Row over East Timor massacre report

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· President accuses authors of 'grandiose idealism'
· Decision not to publish alarms rights activists
The East Timorese president, Xanana Gusmao, yesterday presented to parliament the long-awaited report of the nation's Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission but criticised many of the key recommendations and accused the commissioners of "grandiose idealism". Mr Gusmao recommended that the 2,500-page document not be made public, implying that it would not be in the national interest to do so.

Commissioners and human rights activists reacted with dismay, accusing the former hero of the resistance struggle against Indonesia's 24-year oppressive rule of cowering before "certain interests", both domestic and international, rather than prioritising the people's desire for justice.


East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed the following year, a move never recognised by the United Nations. Some 200,000 people were killed during the occupation before it won its independence in a UN-organised referendum in 1999. The commission, established in 2002, was tasked with looking at all killings during the occupation, including the several thousand committed by Timorese. One of its key recommendations was that East Timor should pursue justice for the victims by prosecuting the alleged military atrocities.

Mr Gusmao told parliament - according to an official English translation obtained by the Guardian - that rather than seeing the prosecution of Indonesian soldiers as the way to justice, "the best justice, the true justice, was the recognition by the international community of the right to ... independence". The commission conducted scores of town hall meetings and took more than 8,000 statements. Aniceto Guterres, the commission chairman, told the Guardian that the majority of people they talked to wanted to see the perpetrators brought to justice and the victims to receive compensation. "That's what we found; that people want justice," he said. "We knew people weren't going to like our findings and accept them but we didn't work to make certain people happy, we worked to reveal the truth about what happened."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/indonesia/Story/0,2763,1653104,00.html

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1. I did some work with ETAN back in the day

so this is a matter close to my heart.

That said, I think Truth and Reconciliation should be focused on just that, and while the atrocities committed by the Indonesian Army should be recognized, I think there is little to gain in tracking down and prosecuting the perpetartors at this point. The report should be made public, but follow up prosecutions are pointless, and will only increase division.