08/21/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10081

EAST TIMOR ACQUITTALS

Indonesia’s Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal for East Timor has handed down its first verdicts. Six of the seven defendants were acquitted. Because the verdicts are subject to appeal, United States officials have not commented on the specifics of the cases. But it is clear that the prosecutors did not make full use of evidence from the United Nations and other sources of the atrocities committed in East Timor.

The defendants include Indonesian military officers and others accused of allowing massive violence in the wake of the August 1999 referendum in which East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence. Hundreds of people were killed by pro-Indonesian militias, and thousands of homes and other buildings were destroyed. To escape the violence, large numbers of East Timorese fled into the Indonesian province of West Timor. Order was eventually restored by a multinational force authorized by the U-N and led by Australia.

As the U-N administration took hold, East Timorese refugees began to return to rebuild their country and prepare for independence. In August 2001, a constituent assembly was elected to draft a constitution. On May 20^th of this year, East Timor became an independent nation. In its first act, East Timor’s parliament voted to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and apply to join the U-N.

Indonesia has also moved in recent years from authoritarian rule to democracy. As U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Indonesia on August 2^nd, "We believe that democracy. . .will provide a better life for people that is based on values -- values enshrined in beliefs about human rights that are applicable to all men and women." The U.S. is committed to building closer relationships with both Indonesia and East Timor. But the foundation of any democracy is respect for the rule of law.

Indonesia’s establishment of the Ad Hoc Tribunal for East Timor was a major step toward punishing those guilty of atrocities. But the Indonesian government should build on this by mounting effective and credible prosecutions of the cases in East Timor, making use of the wealth of available evidence to bring to justice those guilty of atrocities. The U.S. stands ready to help.