| Subject: Indonesia
Vows to Avoid Int'l War Crimes Court
Jakarta Post December 08, 1999
Indonesia vows to avoid war crimes court
JAKARTA (JP): Foreign minister Alwi
Shihab said on Tuesday Indonesia would not allow its generals to be tried
overseas.
Responding to concerns from legislators
that top military officers may be subject to international humiliation and
trial abroad, Alwi said the government was doing its utmost to see that it
would not happen.
"We will try not to deliver the
generals to an international tribunal," he said during a hearing with
the House's Commission I on defense and foreign affairs.
The government would lobby various
parties to ensure that an international tribunal is not convened. He
pointed to a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as
one example.
Alwi said he also did not wish to see
Indonesia's generals hounded like criminals abroad.
"We don't want generals unable to
travel overseas and be arrested like Pinochet," he said, referring to
the former Chilean ruler who was arrested in England during a visit.
Indonesia has rejected the idea of an
international tribunal on East Timor and contended it can properly
investigate and try those responsible for violence in its former province
by itself.
Jakarta has set up its own inquiry headed
by lawyer Albert Hasibuan. In its midterm report the inquiry said
Indonesian Military officials knew of the abuses going on.
The Indonesian and United Nations's
inquiry team, headed by Costa Rican Sonia Picado, met on Monday to compare
notes and both agreed on the involvement of certain military officials in
the violence.
Separately, Indonesian Defense Minister
Juwono Sudarsono said on Tuesday he would not interfere with a judicial
process on human rights violations in East Timor as long as fairness and
impartiality could be guaranteed.
He said international accusations of
rights violations must be first proven through a legal process.
"There has to be a clear process of
evidence -- not just based on reported media developments, including news
from foreign countries, which has tremendous influence on public
opinion," he said.
Juwono underlined it was the Indonesian
team which "should be accepted to lead the agency in the inquiry
rather than the reverse".
"That is linked to our economic
interests because I believe that the degree of credibility in the
findings... will be sufficiently adequate to enable the UN Security
Council and secretary-general to decide on what level of punishment would
be adequate to address to Indonesia," Juwono said, adding that he had
met Picado on Monday. (jun/mds)
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