort can be taken from the fact that the CTF report went as far as it did, by at least holding Indonesia institutionally accountable, if not naming those individually responsible.

The CTF report will now allow Indonesia and East Timor to get on with their bilateral relationship, which is what the CTF was always designed for – the emphasis was always on 'friendship' over 'truth'.

And the CTF also satisfied, if in minimalist terms, the UN's requirement for a formal hearing into the events of this time.

Much has been made of Indonesia's democratisation and its reform process. But the human rights abuses that characterised the Indonesian state under Suharto continued into the 'democratic' period, as this report shows, in East Timor in 1999. They also continued in Aceh until August 2005, and still do in West Papua.

Yet in Jakarta, powerful interests ensure there is no accountability. The findings of the CTF have done little to redress Indonesia's long-standing culture of impunity.

[Associate Professor Damien Kingsbury from Deakin University is author of The Politics of Indonesia Oxford, 3rd ed 2005, and Power Politics and the Indonesian Military (Routledge, 2003). He was a ballot observer coordinator in East Timor in 1999.]

Downer diplomacy: if you don't succeed, bully again

Sydney Morning Herald - July 12, 2008

Hamish McDonald, Asia-Pacific editor – The emails still keep coming from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, several times a day, attached with transcripts of what the minister said at this or that "doorstep" and notifying where the minister might be ambushed for the next one.

But somehow it's not the same with Labor's Stephen Smith as Foreign Minister. The party apparatchik from Perth is too cautious, too constrained, too economical with his language: in a word, too diplomatic.

Where is the verbal prolixity of Alexander Downer that we got to know so well over 11 years, his tirades containing so many gems of personal abuse and outrageous hypothesis that you always ended up opening the attachment, just in case.

But alas, he has lost the job and is quitting Parliament. Rather than joining the debate about whether Downer was a giant in Australia's diplomatic history or its Inspector Clouseau, let's look at what he claims as his "greatest achievement" as foreign minister: East Timor.

In his article in the Herald yesterday, Downer finally came out as the initiator of the famous letter from the then prime minister John Howard to Indonesia's then president B.J. Habibie in December 1998, proposing a solution to the growing unrest in East Timor.

It might be assumed from what Downer wrote that this letter set out the case for an independent East Timor that resulted in the United Nations referendum in August 1999 and the destructive exit of Indonesian forces a few weeks later.

But the letter was proposing a fudge designed to diffuse the pressure for independence in the territory, and clearly based on a hope in Canberra that if the Indonesians got their act together East Timor would eventually decide to remain inside Indonesia.

It cited the example of the Matignon and Noumea accords between France and the rival Kanak and settler groups in New Caledonia in 1988 and 1998, conferring deeper autonomy on the islands and setting an act of self-determination aside until sometime between 2013 and 2018.

The unforeseen reaction from Habibie was one of outrage at being compared to a European colonial power, and an abrupt decision in January 1999 to give the East Timorese an immediate vote on staying or leaving, rather than potentially wasting funds for 20 years on trying to turn them around.

Throughout the violent months leading up to the August vote, Downer resolutely stuck to the "adroit diplomacy" advocated by his department head, the late Ashton Calvert, rather than joining the call for outside peacekeepers.

One suspects that if the Indonesian military and its local militias had actually succeeded in their scheme to cow the East Timorese into a vote for wider autonomy rather than independence, Canberra would have gone along with the result.

On Monday, the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and the East Timorese President, Jose Ramos Horta, will release the report of their joint Truth and Friendship Commission inquiry into the violence of 1999. But the top individual organisers of that violence will remain unexposed and unpunished.

That is due in large part to the policies of Downer and his colleagues not to support, in more than a token way, the previous UN investigations and to condemn the farcical trials of junior and middle-ranking scapegoats held in Jakarta.

But the main reason why a street will not be named after Downer the Liberator in Dili lies in the negotiations between Downer and his department with the new East Timorese authorities and the UN over the seabed oil resources in the Timor Sea.

In his book Shakedown, the writer Paul Cleary, who was attached to the UN team during those negotiations, has portrayed the bullying tactics adopted by Downer to persuade the devastated new country to sign away rights to 80 per cent of the biggest gas field in the disputed maritime zone. Pounding the table at one point, Downer is quoted as telling the then Timorese prime minister, Mari Alkatiri: "We don't have to exploit the resources. They can stay there for 20, 40, 50 years."

The East Timorese and UN side dug in, winning much more favourable terms in the eventual interim boundary agreed in 2006.

Peter Galbraith, the former US diplomat and author of books on foreign policy issues, was attached to the UN office advising the negotiations. He recalls going to Adelaide in 2000 to notify Downer that the East Timorese wanted to renegotiate the "Timor Gap" treaty agreed by the Indonesians in 1989.

"Somehow he considered this deeply offensive that we were doing it, that I was doing it," Galbraith said. "At the meeting he sort of kept making the point that he'd been more successful than his famous father and perhaps that I'd been less than mine. There was a real psycho-drama there that really had nothing to do with the issue."

(Galbraith is the son of the celebrated economist and author J.K. Galbraith. Downer's father, Sir Alexander, was immigration minister in the Menzies government.)

"The thing about the oil negotiations," Galbraith adds, "is that Downer adopted both a condescending and bullying approach both towards the East Timorese and the United Nations that ended up making him one of the most unpopular people in East Timor.

"It did considerable damage to Australia's reputation, and ended up for a worse bargain for Australia than a more diplomatic approach would have produced. The matter would have wrapped up sooner and Australia could have had a larger share of the oil."

Galbraith, who is a senior adviser in the presidential campaign of US Democrat candidate Barack Obama, said: "Being Australia's longest-serving foreign minister may not necessarily equal being its best.

"He won't do any damage in his job as the Cyprus negotiator," Galbraith added, referring to Downer's new job as a UN special envoy.

"Because one thing's for sure: if there were any serious chance of making progress between the Greeks and Turks on Cyprus, the UN would not have appointed Downer."

Timorese are best placed to judge

Melbourne Age - July 12, 2008

Alexander Downer – Even in 1999 it was widely known that elements of the Indonesian military were behind the violent militia activity in East Timor.

If reports are correct that the Commission of Truth and Friendship finds that the Indonesian military gave financial support as well as weapons to the pro-integration militias, then that finding reflects very well on the commission and gives it credibility.

Through much of 1999 the Australian government was convinced that, at the very least, elements of the Indonesian military were providing support to militias in East Timor. The questions for the Australian government were twofold. First, was this support by the Indonesian military sanctioned by the Habibie government and, in particular, president Habibie; and second, if not, was the Indonesian military acting contrary to the policy of the government and in defiance of military command.

In early 1999, the Australian government's view was that there were elements of the Indonesian military – which I referred to as "rogue elements" – that were defying the orders of Jakarta and were determined to destroy any chance of a successful referendum taking place. I surmised that elements of TNI and the militias assumed that the East Timorese people would vote overwhelmingly for independence and that the best strategy was to make the referendum impossible to hold. With that in mind, Australia and the United Nations encouraged Jakarta's government to do more to bring the militias into line and to discipline those elements of the TNI that were defying Indonesian government policy.

In April, after the violence reached a new peak, John Howard and I organised a summit in Bali with Habibie, foreign minister Alatas and defence minister General Wiranto. Habibie agreed with us that the level of violence was unacceptable. He also made it clear, as did his ministers, that Indonesia would do more to try to bring the violence under control. It is well known that Howard pushed Habibie to accept an international peacekeeping force in East Timor and that Habibie, at the plenary meeting of leaders and ministers, thumped the table, explaining that if he was to agree to foreign troops on Indonesian soil he would not be able to sustain his presidency.

