APSN East Timor News Digest 9 - September 1-30, 2009

Tiny East Timor on Wednesday signed a UN treaty to protect the Earth's fragile ozone layer, making it the first environmental pact to achieve backing from all 196 member states, the United Nations said.

The Montreal Protocol is designed to phase-out man-made chemicals that damage the planet's ozone layer, which shields life from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun that can cause skin cancer, cataracts and reduce plant yields.

The pact has been so successful that the UN says 97 per cent of all ozone-depleting substances controlled by the 1987 protocol have been phased out.

Substances being phased out have been widely used in refrigerators, air-conditioners, fire extinguishers as well as solvents for cleaning electronic equipment and include chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, halons and methyl bromide.

East Timor, formerly part of Indonesia and just to the north of Australia, is one of the world's youngest nations.

The director of the UN Environment Programme, Achim Steiner, said without the pact, levels of ozone-depleting substances would have increased tenfold by 2050. This in turn could have led to up to 20 million more cases of skin cancer and 130 million more cataract cases. Some of the same gases also contribute to climate change.

"By some estimates, the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances has since 1990 contributed a delay in global warming of some seven to 12 years underlining that a dollar spent on ozone has paid handsomely across other environmental challenges," Steiner said in a statement.

The UN says global observations have verified that atmospheric levels of key ozone-depleting substances are going down.

[Reporting by David Fogarty; Editing by Tomasz Janowski.]

Timor ratifies opposition to US blockade, support of Cuban five

Cuban News Agency (CAN) - September 9, 2009

Havana – The President of East Timor's National Parliament, Fernando La Sama de Araujo, ratified on Tuesday his country's opposition to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the US government against Cuba.

"The government of East Timor continues to oppose this unilateral measure and demands its lifting," the visitor told ACN in this capital. In another moment of his statement, the head of East Timor's Parliament thanked Cuba for the valuable help it's currently giving to his country.

After describing bilateral relations as very good, he said that Cuba is giving the people of East Timor "what it needs in the health and education sectors, which are essential spheres for the nation's future", he affirmed.

"I'm here to thank the Cuban people and government for that solidarity and to explore possibilities to expand relations between the two countries," stressed La Sama de Araujo, who is on an official visit to the Caribbean island.

Likewise, Fernando La Sama de Araujo, demanded the release of the five Cuban antiterrorists unjustly incarcerated in the United States.

At the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples in Havana, the visitor met with the relatives of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Rene Gonzalez -The Five, as they're known internationally- who on Saturday we'll have been imprisoned 11 years, serving arbitrary and harsh sentences.

He said that he understands and shares the suffering of these brave men and their loved ones, since he was in prison for six and a half years during the times in which his homeland was occupied and he struggled for its independence.

We know that both The Five and their relatives are facing an unjust situation, but they're not alone, because they have friends all over the world, he affirmed.

La Sama de Araujo said that this is a political case and that US President Barack Obama can and should adopt the decision of releasing these prisoners, since they have not committed any crime.

He pointed out that The Five are heroes before the Cuban people and the world, above all for those who love peace and the truth. On behalf of Jose Ramos Horta, President of the Republic of East Timor, and of the country's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, I once again express our solidarity, he reiterated.

Adriana Perez, Elizabeth Palmeiro, Rosa Aurora Freijanes and Olga Salanueva, the wives of Gerardo, Ramsn, Fernando and Rene, respectively, and Mirta Rodrmguez, Antonio Guerrero's mother, gave the President of the Parliament from East Timor details on the development of this falsified legal process.

Balibo inquiry

Balibo inquiry worries Indonesia

Sydney Morning Herald - September 25, 2009

Brendan Nicholson, Foreign Affairs Correspondent – Indonesia's ambassador has asked the Australian Federal Police to explain why they are investigating the killings of five Australian-based journalists at Balibo 34 years ago.

Primo Alui Joelianto said he rang the new AFP Commissioner, Tony Negus, yesterday to discuss the investigation.

"I just wanted to seek clarification of why he took the decision to start the investigation," Mr Joelianto said. Mr Negus explained to him the investigation was based on information referred to the police by the NSW Coroner. "It's the legal process," Mr Joelianto said. "We can understand that."

The ambassador said the Indonesian Government was concerned about the investigation. "It cannot be beneficial for our relations," he said.

Mr Joelianto said Indonesia would not send its citizens to Australia for trial. The men were killed a long time ago, he said, and Indonesia had considered the case closed.

Mr Joelianto said the Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, was right to say that while relations between his country and Indonesia were very strong the dangers to that relationship were complacency and surprises. "I agree with him."

Mr Joelianto stressed he was not trying to intervene in the case and said Indonesia respected the investigation as part of the legal process. After his conversation with Mr Negus, Mr Joelianto met the AFP's assistant commissioner for border and international Affairs, Kevin Zuccato.

In September, Mr Smith said the Indonesian Government was "somewhat surprised" to hear the AFP was investigating the Balibo killings.

In November 2007 the NSW Deputy Coroner, Dorelle Pinch, found the Balibo Five were executed by Indonesian forces to stop them revealing details of Indonesia's invasion.

Two Indonesians named in the inquest were Yunus Yosfiah, who is now a retired general, and another soldier, Christoforus da Silva. Ms Pinch found there was strong circumstantial evidence the five were killed on orders by the head of Indonesian Special Forces, Major-General Benny Murdani, to Colonel Dading Kalbuadi, Special Forces Group Commander in Timor, and then to Captain Yunus. Murdani and Kalbuadi are dead.

Indonesia claimed the five were killed in crossfire during the battle for the town.

Australia told to resist Indonesian 'blackmail' over Balibo probe

Agence France Presse - September 17, 2009

A leading press freedom group has urged Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to resist Indonesian "blackmail" over a war crimes probe into the 1975 deaths of five Australia-based journalists.

Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) wrote an open letter to Rudd late on Wednesday warning that the world was watching Australia's investigation of the "Balibo Five", who were killed during Indonesia's occupation of East Timor.

Australian police last week announced they had launched a war crimes probe into the deaths, nearly two years after a Sydney coroner ruled they had been deliberately murdered by Indonesian forces to keep the invasion secret.

The surprise move prompted Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to warn that such an "inaccurate mindset" could damage relations with Jakarta, which considered the case to be closed.

Rudd has dismissed the comments as "bumps in the road" in Australia's sometimes fraught relationship with neighboring Indonesia.

Jean-Francois Julliard, RSF secretary-general, said Yudhoyono's "hostility" was contrary to international justice and called on Rudd to take a strong stance.

"We urge you to find the political, diplomatic and judicial means to bring the perpetrators and instigators of this multiple murder to justice," Julliard wrote.

"We urge you, prime minister, not to yield to Indonesian diplomatic blackmail, which for too long has resulted in your country remaining silent on this matter."

Coroner Dorelle Pinch in 2007 said Indonesia's military had murdered the five – Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie, Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart and New Zealander Gary Cunningham.

RSF said Pinch's inquiry "clearly showed Indonesian army officers committed war crimes", including Yunus Yosfiah, who rose to become the country's information minister in the late 1990s.

The journalists were killed in the East Timor border town of Balibo as they covered the Indonesian invasion that led to a 24- year occupation of the former Portuguese colony.

Jakarta has always maintained the reporters died in crossfire as Indonesian troops fought East Timorese Fretilin rebels, a version of events accepted by successive Australian governments.

Anti-terror ambassador says Balibo probe won't hurt ties

Australian Associated Press - September 16, 2009

Sydney – An Australian investigation into the deaths of five Australian-based journalists in East Timor will not undermine anti-terrorism links with Indonesia, Australia's Counter Terrorism Ambassador says.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) last week announced it would launch an official war crimes investigation into the 1975 deaths of the five journalists in the East Timorese border town of Balibo.

The announcement came almost two years after a NSW coroner concluded they had been deliberately killed by Indonesian forces and has ruffled the feathers of Indonesian authorities.

But William Paterson, appointed Australia's ambassador for counter terrorism in 2008, said the working relationship between the AFP and its Indonesian counterparts was robust enough to withstand the investigation.

"The Australian Federal Police have developed a very good and quite enduring relationship with their Indonesian counterparts, and I think it is understood on both sides how effective that has been in dealing with the terrorist threat," Mr Paterson told an audience at Sydney's Lowy Institute on Wednesday.

"I think that can probably sustain a fair amount of pressure, which will come not simply through the Balibo issue, but through other issues as well."

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has also said the investigation would not impact on the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

However, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said the decision to investigate such an old episode was backward- looking.

For three decades, successive Australian and Indonesian governments have claimed the five journalists were accidentally killed in crossfire.

In a wide-ranging speech on counter terrorism in the Southeast Asian region, Mr Paterson said that while Indonesia had been successful in blunting Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the terrorist group behind the Bali bombings had been able to regroup.

Mr Paterson said the bombings of Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz- Carlton hotels on July 17 this year shattered hopes that terrorism had been contained by Indonesia in recent years.

Of major concern was fugitive terrorist mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top, whose JI splinter group is suspected of carrying out the July hotel bombings that killed seven people, including three Australians.

"He appears to have had little difficulty in recruiting supporters, including those prepared to seek martyrdom as suicide bombers," Mr Paterson said.

"He also appears to be able to draw on a network of sympathisers who offer safe haven in his continuing evasion of justice.

"Noordin appears to have upped the stakes. The 17th July bombings may have been an attempt to demonstrate to al-Qaeda Noordin's capability in an attempt to secure the status of an al-Qaeda affiliate, with the advantages that might bring in recruiting (and) funding."

Al-Qaeda backing would "magnify" his reach across the region, Mr Paterson said.

Top is also suspected of organising the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, the 2003 attack on Jakarta's Marriott Hotel, and the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta.

Mr Paterson warned that conditions across South-East Asia were ripe for terrorist recruitment, with democratisation providing a space for extremist organisations, the internet offering a platform for radical views, and poverty and unemployment fostering support.

He urged the international community, including Australia, to continue development assistance to the southeast Asian region to ameliorate the socio-economic issues that lead to radicalisation.

"If you're a young person in southern Thailand, or poverty- stricken rural Java, and have no access to a decent education which will get you employment and a stake in your society, then you're likely to be pretty dissatisfied and pretty susceptible to an extremist message," he said.

Rudd clears air with Yudhoyono to head off rupture on Balibo

The Australian - September 15, 2009

Dennis Shanahan and Stephen Fitzpatrick – Kevin Rudd has been forced to make plans with Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to avoid any diplomatic rupture caused by the Australian Federal Police's inquiry into possible war crimes in East Timor.

