Temp0: RI-Timor Leste: Confronting the Past

Tempo
No. 22/VI
Jan 31-Feb 06, 2006

Opinion

The Problem of Coming Clean

Xanana Gusmao has reported human rights violations in Timor Leste to the United Nations. Unfortunately, Indonesia is not big enough to accept the report.

IT was predictable that Timor Leste President Xanana Gusmao's statement on human rights violations in Timor Leste by Indonesia would fail to cause much of a stir. At the United Nations headquarters in New York, he rejected the recommendations of the Acceptance, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CAVR) that requested
the international court to set up a special panel to investigate and try those responsible for human rights violations in his country. He also made it clear that he believes in prioritizing reconciliation and friendship with Indonesia. He said that was more important than looking for justice over the 1965 to 1999 violence in East Timor, when it was officially Indonesia's 27th province. The CAVR is a body set up by the UN and the Timor Leste government.

The commission's recommendations are critical. In the 2,500-page document, Indonesia is accused of involvement in more than 1,000 human rights violations, causing the deaths of 183,000 people. And Indonesia is said to have used napalm to sweep East Timor clean after the annexation. Napalm was used by the United States in the Vietnam War.

The reaction from Indonesians was one of contempt. Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono denied that napalm was used. The former leader of the pro-Indonesia East Timor militia, Eurico Gutteres, asked the UN to also look at human rights violations committed by Fretelin, the organization founded by Xanana during the war. Politicians from the House of Representatives asked the government to take firm steps against Timor Leste, including an embargo of products going there. Protests also came from the Governor of the National Defense Institute, Muladi, who as a lawyer defended the generals accused of engineering the violence in East Timor. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono even canceled a planned meeting with Xanana because of the recommendations.

It is not difficult to guess why Xanana took this conflicting stance: allowing the Timor Leste government and the UN to issue the report, but rejecting its recommendations. From the beginning, Xanana has committed himself not to bring cases of human rights violations to court. In the Truth and Friendship Commission-set up by the
Indonesian and Timor Leste governments-he clearly stated that the two nations wanted to use the peaceful path when taking a stance on the recent history involving the two nations. Xanana knows the way things stand, and does not want to cause problems for Indonesia because economically, his nation very much needs its "big neighbor." The main reason for his journey to New York is that he holds a mandate to report the CAVR's findings to the UN. He also has to take into account other political forces in Timor Leste who want him to be tougher on Indonesia.

Therefore Indonesia does not have to fly into a rage and become defensive-like someone who feels he is in the wrong. The CAVR's recommendations-even more so with Xanana's gentle statement-do not mean that Indonesia's generals are going to be dragged into court. The member states of the UN will discuss whether they will act on these recommendations or merely take note of them. Their implementation would depend very much on the wishes of the Timor Leste government itself. Good and dignified diplomacy with Timor Leste will lessen the desire of our neighbor to make an issue of human rights abuses there.

Even if a court is set up, we should use the best lawyers in Indonesia to fight on the international stage. Indonesia's image in the eyes of the world? With or without the CAVR's recommendations, the 1975 annexation of East Timor is known to the world as a dark time. The world would respect us more if we accepted that and
admitted the wrongdoings we committed.