UNTAET
head Sergio Vieira de Mello says he has had to beg for adequate
resources to investigate Indonesia’s crimes, which leaves many
wondeirng whether the suffering visited on the East Timorese weighs
heavily enough on the world's collective conscience to force the hand
of an international tribunal. The forensic and serious crimes units,
"are minimal compared to what we had in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Rwanda,"
says de Mello. Put differently, 800,000 dead in Rwanda or the geo-political
importance of the Balkans compels the UN to action, while 1,100 dead
on a distant island are more easily ignored.
Since East Timor’s independence, Indonesia has democratically
elected its first president in over 40 years, the reformist Muslim
scholar Abdurrahman Wahid. He has struggled to remove the Indonesian
military from politics, and was hoping to use East Timor prosecutions
against his military opponents when he came to power. But this agenda
has been complicated by the fact that most Indonesians view the independence
of East Timor as a national humiliation. Newspaper editorials reflect
a widely-held belief that the leading militia leader, Eurico Guterres,
and his like are "national heroes" who risked their lives
fighting for their country. Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri,
unarguably the most popular politician in the country and the one
who holds Wahid’s political fate in her hand, named Guterres
the head of her political party’s student wing. Further, Indonesian
human rights experts widely expect Sukarnoputri — as the forgone
successor to the presidency — to halt any progress towards East
Timor prosecutions when she assumes power. As Wahid’s
health and his authority throughout the archipelago declines, it becomes
increasingly obvious that he is struggling against formidable political
factions opposed to his push for accountability.
In this contentious context, there is considerable uncertainty regarding
the Indonesian government’s willingness and ability to prosecute
those responsible for the atrocities in East Timor. Recent months
have shown strong indications that the government is more interested
in appearance than action. After an evidence-gathering trip to East
Timor, the Indonesian Attorney General’s office released a list
of 22 suspects, including head militia leader Guterres. Former Armed
Forces Commander General Wiranto, who enjoyed a very close relationship
with former dictator Suharto, was found "morally responsible"
for the events in East Timor by a government commissioned human rights
inquiry. In spite of this, however, Wiranto was not included on the
list of war crimes suspects. In what seems to be a horribly misconstrued
attempt to demonstrate its commitment to prosecution, the Indonesian
government has put Guterres on trial, not for any crimes committed
in East Timor, but on a weapons charge stemming from an incident in
the refugee camps of West Timor, where he still wields significant
power. Indictments of any of the named suspects seem extremely dubious.
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