The Australian government was caught with little time to cushion the impact on Australian-Indonesian relations of the investigation, announced by new AFP Commissioner Tony Negus only days after his appointment.

The Prime Minister spoke to the Indonesian President by phone on Sunday and the two leaders agreed to co-operate to ensure disruption in the sometimes turbulent Australian-Indonesian relationship was minimised.

A spokesman for Mr Rudd said the two "agreed to find ways to manage this question in a way that least affected the bilateral relationship".

But there has been criticism of the AFP's decision in Jakarta and last night Indonesia's military said it would refuse to co- operate with Australian police in any inquiry into the killings of five Australian-based journalists in Balibo in East Timor in October 1975.

In 2007, a NSW coroner ruled that the killings of the so-called Balibo Five were likely to have been a breach of the Geneva Conventions, and referred the matter for further investigation. Last week, soon after being sworn in, Mr Negus announced a criminal investigation into allegations of war crimes, following testimony at the inquest into the death of one of the five, Brian Peters, that Indonesian military officers ordered their killing during an invasion of East Timor.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith contacted Jakarta before the public announcement but Mr Rudd spoke to Dr Yudhoyono on Sunday.

Last night Indonesian Air Vice Marshal Sagom Tamboen said there had been no formal request for assistance from the AFP, "and hopefully there will be none, because for us the problems of Indonesia and East Timor are in the past".

"This was the decision of the Indonesian and East Timorese governments when they accepted the Truth and Friendship Commission report, that it was done with," he said.

That report, handed down in July last year, found that Indonesia bore "institutional responsibility" for the violence in 1999, immediately after East Timor's independence referendum.

However, it also allowed Jakarta and Dili to resolve not to launch prosecutions on the basis of any evidence given to the commission, which prompted the UN to withhold its support from the five-year inquiry.

Air Vice Marshal Tamboen said the Balibo inquiry was purely a domestic affair for Australia. "If they want to investigate this, they must do it as an internal matter," he said. "What help is there remaining for us to give? We've done with it."

One of the two men named in the report of NSW Deputy Coroner Dorelle Pinch last year was retired army captain Yunus Yosfiah, who rose to become information minister in the post-Suharto years. Both he and the other man named, Christoforous da Silva, were members of Indonesia's special forces in 1975.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said yesterday that, while the granting of visas for any AFP officers to conduct inquiries in Indonesia would be a question for the immigration department, he would be "surprised" if it occurred.

Australia's 'Balibo' film may not reach Indonesian viewers

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2009

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The Indonesian government may prohibit the Balibo movie being screened here as it may be deemed "offensive".

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Friday that neither he nor any other government officials had seen the film but, based on media reports about the controversial film, it was likely to offend the public.

"I don't think the censorship agency will allow such an offensive film to be shown in this country as it will open up old wounds," he said at a press briefing. "We have to ensure that the interests of the larger community are being served."

Balibo depicts the brutal killing of five foreign journalists by Indonesian soldiers during the invasion of the then East Timor in 1975.

Directed by Australian Robert Conolly, the movie was released two months before the Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced it had reopened the investigation into the deaths of the five journalists, known as the Balibo Five.

The Indonesian and Australian governments had concluded that the journalists, two of them Australian, were accidentally killed in the crossfire and considered the case closed.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, however, promised the families of the slain journalists, during his 2007 federal election campaign, that he would resolve the case.

Balibo is based on a book written by Jill Jolliffe, who witnessed the first incursions of the military into the Balibo territory and reported the death of her five colleagues. She moved to Portugal in 1978, but continued to follow the story of the Balibo Five for more than 30 years.

Historian Clinton Fernandes from the University of New South Wales' School of Humanities and Social Sciences, who acted as a consulting historian for the film, said Connolly was committed to historical accuracy.

"(The five journalists) were killed deliberately on orders that emanated from the highest levels. Their corpses were dressed in uniforms, guns placed beside them, and photographs taken in an attempt to portray them as legitimate targets," Fernandes said on his website.

The film premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in July. There is a possibility that it will be screened at the annual Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest) in December.

JIFFest festival manager Nauval Yazid said the festival had not finished selecting movies but acknowledged that Balibo was among them. "I haven't received any official notification from the government about the banning of the film," said Nauval.

Film Censorship Institute (LSF) chairman Mukhlis Paeni refused to comment on the Foreign Ministry's statement. "I can't give you any comments before I see the film," he said.

In 2006, the LSF banned four films at JIFFest: The Black Road about the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and three about Timor Leste, namely Tales of Crocodiles, Passabe and Timor Loro Sae.

Government to ban 'Balibo' as Australian police begin new probe

Jakarta Post - September 11, 2009

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The government is considering banning an Australian film that tells the story of five foreign journalists who were killed by Indonesian soldiers during the invasion of East Timor in 1975, calling the film "offensive".

Since Balibo, directed by Australian Robert Conolly, was released two months ago, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have surprised Jakarta by announcing it has reopened its investigation into deaths the journalists, known as the Balibo Five. Both the Indonesian and Australian governments had previously concluded the reporters were killed in crossfire.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said neither he nor any other government officials had seen the film, but that based on reviews he said it was likely to offend the public.

"I don't think the censorship agency will allow such an offensive film to be screened in the country, as it will open old wounds," he told reporters.

The film is based on a book written by Jill Jolliffe, who witnessed the first incursions of the Indonesian military into Balibo, and reported the deaths of her five fellow journalists. She moved to Portugal in 1978, but has continued to press for justice for the Balibo Five for more than 30 years.

Yudhoyono: Balibo Five probe a step in wrong direction

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2009

The Australian Federal Police's decision to investigate the "Balibo Five" incident in East Timor in 1975 is a backwards step that could harm relations between Australia and Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Thursday.

Yudhoyono, speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting at the presidential office, said the AFP's decision to launch the war- crimes investigation into the deaths of the five journalists was contrary to the spirit of ending the dispute between Indonesia and East Timor.

"This is not in line with our spirit to look to the future between Indonesia and East Timor to end all issues that disrupt the relationship between the two countries, which agreed to form the Commission of Truth and Friendship," Yudhoyono said.

The president added that at the time, Australia even agreed to the establishment of the CTF and worked to end the dispute by offering several recommendations.

"This is important, so the good or even great relationship between Indonesia and Australia isn't harmed by problems that might have arisen because of a mind-set or way of thinking that, in our opinion, is inaccurate," Yudhoyono said.

He also said Indonesia had been the victim of past abuses during the Dutch colonial period, but added that the country did not dwell on the past.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, meanwhile, said the nation could handle any diplomatic challenges posed by the probe.

"Our friends in Jakarta have been surprised by this because it's been quite a long time" since the journalists died, Rudd told the Australian Broadcasting Corp., noting the decision to investigate was initiated by independent police chiefs.

"But I believe we can manage these challenges. There are bumps in the road with most relationships around the world and I think we'll have to manage this one as well."

Yunus Yosfiah, who led the Indonesian troops into Balibo at the time of the killings, on Thursday refused to comment on the latest developments. "Please direct your questions to the defense minister. I don't want to talk about it," the former minister said.

The 65-year-old man served as information minister during the short-lived presidency of BJ Habibie and served as a lawmaker for the United Development Party (PPP) from 2004 to this year. He is now vying for a post at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

"Show me the files if you want my answer," Yunus said at the parliamentary compound shortly after attending a test for the BPK post. "I have talked about this so many times and I don't want to say the same thing again."

Separately, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono maintained the government's official position that the journalists were killed in crossfire between Indonesian forces and East Timorese Fretilin soldiers, because the Indonesian government and the Australian police had already been briefed on the matter.

"It is just that at any time there may be parties in Australia who reopened the case for local political consumption, usually NGOs, but this time it was the police," said Juwono.

He added that the case was only a local issue, as the families of victims and government officials had looked into the matter years ago.

Juwono added that when he served as ambassador to Britain, he met with relatives of some of the victims and explained that the individuals were killed by crossfire between the Indonesian Army and Fretilin.

"It is a part of an open political system where any state, party or official can open anything [they see as requiring an explanation]," he said. "It is a local issue and we should not respond." (Jakarta Globe and Agencies)

Indonesian anger at Balibo probe

Melbourne Age - September 10, 2009

Tom Allard Jakarta and Brendan Nicholson – Indonesia has warned that its relations with Australia will be harmed by an Australian Federal Police war crimes investigation into the 1975 slaying of five journalists in East Timor.

In a sharp official response to yesterday's announcement of the AFP probe, the Indonesian Government said it would not co-operate with investigators.

"We don't understand why past issues like this are being raised," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah. "It is not conducive to the bilateral relationship, especially when we are aiming at building something better between the two countries."

The AFP has confirmed that it began a formal probe into the deaths of the five Australian-based newsmen on August 20.

The announcement, which was applauded by relatives of the newsmen, comes almost two years after NSW deputy coroner Dorelle Pinch found they were executed in October 1975 by Indonesian Special Forces to stop them revealing details of the invasion of East Timor.

Indonesia insists the men were killed in crossfire during the battle for the town of Balibo.

The AFP probe is likely to focus on Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah, an army captain at the time of the killings, and another soldier, Christoforus da Silva. The NSW inquest was told that Captain Yosfiah ordered the murders under instructions from two superiors, both of whom have since died.

The AFP probe faces big hurdles, including whether Indonesia will allow the extradition of Mr Yosfiah and Mr da Silva. It is also still to be seen whether Indonesia, and the men's families, will allow exhumation of their remains.

The AFP said investigating war crimes allegations could be difficult where witnesses and evidence were overseas and where considerable time had passed since the killings.

The 2007 inquest focused on the death of one of the Balibo five, Channel Nine cameraman Brian Peters. Ms Pinch found Mr Peters was probably killed first, followed by his colleague Malcolm Rennie and Channel Seven's Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham and Tony Stewart.

Mr Yosfiah, who has denied ordering the killings, lives in Jakarta. Mr da Silva is believed to live on the island of Flores.

Asked whether Indonesia would agree to their extradition, Mr Faizasyah was dismissive. "Our position is that it's 'case closed'. We have no intention of re-opening this case."

Former Jakarta governor Sutiyoso, whose Sydney hotel room was broken into by police seeking to summons him to the inquest, said he was puzzled by the new investigation.

"What I know is that both governments, Indonesian and Australian, have decided not to reopen the case," he said. "So... why do we have this now?" Mr Sutiyoso served in the military in East Timor, but was not near Balibo when the newsmen died.

