Impunity Reigns in Indonesia

I don't know whether to be sickened by this or infuriated, but right now I feel both sickened and infuriated:

An Indonesian appeals court has overturned the convictions of three army officers and one policeman for crimes against humanity during violence in 1999 over East Timor's independence that left some 1,500 people dead.

The court has also reduced to 5 years from 10 years the prison sentence of Eurico Guterres, who led paramilitary gangs recruited by the Indonesian Army to suppress East Timor's independence movement. Mr. Guterres was convicted in 2002 but had been free pending the outcome of the appeal, as had the army and police officers.

The decisions, delivered two weeks ago but released only on Friday, may mark the end of legal processes against 18 people in all — 16 security officers and 2 civilians — indicted by an Indonesian human rights tribunal on East Timor.

So the entire process was really just a sham to take the heat off of Indonesia for their role in the atrocities there. Here is some of the reaction:

Hendardi, one of Indonesia's leading human rights advocates, called the verdicts "theater," and said the United Nations should establish an independent tribunal.

John M. Miller, a spokesman for the East Timor Action Network, a New York-based advocacy group, said the "whole process has been a farce."

Sam Zarifi, the deputy director of the Asian Department for Human Rights Watch, said: "For the enormity of everything that happened in East Timor, it's just a tragedy that it seems like that there will be no accountability for any of the people responsible."

Mr. Zarifi said the overturned convictions in particular had profound ramifications. "Because all the Indonesians are acquitted and only the convictions of the two ethnic East Timorese stand, Indonesia can perpetuate the fiction that the violence was only East Timorese against East Timorese," Mr. Zarifi said. He took the United Nations to task, saying the tribunal "was created under United Nations Security Council auspices, but now the U.N. has let this whole process fall apart."

Steven L. Pike, a United States State Department spokesman, said the United States was "dismayed" by the appeals court decision and "profoundly disappointed" with the Indonesian process over all.

"With this appeals decision, the court has convicted only 2 of 18 defendants," he said. "Both individuals convicted are ethnic Timorese civilians and received sentences below the 10-year minimum set by law. We believe the overall process was seriously flawed and lacked credibility."

What Indonesia did in East Timor amounts to terrorism: deliberate assaults on a civilian population to intimidate and terrorize the population after the affirmative vote for independence. If you are as outraged as I am, I urge you to write your congressional representative and senators and urge them to deny Indonesia any aid until those responsible for the crimes against humanity there are held to account for their acts. Not a dime.

Comments

[Alan]

Indonesia's modern history has several instances of genocide. The estimate of half a million killed during the anticommunist pages in 1965-6 exceeded eve the killing in East Timor where 25% of the population died during Indonesian rule. Indonesian rule in the autonomous provinces of Aceh and West Papua is distinguished by gross and consistent violations of human rights.