The best we could obtain from that summit was agreement to allow for an increase in UN police numbers in East Timor.

A good deal hinges on whether Jakarta was behind the violence or whether it was just local elements of TNI in and around East Timor and a few senior officers such as General Prabowo who were responsible. With the benefit of hindsight, and on the basis of all I now know about those events, I think it highly unlikely that Habibie sanctioned the violence or in any way supported it. My judgement is that Habibie was always sincere in his expressions of opposition to the violence and his demands that TNI do more to arrest it.

Whether Wiranto was behind the violence or not is more questionable. Many say he was. Having dealt with him at the time, I am not so dogmatic about this. He was obviously aware of the violence, he was aware of the people responsible for the violence – including senior officers in TNI – but I suspect he felt powerless to stop it on the grounds that there were significant elements of TNI that felt bitter and vengeful towards the East Timorese.

The Australian government was left with two other choices. First, we could accept that demands of some that the referendum be abandoned or at least postponed indefinitely. Jose Ramos Horta was strongly opposed to postponement. I shared this view.

Second, we could proceed with the referendum always knowing that there was a high risk of significant violence. We chose to do that, as did the UN. But we also prepared to send in a peacekeeping force after the referendum should there be an explosion of violence in response to a vote for independence and a change of heart by Habibie. An independence vote, we judged, could lead to a change of heart. Those preparations were wise. We were able to implement that plan and save East Timor from an even uglier fate than befell it.

Ultimately, the judgement about that period rests with the East Timorese people. They should also have the final say about what action should be taken to deal with those responsible for the violence.

[Alexander Downer was foreign minister from 1996 to 2007.]

Report bites harder than expected

Sydney Morning Herald - July 11, 2008

Tom Hyland – The report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship is a bitter pill for the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a slap in the face to the Indonesian military, and a challenge to the UN to act on the crimes of 1999, for which no one in authority has been held to account. So many crimes, so few criminals.

It confirms the findings of a series of investigations by the United Nations – that Indonesian officials organised, funded and directed militias who carried out atrocities before and after the 1999 independence referendum. In some cases, Indonesian officers had a direct role in massacres.

And it wasn't just men in uniform who sought to terrorise a defenceless population. Government officials were involved in funding and supporting militias, who were intricately linked to the apparatus of the Indonesian occupation and repression.

The devastation of East Timor in 1999 – 1500 dead, half the population displaced, most infrastructure destroyed – was truly a whole of government effort.

When it was set up, the truth commission wasn't expected to produce a report like this. The idea came from then president Xanana Gusmao as a way of promoting reconciliation with East Timor's large, powerful and newly-democratic neighbour.

He and his then foreign minister, Jose Ramos-Horta, were also motivated by realpolitik. They knew there was little chance of the UN setting up an international tribunal into the crimes of 1999. With Indonesian flatly opposed, the UN Security Council wouldn't act. And there was little international support for a tribunal, including from Australia.

But Gusmao and Ramos-Horta were also under domestic pressure to provide some justice to the victims and survivors of Indonesia's spiteful departure.

The commission's aim was to establish the truth about 1999. It would not name names, and it had no power to compel witnesses to give evidence or initiate prosecutions. More friendship than truth, said the critics, including Indonesian human rights groups.

It is no whitewash, but the truth commission's report has structural and logical flaws. It concludes the state of East Timor is responsible for abuses by pro-independence groups in 1999, where there is little evidence of those abuses, and the state of East Timor didn't exist at the time the abuses were allegedly committed. But its main conclusion – the Indonesian state was responsible for the crimes of 1999 – is incontrovertible and, in context, a minor act of courage.

Yudhoyono will not like it. It repudiates the widespread view in Indonesia that the violence was the result of intra-Timorese feuding or, even more fanciful, UN and Australian meddling.

The challenge for Yudhoyono will be to swallow his defensive pride when he releases it with Ramos-Horta next week.

The bigger challenge will be how he responds to its call for reform of the Indonesian military. What will he do about the officers – and civilian bureaucrats – who orchestrated the violence and haven't looked back?

Not one – not even of the 18 officers tried by an special Indonesian court – is in jail.

[Tom Hyland is The Sunday Age's International Editor.]

East Timor media reveiw

UNMIT - July 31, 2008

Minister denies allegations of giving hand tractors to PD members - STL

The Minister of Agriculture Mariano Asanami Sabino has denied claims he had given hand tractors to PD members in Oequese. Mr Sabino said: "These allegations are false. There are lots of hand tractor being delivered to Oequese and the process of receiving the tractors is not determined by me. However, Fretilin MP Arsenio Bano confirmed that he had received information from Oequese that the hand tractors had in fact been provided to the PD members.

Xanana: We are ready for development - STL

The Prime Minister has expressed his gratitude to all MPs who approved the $700 million funds in the new budget for national development: 36 MPs voted in favour, 21 MPs against and four MPs abstained.

PM promises not to use fund if declared unconstitutional - DA

In relation to the petition submitted to the Court of Appeals by Fretilin, KOTA and PPT against the plans to use the Economic Stabilisation Fund, the Prime Minister has said that he would not use the fund if the Courts deemed it an unconstitutional act.

Fretilin promises no more instability in Timor Leste - DA

The former Minister of Agriculture Estanislau Aleixo da Silva yesterday said he did not believe the country would face instability as it had in 2006 as the people responsible for the former instability were now in government. "Some of them are Ministers and State Secretaries. Others are Deputy MPs. So, I do believe that there will not be any instability in the near future," said Mr Estanislau.

UNMIT - July 30, 2008

Media contribution needed for peace in Timor-Leste - TP

Representatives of media agencies in Timor-Leste and UNMIT held a press conference at Hotel Turismo on Tuesday (29/7) to raise awareness of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Declaration of Human Rights on 21 September, the International Day of Peace.

At the press conference, UNMIT's National Spokesperson Hipolito Gama said, "On the 21 of September this year we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration. The Media can play an important role in the peace campaign. The role of media is as an ambassador for peace."

The Director of Radio Timor-Leste Rosario Martins, Timor-Leste Media Development Center (TLMDC) Director Francisco Dagary, Timor Post Editor-in-Chief Mouzinho Lopes and Director of Dili Weekly and Jornal Labarik also made their statements on peace.

Mr. Rosario Martins said that RTL has tried to accurately reflect the law and to promote peace and national unity by providing balanced information. "To strengthen tolerance and peace in Timor-Leste, the journalists should be encouraged to cover and disseminate balanced and accurate information," said Mr Martins.

Furthermore, the Editor-in-Chief Mouzinho Lopes said that his newspaper has a program of peace campaign called, stop violence, live in peace, which started in March.

Meanwhile, Director of TLMDC Francisco da Silva said that his organization has provided peace journalism training to journalists in Timor-Leste to contribute and create peace in Timor-Leste.

South Korea to employ 2000 workers from Timor Leste - TP

The State Secretary of Professional Development and Employment Bendito Freitas confirmed yesterday that that South Korea has made an agreement with Timor-Leste to send 2000 workers to Korea. According to Mr Freitas, the Government will recruit these workers and provide them with language training and basic knowledge on the culture of South Korea Mr Freitas also confirmed that in the next 15 months, teachers from South Korea will be arriving in Timor-Leste to provide the language training.

Military police HQ to be built soon - TP

Secretary State of Defence Julio Tomas Pinto has confirmed that the headquarters for the military police will be built in an ex building of Dili regent (ex Kantor kabupaten). He added that office would be constructed soon in order to control illegal migration and unruly F-FDTL members.