Analyst Hugh White of the Australian National University questioned the continuing focus on Balibo, and said the new investigation would not help relations with Indonesia.

He said the killings were deeply disturbing at the time and he could understand why they continued to torment the men's families. "But for the country as a whole, our obsession with what happened at Balibo in 1975 has started to become a distraction from a whole lot of much more urgent and important questions, which include the nature of Australia's relationship with the new Indonesia," he said.

The sister of Brian Peters, Maureen Tolfree, said from her home in Britain she was over the moon about the probe. "Wow, at last! That's brilliant news," she said.

University of NSW academic and ex-army intelligence operative Clinton Fernandes also applauded the probe. "Australian aid to Indonesia is half a billion dollars a year. There are 16,000 Indonesian students studying in Australia and $15 billion a year in bilateral investment and trade each year," he said.

"Considering that, the Indonesian Government should not be making a fuss about extraditing someone like Yosfiah. "He is a figure from the past."

Flinders University legal expert Grant Niemann said the renewed focus on the issue after the release of the film Balibo may have prompted authorities to act. He warned of "numerous" problems for investigators. "The delay is a real problem because the evidence isn't fresh," he said.

The legal basis was also an issue. "If they got the defendants here... they could possibly prosecute them [under] the Geneva Convention, but that is a very long bow."

Balibo Five case is closed and should remain closed - Indonesia

Australian Associated Press - September 9, 2009

Adam Gartrell – The Balibo Five case is closed and should remain closed, the Indonesian Government says.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) today announced it had begun a formal war crimes investigation into the deaths of the five Australia-based newsmen, who were killed in the East Timor border town of Balibo in October 1975.

The AFP probe comes almost two years after a coronial inquest concluded Indonesian forces deliberately killed the journalists to cover up their invasion of East Timor.

The inquest dismissed claims by successive Australian and Indonesian governments that Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie and New Zealander Gary Cunningham were accidentally killed in crossfire.

But it's a line the Indonesian Government is still sticking to. Foreign Affairs Spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said the case should not be resurrected.

"In our view, this case is closed and should stay closed," he said. "We will not reopen this case. And we want an explanation from the Australian Government. What is meant by this investigation? What is the purpose of investigation? How will it be conducted?"

Theo Sambuaga, an influential Indonesian MP who heads up a parliamentary commission that oversees security and foreign issues, said the AFP investigation would be "a waste of time".

"What Australian police do by reopening this case is worsen the relationship between Indonesia and Australia, both its people and governments," he said. "It's hurtful because Indonesian people will think Australia is looking for something that does not exist."

Deputy NSW Coroner Dorelle Pinch linked several former senior military personnel to the deaths. Two – former army captain turned politician Yunus Yosfiah and soldier Christoforus da Silva – are still alive.

Sambuaga said Indonesia was unlikely to cooperate with the AFP probe. "It depends on what's being requested," he said. "But if they want us to hand over our people, to agree to any extraditions, certainly not."

Balibo five families welcome inquiry

WA Today - September 9, 2009

Britt Smith – Some relatives of the Balibo Five journalists say they are optimistic about a new investigation into the murders, but others remain cynical it will result in justice.

The Australian Federal Police on Wednesday launched a war crimes investigation into the 1975 killing of the Australia-based newsmen in East Timor.

The probe comes nearly two years after a coronial inquest concluded a group of soldiers led by Indonesian Special Forces captain Yusuf Yosfiah ordered the deaths of the journalists to cover up their invasion of East Timor.

It's believed three of the men were shot. Another – probably cameraman Brian Peters – was attacked in the street and the fifth man was stabbed by Indonesian Special Forces Commander Christoforus da Silva.

Police are at pains to point out the difficulties associated with any investigation, citing "complex legal and factual issues" that delayed the decision to investigate.

Despite the APF's concerns, Maureen Tolfree, the sister of Brian Peters, remains hopeful of bringing those responsible for the deaths to trial.

"I don't think anything is difficult. Timor got its independence, I got my coronial inquiry. I know police have been frustrated over the years but anything can happen," she told AAP.

"It has been a long time and things have changed... I just hope Yusuf Yosfiah and his cronies are brought to justice because it's no good having a point of law if you are not going to use it. It's an injustice that has to be put right."

For Suzanne Andel, a cousin of Malcolm Rennie, the news brought relief from years of frustration over "inaction". "The (2007 NSW) inquest verdict gave us a lot of hope," she said.

"It made it clear they had been murdered and we expected action, but nothing eventuated and we have been very frustrated... and we went into a real downer."

"We don't want people to get away with murder. It means a lot to us and it means a lot to the East Timorese people. If you can't get justice for five Australian journalists, how can you get justice for a small, poor nation."

John Milkins, the son of Gary Cunningham also welcomed the investigation, saying two retired Indonesian soldiers and former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam must be held responsible for their alleged roles in the murders.

"In my view and in my opinion, this is a major blot in the copy book of Whitlam and every other prime minister to date," Mr Milkins told AAP. "For those who have had the courage to come forward, I say thank you, but for others, well may we say God save the Queen because nothing will save your conscience."

Mr Cunningham's brother Greg admitted to being a little cynical. "At least we have something happening," he told ABC Radio. "I don't see why it has to take so long... I think if there was the will they could have done something before."

The Australian government must formally accept the findings of the 2007 inquiry and resist the temptation to accept Indonesia's explanation the five died in the crossfire.

The affair had tainted Australian-Indonesian relations ever since, Mr Milkins said.

"There is no statute of limitations on war crimes. Simply we must ensure Indonesia fulfils its international obligations to the Geneva Convention and other treaties between Australia and Indonesia," he said. "Yusuf Yosfiah and Christoforus da Silva must be extradited to face a court of law," he said.

Indonesia raps Australia war crime probe for Balibo Five

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Heru Andriyanto – Indonesia on Wednesday rejected an Australian Federal Police war-crimes investigation into the deaths of five foreign journalists allegedly killed by Indonesian troops in East Timor in 1975.

"The case is closed and we have no intention here to reopen it," Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told the Jakarta Globe, adding that since the ministry had only heard of the case from the media, it would seek clarification from Canberra.

Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Christian Zebua said all East Timor cases had been settled.

"All the suspected military officers have been tried by the [ad hoc] human rights tribunal. Cases like the so-called Balibo Five were closed a long time ago," he said. "We are now building this nation and don't want to move backwards or return to the past."

The AFP's surprise announcement on Wednesday came nearly two years after a coroner's investigation ruled that the journalists were murdered in the East Timor border town of Balibo as they tried to surrender to Indonesian forces during an incursion into East Timor two months ahead of the December invasion.

"Allegations of war crimes committed overseas give rise to complex legal and factual issues that require careful consideration by law enforcement agencies before deciding to investigate," the AFP said in a statement.

Indonesian Military spokesman Air Vice Marshall Sagom Tamboen said certain conditions must be met before Australian authorities could investigate the case.

The probe must "fulfill legal procedural requirements of the country, obtain permission from the Indonesian government for summoning the two generals [Sutiyoso and Yunus Yosfiah] to testify, and have sufficient evidence to reopen the cases," Tamboen said.

He said it fell on the government, not the military, to respond to the planned investigation.

"The military actually has nothing to do with the case because both [Sutiyoso and Yunus] are now civilians. They have retired from the military," Tamboen said. Sutiyoso is a former governor of Jakarta, while Yunus served as minister of information from 1998 to 1999.

Tamboen stressed that the alleged incident took place in East Timor, now a sovereign country that had agreed with Jakarta to mutually settle past issues through their joint Commission of Truth and Friendship.

"It means that Australia should also know that Indonesia and East Timor have mutually agreed to reach a peaceful settlement on past incidents. So Australia must first consult with East Timor and Indonesia about their plan to investigate the case," he said.

Indonesia has repeatedly said the journalists died in a crossfire between troops and East Timor forces.

Balibo probe faces huge hurdles

ABC News - September 10, 2009

Emily Bourke – Australian Federal Police investigators face a formidable task if they want to mount a successful war crimes prosecution in the case of the Balibo Five, legal experts warn.

It has been 34 years coming, but the AFP has confirmed it has started a war crimes investigation into the deaths of the five Australian newsmen killed in East Timor.

Channel Nine cameraman Brian Peters with his colleague Malcolm Rennie and Channel Seven's Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham and Tony Stewart were killed in October 1975 by Indonesian Special Forces.

While Indonesia has claimed that the newsmen were caught in the crossfire, others have maintained that they were killed to prevent their reporting on Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.

Indonesia says it is seeking clarification from the Federal Government about the decision to open the investigation.

Foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah says there is no way Indonesia will consider reopening the case and that any new investigation will give rise to "many difficulties", because the alleged crimes took place so many years ago.

Gary Cunningham's brother Greig has cautiously welcomed the AFP investigation.

"To actually have something happening on the side of the AFP I must say we are very pleased about, but we are almost still a little a bit cynical," he said.

"I don't see why it has taken so long. I know they explain complex legal issues etcetera, but I thought that was what they were paid for. I think that's why there's supposed to be whole departments of legal people and that's what they were supposed to have worked out.

"The analogy I've often used is in that in the 18 months that we've been waiting, I think they'd arrested and prosecuted all of the Bali bombers, so I don't quite see why it takes so long. I think if there's a will they could have done something before."

Mark Tedeschi QC is senior crown prosecutor in NSW and was counsel assisting a coronial inquest in 2007.

"The inquest that was held in Sydney which although technically was only into the death of one of the five in fact covered all five deaths, was a very exhaustive inquest and it took some considerable time and effort," he said.

"At the end of it, the deputy coroner Dorrelle Pinch came to some findings and made some recommendations and it's very pleasing to see that those findings and those recommendations have led to the setting up of this investigation by the Australian Federal Police."

'Not straight forward'

The AFP's statement indicates the inquiry will not be straight forward. It says investigations into war crimes allegations can be problematic where witnesses and evidence are overseas, or where a significant period of time has elapsed since the offence.

Don Rothwell, a professor of International Law at the Australian National University (ANU), says the AFP will have the advantage of the evidence that was presented to the NSW coroner in 2007.

"Whilst very little evidence was obtained from Indonesians in relation to that inquiry, there was a significant number of leads given as to possible Indonesian witnesses and persons who may actually have been culpable for these events," he said.

"So to that end, the AFP will not be starting this inquiry afresh, but they'll have a large amount of initial evidence to work from.

"But ultimately one of the greatest impediments could be that even if charges are laid in Australia, the persons would be subject to the charges presumably would be in Indonesia.

