Denpasar, On 18-24 May 2006 The Commission of Truth and Friendship Indonesia-Timor-Leste held meetings with national and international experts to collect inputs from these parties in carrying out its mandate and to gain wide support to the CTF. The intention of the meetings is to also enhance Commission’s credibility and effectiveness.
The Commission is currently reviewing documents as well as matching and corroborating the reports of SPSC (Special Panel for Serious Crimes), CAVR (Commission of Reception, Truth and Reconciliation), Ad-hoc Tribunal Jakarta and KPP-HAM (Commission of Inquiry for Human Rights Violation). Therefore, the Commission had invited speakers namely Dr. Longuinhos Monteiro, Attorney General of Timor-Leste, Robert Evans, Director Plowshares Institute of USA, Fachrul Razi, former Deputy Commander of TNI (Indonesian National Army), Muladi, Governor of National Defence Institute (Lemhanas) and expert of criminal law, to speak before the commission at its 12th meeting in Denpasar, Bali.
On 18 May 2006, Longuinhos Monteiro presented a paper on the investigation and accusation of human rights violation before, immediately and after the referendum following UNTAET Regulation 15/2000 and 16/2000. Mr. Monteiro described the process of investigation on the crimes against humanity by the Special Panel for Serious Crimes Unit and the process of lodging indictments against members of militia, police and military who were involved in the human rights violation in 1999. The crimes occurred in 1999 include; murder, deportation, destruction were systematically committed.
From 2001 to 2005 the Special Panel Court has indicted 391 indictees either inside or outside the jurisdiction of Timor-Leste, among which 84 of those living in Timor Leste have been convicted.
“The Special Panel for Serious Crimes had concluded that all events occurred before, immediately and after the referendum of 1999 was carefully planned and designed in advanced”. said Monteiro.
On 19 May 2006, Prof. Dr. Robert Evans presented a paper on the successes and failure of Reconciliation Commission including the challenges and obstacles in establishing a credible and effective Commission. Mr. Evans highlighted that a credible Commission must engage THE civil society and all components of society in open dialogue. He further advised the successfulness of a Commission must fulfil several points as follows: notion of trust, good faith in truth-seeking, acknowledgement of responsibility and restorative justice (holistic approach). In order to achieve it, the Commission is advised to focus its mandate on victims (victim-oriented), vulnerable groups and perpetrators of the victimized system.
He expects that the final recommendation of the Commission should include also “non-occurrence events in the future by reforming institutions which were part of the past”.
On 22 May 2006, Fachrul Razi former Deputy Commander of TNI presented a paper on the policy of the Indonesian military (TNI) since the 2 options on referendum were offered by President B.J. Habibie until the period after referendum in East Timor. He described the preparatory phase of TNI before and during the referendum. During the referendum period, according to him, TNI was impartial towards the 2 parties by allowing foreigners to visit East Timor and cooperating with the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission to monitor human rights development in East Timor.
He further elaborated the role and policy of the TNI during the referendum period. The TNI was fully accountable and committed to the tripartite agreement of 5 May 1999, he said. However, it could not be materialized since the pro-autonomy group was not satisfied with the outcome of the referendum, added Fachrul.
On 24 May, 2006, Prof. Dr. Muladi delivered his presentation on the human right violations in East Timor 1999 from the aspect of Indonesian criminal law as well as on the issue of command responsibility from the aspect of international law. At the end of the presentation, he proposed the commission to reveal the conclusive truth in order to achieve reconciliation since the Jakarta’s Ad Hoc Tribunal proved to have not been successful in providing a satisfactory outcome to the trials of the perpetrators of human right violations 1999.