PGR should be responsible for Alfredo's documents - DA

The President of the Social Democratic Party Mario Viegas Carrascalao said that the Prosecutor General should responsible for information obtained from Alfredo Reinado's laptop and mobile which has since been lost. "These things should be saved as they evidence for the 11 February attack," said Mr. Carrascalao.

PGR Longuinhos Monteiro rejected that Alfredo's documents were lost to Australia. "Such things are not lost. They are with the Australian Federal Police for investigation," said PGR Monteiro on Monday (28/7) in Dili.

UNMIT - July 29, 2008

Domestic violence on the rise in Liquica - STL

The commander of PNTL in Liquica district Manuel Maria dos Santos has confirmed that the level of domestic violence in Liquica District has He explained that from January to July 2008 PNTL in Liquica has identified 46 cases of domestic violence and from those 46 cases, 7 have been registered in the Court, 6 of them are being investigated and the others were solved according to the customary law.

Military prison no place for Salsinha - STL

After participating in the inauguration ceremony of the military prison yesterday in Tasi-Tolu, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak declared that while the military prison is not a place to detain Gastao Salsinha and his group members, it is a place to punish the members of F-FDTL when they commit crimes. According to Matan Ruak, Salsinha and his group may not be punished in the military prisons they are no longer army officers.

Alfredo's items not lost - TP

The general prosecutor Longiunos Monteiro yesterday rejected rumours that the possessions of the late Alfredo Reinado had been lost. The General Prosecutor explained that the items in question (laptop and hand phone) were in the possession of the Australian Federal Police who were investigating the events of 11 February.

UNMIT - July 28, 2008

PM asks youths to be involved in the youth parliament - TP

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has asked district youth representatives to be involved in a youth parliament. The PM said that a youth parliament will strengthen the relationship between youths as well as providing lessons on civic education. "I think you, the youth should know that democracy is based on your rights," said the PM on Friday (25/7) in Delta Nova, Comoro.

CTF is not a court - STL

The Former Joint Commissioner of the Indonesia and Timor-Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) Dionisio Babo said that the Indonesian-TL truth and friendship commission is not a court. "CTF is not a court. Its mandate is to conduct joint research to find out the conclusive truth about violence against human rights and to give recommendations to cure the wounds of the past."

F-FDTL recruitment still pending - DN

F-FDTL Chief of Staff Colonel Lere Anan said that the F-FDTL recruitment plan has not as yet been realized as it still waiting for the approval from the National Parliament.

UNMIT - July 25, 2008

Government promises won't let pipe line go to Australia - DN

According to the Secretary of State for Mineral and Natural Resources Alfredo Pires, the Government will be trying hard to bring the second pipeline to Timor-Leste as it will be of great benefit to the country. Mr Pires made these statements after the end of a task force study which will be proposed to the Council of Ministers. The decision as to whether the pipeline will go to Timor-Leste will be decided with an Australian oil company and USAID. "Now we have three options: at the shore, to Australia or to Timor-Leste. As a nation we need the pipeline to go to Timor- Leste," said Mr Pires.

Fretilin won't use parliamentary cars - DN

The National Parliament this week approved the budget to buy 39 cars for each member of parliament (MP). At a press conference held by Fretilin on Thursday (24/7), Fretilin MP Aniceto Guterres said that his party will not use the cars bought by the National Parliament.

Petroleum funds to finish in three years - DN

The Consultative Council of Petroleum Funds (KKFP) of the National Parliament has said that oil funds will finish in the next three years given the current rate of spending.

Chefe's organise youth dialogue - STL

Yesterday, in the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the Chefe Suco of Becora Antonio da Silva informed that they are now organizing a dialogue between local youths and IDP youths in order to strengthen unity among them. This activity was supported by AUSCARE, Caritas Australia and Ministry of Social Solidarity. The dialogue involved all aldeias in Becora. The Chefe de Aldeia of Becusse Kraik, Alexandre Ximenes, said he will send five youths from Becusse Kraik to participate in the dialogue.

UNMIT - July 23, 2008

PNTL dialogue on 2006 crisis - TVTL

The State Secretary of Security Francisco Guterres said yesterday that the command of PNTL will hold a dialogue with PNTL members next week who were involved in the 2006 crisis including those who sided with Alfredo Reinaldo.

Court authorizes Railos to get medical treatment - STL

The Court has authorised the suspension of the prison sentence for Railos for a period of two months in which he is to receive medical attention. This authorisation was based on recommendations made by Railos' lawyer.

Fretilin accuses Lasama of making dictatorship - STL

Fretilin MP Aniceto Guterres has accused the National Parliament of impartiality in leading the plenary session as it advantages only the AMP Government. Fretilin said that according to the parliament's discussion laws, it takes three days before approval can be granted. However, the NP is currently only taking two days and is forcing the session to vote.

PM ready to respond to corruption allegations in court - STL

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmco has asked all those who have accused him and the Government of corruption to provide evidence of such corruption to the courts. The PM said that since the last election, there have been many examples of corruption accusations levelled at the Government by Fretilin through the Provedor of the Human Rights and Justice (PDHJ).

Timor-Leste to not import rice in more three years - DN

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmco has guaranteed that there will be no need to import rice in three more years as local food production will greatly increase. PM said that currently, the people had to rely on imported products, but that this would end by 2009.

UNMIT - July 22, 2008

Audit: Fretilin rules with weak system - TP

The audit performed by the Government on the former government has concluded that there were many problems and irregularity of practices. The Minister of Finance, Emilia Pires, said that audit also made recommendations on how to improve the finance ministry. Separately, member of Commission C for Economy, Finance and Corruption Aderito Hugo said: "With this report, the public may know our real administration and will be able to compare the Fretilin and AMP governments.

AMP government not serious about combating CCN - TP and DN

Fretilin MP Miranda Branco said that that the AMP government policy towards good governance, transparency and good administration will not succeed as there is no serious policy to combat corruption, collusion and nepotism (CCN). "I am strongly questioning the seriousness of this government to combat CCN. All they do is deliver nice speechs- there is never any action based on the budget. The budget itself proves this," said Mr Branco. Separately, The President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Mario Viegas Carrascalco has agreed with Fretilin that the AMP government is not serious about combating CCN.

Lasama congratulates Alkatiri's initiative - DN

The President of the National Parliament Fernando Lasama has congratulated the initiative of former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to build the statue of Pope John Paul II in Timor-Leste, which is currently now seen in Tasi Tolu, Dili. The statue is visited by the young people of Timor-Leste, especially those who are in Dili every Saturday and Sunday.

Government takes big money from petroleum funds to avoid instability - DN

Minister of Finance Emilia Pires said that the government is taking large amounts of money from the petroleum funds to avoid instability of the country. Related to the concerns of the Consultative Council of Petroleum Funds (KKFP) that the government should not withdraw such large sums, Minister Pires said that petroleum funds' law does not ban the government from doing so. "Based on our analysis, the current global economic situation is that the oil price will increase and negatively impact on other basic needs. If we do not intervene then there will be a national crisis," said Minster Pires.

Editorial: Buying peace with money... - DN

Prime Minister Xanana has stated that his Government is withdrawing large amounts of funds from petroleum funds for the sake of peace and stability.The budget proposed by the government is US$425M; bigger than the budget approved by the National Parliament in December 2007 - this means that in only one year the government is to spend US$ 772M.

With this huge sums of money, the AMP Government has been criticized for spending too much of the petroleum funds. It is true that the government has reason to take the money to respond to the needs of the people, such as the petitioners' problem and the IDPs.