"And ultimately the extradition of persons back to Australia, on what could be seen possibly as being political charges, could prove to be exceptionally problematic."

It will fall to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to decide if charges can be formally laid.

Long time Indonesia and East Timor watcher Damien Kingsbury isn't optimistic about what the AFP investigation will yield.

"I think what's likely to happen is if there is sufficient evidence and charges are laid, that the extradition process will be gone through and it will then end up as an Indonesian judicial matter," he said.

"And they will simply say that in the circumstances, that Australia doesn't have the capacity or the right to demand extradition, and they will refuse it – and that will effectively be the end of the story."

Given Indonesia has long regarded the Balibo case as a closed book, Damien Kingsbury says the relationship between Canberra and Jakarta will inevitably be strained.

"I don't see it being allowed to get to the point of breaking the relationship, but I think it's going to be one more of those issues that has tested the relationship in the past and will continue to do so in the future," he said.

But for the families, including Greig Cunningham, their pursuit of justice will not be swayed.

"The least I would want is a warrant to be issued for the arrest of these people so that at least if they step out of Indonesia, that they can be picked up," he said.

"But this is the start of something positive for a change. I mean, all we've had for so long is some negativity from our Government, from all political persuasions, starting from the Whitlam government.

"I would just like – and the families – all we've ever wanted, I believe, is the truth, which I believe has come out within the coroner's inquest. Now we'd just like some justice for these people."

AFP probe watched closely in East Timor: Balibo author

ABC News - September 10, 2009

Sara Everingham – The author of a book on the Balibo Five says the Australian Federal Police's decision to open an investigation into the deaths of five Australian-based newsmen in East Timor in 1975 will be viewed with great interest in East Timor.

Jill Jolliffe wrote the book Cover Up, which was used as the basis for the recent film Balibo.

She says political leaders in East Timor will be watching the events closely, especially in light of their recent decision to release former militia leader Martenus Bere from a Dili jail.

Bere was released at the end of last month on the same day East Timor was celebrating 10 years since its referendum on independence from Indonesia.

President Jose Ramos-Horta has voiced his opposition to an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible for human rights abuses in East Timor during the Indonesian occupation and in 1999, saying it is important that Indonesia be given time to bring them to justice.

But the President has been quoted in media reports as saying those responsible for the deaths of the Balibo Five should be prosecuted.

There has been vigorous debate in East Timor over Dr Ramos- Horta's stance on the international tribunal. Jolliffe says the AFP investigation will cause further discussion.

"I think the common people in East Timor will see it as a very interesting example and I think there is a very widespread need and call for justice from ordinary people in East Timor," she said.

"This will strengthen their faith that perhaps one day, they will see justice done for the pretty terrible crimes that were committed against them by the Indonesian army during its occupation of the territory.

An Indonesia and East Timor expert at the University of New South Wales, Dr Clinton Fernandes, says the general population in East Timor will receive the news of the AFP investigation with jubilation.

"Unlike East Timor, Australia is not sharing a land border with Indonesia, no longer has to worry about being attacked by Indonesia and so we can actually make this thing happen."

He says an international tribunal will eventually be set up for East Timor. "Don't forget that the international tribunal for Rwanda was opposed by only one state, and that was Rwanda, because it had its own fears. But that happened and it has contributed to the valuable jurisprudence to international law.

"Similarly an international criminal tribunal for East Timor will happen. It takes time just like the independence of East Timor takes time... but this is all going to happen."

Australia probes journalist killings in East Timor

Associated Press - September 9, 2009

Kristen Gelineau, Sydney – Australia has launched a war crimes investigation into the 1975 killing of five Australian-based journalists during an attack by Indonesian forces in East Timor.

The probe announced Wednesday comes two years after an Australian coroner investigating the deaths found they were deliberate and probably ordered by senior Indonesian officers.

The coroner's findings contradicted the Indonesian and Australian governments' official version of events: that the journalists were killed accidentally in a crossfire between Indonesian troops and East Timorese defenders.

The findings by New South Wales state deputy coroner Dorelle Pinch in 2007 strained Australia-Indonesia diplomatic ties because it named three former senior officers of Indonesia's special military forces who likely ordering the killings, and suggested they should face possible war crimes charges.

At the time, Indonesia's Foreign Ministry rejected Pinch's conclusion and said it would not change their belief of what had happened.

The bodies of the five journalists – two Australians, two Britons and a New Zealander known as the "Balibo five" – were found burned in the East Timorese town of Balibo. Indonesian special forces and their East Timorese proxies attacked the town Oct. 16, 1975.

Pinch investigated the death of Brian Peters, 29, a British-born cameraman working for an Australian television network. Pinch – who heard evidence from witnesses and viewed secret intelligence documents during the six-week inquest – concluded Peters was killed by members of the Indonesian Special Forces to prevent him from revealing that the commandos participated in the Balibo attack.

Indonesia invaded East Timor after the small island descended into civil war following the end of Portuguese colonial rule. Indonesia's invasion plans were secret at the time, and direct involvement of Indonesian troops in operations in East Timor was highly sensitive.

The coroner, required to make findings only on Peters, said it was impossible to separate the death of one of the journalists from the others and that her conclusions applied equally to all of them.

The other journalists were Malcolm Rennie, 28, from Britain, Australians Gregory Shackleton, 29, and Tony Stewart, 21, and 27-year-old New Zealander Gary Cunningham.

Pinch's investigation was referred to Australia's attorney general, who then turned the case over to the federal police in January 2008. The agency said it waited until Aug. 20 to launch an investigation and notified the journalists' families Tuesday.

If sufficient evidence of criminal acts is found, the police will ask the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to consider charges.

The announcement of the police investigation comes one month after the release of the film "Balibo," which allegedly shows the journalists being shot on the orders of Indonesian army officers. The film will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend.

"It's only taken 34 years to kick it all off and obviously they've reacted to the film coming out," Paul Stewart, whose brother Tony Stewart was among the journalists killed, told The Associated Press.

"But given that the Indonesian government is full of guys who served in East Timor, the families aren't holding out much hope for anything really happening. But it is being acknowledged – we (have) got to be grateful for that."

Australia probes reporters' 1975 deaths in East Timor

Bloomberg - September 9, 2009

Ed Johnson – Australian police have begun a war crimes investigation into the deaths of five journalists in East Timor in 1975 after a coroner ruled they were deliberately killed by Indonesian soldiers.

Deputy Coroner for New South Wales state Dorelle Pinch found in November 2007 that the men, known as the "Balibo Five," were killed by special forces to stop them revealing details of Indonesia's invasion of the territory.

The Australian Federal Police said in a statement today it began a probe last month after the Attorney-General's Department referred the matter to the force.

The Australian, British and New Zealand journalists were killed in the town of Balibo on Oct. 16, 1975, as Indonesian special forces took part in covert operations to prepare for an invasion of what was then a Portuguese colony. The Indonesian military denies any wrongdoing in the deaths and has said the men were killed accidentally by crossfire.

"It's case closed for us," Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said by telephone. "We will ask for clarification from the Australian government on the nature, purpose and scope of this probe."

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the investigation is a matter for police. The government doesn't believe the probe will affect the "mature and multifaceted relationship" between the two countries, the department said.

Killed 'deliberately'

Brian Peters, 29, in the company of fellow Briton Malcolm Rennie, 28, New Zealander Gary Cunningham, 27, and Australians Gregory Shackleton, 29, and Anthony Stewart, 21, was killed "deliberately, and not in the heat of battle, by members of the Indonesian Special Forces," the coroner ruled.

The coroner was tasked with investigating only Peters's death, although she noted her findings were applicable to all of the men. To "investigate the death of one of the Balibo Five was to investigate the deaths of all," she wrote in the report.

If the investigation points to a "real possibility of criminality," the force will refer the matter to Australian prosecutors, who will determine whether to pursue a case, according to the police statement.

'War crime allegations'

"The investigation of war crime allegations can be problematic where witnesses and evidence are located offshore or where a significant period of time has elapsed since the commission of the offense," the AFP said. "The standard of proof in a criminal proceeding is high, and differs from that of a coronial inquiry."

Indonesia, which already controlled the western part of the island, invaded East Timor in 1975 and occupied the territory for 24 years.

A campaign of violence by pro-Indonesia militia during the territory's 1999 vote for independence killed hundreds of civilians and forced about 250,000 people to flee to the western half of the island.

East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, became independent in 2002. The island lies about 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Australia.

Australian Federal Police launches Balibo war crimes probe

Melbourne Age - September 9, 2009

Brendan Nicholson, Canberra – Thirty-four years after the event, Australia's national police force has launched a war crimes investigation into the murders of five Australian newsmen at Balibo, East Timor, allegedly by Indonesian troops.

In November 2007 NSW deputy coroner, Dorelle Pinch, found that the Balibo Five were executed in October 1975 by Indonesian Special Forces to stop them revealing details of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.

"There is strong circumstantial evidence that those orders emanated from the head of Indonesian Special Forces, Major- General Benny Murdani to Colonel Dading Kalbuadi, Special Forces Group Commander in Timor, and then to Captain Yunus," Ms Pinch found. Murdani and Kalbuadi are dead.

Indonesia claimed the five were killed in crossfire during the battle for the town.

Ms Pinch's explosive finding followed her lengthy inquest into the death of one of the five, Brian Peters.

Two Indonesians named in the inquest were Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah who was an army captain at the time and who is now a retired general, and another soldier, Christoforus da Silva.

Ms Pinch said Channel Nine cameraman Brian Peters was probably the first killed, with colleague Malcolm Rennie and Channel Seven's Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham and Tony Stewart killed soon afterwards on the orders of Captain Yunus.

She recommended that the Commonwealth Attorney General take action. The then Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, said on November 16, 2007, that he would refer the matter to the AFP and that was done in January 2008.

The Age/Herald understands that when Brendan O'Connor became home affairs Minister earlier this year he asked the police to explain an apparent lack of progress sincE then.

Today the AFP has confirmed that it began a formal investigation into the deaths of all five on August 20 this year and it has told the families it is underway.

The AFP said the investigation of war crimes allegations could be difficult where witnesses and evidence were overseas and where considerable time had passed since the killings occurred.

The families of those killed have been told that the investigation is underway.

The AFP said that if the investigations revealed enough information and evidence of criminality then a brief would be referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions who would decide if the matter should go to court.

Television journalists Greg Shackleton and Malcolm Rennie, cameramen Gary Cunningham and Brian Peters, and sound recordist Tony Stewart were killed after trying to capture images of Indonesian troops as they invaded the former Portuguese colony.

