Mission & Justice

Lindsay Murdoch; 12/7/08

An Australian investigator has named Indonesian military officers responsible for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999, including acts of torture in which victims were forced to eat their own ears. David Savage delivered a key report to the Indonesia-East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission that was scathing of Indonesian authorities who have for years denied responsibility for violence that left at least 1400 Timorese dead. Mr Savage says in the report, which has been obtained by The Age, that there was “an explicit policy by the Government of Indonesia, at least the military branch”, to use and support militia groups to intimidate, coerce and even kill civilians in favour of rejecting Indonesia’s rule at a UN-supervised referendum.

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Step Vaessen; 29/5/08

The torture scars on the body of 23-year-old Julius Meage are stark reminders of a grim past.
While much of Indonesia has moved on to become a vibrant democracy, the province of Papua in the far east of the archipelago has been left behind. Suharto, Indonesia’s former strongman president, stepped down 10 years ago, but the legacy of his often harsh rule continues to be felt here. In June last year, Meage, a resident of the small town of Wamena in the highlands of Papua, was locked up in the house of a local military officer after being accused of stealing the equivalent of $30. “They pulled out my nails and started to burn my body with a candle. My genitals and tongue were severely burned,” he says. These claims have never been officially investigated, but are nevertheless fuelling many Papuan’s desire for independence.

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