But the question remains: can peace and stability only be realized with money, or is there another way? If we guarantee peace and stability with the petroleum funds, how will we sustain peace and stability when the funds run out? We wait

UNMIT - July 21, 2008

Pinto announces delay of F-FDTL recruitment - TP

The State Secretary of Defence Julio Tomas Pinto confirmed today that the recruitment process for F-FDTL scheduled for 15 July 2008 was postponed as there had been no finally decision yet. Mr Pinto said that he was discussing the mechanism of recruitment with the F-FDTL and would determine the new schedule of recruitment consultations with the Council of Ministers.

ISF to support F-FDTL - TP

ISF Commander Brigadier James Baker has said that the International Stabilisation Forces would cooperate with the F- FDTL to help build houses for the ISF members. Mr Baker said that the houses would be finished in the next two months.

UNMIT - July 17, 2008

Mario Carrascalao: Railos not to go abroad - STL

PSD member of the National Parliament Mario Viegas Carrascalao has asked the government to not let Railos go abroad for his medical treatment as it may create a bad precedent in the future.

If there is no medication in Timor-Leste for Railos' sickness, foreign doctors should be contracted to Timor-Leste to provide medical treatment, said MP Carrascalao on Wednesday (16/7) in the National Parliament, Dili.

He said that there may be other Timorese who suffer from the same sickness as Railos but the Government is not giving them treatment. He also said that if the government provides the possibility to the criminals to get medical treatment outside the country, will the government then also offer the same opportunity to ordinary people?

Xanana has power to combat corruption - STL

The national businessmen said that the Government of the Alliance Majority in Parliament of PM Xanana has a big role to combat corruption by establishing an independent anti-corruption commission.

"I see the serious will of Xanana's government to establish a Commission of Anti-Corruption as a positive step. We need to know that the Commission is truly independent and has no interference from the government," said the Vice President of National Businessmen Forum Rui Castro.

He suggested that the members of the commission should come from different backgrounds, including academia, law, technology, the Church, NGOs and the media. "The Commission should be truly independent, not like the National Commission of Elections (CNE)," he added.

Editorial: why should Railos go abroad for medical treatment? - STL

In a short time, Railos will go abroad to take his medical treatment. His sickness is only a respiratory infection - many people suffer this sickness which is treated only in a clinic. It is confusing with Railos' sickness - why can't his sickness be treated at the National Hospital of Dili?

A big question: Why is Railos going abroad while his case is pending at the Dili court? Many people are suspect that Railos is following in Rogerio Lobato's footsteps – Lobato went to Malaysia to get his medical treatment. It's unbelievable that a respiratory infection could not be cured by the doctors at the Dili National Hospital.

Fernando Borges: 'PR and PM try to close justice' - DN

President of National Unity Party (PUN) in the National Parliament Fernanda Borges has said that there is an effort from President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to close the way to justice, but promote reconciliation with Indonesia through the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF).

Eurico Guterres: CTF report does not follow people's demands - TP

Former Commander of Militia Eurico Guterres said that the report of TL-Indonesian Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) handed over to President Jose Ramos Horta and President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono is a time bomb which might go off some time in the future.

Separately, Hendardi, said that CTF was established to avoid an international mechanism. "There is a judicial process for the criminals; the two nations had an agreement to establish friendship and forget the criminals ," said Hendardi, Chief of Setora Institute.

Indonesian MP Permadi said that he accepts the CTF report as there is balance, which is different with what has been published by the Australian media alleging that Indonesia is involved in crimes.

"When we see the document [report], there is balance - Horta said that many Indonesians also died in Timor-Leste; PM Xanana who was also involved in genocide represents the victims. Yes or no, it is already the agreement between the two nations, we all have to accept, or no international solution," said MP Permadi.

UNMIT - July 16, 2008

UNDESA solar energy project in Atauro - TP

UNDESA has undertaken a solar project as part of their program to help communities meet their energy needs in Timor-Lese. "It is critical that the government continue to support alterative energy sources. We have seen that with the appropriate support, solar can become a viable alternative," said UNDESA representative Mr Paulo da Silva.

Mr da Silva explained that the focus was on rural communities that had great trouble with electricity. He also explained that UNDESA was implementing this project based on lessons learned from similar projects that were implemented during the occupation until now. UNDESA has tried to avoid the mistakes of the past by involving the community in all aspects of the project to ensure the sustainability of the project.

UNDESA closes their program in three districts - STL

UNDESA has started to close its program in Timor-Leste. UNDESA's program was implemented over three years in three districts. The program was water supply management, including some infrastructure and the provision of solar energy.

UNDESA's Community Development Officer Oscar da Silva explained the importance of active community participation in the project. He also said that the communities need ongoing support if they are to actively participate.

Another UNDESA Officer, Paulo da Silva said that it was critical for the Government to support alternative energy to meet the needs of the people, particularly in rural areas.

UNDESA guarantees solar can work in Timor-Leste - DA

UNDESA's program has attempted to bring solar power to rural areas in Timor-Leste. UNDESA has been in Timor-Leste since 2005 and worked in three districts. Their program will end this year.

UNDESA explained the importance of community participation in the program implementation. The solar program has been implemented in a few areas of Atauro Island. The Community Development Officer of Atazro said that the local administration wanted to present a proposal to the Government to expand the solar project to all parts of Atauro.

Mr Paulo da Silva, UNDESA, explained that UNDESA has working in partnership with local NGOs and community leaders to implement the Government's program. Mr da Silva said that UNDESA is ready to continue their program if the Government requests them to do so.

Editorial: Accusation politics not educating people - STL

It is normal that in a political democracy there are different ideas of government political decisions. If there are no critics then there is no democracy, only authoritarianism that does not allow criticism and rejects differences in ideas.

But freedom allows that there are norms with respect to others' dignity. Political leaders should educate the community by providing good examples to the people; they should teach how to express their opinions and criticisms to find the way to resolve existing differences.

In June, leaders of the country showed something that people do not accept; Fretilin's Secretary General Mari Alkatiri and the party's Vice President Bano accused Xanana of bad governance. Mr. Alkatiri expressed this to the international media, Australia and Portugal, which did not give respect to Xanana's dignity.

Xanana was also angry with the accusation and, in turn, expressed the bad administration that took place during Alkatiri's governance.

The psy war between the two leaders leaves no input to the people as it is not a tradition of democracy - this tradition belongs to primary school students. We all should be careful with their manoeuvres behind the curtain - we only need national political stability and a sense of security for the country.

UNMIT - July 14, 2008

MPs may buy cars as well as pay attention to peoples' needs - DN

Bishop Basilio do Nascimento of Baucau Diocese said that the National Parliament may buy cars for the MPs as a minimum condition to facilitate their work but should also see to the needs of the people. The Bishop said that if Parliament feels the cars are really necessary, then they should go ahead with the purchases. Regarding Freilin's peace march, Bishop Basilio said that it is Fretilin's right to do so.

Salsinha and Railos are sick - STL and TP

Former rebel commander Gastao Salsinha along with Vicente Railos are apparently suffering from respiratory sickness. The two suspects have asked permission from the Government to seek medical treatment abroad.

'We held a meeting yesterday [Friday night] with the lawyers of the suspects to talk about their problems. They are sick but we still do not know the exact nature of their illness," said the Minister of Health Nelson Martins. The minister said that if the two suspects could not be cured in Timor-Leste, that they would be sent abroad for treatment.

The State declares petitioners to be civilians - TP

The Government of Timor-Leste stated that the official status of the petitioners who had gathered in Aitarak Laran is to be civilian. According to the Coordinator of the Petitioners, former F-FDTL Major Tara, even though the decision was hash, they would accept it for the stability of the nation.

Under the draft legislation yet to go before East Timor's Parliament perpetrators of crimes, including murder, during the 2006 political crisis could avoid the courts by instead issuing a public apology. Families of victims killed during the unrest could be in line for $10,000 compensation, a vast sum in the poverty-stricken nation. The draft law states, "The priority is not to punish the perpetrator, but is to restore the situation of the victims prior to the crime as much as possible."