Then prime minister Gough Whitlam, and subsequent Australian governments, have claimed the men were killed in the crossfire between Indonesian troops and East Timorese Fretilin forces. But in November 2007, the NSW deputy coroner Dorelle Pinch released her findings into the death of Mr Peters.

She referred the matter to the Federal Attorney-General. The Attorney-General's Department referred the matter, involving the deaths of all five men collectively known as the Balibo Five, to the AFP on the attorney general's behalf in January 2008.

The AFP started its investigation on August 20, 2009. The families of the deceased were formally notified in writing on Tuesday.

"The investigation of war crime allegations can be problematic where witnesses and evidence are located offshore, or where a significant period of time has elapsed since the commission of the offence," the AFP said.

The AFP will refer its findings to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) if their investigation uncovers "sufficient material" to compile a brief of evidence of criminality or a real possibility of criminality.

It is then a matter for the CDPP to consider, in accordance with the prosecution policy of the Commonwealth. The standard of proof in a criminal proceeding is high, and differs from that of a coronial inquiry.

The AFP says it will continue to keep the families informed of major developments in the investigation. (With AAP)

Ramos-Horta changes tune on Balibo

Sydney Morning Herald - September 2, 2009

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – The President of East Timor, Jose Ramos-Horta, has called for the killers of five journalists at Balibo in 1975 to be brought to justice.

The stance is in sharp contrast to comments he made last Sunday on the 10th anniversary of East Timor's vote for independence, when he declared Timorese must bury the past and oppose an international tribunal to prosecute the killers of up to 1500 people before and after the 1999 vote.

"It is not that one human life is worth more or less," Mr Ramos- Horta told the Financial Times. "It's that... we have hundreds, if not thousands of East Timorese who collaborated with Indonesians. Are we going to try everyone?"

Mr Ramos-Horta's support for pursuing those responsible for the deaths of the Australian-based newsmen known as the Balibo Five follows the screening of the new feature film Balibo across East Timor last week. The film stirred new interest in the killings of the five as well that of Roger East, an Australian journalist killed in Dili two months later.

Mr Ramos-Horta presented a medal of honour to the film's director, Robert Connolly, on Sunday.

In 2007 the NSW Coroner, Dorelle Pinch, found the five were killed to cover up Indonesia's impending invasion of East Timor. Ms Pinch pointed the finger at a former Indonesian minister, Yunus Yosfiah, and another soldier, Cristoforus da Silva.

Mr Ramos-Horta told the Financial Times that those responsible for the death of its correspondent Sander Thoenes in Dili during the 1999 violence should be prosecuted.

Mr Ramos-Horta's rejection on Sunday of a tribunal and a call to the United Nations to abandon its investigations into hundreds of the Timorese killings provoked widespread criticism. Fretilin, the main opposition party in Dili, accused Mr Ramos-Horta, a Nobel laureate, of being out touch with the people.

Timorese activists have also criticised his opposition to prosecutions, calling at a solidarity conference in Dili for the UN to establish a tribunal to prosecute past crimes in the country.

The United Nations Mission in Dili issued a statement last night directly contradicting Mr Ramos-Horta's stand that East Timor bury the past and not pursue prosecutions for past crimes.

"Accountability is an essential foundation to consolidating the rule of law and with building lasting peace and prosperity," the mission said. "Concrete steps need to be taken to ensure full accountability, to end impunity and to provide reparations to victims in accordance with international human rights standards."

Balibo filmmakers honoured in East Timor

Australian Associated Press - September 1, 2009

The filmmakers behind the political thriller Balibo have been awarded East Timor's Presidential Medal of Merit in recognition for their contribution to the country.

President Jose Ramos Horta presented director Robert Connolly and producer John Maynard with the medal at a ceremony in the capital Dili on Sunday as part of the fledgling nation's 10th anniversary celebrations.

The Presidential Medal of Merit is a special honour that is only awarded to those who have made a great contribution to the country.

The ceremony, which was also attended by the film's star Anthony LaPaglia, followed seven nights of screenings of Balibo, which has been dubbed into the Tetun language of the local population.

The film, about six journalists killed in East Timor in 1975, has been shown around the country on an inflatable screen, accompanied by Maynard and actor Tom Wright.

Maynard says it has been a humbling experience to be able to show thousands of people in East Timor the movie, which is the first feature film made in the country.

"This was a once in a lifetime experience for us, as well as the Timorese audiences who were, for the very first time, seeing a feature film dubbed in their own language about events in Timor," Maynard said.

"Men, women and children were moved to tears as they sat on the ground and watched what was for many part of a hidden history and for some, a painful memory."

Balibo is currently screening around Australia. It has taken $643,093 so far at the box office, but will expand to more than 50 screens from mid September.

Justice & reconciliation

East Timor defends decision not to try war crimes

Associated Press - September 29, 2009

United Nations – East Timor's government is defending its policy of not pursuing war crimes trials for Indonesian officials responsible for thousands of deaths during their 24-year occupation of the half-island nation.

Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa says the country needs to balance justice with the need to reconcile with its giant neighbor, which has refused to cooperate with war crimes probes.

Da Costa acknowledged that his government has faced sharp criticism over the issue by human rights groups calling for an international war crimes tribunal to try those responsible.

The former Portuguese colony broke free of Indonesian occupation in 1999, when 1,500 people were killed by departing occupation troops. After three years of UN governance, East Timor declared independence in 2002.

Culture of impunity denies justice over Timor

Financial Times - September 20, 2009

John Aglionby, Jakarta – The final article written by Sander Thoenes before he was murdered in East Timor a decade ago on Monday was headlined: "Military's power undimmed by humiliations."

And Indonesian human rights activists say the same headline could be written today. The culture of impunity over past abuses that the Financial Times' Jakarta correspondent was pointing to remains very much in place.

"The roots of the culture of impunity are still very strong," said Usman Hamid, head of the non-governmental Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (known as Kontras). He added that officials of the ruling elite seemed to have "very limited" respect for the rule of law. "There's been virtually no progress in the last 10 years."

Thoenes's case is a glaring example of this. In November 2002, East Timor's prosecutor-general, based on work carried out by the UN-led serious crimes unit in the country, indicted two members of Indonesia's military – Major Jacob Sarosa and Lieutenant Camilo dos Santos – over the 30-year-old's death.

They were charged with 15 counts of crimes against humanity for 20 murders and other acts they and soldiers under their command in Battalion 745 had allegedly committed as they withdrew from East Timor following the territory's overwhelming vote for independence from Indonesia after 24 years of brutal occupation.

Passion for truth

Sander Thoenes, who died tragically 10 years ago, was a 30-year- old Dutchman with a passion for the truth, and a determination to expose corruption and human rights abuses in the world around him, writes Quentin Peel.

He had been reporting for the Financial Times from Indonesia for two years before he was killed in East Timor, and had demonstrated outstanding potential as a foreign correspondent. He was brave without being foolhardy, resourceful in seeking out stories in a world of erratic contacts, with an eagle eye for a good story and the colour to illustrate it.

He began his career as a journalist in Moscow, moved to Kazakhstan for the FT where he reported on the whole of central Asia and then landed his dream job as correspondent in Jakarta just as the Asian financial crisis hit the region in 1997.

Writing with wit and elegance in his second language, and eking out the modest income of a freelance journalist to explore the vast Indonesian archipelago, he wrote on everything from mining company results to corruption in government, the causes of the "haze" that produced choking smog across south-east Asia, and the best cooking to be had in Jakarta.

He adored Indonesia, and was hugely popular among the international press corps. His death, allegedly at the hands of drunken and indisciplined Indonesian soldiers running amok as they withdrew from East Timor following the territory's referendum vote for independence from Jakarta, cut short a brilliant journalistic career.

According to the indictment, they ran into Thoenes as they drove through Becora, a suburb of the capital, Dili. Thoenes, who spoke Indonesian and had been to East Timor several times, had arrived in Dili only a few hours earlier. He was replacing a colleague and wanted to investigate reports of alleged atrocities by the Indonesian military and their local militias.

After leaving his bags at a hotel, Thoenes hired a motorcycle and driver and headed to Becora. There, the indictment says they came across men in uniforms, also on motorbikes. Thoenes's driver turned to flee but the soldiers gave chase and shot at them. Their motorbike fell and the driver escaped. But Thoenes did not.

The indictment describes how he is alleged to have died. "Battalion 745 soldiers... carried Thoenes to the side of the road. Two soldiers, including Lt Camilo dos Santos, pointed their guns at Thoenes as he lay on the ground. Sander Robert Thoenes was then shot once in the chest and, as a result of that gunshot, he died."

Neither man has been formally investigated, let alone prosecuted. Maj Sarosa's whereabouts are unknown but it is thought he is still in the Indonesian army. The military declined to say when, or even if, he had left the army.

Lt dos Santos is now a captain serving in West Timor, part of Indonesia. He said: "No comment, no comment," and hung up the phone when contacted about the case by the FT last week.

Jakarta's refusal to pursue the case is unequivocal. Hassan Wirajuda, the foreign minister, who refused to attend the 10th commemoration of the referendum until the East Timorese released an Indonesian from jail, said last week: "I can assure [you], on behalf of the government of Indonesia, we are not interested to reopen the case. This is part of our decision not to open old wounds – part of a dark chapter of our joint history with [East] Timor."

This view contrasts sharply with the attitude of Josi Ramos- Horta, the East Timorese president. He told the FT last month that the killers of Thoenes should be brought to justice, as should the murderers of six journalists working for Australian media who were killed in 1975 when Indonesia invaded East Timor.

Five of these men were killed in the small border town of Balibo. This month, after decades of inaction, the Australian police said they had begun a war crimes investigation into their deaths after an Australian coroner ruled that they had died unlawfully.

Jakarta reacted with surprise, in spite of being warned about the move, which came weeks after Balibo an award-winning film,, about the killings was released in Australia.

In the wake of the violence surrounding the 1999 East Timor referendum, Jakarta did form a human rights tribunal for East Timor. None of the most senior generals was tried, and all of the 20 people prosecuted – during a process that international observers described as seriously flawed – were acquitted or freed on appeal.

Indonesia and East Timor instead settled their differences through a truth and friendship commission, which did not recommend any prosecutions and which satisfied few Timorese.

People including Mr Hamid believe that there is little hope in the short- to medium-term of the atmosphere changing, particularly as Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president who starts his second five-year term next month, is a retired general.

"Indonesia's justice system is still under the direction of the executive," said Mr Hamid. "And at the moment its position on abuses in East Timor and elsewhere is very clear."

