| Subject: Indon general
manipulated ETimor militia to back political aims Indonesian general manipulated ETimor militia to back political aims
SYDNEY, Nov 24 (AFP) - Former Indonesian military chief
General Wiranto orchestrated the post-referendum militia violence in East Timor to back
his own political ambitions, an Australian magazine said Wednesday.
Citing secret military intelligence documents, The Bulletin
portrayed Wiranto as "an intensely ambitious and ruthless military commander"
who viewed events in East Timor as providing a stepping stone to his ultimate aim of
ruling Indonesia.
The documents left no doubt that despite denials at the
time by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer the Australian government was "fully aware
of the duplicitous role" of the Indonesian military (the TNI).
But the magazine said the greater import of the secret
Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) documents was their assessment of the likely
future role of Wiranto.
Wiranto was also defence minister when the East Timor
crisis flared in the aftermath of the UN-backed referendum on August 30 when the East
Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence.
"Wiranto's strategy has been derailed by the defeat of
Megawati Sukarnoputri's bid for the presidency," it said.
"The game plan was for him to be vice-president. That
setback may well prove only temporary as the DIO's concerns come to pass."
One of the documents, prepared six weeks ago, warned of
Wiranto's "resurgence" over the next five years, saying that this would likely
be met with violence.
The report was the third this week revealing new evidence
that violence was planned at the top level of the Indonesian military.
Another of the documents dated January 6, established that
the terror campaign was planned as a military campaign originating in Jakarta.
It said the military recognised that violence against
pro-referendum groups would attract international criticism and deflect this it decided to
contract out its security responsibilities to the militia, "giving it a free hand in
the use of force."
The reports coincide with the arrival in Australia of a
United Nations commission appointed to investigate the numerous atrocities committed by
the militias and the TNI in East Timor during September.
More than half its population of around 800,000 people were
driven from their homes into refuge, deported to Indonesian West Timor or killed during a
campaign of terror and destruction by the army-backed militias.
The five-member commission headed by Costa Rican jurist
Sonia Picado was due to meet former UN mission in East Timor (UNAMET) head Ian Martin in
the northern city of Darwin before travelling to Dili on Thursday.
Downer said the government had been aware of TNI complicity
and had made 120 separate representations to Indonesia on its failure to live up to its
obligations on East Timor this year.
He said Canberra was constantly unconvinced by assurances
given by the Indonesians, and argued that everything the government did through the year
on the crisis in East Timor had been appropriate and correct.
"We had a large number of sources of information,
different analysts have written different things and put forward different ideas and
advice," he said.
"I think our judgments were constantly good.
"But we never had confidence in the capacity of the
Indonesian military to live up to their responsibilities and that is why the Australian
government put the army together in Darwin, to be prepared to move into East Timor if we
had to."
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