The push follows the recent move by the head of state to slash the sentences of numerous prisoners, with several ex-militia members jailed for crimes against humanity over the 1999 violence now free.

It also comes as the landmark East Timor-Indonesia Commission of Truth and Friendship is due to formally hand down its report on the 1999 bloodshed surrounding East Timor's historic vote for independence. The report blames Indonesia for murders, rapes and torture in 1999, with a lack of accountability among security forces a key cause.

Brussels-based think-tank the International Crisis Group says the new draft law, if passed, will erode people's confidence in East Timor's justice system, and the rule of law.

The group's South-East Asia project director, John Virgoe, said, "Serious crimes were committed in 2006, including arson and murder. "If the perpetrators and the political and military figures behind the violence are not held to account, there will be no deterrent against future outbreaks of political violence."

He said the President's decision to grant full or partial pardons to 94 prisoners in May would also make it difficult for East Timor to move forward. "People's sense of justice is not satisfied, their belief in the rule of law is undermined and the message is sent that, in East Timor, you can, quite literally, get away with murder," he said.

An East Timorese court is due to consider a request that an alleged key player in the 2006 violence travel overseas for medical treatment. Vicente da Conceicao, known as Railos, who is alleged to have led armed civilians in attacks against East Timor's military personnel in 2006, was arrested last October and remains in pre-trial detention.

Former government minister Rogerio Lobato one of the few people jailed over the 2006 crisis is yet to return after he was sent to Malaysia for medical treatment in 2007. He received a pardon from Dr Ramos Horta earlier this year.

Dr Ramos Horta has defended his decision to grant pardons, including one to militia leader Joni Marques who murdered nuns and a priest during the 1999 independence vote. He said it was enough that Marques had served eight years, when no Indonesians would serve time over the violence. "What do I tell my conscience?" Dr Ramos Horta said.

"This militia [has] already served eight years. "Can you imagine? There is no Indonesian military on trial or in prison and East Timor, showing great heroism of its judicial system, keeps an idiot, an unfortunate guy, in prison."

UNMIT - July 11, 2008

Railos to have medical treatment abroad - TP and DN

Prisoner and former commander of illegal arms, as he is known in Tetun, Vicente Railos is to receive medical treatment abroad. Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato said that based on his medical report, her Ministry has found that Railos is need of medical treatment that cannot be administered in country. Minister Lobato said that Railos' medical treatment will be paid for by the Government of Timor-Leste. The Minister also said that prisoner and former Spokesperson of the Petitioners Gastao Salsinha was also quite sick, but has since recovered.

Alkatiri demands Xanana explain US$7 million rice deal - TP

Responding to accusations of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao that the previous government was badly administered, former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has demanded an explanation from PM Xanana regarding the allocation of US$7M out of US$11.089M for the humanitarian support program.

"I can say that Xanana's statement is a big lie. His explanation is very wrong, starting from when he compared the situation of 2006 crisis with the situation of 2008. We all know that we faced an immediate crisis and that the government responded to this by providing humanitarian support to the displaced people, including the purchase of rice," said Mr. Alkatiri on Thursday (10/7) at Fretilin's bench room in the National Parliament, Dili.

Today, TL-UN celebrate World Population Day - TP

The Government of Timor-Leste, through the Ministry of Health, is working together with the UN to celebrate World Population Day with the theme: Family Planning is a right, let's make it real." The theme focuses on family planning and how to reduce the mortality of mothers and children.

"Family planning enables women and couples to space their children and to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Along with skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetric care, family planning is a proven intervention to achieve Millennium Development Goal number five to improve maternal health as world leaders have agreed.

Second, family planning is essential to women's empowerment and gender equality. When a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life," said UNFPA Representative Jose Hernando Agudelo at the UNMIT press briefing held on Thursday (10/7) in Obrigado Barrack, Dili.

Information and services for family planning allows individuals and couples to realize their right to determine the number, spacing and timing of their children. The right to sexual and reproductive health is fundamental to women's empowerment and equality.

Mr. Agudelo also said that family planning saves lives life and allows individuals and couples to realize their right to determine the number, spacing and timing of their children. The right to sexual and reproductive health is fundamental to women's empowerment and equality.

Lu-Olo: I want an earlier election - STL

Fretilin President Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo stated that he wants to have an early election to crack down on the Government for its wrong doing; away from people's needs. "I am quite serious about having an early election as we see that everything is not going well," said Lu-Olo in the Fretilin's bench room in the National Parliament on Thursday (10/7).

Lu-Olo said that Fretilin really needs an early election to put everything on the right place; the current government has no legitimacy as it lost in the last election.

Lu-Olo: Only Timor-Leste's MPs get cars - DN

Former President of the National Parliament Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo said that only the National Parliament of Timor-Leste MPs has allowed for cars for each MP. "I have never seen it in other countries where the State buys cars for each MP. It is only legal here," said Lu-Olo.

He said that given the status of MPs, each MP has right to buy car with his/her own money without paying taxes, but the National Parliament should not be allowed to use State money to buy cars.

UNMIT - July 10, 2008

Xanana: Alkatiri's government full of bad administration - STL

"I do not accept the comments made by Alkatiri and his administration accusing me of corruption of bad administration as Alkatiri's own administration was full of mistakes. I will only accept such comments from the Bishops and Priests as they are not involved in the government," said PM on Wednesday (9/7) in the Government Palace, Dili.

In relation to the recent controversy over the rice contract, the PM said that Germano da Silva had won the tender to provide rice for the government through a proper process when he and the Minister of Tourism and Industry Gil Alves called the rice importers in last February.

"We asked them who had available warehouses and could distribute rice to Timor-Leste promptly. No one said anything. Only Germano raised his hands and we made the agreement in front of the others," explained the PM.

CNJTL condemns the plan to buy cars and actions of PNTL's - STL

The President of National Council of Timor-Leste Youth (CNJTL) has strongly condemned the National Parliament who are standing firm in their decisiokn to purchase cars while the people they represent go hungry. CNJTL has also strongly condemned the PNTL for arresting the students during the demonstrations.

"If they really buy the cars, then they are not the peoples' representatives. The are representing only themselves and their private interests," said CNJTL President Leovegildo Hornay.

PNTL continues to arrest protesters - DN

The Acting Police Coordinator of Dili District Delfim da Silva said that PNTL will continue to arrest protesters from the National University as it is close to the National Parliament.

"We will arrest all the students of the university who hold the demonstrations in front of the National Parliament as the law does not allow protesters to have demonstrations within 100m of the NP," said Delfim on Wednesday (9/7).

He confirmed that 51 university students are currently detained in police cells of Caicoli, Dili.

UNMIT - July 9, 2008

Continuing to fight, 37 students detained, 4 women - TP

Even though the Government has used police forces to arrest 37 students, there is still no sign that the demonstrations will end any time soon. The Association of Timor-Leste Students (ASUTL) stated yesterday that the demonstrations will continue until the National Parliaments changes its plan to purchase the luxurious cars from Japan.

After meeting with NP President Fernando Lasama de Araujo, the Coordinator of ASUTL Santiago Ximenes Vaz said in response to Lasama's statement that the government would not change its plan, that the demonstrations would continue. Mr Vas said that the students are also demanding that the detained students be released.

In response, PNTL Spokesperson Joao Belo said that he has no authority to release the detained students. "We have no right to release people we have arrested as this needs to follow the judicial process. Such cases will be presented to the prosecutor," said Mr Belo.

PNTL condemned for student arrests - TP

Even though they are upholding law and order by arresting the protestors, the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) are being strongly condemned by key members of civil society.