The murder of Munir Thalib, Mr Hamid's predecessor as head of Kontras, is another example of the continuing impunity. He was poisoned on a flight to Amsterdam in 2004, and Mr Yudhoyono vowed to convict his killers. But the perpetrators, who allegedly have links to state intelligence, remain unidentified.

Mr Hamid has not completely given up hope. "The new political generation is starting to change its mindset," he said. "So in another 10 years we might see some movement."

Comarca Balide Prison: A monument of tragedy

Jakarta Post - September 13, 2009

Pandaya, Dili – A man dropped a pale brown book onto my lap, startling me and interrupting my interview with human rights activist Lita Sarmento in the hall of the CAVR (Timor Leste Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation) offices in an eastern suburb of Dili.

Soon Chiquito Guterres, a CAVR employee – as I learned his identity later – became engrossed in chit-chat with Lita, so I leafed through the pages of Penjara Comarca Balide: 'Gedung Suci' (Comarca Balide Prison: A 'Sacred Building'), written by Emma Coupland, a historian working for CAVR in 2004-2005.

It's quite a shock that this place was a dreaded house of torture the Indonesian occupation troops used soon after they invaded East Timor in 1975 until as recently as 1999, when locals opted for independence in a historic UN-sanctioned referendum.

This very hall used to be the prison's main yard, where detainees were tortured and humiliated in public. From the moment I set foot at the unpretentious complex, I was continually distracted by the odd sight of barrack-like buildings with small windows reinforced with large steel bars.

So you didn't know that, did you," said the smiling Guterres, as I cut his chit-chat, demanding to know if the book refers to the very place we were in. "Yes it does."

Guterres took me around the complex that reminded me of the maximum security Fremantle Prison in Western Australia, which was closed in 1991 after almost 140 years in operation and has been turned into a unique tourist attraction.

Like countless other buildings in Timor Leste, the prison complex was burned down at the heel of the tumultuous Indonesian troops' withdrawal in 1999 and the remains were rebuilt by the Japanese government as the headquarters of CAVR, an independent body created by the UN.

The CAVR has produced the most comprehensive documentation of the 1975-1999 atrocities in East Timor.

Graffiti and paintings created by detainees were among items collected and displayed in the complex, which also functions as an exhibition venue and museum. Photographs of the tragedies that occurred there over the 24-year period are part of its permanent exhibition.

The ironic name "Sacred building" was coined by Filomeno da Silva Ferreira, a former political detainee, to describe the complex as a place where nationalists were locked up for a common cause, an independent East Timor.

The facility was built as an "ordinary" prison by the Portuguese colonial administration back in 1963, on marshy land at the foot of a hill notorious for its malaria-carrying mosquitoes. It replaced an older prison opposite to Palacio do Governo, the present-day government building complex.

The Indonesian military took it over after the Dec. 7, 1974 invasion to detain independence activists and regular criminals charged for minor offences as well as members of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) that broke disciplinary rules.

From 1976 on, detainees were brought in from across East Timor. Until 1986, Comarca was Dili's only prison. A new, more humane", prison was built in the Becora area after Comarca authorities complained of an "intolerably crowded" prison. That same year saw female detainees moved to Becora.

Until 1990, the prison was under military police control and remained so until it was deserted in 1999, although Jakarta had ruled that all penitentiary institutions were under the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry.

Written based on intensive research from international reports, the book portrays the Comarca prison as a notorious place of torture.

Detainees, who were held there for between a few days and many years, were subject to violent acts – including rape and blackmail – right from the moment they were dragged into the facility. Many told of severe beatings while they were taken there in a vehicle, handcuffed and blindfolded.

They beat us in the car until we got to the prison. Only when we had arrived did they take off our blindfolds and we realized we were at Comarca," a former detainee said as quoted by a CAVR fact-finding commissioner.

In the 1970s, many suspects were detained without charge for many years. Some told commissioners they received even more beatings when they asked prison officers why they were being detained. The first trial only took place in 1983 in Dili, and only after 1990 were more people transferred to Comarca after having been convicted.

Detainees experienced varying degrees of torture. Newcomers were body searched, stripped of their clothing and interrogated about their activism. Women were subject to the same treatment as men.

Many ex-detainees said they were forced to go around in their underpants for days or even weeks.

They were taken into their cells with their thumbs tied together behind their backs after they had been made to stand under the scorching sun in the yard while others chanted "welcome to the prison" repeatedly. Those who passed out would be doused with water and ordered to continue the "ritual".

According to the book, in the early 1980s, the wife of the prison warden was so horrified by the midnight screams that came from isolated cells where military police officers interrogated and tortured detainees that she returned to Indonesia after four months. As a civil servant, her husband was powerless to stop the violent interrogations.

Detainees detailed their accounts on pieces of smuggled paper and passed the notes secretly to Catholic priests during routine visits, and the priests passed the messages on to international bodies such as the London-based Amnesty International.

Most detainees taken off during the night would never come back and were believed to have been killed, they said. During the 1970s and 1980s, death from torture was reported to be commonplace. Beating was said to be the most common form of physical torture. There were reports of detainees being ironed, electrocuted, scolded with a burning cigarettes and boiled in a barrel of water.

The book also details sexual assault women detainees experienced. Some women claimed they were raped by their interrogators. Others said they were forced to undergo their interrogation naked. Some women were reported to have opted for sex with prison authorities for their release.

Among the rows upon rows of cells were eight steel doors belonging to the cells dreaded most because many of the inmates incarcerated in them often ended up dying horrible deaths. These cells were known as the "dark cells" because they did not have windows.

In the 1970s and 1980s, detainees were locked up there for up to eight months but the period was reduced to only a week in the 1990s. Detainees slept on the floor and water was not provided. They would lose orientation and lose track of time during their confinement.

Former detainees say the overcrowded dark cells were extremely dirty. The toilets were clogged and garbage piled up inside and they had to live with it. Each person breathed the same air everybody else breathed and when one person fell sick others would follow.

Things changed for the better in the 1990s thanks largely to interference of international organizations such as the International Red Cross and human rights groups such as AI. Detainees were taken to court and came back for better treatment. Convicts received favorable treatments in return for their good conduct or services they offered in accordance with their skills. They were allowed to take part in soccer or volleyball competitions along with soldiers and police officers.

After touring the complex, reading the book and reviewing Chega!, the newly published CAVR report, I know why many people in Indonesia implicated in East Timor atrocities would do anything to thwart any efforts for an international tribunal.

They must be scared at the prospect of being locked up in a Comarca Balide-style prison.

East Timor 10 years on - still waiting for justice

Green Left Weekly - September 7, 2009

Vannessa Hearman – I was angry that Timorese president and peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta used the 10-year anniversary of the United Nations-supervised ballot in East Timor on August 30 to declare: "There will be no international tribunal."

On this same day in 1999, the people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia – their brutal occupier for 24 years.

The Timorese Truth, Reception and Reconciliation Commission estimated that about 1500 people were killed by the Indonesian military and its militias in the period leading up to and immediately after the September 4 announcement of the ballot's results in 1999. The vote revealed that 78.5% wanted independence.

But as Indonesia protested that the ballot had been rigged, its military and their militia friends damaged and destroyed 70% of public buildings, houses and infrastructure.

After a global outcry, including mass protests by Australians, the Australian led-Interfet forces entered Dili on September 20. Many Timorese were forcibly deported on trucks and ships to West Timor. Some Timorese hid in the mountains and countryside, as well as in UN offices, to avoid being relocated.

Back then, a UN investigation team recommended an international tribunal to deal with the crimes against humanity committed in 1999.

Because the scars of this collective trauma remain, on top of the long occupation, supported by governments including Australia, it is hard to understand Horta's stand.

It is even harder to understand in the context of the various exemptions being made by the Timorese government.

For instance, even as Horta delivered his speech, Martenus Bere, an Indonesian man held in Becora Prison in connection with the Suai Church massacre in 1999, was released – reportedly at East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's request.

Victor Sambuaga, an Indonesian embassy official in Dili, said Jakarta had lobbied for Bere's release.

Marie Okabe, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Commissioner of Human Rights, condemned the release and rejected the Timorese government's amnesties.

In another exemption Johny Marques, the leader of militia group Tim Alfa, who was serving a 33-year jail sentence for killing nine clergymen and nuns in Los Palos in 1999, was released in January.

Horta and Gusmao have consistently rejected a tribunal, citing such reasons as "getting on" with the future and building a good relationship with Indonesia. Former PM Mari Alkatiri, from Fretilin, issued a brief call for an international tribunal before also retracting his statement.

The small size of the Timorese elite means there are strong family ties between political and business leaders. They say talking about justice is bad for business with Indonesia.

Trade with Indonesia is booming, but as cheap Indonesian imports flood the market Timorese small business traders have their backs to the wall.

Indonesian soldiers and military officers have never been extradited to East Timor to answer warrants issued by the UN Serious Crimes Unit. Instead, to appease critics, they came before the 2002 Indonesian Ad Hoc Tribunal on East Timor in Jakarta. All were acquitted. In his August 30 speech, Horta called on the United Nations to disband its Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor, which has so far completed investigations into only 86 of 396 cases.

Horta's stand certainly helps some, including the disgraced former general Wiranto. In 1999, Wiranto was the Indonesian armed forces chief. Prabowo Subianto was the Army Strategic Reserve Commander.

Both ran as vice-presidential candidates in Indonesian's July presidential elections and they now lead two parliamentary parties – underscoring the ongoing influence of the military in Indonesian politics.

A September 2 Jakarta Post editorial praised Horta's "statesmanship" and argued, unconvincingly, that it was now up to Indonesia to prosecute human rights abuses.

Indonesian human rights activists continue to push for justice for those abused by the Indonesian military and the Suharto dictatorship from 1965 until 1998, but they lack the necessary political support.

The abuse cases include killings in Aceh, West Papua, Lampung, the massacre of half a million leftists in 1965-66, the disappearance of 12 activists in 1998, and the crimes in East Timor.

Each Thursday afternoon, protesters with black umbrellas, marked with the names of places and incidents, stand silently outside the Presidential Palace in Jakarta demanding justice.

The 2004 murder of human rights campaigner Munir, who was poisoned, with the involvement of the intelligence agencies, aboard a Garuda flight to Amsterdam, is also a focus of the Black Thursday protests.

Horta's stand against an international crimes tribunal sanctions impunity for gross violations of human rights in the clearest terms. Both the Indonesian and Timorese people have a stake in the prosecution of the Indonesian military for past human rights abuses.

