The Indonesian government reiterated Thursday it would not prosecute the alleged perpetrators of rights abuses that occurred in Timor Leste when it was under its rule, defying fresh calls from rights groups for justice to be served, a decade after the bloody 1999 independence referendum.
Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said both countries had agreed to investigate past human rights cases through the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF), and although both sides acknowledged that rights violations had occurred in the former Portuguese colony, both decided not to proceed to prosecution.
"Indonesia and Timor Leste are sovereign countries, and given our friendship and reconciliation, we have agreed not to prosecute the rights violators," Faizasyah said.
"The aspiration of the people of Timor Leste is now to enjoy the benefits of the development programs of their government."
Timor Leste, formerly known as East Timor, was invaded by Jakarta in 1975 following the withdrawal of the Portuguese, and became the country's 27th province. On Aug. 30, 1999, the B.J. Habibie administration held a referendum in which the majority of East Timorese opted to secede from Indonesia.
Amnesty International on Thursday called on the UN Security Council to set up an international criminal tribunal to investigate rights violations committed in Timor Leste between 1975 and 1999, including the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in which hundreds of people were reportedly killed.
The London-based rights group said in its report released Thursday both the Indonesian and Timor Leste governments had failed to investigate and prosecute crimes over the last 10 years, and therefore the UN should make a "long-term comprehensive plan" to end impunity for those responsible.
"Such a tribunal should be able to intervene and ensure justice in some representative cases and act as a catalyst for national justice in others," said the report, titled "We Cry for Justice: Impunity Persist 10 Years On in Timor Leste".
All 18 defendants tried by the ad hoc Human Rights Courts have been acquitted in proceedings criticized as being fundamentally flawed, the report said.
"Despite national and internationally sponsored justice initiatives, the people of Timor Leste continue to be denied justice and reparations," said Donna Guest, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific deputy director.
Rafendi Djamin, coordinator of Indonesia's NGO coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy, said it would be difficult for the UN to create an international criminal tribunal on Timor Leste, because it already had the International Criminal Court (ICC), established in 2002.
"I think the Amnesty report serves as a reminder that there are responsibilities that the Indonesian and Timor Leste governments have not yet fulfilled," he said.
The report, based on a mission to Timor Leste in June, said, "It was difficult for victims to understand, for instance, how Gen. *ret* Wiranto, the then commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces during the 1999 events, remained at large and was even a vice presidential candidate in the July 2009 presidential elections in Indonesia.