Luta Hamutuk's Spokesperson, Joaozito Viana, said that he believes the PNTL's motives have been to silence not only the students, but the people as the student's have given a voice to the voiceless. He said that it is normal to hold demonstrations in a democratic nation like Timor-Leste and that everyone should be proud of the moral sensibility of the students to give voice to the suffering of the masses.

The United Former Political Prisoners of Indonesian occupation have also strongly condemned the actions of the police. "We are very concerned about the attitudes of PNTL-UNPol against the students," said Mr. Gregorio, member of the former political prisoners.

Mr Gregorio has demanded the PDHJ cooperate with the UNMIT Human Rights unit to investigate these cases and to publicize the results.

Fretilin condemns attitude of PNTL-UNpol - STL

Fretilin has strongly condemned the actions of PNTL/UNPol against the students, claiming that it is violating their human rights. The party said that these actions are reminiscent of the behaviour of the TNI (National Army of Indonesia) which systematically violated human rights during the 24 years of occupation. Fretilin also believes that the demands of the students are reasonable.

Fretilin MP Osorio Florindo said that UNPol should know better as it is their mission in Timor-Leste to calm the situation, not to provoke. "I think that UNPol should be setting a better example for the PNTL," said Mr. Florindo.

Civil society preoccupied with ratified budget - STL

Viriatu Seac from Lao Hamutuk has said that members of civil society are preoccupied with the ratified budget as proposed by the Government for the 2008 General State Budget.

"We are preoccupied with the ratified budget which is higher- whether the Government is going to execute it all by the end of the year or not. If we just spend the budget and there is no income, it will have a big effect on our country," said Mr. Seac.

"We see that the ratified budget is too big; there is an annual budget of US$347. Then there is the ratified budget of US$400+M. so the AMP Government plans to spend about US$700 this year."

Editorial: peaceful acts get violent treatment - DA

The peaceful acts of the university students have been met with violence by the police. The response of the police has solicited much concern among the public and especially among the academics at the university as the police have violated the autonomy of the campus.

Recently, there have been protests against the parliament - maybe people have lost faith in their representatives because they don't believe they have listened to the needs of the people. We did not think that such actions and arrests would happen again, but they have.

How to solve the problem  dialogue; protest and demonstrations may not bring solutions. The arrogance of the Parliament will also not bring a solution. Both parts should sit together to create a solution. We wait...

UNMIT - July 8, 2008

Horta condemns police action - DN

The police have shot two students and arrested 21 at the university campus following student demonstrations against the Parliament's plan to purchase cars for the MPs. The students who were shot have sustained wounds.

President Jose Ramos-Horta has condemned these actions by the PNTL and has stood up for the rights of students to campaign in their own campus. Members of the Social Science Faculty Senate Carolino Marques and Joao Nascimento said that the demonstration is an academic right. Horta explained that as the campus is autonomous, no one has the right to violate it, but if there is violence, then the university authorities may ask for police intervention.

Police capture protesters, 'Dictatorship is starting to appear' - DN

The National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) have shot and wounded two students at the campus of Universidade Nasional Timor Lorosa'e (UNTL) on Monday (7/7). Twenty one university students were also arrested as they protested against the planned purchase of luxury cars by MPs.

Fretilin MP Osorio Florindo said that the PNTL's action reminded him of November 14, 1997 when the Indonesian military took violent action against the East Timorese University. They destroyed property and wounded many of the students. Mr Florindo said that the attitude of PNTL on such occasions was leading to a dictatorship in Timor-Leste.

"There is no law that prevents people from holding demonstrations in their homes or campus . Even during Indonesian times, no military or police entered the campus without provocation. Today, even though the students have remained peaceful, they are shot at and threatened." He has appealed to the students to not be frightened and to remain calm.

Lasama appeals for students to be calm - DN and STL

NP President Fernando de Araujo Lasama has asked the students not to be emotional when holding demonstrations. Lasama said that the National Parliament will proceed with the car purchases as this has already been included in the budget set to be approved in the next few days. "Luxury cars are BMW and Mercedes [Benz]. The police also use [Toyota] Prados and Pajeros in the country. Are these luxurious cars?" asked Mr Lasama on Monday (7/7) in the National Parliament.

Editorial: Petroleum fund, people's money - DN

Recently, members of civil society, political parties, and the opposition party have strongly questioned the use of the petroleum fund by the Government to run its programs. The criticisms are that the government has no program and is just using the money.

The Prime Minister has retorted that that those who are questioning the Government are stupid and frustrated- the fund is the people's money and is being used for the people. His statement is right that the money should not only be saved in the US Bank but should be used to benefit people of the country.

However, everyone in this country has a right to know how the money is being executed and allocated; the people's money should be used for the people but it should also be based on appropriate plans and programs. We wait 

CTF report to hand over in Bali - TP

Pending confirmation from Indonesia, the final report of the Timor-Leste/Indonesian Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) is set to be handed over on 15 July 2008 in Bali, Indonesia. "We agree on the data, 15 July but still waiting for Indonesia's confirmation," said The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Zacarias Albano da Costa. The Timor-Leste and Indonesia Commissaries will directly give the final report to the Presidents of Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

UNMIT - July 7, 2008

JSMP says Horta wrong over amnesty law - TP

The Non-Governmental Organization, Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP), has said that they consider the President's plan for the amnesty law to be a mistake. The Acting Director of JSMP Casimiro dos Santos said that the amnesty law, approved in the Presidential Cabinet, has taken away criminal responsibility of those directly involved in the 2006 crisis. JSMP stated that while the court still lacks human resources, it is good to allocate the budget for such programs to solve such cases as those of the 2006 crisis.

Xanana says petitioners' payment in final process - DN

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said that the payment process for the petitioners is in its final stages. " I am surprised at Major Tara: we have fed them [petitioners] and supported them, and now he [Tara] is talking to the media with no direction; the pension is in the final stages of being processed," said PM Gusmao on Friday (3/7) in Bairo Formosa, Dili.

Editorial: Good for Xanana to respond in Parliament - STL

PM Xanana stated that he is ready to respond in Parliament to Fretilin's allegations that there was corruption, collusion and nepotism (CCN) in the process to give the contract for the rice distribution.

The accusation is based on the contract letter with the PM's signature to give the contract to a single source, the Tres Amigos Company, to buy and provide rice. "I am ready to respond and discuss the process of the contract," said the PM.

Is it true that the process of contract should be considered as CCN? The PM said that he signed the contract to respond to people's need as there is no rice in most places. Many are starving. The opposition party is pressuring the Government to immediately take action. In this kind of atmosphere, what should be the priority? The legal process or people's need? Of course, people's needs.

Here is a question to consider: is the rice sourced from here? If the rice has been distributed to those who are starving and everyone buys it, is this CCN? The process of granting the contract cannot be classified as a CCN, even though it did not follow the legal process - the position taken by the PM is for the necessity of country, not for himself, his family, or for any party. But, the PM should go to the Parliament to respond to the allegations that are daily getting bigger.

UNMIT - July 4, 2008

Ambassador Klemm: AMP and Fretilin should reconcile - STL

Ambassador of the United States in Timor-Leste Hans Klemm is asking the leaders of the Alliance Majority in the Parliament (AMP) and opposition group Fretilin, AD and PUN to continue reconciliation to guarantee peace, security and prosperity for the people of the nation.

The Ambassador believes that, in general, the Government institutions are functioning well in the country, but emphasised the importance of the leaders working together to guarantee peace and stability.

"I see that democracy functions in the National Parliament because the opposition demonstrates that it functions," said Ambassador Klemm on Thursday (3/7) in Pantai Kelapa, Dili.

