Timor sleuth names torture officers
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.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/world/timor-sleuth-names-torture-officers-20080711-3dsb.html
Downer ‘tried to prevent Timor violence’
July 12, 2008
Former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer admits knowing the Indonesian army was behind outbreaks of violence at the time of East Timor’s independence vote, but says he and former prime minister John Howard tried their hardest to prevent it. The Age reported yesterday that a report to be released by the East Timorese and Indonesian governments accepts that Indonesian army, police and civilian government officials were directly involved in violence that was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians in the former Indonesian province in 1999. Writing exclusively for The Age today, Mr Downer says he and Mr Howard knew in early 1999 that TNI (the Indonesian army) was responsible for violence before and after the independence vote.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/national/downer-tried-to-prevent-timor-violence-20080711-3dsc.html
Timorese are best placed to judge; Alexander Downer; 12/7/08; http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/
Indonesia will accept blame
Mark Forbes; 12/4/08; http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/indonesia-will-accept-blame/2008/07/11/1215658130760.html
Indonesia says it will implement the recommendations of a new report that blames it for a systematic, murderous campaign of human rights abuses surrounding East Timor’s 1999 vote for independence. The report - leaked to the Herald - calls on Indonesia to accept responsibility for the brutality and urgently reform its military. A Foreign Affairs spokesman, Teuku Faizasyah, refused yesterday to be drawn on the damning conclusions, which his government will not formally receive until Tuesday, but said: “We will accept the report … and take steps to follow the recommendations.”
Tags: Australia, Indonesia, Report, TerrorismAdd new tag, Timor