Thursday, July 17, 2008
Discourse: World Community Should Back RI on CTF Report
Source: The Jakarta Post

The Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) on Tuesday submitted a report on the 1999 carnage in East Timor (now Timor Leste) to the presidents of the two countries. The report blamed the Indonesian government, military and police for gross human rights violations during the violence that destroyed East Timor before, during and after the 1999 independence vote. Although Indonesia accepted the report, it refused to launch legal action against the perpetrators. The Jakarta Post's Abdul Khalik talked to Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda after the report's submission in Nusa Dua, Bali, about possible international reactions.

Question: What makes Indonesia think the CTF report will solve the problem?

Answer: Actually, efforts and processes to obtain prosecutorial justice both in Timor Leste and Indonesia have not been totally absent since the violations took place.

We have an ad hoc human rights tribunal that tried those accused of perpetrating human rights violations in East Timor, while in Timor Leste they have the CAVR (Timor Leste fact-finding team) and, especially, the UN Special Crimes Unit that did the same.

So, to some degree, we have tried to seek justice. But whether we like it or not, the fact is this is unsatisfactory both in the eyes of the local and international community. There are problems with credibility and fairness. Thus, there are efforts to establish an international tribunal to retry the alleged perpetrators.

I think political transition in both Indonesia and Timor Leste when the emotion was still high played a key role in weakening the prosecutorial justice process in both countries during that time. In the end, prosecutorial justice could not solve the problems.

So, this is about choice. Not an easy one, but we have to make a choice. We decided together to solve the problems by establishing the CTF through a nonprosecutorial approach.

Gross human rights violations are crimes against humanity that could be tried internationally. Why do you think the bilateral agreement between Indonesia and Timor Leste will stop the international community from taking action to prosecute those involved in the violations?

We have to make a choice. Either we want to stay silent or do something. We decided to do something to heal wounds and then strengthen relations and friendship between our two nations.

In other words, we were forced to choose either peace or justice --- in this case prosecutorial justice. We chose peace.

At the international and bilateral levels we recognize there was a recommendation from the UN Commission of Experts that pushed for the establishment of an international human rights tribunal.

But we are the ones facing the problem so we -- Indonesia and Timor Leste -- will solve the problems between ourselves based on our own version.

Many have criticized that since the power relations between Indonesia and Timor Leste are unbalanced -- Indonesia is a much bigger and stronger country than Timor Leste -- Indonesia bullied its neighbor into complying with the establishment of the commission.

It's totally untrue. We are both sovereign countries which can make decisions based on our own interests. Leaders of both countries discussed this together and took that decision together. Timor Leste and Indonesia were very aware of the choice that we both took.

When I and (then Timor Leste foreign minister, now president) Pak Jose Ramos-Horta flew to New York to meet with the UN secretary-general and other leaders prior to the establishment of the CTF, it was not me who explained enthusiastically to those leaders about the need for us to solve our problems with our own methods, it was Pak Ramos-Horta.

So, there was no power play -- let alone bullying -- as Timor Leste also was every aware of the crucial ends the CTF would bring to it and to its bilateral relations with Indonesia.

Right from the time Timor Leste became an independent nation, we have showed our good intention to respect and support the young nation. This way, we can gain its trust and maintain close relations.

Also, when we wanted to directly apologize, as we know we need to, the Timor Leste leaders said they did not allow us.

How do you convince the international community to accept those arguments?

On Dec. 22, 2004, a week after leaders from both countries agreed to establish the CTF, I and Ramos-Horta went to New York to meet the UN secretary-general and to Washington to meet (then) U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell to explain our arguments.

We used the example of apartheid in South Africa. You see, if we compare apartheid and the East Timor mayhem in terms of scale, duration and victims, apartheid was larger in scale and much longer, and claimed many more lives.

But the international community could accept the solution taken by South Africa in the form of truth and reconciliation without prosecutorial justice, without others getting in the way.

So, what is the different here? We, both as sovereign states, decided to find the solution we thought was best for our own countries. We want the international community to understand and hopefully support our decision.