The Ambassador also said he appreciates the discussion by the MPs of the State Budget in NP and noted that the opposition group has shown their capacity by contributing constructive criticism.

TL-Australia sign MOU to improve security, justice system - STL

The Government of Timor-Leste and Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) related to security and justice in Timor- Leste.

The MOU signed by the Secretary of State for Security Francisco Guterres and the Minister of Interior of Australia Bob Debus, was witnessed by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, Ambassador of Australia in Timor-Leste, Minister of Justice and other members of the Government on Thursday (3/7) in the capital's Government Palace.

Minister Debus visited Timor-Leste to meet PM Gusmao to discuss security, particularly the work of the National Police of Timor- Leste (PNTL) and other subject matters related to justice.

The main objective of Debus' visit is to see directly the assistance of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to PNTL through the program of PNTL development.

"I feel happy to visit Timor-Leste and witness the signing of the project plan to widen language training, general education of the police and executive management of PNTL," said Minister Debus.

Xanana gives rice contract to CNRT vice president - TP

The rice contract PM Xanana's AMP Government made with the Director of Tres Amigos Ltd. and also the Vice President of CNRT Germano da Silva stirred polemics within the opposition party, Fretilin and some MPs from the CNRT party itself.

The two parties (Fretilin and CNRT MP) said that the contract which was directly signed by PM Xanana Gusmao as the President of CNRT giving authorization to his Vice President, shows bad administration and indicates collusion, corruption and nepotism (CCN).

The contact shows that procurement has given the amount of US$4M and 80 thousand – US$14M. The contract lletter was issued from the Ministry of Finance, not the Office of Prime Minister.

CNRT Member of Parliament Cecilio Caminha said that the amount of money is larger than the budget for food security proposed by the Government to the National Parliament.

"I just want to say that the amount of money for food security of 2008 as proposed by the Government is only US$4M. This means that it does not correspond. The Government has to explain the process used," said MP Caminha.

Separately, Fretilin's MP Arsenio Bano said that these actions by PM Gusmao with his friend Germano, is an indication of CCN and goes against the people.

"I do say it is CCN as we all know that Mr. Germano was the Cabinet Chief for President Xanana. Now, he is the Vice President for Xanana of CNRT. What I do not know is if the amount is bigger than what has been proposed by the Government or if NP approved it or not," said Mr. Bano.

Xanana to kick out corrupt minister - DA

PM Xanana Gusmao said that as the Chief of the Government, he is ready to kick out ministers who are corrupt, but those who accuse should provide evidence of the corruption.

"If the evidence is provided now, I will give one month to any minister to defend himself in the court," said PM Gusmao on Thursday (3/7) in response to information that some ministers have encountered corruption.

Former member of Alfredo imprisoned in the preventive prison - RTL, STL and TP

The hearing process conducted by national judge Guilhermino da Silva and attorney Felismino Cardoso, Dili Court decided on preventive prison for Caetano Valente because it was evident that he was involved in the attack on President Horta on 11 February 2008.

After the hearing, Felismino Cardoso told TVTL that the decision from the judge was just and adequate because there was strong evidence that the accused broke the regulation of UNTAET no 44.7/5/2000, article 64 regarding attempted murder and penal code 338 regarding the use of weapon and military uniforms.

At the same time, the advocate of the accused, Laura Valente Lay, said she was not satisfied with the decision from the judge and she is going to submit an appeal to the Court of Appeal to move against the decision from Dili Court.

According to news, the accused Caetano was immediately delivered by NDI police to preventive prison in Becora after the hearing process.

FMTL denies being supported by political party - TVTL

Front Mahasiswa Timor Leste (FMTL) denied the statement from NP that they had been supported by any political party during the demonstration last month.

Through a press conference in Caicoli yesterday, Front Student of Timor Leste which is composed of students from UNTL and UNDIL declared that they were not supported by any organization or political party during the demonstration which took place for two days on 11 to 12 June 2008.

Apart from that, they also continue to disagree with National Parliament members who want to buy 65 luxurious cars for all deputies.

Furthermore, they stated that they will ask the President of Republic to veto the proposal of ratifying budget when it is approved and to play the video in which the NP on 12 June agreed with FMTL not to buy 65 cars.

In addition, they threatened to undertake a hunger-strike in front of National Parliament.

F-FDTL to recruit 300 new members this month - TVTL

After participating in the launching ceremony of the construction of F-FDTL training centre in Metinaro, Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak informed that the recruitment this year will give priority to those between the ages of 18 to 30 years old.

"Probably, from 15 July onwards we shall distribute the form to all young people in thirteen districts and the criteria will be written in the form. For those who want to be officials, we will recruit those men aged 30 years old and the maximal standard of education is a master's degree," explained Taur.

According to plan, the recruitment process will take place in the education centre of F-FDTL in Metinaro - Dili.

215 families of IDP return home - TVTL

Two hundred and fifteen families of IDPs in the Police Academy office returned to their respective houses.

Yesterday (3/7), those IDPs who have been occupying the Police Academy since 2006 crisis decided to return to their places.

At that time, State Secretary of Social Assistance and Natural Disaster Jacinto Rigoberto de Deus said the process of reintegration was a contribution for the Government to solve the problem of this country.

"You really contribute and participate in the development of this nation. Based on your decision, the Government is ready to attend to and integrate all of you to your homes", said Jacinto.

Given the opportunity, the IDPs questioned the security for them and asked the Government to compensate them for their goods that had been destroyed during the 2006 crisis.

UNMIT - July 3, 2008

India ready to train F-FDTL - TVTL

The Indian Government has declared its readiness to assist Timor Leste by training the F-FDTL. Captain Paban Gohan from the Indian Naval Contingent yesterday met with the State Secretary of Defence Julio Tomas Pinto in the Government Palace. During the meeting, they talked about the intention of the Indian Government to enhance the naval capacity of F-FDTL by training them in India. However, a formal agreement has not yet been signed.

"During the meeting they asked me about cooperation and I said that Timor Leste is ready to cooperate with any country. We do not care about different backgrounds or ideologyI told them that the first thing we neeed to do is formalize this military cooperation by signing a Memorandum of Understanding," said Mr Pinto.

Population hands over arms - TVTL

Early this week, people from Baucau voluntarily handed over illegal arms to the local policy. The weapons included rakitan, grenades, magasen and munitions. According to PNTL Spokesperson Inspector Moises Amaral the arms were voluntarily handed over by community members last Tuesday at 14:30 p.m. in Kelekai, aldeia Osoleru. Mr Armaral thanked the community in Osoleru on behalf of the PNTL for their acts of good faith in handing over the weapons and asked all people in all districts to follow this example.

2687 families return home, 16 IDP camps closed - STL

During this year, the AMP Government has returned home 2687 families who had been living in 16 IDP camps. The big IDP camps that have not closed yet are Aero Porto, Metinaro, Dom Bosco, Obrigado Barracks among other small camps spread through Dili. According to the plan of the Ministry of Social and Solidarity, Aero Porto Camp will be closed at the end of the month.

Recruitment preparation depends on accreditation - STL

The General Commander of F-FDTL Taur Matan Ruak has said that the recruitment process taking place this month for new F-FDTL members will be based on an accreditation system. During his meeting with President Ramos-Horta on Wednesday (2/7) TMR informed the President about the preparation within F-FDTL on the recruitment process.

FMTL threatens to demonstrate over cars for MPs - TP

The Front of Timor-Leste Students (FMTL) will be back to the streets to demonstrate the plan to purchase luxury cars for MPS. The FMTL Spokesperson, Xisto dos Santos, said that if the National Parliament does not cancel its plan to buy cars then a great demonstration and campaign will be held throughout the country.

