The Indonesian High Court absolved high-ranking officers of committing crimes against humanity, writes Damien Kingsbury* When Indonesia told the United Nations that it would assume responsibility for the prosecution of those involved in the killing of more than 1,500 people in East Timor in 1999, most observers understood this meant that few, if any, of those responsible for the crimes would spend time in jail. It is rare that events are as predictable. The Indonesian legal system had a long history of protecting the military from meaningful sentencing, especially given that the military must be tried in its own, usually very sympathetic courts. Further, the "nationalist" fervour whipped up by the military over the "loss" of East Timor in 1999 after it voted to secede meant that any negative decision against the army or police would be construed as tantamount to subversion. In this environment, the outcome of the few trials that were held did not bode well for an independent or judicially sound judgment. As events have finally transpired, some five years later, not one single Indonesian of the 18 originally charged will spend time in jail. Of these 18, observers noted that none of the senior generals who sanctioned or organised the violence were among the defendants. Just two East Timorese, who now claim Indonesian citizenship, have been jailed with one, militia leader Eurico Guterres, having his sentence reduced by half. The rationale for his reduced sentence was that it compensated for the "loss" of his homeland. Former East Timor governor Abilio Soares was sentenced to three years imprisonment. He claimed that his own sentence showed he was used as a scapegoat for the Indonesian military. "Someone has to be sacrificed and I was chosen to be the scapegoat," he said. "Justice in this country is reserved for powerful people and people who have money." Of the original 18 defendants who appeared before a Jakarta ad hoc human rights tribunal, just six were found guilty of abuses in East Timor, sparking international claims that the tribunal was a sham. Three of them are active military officers: the former military commander in East Timor, Major-General Adam Damiri, his then deputy Noer Muis, and the former Dili district commander Soedjarwo. The fourth Indonesian to be acquitted, Hulman Gultom, was the head of the Dili police at the time. They remained free pending the outcome of their appeals. All appeals have now been upheld by the High Court and the convictions overturned. The decision confirmed belief by numerous human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and other observers that Indonesia's senior military personnel will remain unpunished for gross human rights abuses. The decision to overturn the four convictions follows the Indonesian Constitutional Court's ruling against the application of retrospective legislation on terrorism, in response to the Bali nightclub bombing of October 2002, in which 202 people were killed and many more injured. The UN had initially wanted to try those responsible for the 1999 killings in East Timor. However, pressure from the Indonesian military, the TNI, on the government of Abdurrahman Wahid, means that no Indonesian officer would be returned to East Timor to face charges there. In an arrangement that appeared fatally flawed from the outset, the UN agreed not to pursue sanctions against Indonesia if it agreed to prosecute the offenders under Indonesian law. President Megawati Sukarnoputri only established the court in July 2001 under international pressure and then imposed tight restrictions on its scope. One of those restrictions was that no one could be investigated for any offences committed before April 1999, which precluded any hope of justice for the deaths of at least 160,000 of a population of around 650,000 people in the tiny territory since 1975. Another restriction limited charges to offences committed in just three of East Timor's 13 provinces. The specific attacks investigated include the killing of at least 22 people in a church in Liquica, 12 at the home of independence supporter Manuel Carrascalao, 46 in the diocese of Dili, 10 at the residence of Bishop Carlos Belo and a further 25 at a church in Suai. In each case many more were known to have been killed. Not surprisingly, after the murder, violence and intimidation perpetrated by the Indonesian military and its proxy militias, most East Timorese who were witnesses to the atrocities in 1999 were too scared to come to Jakarta for the trials, many fearing for their lives. Indonesia's senior military officers deliberately set out to heighten those fears by appearing in the courtroom when the trials began on 14 March and publicly supporting the accused. The Indonesian government has further discouraged witnesses from East Timor by refusing to pay their costs. A number of witnesses, however, have defied these attempts to block them and given often chilling evidence. Even before the proceedings began, however, it was clear that the trial was being staged largely for show rather than to bring those responsible for the rampages in East Timor to justice. None of the military top officers, including former armed forces chief General Wiranto were being charged, even though there was considerable evidence of their direct involvement. Wiranto was later indicted for war crimes by a UN supervised court in East Timor. There are some in East Timor, such as President Xanana Gusmao, who simply want to put the past behind them. They also recognise they cannot afford to anger the powerful Indonesian military. But many ordinary East Timorese feel that justice has been denied to them, and they remain angry at the outcome. * The writer is a senior lecturer in international development at Deakin University, Australia.