[Vannessa Hearman worked in East Timor from 2000 to 2002 as an aid worker and United Nations interpreter. She is now writing her doctoral thesis about the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66 and the question of accountability for human rights abuses.]

Justice 'eludes' Timor massacre victims

Agence France Presse - September 6, 2009

Hundreds of people lit candles and held prayers in East Timor on Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary of one of the worst massacres in the country's history.

Sitting stoically outside an incomplete church in the southern East Timor city of Suai, where up to 200 civilians including priests were killed on September 6, 1999, Manuel Soares prayed silently for his dead son and kidnapped daughter Juliana dos Santos, or affectionately known as Alola.

Indonesian military group Laksaur vice-commander Egidio Manek had "taken" her away as a war trophy and forced her to marry him in neighbouring West Timor, he said. "Every month, I send her some clothing for the three children she now has," he added.

East Timor's First Lady Kirsty Sword Gusmao had named her non- profit organisation Alola Foundation in her honour.

"The people who suffered in 1999, those families won't even come to the church," Soares said. "For the victims, everything is ruined and broken. I came here today to get away from the feeling."

The Indonesian Army and paramilitaries went on the rampage after the 1999 referendum, killing around 1,400 people and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee to other parts of Indonesia.

Australian-led United Nations peacekeepers restored order, ending an occupation that is estimated to have claimed around 100,000 lives through fighting, disease and starvation.

Soares said all he wanted was to see the perpetrators be tried for the human rights violations that happened between 1975 and 1999, but his patience was wearing thin.

"We want justice, but it never happens. They release all the criminals and all the people who were involved in the killings," he said.

The United Nations last Tuesday had condemned the release of Indonesian former militia leader Martenus Bere, who was detained in East Timor on August 8, five years after being indicted for his role in the 1999 Suai Church massacre.

East Timor's government has refused to confirm Bere's release but the Indonesian foreign ministry had said the man had already been moved from detention to Indonesia's embassy in Dili.

"If the government or the UN dared enough, they could go and arrest the militias," Soares said angrily. "They are all liars. They just talk and make promises. All the organisations who claim they help victims, they are just talking and talking," he added.

Timor violence victims to renew call for justice

Melbourne Age - September 1, 2009

Maris Beck, Dili – In East Timor's notorious Balide prison, the walls are scrawled with the hatred of the past. Graffiti left by the prison guards says: "Die or Live with Indonesia", and "Don't forget to pray".

Balide prison was once a place of brutality. For the 30 years that Indonesia occupied East Timor, it was a place of torture, rape, imprisonment, and death.

But today the infamous prison has a different purpose. Victims of violence will today meet senior United Nations officials and East Timorese government representatives to renew their calls for justice and compensation, to ask that perpetrators of past crimes be brought to trial.

Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of East Timor's vote for independence. But for many, the struggle to overcome the past continues. For those who bear the scars of torture, who lost years of their lives and loved ones, the past is a daily oppression.

Although the United Nations Serious Crimes Unit has indicted almost 400 people, many of those accused of the worst crimes have never been brought to trial.

Maria da Silva was taken to Balide prison in 1977, after she was caught helping the clandestine resistance fighters. She was 23 years old. She was tortured repeatedly – beaten for so long she lost count of the hours.

For months, she was locked in solitary confinement with no toilet and little food. Once another prisoner was put into her cell, badly beaten. She shared the cell with him all night before she realized he was dead.

There were all kinds of violence in the prison, she says. No one was spared.

As Ms da Silva spoke to The Age, there was a brief earth tremor. She paused for a moment and drew her arms close. In Timor, she said, "we believe that such things are signs that the dead are speaking to us, reminding us of the past. "Without justice", she says, "there can be no peace."

Today, she will stand before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, and speak those words, in the prison where she was once held captive. The same request will be repeated by a National Congress of Victims' Families this week.

But in a country where stability hangs in a careful balance, the issue of prosecution and compensation for past crimes is contentious.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur in East Timor, Atul Khare said he was "not so sure" about an international tribunal, but that there should be compensation for victims and "some degree of accountability".

Although Amnesty International called for a tribunal last week, President Jose Ramos Horta responded in his anniversary speech on Sunday by urging the country to leave the past behind. He said: "There will be no tribunal."

Mr Ramos Horta told The Age that there could be no compensation for victims. The fight for independence, he said, "was not a contractual job with insurance."

He said: "We fought for a cause and I'm not going to listen to people coming to me and saying well, I was tortured, I lost a brother a sister and I want compensation – from whom? From the Timorese government? From Indonesia? From the Americans who helped Indonesia? No. The greatest act of justice is that we are free today."

Dr. Clinton Fernandes, an expert on East Timor from the Australian Defence Force Academy, said he believed Mr Ramos Horta is "simply being pragmatic".

He said the "diplomatic burden" of a tribunal would be too much for East Timor to bear. But over the next several years, he said, having such a tribunal might be feasible.

Transition & development

Little to show for billions spent in East Timor

Associated Press - September 4, 2009

Anthony Deutsch, Dili – A decade after tiny East Timor broke from Indonesia and prompted one of the most expensive UN-led nation-building projects in history, there is little to show for the billions spent.

The world has given more than $8.8 billion in assistance to East Timor since the vote for independence in 1999, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press from the UN and 46 donor countries and agencies. That works out to $8,000 for each of East Timor's 1.1 million people, one of the highest per person rates of international aid.

But little of the money, perhaps no more than a dollar of every 10, appears to have made it into East Timor's economy. Instead, it goes toward foreign security forces, consultants and administration, among other things.

In the meantime, data from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Food Program, UN Development Program and others show the money has done little to help the poor. In fact, poverty has increased. Roads are in disrepair, there is little access to clean water or health services, and the capital is littered with abandoned, burned-out buildings where the homeless squat.

"The international intervention has preserved the peace, which was always its primary objective," said James Dobbins, director of the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center. "Its success in promoting political reform and economic development has been more limited."

East Timor was once seen as the poster child for UN nation- building.

After a bloody 24-year occupation by Indonesia that left 174,000 dead, the people of this predominantly Catholic former Portuguese colony voted overwhelmingly in a UN-managed referendum on Aug. 30, 1999, to separate. The vote triggered a rampage by Indonesian soldiers and proxy militias who killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed much of the infrastructure.

A provisional UN administration restored basic services, repaired buildings and resettled hundreds of thousands of people who had lost their homes. With greater powers than any previous mission, the UN was supposed to help create the pillars of a new country, virtually from scratch.

The vastness and complexity of the job became apparent in early 2006, just as the UN was pulling out its last staff members. Fighting broke out between rival police and army factions, killing dozens and toppling the government. Then, last February, President Jose Ramos-Horta was nearly killed by rebel gunmen in an ambush.

Timor still faces grave challenges:

Between 2001 and 2007, the number of Timorese living in poverty jumped nearly 14 percent to about 522,000, or roughly half the population, according to the World Bank.
Children make up half of the poor, and 60 percent of those under 5 suffer malnutrition, the World Bank and World Food Program found.
The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation concluded in a 2007 report that very little aid was channeled into "productive activities, including private sector development."
The unemployment rate for 15- to 29-year-olds in the capital, who make up the vast majority of the national work force, was more than 40 percent in 2007, according to the IMF and the state.

Atul Khare, who has headed the UN operation in East Timor since mid-2006, dismissed the World Bank and IMF figures as "absolutely incorrect" and not representative. He said the country has made "considerable progress" since 1999, and the UN East Timor mission has been effective and successful.

"All these figures are a cause of concern, but they are extrapolations, they are not the real figures, and I would not rely on those figures for making assessments," he said. "In the last 10 years, with their own efforts... assisted by the international community, this country has largely, yes, been a success. Were you here in 1999? If you were not here, you cannot gauge."

Khare cited increased fertility rates, among the highest in the world, new buildings and fewer potholes in Dili as positive signs. He said accurate numbers will emerge after 2010, when the next national census is held.

But groups that study East Timor have concluded that a mere fraction of aid money is trickling into the economy – just 10 percent of about $5.2 billion, estimates La'o Hamutuk, a respected Dili-based research institute. Its figure excludes more than $3 billion in military spending by Australia and New Zealand.

The other 90 percent went to international salaries, overseas procurement, imported supplies, foreign consultants and overseas administration, the institute said. About 20 percent of pledged aid was never delivered at all, it said.

Another group, the Peace Dividend Trust, concluded that as little as 5 percent of the UN mission budget trickled into East Timor's economy between 2004 and 2007.

The UN spent $2.2 billion on missions in East Timor between 1999 and 2009. Roughly $3 billion in donor aid – the bulk of it from Australia, Japan, the European Union, the US and Portugal – was channeled through 500 not-for-profit groups and institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The World Bank has expressed concern that too much is being spent on consultants, but could not provide a comprehensive figure. High-level Timorese government officials told the AP that millions of dollars have been wasted on projects that overlapped or were not completed, donor rivalry, mismanagement and corruption. They asked not to be named for fear of a backlash from donors.

President Ramos-Horta, a Nobel laureate for peace, said the world needs to rethink its aid model.

"Where has this money been invested? That is the question the donor community needs to ask itself," he said. "If that money were to have been spent mostly in Timor, it would have transformed this country, economically and socially."

Much of the money has gone toward security, for which the impact is difficult to measure. An AP tally shows that $3.6 billion was spent in the past 10 years on troops from Australia and New Zealand, who make up the bulk of a foreign intervention force.

Timor's leaders and most experts agree that without outside help East Timor would have been at risk of becoming a failed state. Thousands of foreign soldiers, UN police officers and staff remain across the country, but will start departing early next year.

Today, East Timor's streets are calm. The economy is starting to grow under a new government that took over in 2007 after peaceful elections and is tapping into a $5 billion petroleum fund from oil and gas fields. The fund will be exhausted by 2023, and analysts say if the non-oil economy is not stable by then, people will starve.

Under the current government, compensation has also been paid to a third of the armed forces who deserted in 2006. Pensions payments have also started for the generation of guerrilla fighters who battled Indonesian troops in the mountains for more than two decades.

In the meantime, the people are still waiting for help.

Domingos Pereira, a 40-year-old street vendor, lost his father, siblings and other family members in the fight for independence, and his house was destroyed in riots in 2006. He now supports his wife and six children by selling sodas, cigarettes and candy.

"My expectation was that when East Timor became an independent country, small people like me would see an improvement in our lives," he said. "But after 10 years of our independence, I don't have it yet."

