No Peace without Justice in East Timor

The governments of East Timor and Indonesia have now received the much delayed report of the Commission for Truth and Friendship, a non-judicial body set up by them to, supposedly, gather the true story of what happened during the 1999 referendum writes Progressio's Catherine Scott.

Although it's some crumb of relief to victims and human rights workers who have been accompanying the quest for justice in East Timor that the worst perpetrators have not received the amnesties they had been hoping for, and that blame has been pointed at the Indonesian security forces who were the chief culprits, we should not lose focus on the real consequences of this latest failure to tackle the root causes of impunity in the region. The senior Indonesian military planners of the campaign of killing and destruction which preceded and followed the 1999 'popular consultation' have either retired on comfortable pensions or have been promoted and moved to places where they are at liberty to continue their murderous persecution of other peoples who never sought to belong to Indonesia, namely the West Papuans.

Throughout 1999, the Indonesian forces of occupation did their best, using violence and intimidation, to manipulate the vote on whether or not the East Timorese people would reject continuing autonomous status within the Indonesian state resulting in over 1400 deaths, and the destruction of 70% of East Timor's infrastructure. In reality, the Truth and Friendship process which culminated in today's report was designed to head off the UN's own investigations, conducted in 2005 by the Commission of Experts, who recommended that an international tribunal be set up to deal with the most serious organisers of the violence. Indonesia had, through its own judicial processes, set out to - and succeeded in - exonerating a number of senior army and police figures through its own sham trials in 2002.
 
And still the East Timorese victims of their crimes struggle to come to terms with their suffering, and perpetuate the climate of violence they became accustomed to under 24 years of Indonesian repression.  The bitter divisions which led to mutiny in the national army have their legacy in Indonesian divide and rule tactics. It's no accident that Dili's youth is segregated into violent gangs who attack one another and wreak havoc on ordinary communities. When they see members of their own society who were manipulated by the Indonesian army released early from custody for their own murderous crimes, they can draw their own conclusions about the consequences (or rather lack of them) of their own errant behaviour. This, far from allowing a society to move on, simply buries under the carpet the poisonous consequences of unresolved conflict, moving ever into the future, any possibility of communal reconciliation. 
 
In 2002, the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) was mandated with the task of documenting the consequences of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. It produced a thorough and impressive report, and a set of recommendations that challenge both the Indonesian and Timorese governments to set in place measures that will avert future tensions. Chief among them, and the hardest nut to crack is addressing the culture of impunity that still has such sway in the Indonesian army. Yet both governments have ignored the report, as has the UN Security Council, as have Western governments who turned a blind eye to the original invasion of East Timor, and supplied weapons to the Indonesian army, such as Britain.

It is this second report, rather than the Commission for Truth and Friendship's findings, which needs serious study and implementation. We in Britain could begin by looking at the recommendations aimed at our own government, not least the demand for an apology for the succour we offered Indonesia in the 1975 invasion. Britain should also support, in the Security Council and elsewhere, discussion of the CAVR report, as well as international judicial action that will ultimately bring the chief architects of the 1999 killings to justice according to international standards. Finally, there is a very real need for material assistance in Timor to help deal with the huge capacity deficit the country now grapples with as a result of 24 years of neglect.

Catherine Scott is Progressio's Regional Manager for Asia and joint author of 'Independent women: The story of women's activism in East Timor'.