Refugees skeptical over CTF report

Yemris Fointuna ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Kupang   |  Fri, 07/18/2008 11:17 AM  |  Headlines

East Timorese refugees in East Nusa Tenggara have given a cold reception to the truth commission report over human rights abuses surrounding the 1999 referendum on the territory's independence.

The report by the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) says both Indonesian and East Timorese forces committed gross human rights abuses during the 1999 turmoil, but leaders of the two countries have agreed not to take the case to any courts of justice.

CTF submitted the report to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Ramos Horta in Bali on Tuesday.

"The report won't change anything as far as we're concerned," said Maria Gomes, a refugee in Betun, Belu regency. "What counts is that both countries have admitted wrongdoings and look forward to a better future."

Maria is one of an estimated 100,000 mostly pro-Indonesia East Timorese who fled to Indonesia's West Timor in the wake of the 1999 violence that left more than 1,000 people dead.

Maria, whose two children live in the Timor Leste (formerly East Timor) capital of Dili, said any worsening bilateral relations would take a toll on common people like herself.

She hoped leaders of both countries would pardon perpetrators of the rights violations.

"Why is it so hard to admit past mistakes and openly apologize?" she said.

But Florencio Mario Vieira, spokesman for the pro-Indonesia group Uni Timor Aswain, was of the opinion the report undermined the reconciliation process between pro-independence and pro-integration groups.

"Has Japan apologized to Indonesia for enslaving us during World War II? Why does the CTF lay the blame on Indonesia for the 1999 atrocities and not on the UN that triggered the mayhem?" asked Mario.

Many of the refugees, who live in poverty with no international aid, are indifferent about the report -- which has triggered controversy elsewhere.

"I don't care about the report," said Antonio de Sarmento, who lives at the Haliwen refugee camp in Atambua.

"I would rather make a living than talk about the past. My heart sinks any time I remember the atrocities. My brother was murdered by pro-independence vigilante and the incident has never been investigated."

Pro-Indonesia figures like Sarmento say they feel cheated by the United Nations Mission in East Timor, accusing it of manipulating the referendum results in favor of the pro-independence camp.

Eurico Gutteres, the only former pro-Indonesia militia leader jailed along with former East Timor governor Abilio Soares by an Indonesia ad hoc human rights court, was outraged at the CTF report.

"Will they (the Indonesian and Timor Leste governments) ever apologize to me or other East Timorese whose families were killed brutally?" he asked.

Gutteres, who chairs the East Nusa Tenggara provincial chapter National Mandate Party (PAN), urged the UN to investigate gross human rights violations committed by Fretilin, an East Timorese pro-independence group, between 1975 and 1999.

"Don't treat Indonesia as a scapegoat," he said.

Dominggos Pareira, deputy commander of the pro-Indonesia militia Aitarak and now living at a refugee camp in Atambua, said the CTF report opened old wounds.

"It can be dangerous," he said.

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