Bali (AsiaNews) – Public hearings of a controversial bilateral Truth and Friendship Commission are set to start today in Bali, Indonesia. The commission was set up to investigate atrocities in the period leading to East Timor’s independence from Indonesia. Between 1999 and 2002, local militias backed by the Indonesian army killed around 1,500 Timorese and displaced 250,000.
The commission launched by Jakarta and Dili in March 2005 includes 10 members from both countries, including lawyers, human rights activists, academics and religious leaders.
Former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas, will be the first witness to testify before the commission and in the days to come, another six witnesses will appear, including survivors of violence perpetrated at the time and former members of armed groups. In the first hearings, however, important protagonists of that historic time will not be present, like East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao, former Indonesian president BJ Habibie and the then bishop of Dili Mgr Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo. The three men, who should have appeared as witnesses, pleaded technical or health reasons to justify their absence while expressing the desire to “participate in future hearings”.
The Truth and Friendship Commission is considered by many to be a farce to keep the international community happy while at the same time not allowing human rights matters to wreck the “good relations” between Dili and Jakarta. The commission does not have the power to legally prosecute those found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity but can offer them amnesty. In the past, the Catholic bishop of Dili, Mgr Alberto Ricardo da Silva, had warned that the commission did not enjoy popular consensus. He reiterated the need to set up special and independent courts to try past crimes, as advised by the United Nations. Human rights organizations say the work of the commission will only serve to perpetuate a culture of impunity for serious abuses that accompanied East Timor’s acquisition of independence.