| Subject: Clearance
given to question generals over East Timor
Jakarta Post December 02, 1999
Clearance given to question generals over
East Timor
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Military (TNI)
Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. gave the green light on Wednesday to a
government-sanctioned inquiry to question top generals about their alleged
roles in the massive destruction of East Timor in September.
The chairman of the Commission for the
Investigation of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor, Albert Hasibuan, said
Widodo also agreed to help bring leaders of pro-Indonesia militia in East
Timor to Jakarta for questioning.
The militias have been blamed for the
campaign of terror and destruction that erupted after the Aug. 30 ballot
in East Timor. Albert's inquiry, however, corroborates allegations that
members of TNI were also involved in the mayhem.
"He (Widodo) does not mind if we
summon a number of generals. The chief also said he will facilitate the
questioning on militia leaders and TNI will fly militia leaders over
here," Albert told The Jakarta Post by phone after meeting Widodo.
Widodo, however, rejected the calls for
TNI to disband the militias groups in East Nusa Tenggara, Albert said.
"He (Widodo) said there is no
organizational link between TNI and the militia. He said, however, that he
did not want to see them use West Timor as their base," Albert said.
Most of the militias fled to Indonesia's
East Nusa Tenggara on the western half of Timor island when the
Australia-led international peacekeeping force arrived in East Timor in
mid-September to restore peace and order in the territory.
An overwhelming majority of East Timorese
voted to reject Jakarta's offer of sweeping autonomy in the ballot,
preferring to have an independent state.
The commission had earlier said that it
wanted to question Gen. Wiranto, who was the TNI commander and defense
minister when the ballot was held in East Timor, because of allegations
that the military was "directly or indirectly" involved in the
East Timor violence.
Other TNI officers it has listed for
questioning are former Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie
Sjamsoeddin; former military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar
Makarim; former East Timor military commander Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman;
and former Udayana military chief Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri.
Meanwhile, Australia estimated that the
death toll in the violent aftermath of East Timor's Aug. 30 self-rule
ballot at between 500 and 1,000, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was
quoted by AFP as saying on Wednesday.
Downer rejected claims that TNI and
militia members massacred tens of thousands of people and had dumped
thousands of bodies at sea, saying they would inevitably have washed
ashore eventually.
"This is an assessment that we would
make and the UN would make," he was quoted as saying.
"Believe me, if between 500 and
1,000 people die that's a terrible thing, that's a lot of people to die.
But on the other hand, it's not tens of thousands."
A parliamentary inquiry into East Timor
has been told that up to 80,000 people were still unaccounted for
following the militia rampage in which most of the population of the
territory were forced to flee their homes.
But Downer said the International Force
for East Timor (Interfet) had not been able to substantiate a large number
of killings and had so far verified only about 130 to 140 deaths.
He said he discussed the death toll with
the UN administrator for East Timor Sergio Vieira de Mello. "He has
the same impression that we do as well," he added.
If thousands of people had been killed,
Interfet would have found more evidence of killings by now, but up to
130,000 East Timorese refugees remained in East Nusa Tenggara and were yet
to return home, he said.
Although the explanation for what
happened to the tens of thousands of people still unaccounted for remains
a mystery, Australian officials believe it is more likely there was a
miscalculation of East Timor's preballot population. (byg)
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