RI, TIMOR LESTE EXPRESS REMORSE OVER DILI ATROCITIES

By Andi Abdussalam           Jakarta, July 15 (ANTARA) - The governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste in Bali on Tuesday expressed deep regret over the gross human rights violations committed during and after the referendum that led to the secession of East Timor from Indonesia in September in 1999.          The two governments expressed  their regret in a joint statement signed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his  Timor Leste counterpart  Ramos Horta,  and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in Bali on Tuesday.          Both governments signed the 14-point joint statement after earlier on the day receiving a final report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) set up by both governments to collect facts on alleged human rights violations in East Timor and to help restore the relations between the two countries.          "We would like to express our deepest regret over the past violence that has claimed so many lives and material loss," President Yudhoyono said after receiving the final report from the CTF at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Tuesday.          The Indonesian government will study and take follow-up steps with regard to the CTF recommendations and take initiatives to improve the friendship between the peoples of Indonesia and Timor Leste.          Meanwhile, Timor Leste President Ramos Horta said his government would study and discuss the report, and carry out the CTF recommendations. "We agree to carry out the recommendations as far as possible," Horta said.          In response to the recommendations and other initiatives suggested by the commission, a joint ministerial commission will  formulate an action plan.          The report, leaked to several media organisations including AAP in Australia last week, said that Indonesia bore responsibility for the violations, which included mass murder, rape and torture.          It also said that the pro-Indonesia militia groups, the Indonesian government, military and police "must all bear an  institutional responsibility for the  gross human rights violations  against civilians".          But the report said pro-independence groups in East Timor also committed gross human rights violations, including illegal detentions, for which that country also owed Indonesia an apology.          The Commission was opposed to a controversial option of  granting an amnesty to the perpetrators, saying it would not be in keeping with "its goals of restoring human dignity, creating the foundation for reconciliation ... and ensuring that violence would not recure".          In response to the report,  National Defense Forces (TNI) Chief Gen Djoko Santoso said he was ready to face the possible consequences, if it was true that the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship had declared the TNI institutionally responsible for the human rights violations in East Timor.          "I still don't know (about CTF's statement) but if the TNI as an institution is held responsible, I will be accountable. I have just returned from Lebanon, so I have not yet seen the (CTF)'s formulation," he said at the Merdeka Palace last week.          But Santoso did not explain in what way he would live up to his responsibility. "I still don't know what the (CTF's) has actually said. When I have received it, we will consider in what way we will show our responsibility," he said.          In the meantime, retired General Wiranto, who was the TNI chief  during the 1999 East Timor polls, said the East Timor case was already settled and closed.          "All army generals who were suspected of involvement in the East Timor riots had been tried by an extra-ordinary military tribunal and all of them were found not guilty," he said on Tuesday.          He said that should the case be taken to an international tribunal, he should first wait for the decisions of both  governments.          "We leave it to the governments of both nations and we are of the opinion that there were no mistakes at that time and all were done by the book," Wiranto said.          According to the CTF report, the Indonesian military, police and East Timor government officials were at the time involved in every stage of activities that led to gross human rights violations, including murder, rape, torture, extra-judicial arrests, and forced deportation of East Timorese. The pro-independence militia committed acts of violence during the referendum in 1999.          But the report  said that  pro-independence groups in East Timor also committed gross human rights violations - namely illegal detentions - and that state must also it is sorry.          Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said human rights violations in East Timor were the responsibility of the governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste. "Joint responsibility is one of the principles that should be put forward or be taken as  basis for responding to the report of the CTF," the defense minister said in a working meeting with TNI commander Gen. Djoko Santoso on Monday.          In this case, both sides would not look into the past too long in their attempt to find the truth and justice. "So, there should be no words of apology but an expression of deep regret which is to be conveyed by both presidents to their respective peoples," he said.          He said that what was found by the CTF was a matter of restorative justice whose nature was to restore both nations' relations and peoples, so that both sides should not go too far to question matters done by both countries in September 1999.          The CTF report referred to the principle that both sides had committed gross human rights violations in East Timor. "This must be underlined because media reports in Australia mentioned as if it was only Indonesia which had committed human rights violations in East Timor," he said.    (T.A014/A/HNG/A/E002) 15-07-2008 22:38:42