UNMIT - July 2, 2008

Horta: Early election, if people are not happy - TP and STL

President Jose Ramos-Horta said there is no reason to have an early election as the nation is going well and people are happy with the Alliance Majority in Parliament's (AMP) Government.

"It is a subject that I am not thinking about right now as the nation is going well. If the Government is not working well then there should be a new election for the government," said PR Horta in Farol, Dili.

Commenting on criticism that there is corruption in the AMP Government, PR Horta said that such criticism was also raised about the previous Government. According to PR Horta, PM Xanana is dedicated to Timor-Leste and will establish an anti-corruption commission in Timor-Leste.

Carrascalao supports Xanana debate with Alkatiri - DA

President of Social Democratic Party (PSD) Mario Viegas Carrascalao has given his total support to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao for a public debate with the former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri about the accusation of corruption, collusion and nepotism (CCN).

"If I were the Prime Minister, I would accept to have the debate with Alkatiri as it is good for the public to know whether it is right of wrong it depends on Prime Minister Xanana, he accepts or not," said Mr. Carrascalao on Monday (30/6) in the National Parliament.

Mr. Carrascalao said that he supports the debate. "If people accuse us, it is better to open ourselves and defend our position rather than keeping quiet then others will say that we recognize our guilt," added Mr. Carrascalao.

Alkatiri recives good governance award in Lisbon - DA

Although the former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri does not want to "show-off" about the award he received, the President of KOTA, Manuel Tilman announced that the Mr Alkatiri was awarded with a Good Governance Award in Lisbon.

"I was present when the Secretary-General of Fretilin was awarded with a Good Governance Award in Lisbon. The hall was full with important persons in Portugal," said Mr. Tilman in a press conference held in Dili.

However, Mr. Alkatiri's remained quiet and only said that the international community recognizes the petroleum funds of Timor- Leste. "I do not want to say that I got the award because others will say that I also got money. I just want to say that Timor- Leste has recognition from the international community on the law of petroleum funds," said Mr. Alkatiri.

UNMIT awards medals to 141 GNR - DA

United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) through its Special Representative of Secretary-General (SRSG) Atul Khare awarded medals to 141 officers of Formed Police Unit (FPU) from Portugal (GNR) on Monday (30/6) in the Headquarter of GNR in Caicoli, Dili.

The award medals directly assisted by President Ramos-Horta, Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato, ISF Commander James Baker, Acting Police Commissioner Juan Carlos Arevalo and the Director of Police Academy of PNTL Carlos Geronimo.

"I want to congratulate the GNR members who provided security in critical [time] after the attempt of February 11. I just want to think back that as a police, should be critical to guarantee security and guarantee the security for the leaders," said SRSG Khare.

Separately, the Commander of GNR Joao Martinho said that the awarded medals are very important and special to the 141 GNR members to think and continue dedicate their services for the peace.

The overall security situation in the country remains calm when GNR with the people maintain the security in the country. Commander Martinho also said that GNR is also providing academic formation to PNTL during three months about tactics in taking anticipation to the law and order.

PSD-CNRT not preoccupied with Xavier's decision - TP

The AMP bench, including ASDT in the National Parliament, stated that they are not preoccupied with the statement of ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral who feels sorry in forming AMP and supporting an early election.

ASDT's Chief of bench Joao Manuel Carrascalao stated that the position of the ASDT in the National Parliament is clear; to support the AMP. "As we all know that we continue to support the AMP as many things have gone well. It is too early to judge that AMP is doing nothing and I don't agree with what is said by our president [Mr. Xavier]," said Mr. Carrascalao.

At the same time, the President of PSD Mario Viegas Carrascalao said that his party is not worried with the decision of the ASDT president about a deadline to the AMP Government.

Editorial: Xavier's reason for deadline on government unclear - STL

ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral has given a deadline to the Government to improve its political plan in two months and resolve the problems of the county.

At the same time Fretilin President Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo also said that his party will shout at the Government that using money with no direction is not using money for people. "The political statement of the leaders of these two parties is very strong but when we analyze deeply the statements have no clear reason.

Yes, the majority of the people are still suffering and this condition is not created by the AMP Government but is continuation from the past; AMP's Government does not add poverty and suffering for the people."

No indication of corruption in the Ministry of Justice - DA

The investigation which was undertaken by Provider of Human Rights and Justice proved that there is no corruption in the Ministry of Justice. With reference to the allegation of corruption by the Provider of Human Rights against the Ministry of Justice, Lucia Lobato stated there should be an urgent investigation undertaken.

Lobato said that when the result of the investigation does not indicate any corruption she will react against the Provider of Human Rights. In response to this statement, Provider Sebastiao Dias Ximenes said Minster Lucia Lobato has no competency to act against him because it was not Provider of Human Rights making the allegation. He added that Minister of Justice should act against the media and those who report the case because they got the report from media and some other sources.

No transparency of replacement of Baucau administrator - DA

The District Administrator of Baucau Luis Aparicio Guterres a plan by the Ministry of State to nominate another person to substitute him is not transparent because Minister of State does not keep his promise. On 10 June 2008 the Ministry of State sent him a letter to discharge him from his position as district administrator.

In relation to this, Aparicio said it is hard to abandon his position because he really loves this nation and young people of Baucau, but as a civil servant he has to accept the decision from Ministry of State. According to Mr Guterres, there is no transparency from the Minister of State Arcangelo Leite because on 29 May 2008 when he was inaugurated, the Minister stated he fully supported him.

University in TL to be accredited in next week - DA

The Minister of Education, Joao Cancio Freitas said yesterday in Liceu that universities in Timor Leste which fulfil the criteria will be credited this week. According to Joao once arrangements have been finalised, the results of universities that qualify will be announced at a press conference by the Prime Minister.

At the same time, Joao Cancio appealed to all parents and students, especially those who are studying at a secondary school, to enrol at the qualifying university. He added that ministry of education does not forbid the students to enrol at any university but they have to see whether the university is qualified or not.

LuFretilin's flags to fly until an early election - TP The president of Fretilin Lu-Olo confirmed that the Fretilin flags flying across the country shows the negative sentiment of communities against the AMP government. "An early election must be conducted because the majority of communities are unhappy. The AMP does not know how to govern, they have no programs, no plan and no projects". Lu-olu said it is not true that young people are paid $50 for each flags.

James Baker: ISF to continue work with PNTL and UNPol - TP

The FSI commander James Baker said after attending the medal ceremony for the UN's GNR that the ISF will cooperate with UNPol and PNTL to maintain law and order in Timor-Leste. "We have sent our soldiers to every district so we hope that with our presence may contribute to peace, stability, prosperity and success in this state".

Baker added "after 11 February attack the situation is under control, not only because of the the PNTL, UNPol and the ISF cooperation, but because of good and strong contribution from the societyl," he said.

PNTL ready to take over security responsibility - TP

The commander-designate of PNTL Afonso de Jesus yesterday said "PNTL are ready to follow their duties to set security to secure this state. "If UNPol will handover their duties for us (PNTL), but I (Afonso) ask to UNPol that before handover their mission they need to pay attention to some districts that still suffer from violence - it is tthere where the PNTL still needs to be accompanised by UNPol".

The PNTL still faces some problems about lack of logistics, places, and transportation but as Timorese we try to cooperate with the government to strengthen the security for this state. Every problem that the PNTL faces, such as transport and equipments is temporary; in 2009 the government will approve funds to complete it," said Afonso.

[Compiled by the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT). Abbreviation of media sources: DL - Diario Nacional, RTL - Radio Timor-Leste, STL - Suara Timor Lorosa'e, TP - Timor Post, TVTL - Televisao Timor Leste.]