Duarte Beremau sleeps in a two-room, dirt-floor shack with eight family members, including four unemployed adult children. The shelter is cobbled together from rusting sheet metal and has no water, electricity or sanitation.

Beremau, who is illiterate and doesn't know his age, earns $10 a week from a coffee factory, part of which he bets on a Sunday afternoon cockfight in the dusty back streets of the capital, Dili. "Nothing has changed my suffering," he said. "My life is still like it was."

[Associated Press researchers Julie Reed and Randy Herschaft in New York, writers Yu Bing in Beijing, Jae-Soon Chang in Seoul, Robert Gillies in Toronto, Foster Klug in Washington, Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, Ray Lilley in Wellington, Rod McGuirk in Canberra and Tanalee Smith in Adelaide contributed to this article.]

Graft & corruption

Gusmao's daughter 'gave up food company shares'

ABC News - September 2, 2009

Sara Everingham – East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has defended himself against allegations he broke his country's laws by signing a contract with a company his daughter had a stake in.

On June 26, the ABC reported that it had obtained documents that showed Mr Gusmao's daughter, Zenilda Gusmao, was a major shareholder of Prima Foods – one of a group of companies awarded contracts to import rice to East Timor by the end of 2008.

The ABC reported that Mr Gusmao signed off on a $US3.5 million ($4.2 million) contract with Prima Foods.

It was reported Zenilda Gusmao had an 11 per cent share in the company and that according to the laws in East Timor the prime minister cannot sign off on contracts with a company in which a family member has more than a 10 per cent stake.

The Prime Minister says he is an honest man and his deputy says documents showing Ms Gusmao gave up her shares before the contract was signed are authentic.

PM's anger It is clear Mr Gusmao is angry about the allegations of corruption against him. At a recent press conference he said the stories were fictitious and he does not like media that report rumours.

He said in East Timor the people "scream" for the media to grow in its capacity and responsibility so that they do not publish stories that are based on rumours and not facts, and he said Australia was a developed country where rumours had been reported.

East Timor's deputy prime minister, Jose Luis Guterres, says there are documents to support the government's position that Ms Gusmao had given up her shares in Prima Foods before the contract was signed off on.

"I was also very much unhappy with allegations from some of the journalists in Australia," Jose Luis Guterres said.

"But I believe that after the clarifications, things will be clearer, clear, all clear, but I can say to you that we follow our rules. I can tell you that we take seriously the question of corruption allegations and also we are very serious that we pass the law... and that the law was approved and managed in the Parliament to create the corruption commission."

Two documents indicating that Ms Gusmao sold her shares in September 2008 were posted on the website of the East Timorese newspaper, Tempo Semenal, on August 3. The editor of the newspaper, Jose Belo, told the ABC he could not confirm the authenticity of the documents.

Investigations

In a statement ABC News says it is eager to further investigate this story and follow up Mr Gusmao's allegations in relation to recent coverage. It says the East Timorese government has denied the ABC's many requests for access to documents which reportedly support the prime minister's case.

East Timor's Ombudsman, Sebastiao Ximenes, is investigating the way in which the rice contracts were awarded. He has confirmed that he received a letter from President Jose Ramos Horta, dated June 2, calling for an investigation.

In the letter, Mr Ramos Horta said: "There is a widely held view that contracts for the supply of rice are being awarded without proper tender processes, involving collusion and cases of corruption. The persistence of such views is harmful to the good operation of our democracy and it is important that this situation be clarified quickly and thoroughly."

Human rights/law

East Timor opposition threatens to force early election

Agence France Presse - September 18, 2009

Dili – East Timor's opposition threatened on Friday to force an early election in an escalating row with the government over the release of an Indonesian militia leader accused of crimes against humanity.

Fretilin party spokesman Jose Teixeira told AFP the party will "seriously consider" pulling out of parliament if a motion to censure the government of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is not passed by parliament.

Fretilin, which controls 21 of the parliament's 65 seats, submitted the motion on Monday over the Gusmao government's decision last month to release militia leader Martenus Bere.

"We can't continue to be a part of what has become a violation of law," Mr Teixeira said. "If the censure does not go through, we can't see any way out," he said, adding the withdrawal of Fretilin's MPs would be enough to automatically force an election.

Bere was arrested after crossing into East Timor on August 8, five years after being indicted for his role in a string of human rights violations including the 1999 Suai church massacre in which up to 200 people were killed.

The United Nations' human rights representative in East Timor on Tuesday criticised government "interference" in freeing the militia leader. But Gusmao and President Jose Ramos-Horta have said reconciliation with giant neighbour Indonesia is more important than dwelling on past abuses.

At least 100,000 people were estimated to have died during Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor, which ended with bloody violence surrounding a 1999 UN-backed independence vote.

Growing anger at release of man accused of war crimes

Sydney Morning Herald - September 17, 2009

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Hundreds of non-government organisations in Dili have backed the United Nations' condemnation of East Timor's release of an Indonesian man accused of crimes against humanity.

The Catholic Church has also condemned the release of Maternus Bere, a former militia commander. An influential bishop, Basilio do Nascimento, declared: "We have to forgive but before we can forgive there must be justice"

Mr Bere allegedly led an attack on a church in the East Timorese town of Suai in September 1999, during which three priests and about 200 civilians were massacred.

In a blunt statement released in Dili, the East Timor NGO Forum described the Government's decision to release Mr Bere on August 30, the 10th anniversary of East Timor's vote for independence, as a "cheap political decision" that bowed to international intervention and violated the independence of the country's judiciary.

"The NGO Forum and its members condemn the political intervention by the Republic of Indonesia into the judicial sovereignty of Timor-Leste," said the forum, which represents more than 300 organisations.

The forum said Indonesia pressured East Timor's leaders to release Mr Bere from a jail in Dili following his mid-August arrest when he crossed the border from Indonesian West Timor to attend a family funeral.

Mr Bere, a West Timor provincial official, was indicted by a UN Serious Crimes Tribunal in 2003 on charges of murder, extermination, enforced disappearance, torture and rape.

East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, and the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, secretly arranged Mr Bere's release to Indonesian officials without a court order.

This prompted new calls for the UN to establish an international tribunal to prosecute people accused of crimes in East Timor, including former senior Indonesian military commanders.

But Mr Ramos-Horta ruled out any tribunal and called for the disbanding of UN investigations into people accused of murdering hundreds of Timorese in an August 30 speech that fuelled political tensions in Dili. "We must put the past behind us," he said.

Timor probes legality of militant's release

Associated Press - September 17, 2009

Guido Goulart, Dili – East Timor's Supreme Court is investigating top government officials over accusations they illegally released a war crimes suspect at Indonesia's request – a case that could test the constitution of Asia's youngest democracy.

Judges say political leaders illegally bypassed the courts with the release, highlighting the continuing challenge to establish an independent and viable judiciary after the tiny state broke from hundreds of years of colonialism in 2002.

Formal charges have not been filed, but prosecutors are investigating the possible involvement of several members of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's government, two court officials with first-hand knowledge of the case told The Associated Press in interviews this week. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Indonesian national Maternus Bere was detained Aug. 8 to face allegations of crimes against humanity, including the 1999 Suai church massacre that left dozens dead, among them women, children and three priests. Bere was set free on Aug. 30 before be could be put on trial.

The killings were part of a wider campaign of persecution and murder by pro-Indonesian forces against the Timorese population that year. The violence, prompted by a vote to split from Jakarta after a brutal 24-year occupation, left at least 1,000 people dead.

The United Nations has expressed concern over Bere's release and called for Timor's leaders to abide by international law. Arrest warrants issued by a UN-backed serious crimes unit are outstanding for nearly 400 suspects, but East Timor has favored reconciliation with neighboring Indonesia over prosecution.

President Jose Ramos-Horta argues that reopening old wounds will not help the impoverished country build a stable democracy.

"The vast majority of the people here don't care about what happened to the guy (Bere)," Ramos-Horta told The Associated Press. "The enemies of yesterday must apologize and forgive each other. The UN human rights bureaucracy is the one out of touch with the reality."

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry says it negotiated Bere's release by phone with Ramos-Horta, Gusmao, Foreign Minister Zacharia da Costa and other officials on Aug. 30.

Indonesian officials waited for confirmation of the release before attending East Timor's celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the independence vote, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.

Indonesian officials say that Bere, who was reportedly in East Timor for a family wedding, remains at the Indonesian Embassy in Dili awaiting deportation to Indonesia.

Supreme Court chief Judge Claudio Ximenes told reporters last week that Bere's handover was "an illegal decision made be someone who has no right to do so." "Only a judge can order the freeing of a suspect from a detention center or prison," he said.

The Dili-based La'o Hamutuk research institute, a respected group that studies efforts by foreign institutions to rebuild East Timor, also said the handover violated the constitution.

Gusmao's office said he is ready to accept any legal consequences of freeing Bere, but that he has received no notice of an investigation.

"The Gusmao Government has always been open, transparent and readily willing to participate in any investigations," government spokesman Agio Pereira said in a statement to the AP.

The dispute comes amid relative stability in East Timor, a predominantly Catholic state of 1.1 million people that descended into chaos in early 2006 when fighting between rival security forces killed dozens. President Ramos-Horta was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in February last year.

Bere's case exposes a lack of separation between political powers and the courts, Charles Scheiner of La'o Hamutuk said in an e- mail to the AP.

"It has serious implications for the future of rule of law and justice," Scheiner said. "The investigation by the judicial system is one piece; whether the prosecutor will be brave enough to bring the case to court is yet to be seen."

The opposition Fretilin party is pushing a censure motion in parliament over the Bere release, which could force early elections.

"The government of Xanana will be brought down and the president will have to call early elections," Fretilin's Deputy House Speaker Vicente Gueterres told the AP Wednesday.

Fretilin is the largest party in parliament, but it is unclear if a majority of lawmakers are willing to risk another political crisis.

Roughly a third of East Timor's population was wiped out during the Indonesian occupation, but those crimes go unpunished.

[AP writer Anthony Deutsch contributed to this article from Jakarta.]

East Timor torture witness fears reprisals

Sydney Morning Herald - September 17, 2009

Catharine Munro – An alleged victim of torture in East Timor says he regrets talking to the Australian Federal Police because he is now in danger after the man he accused flew out of Australia.

The journalist Jose Belo was interviewed in Dili earlier this year over his allegations that a fellow Dili resident, Guy Campos, had collaborated with Indonesian special forces when they tortured him in 1995.

"I put myself in danger by talking to the AFP," Mr Belo said. "If Mr Campos comes back to this country I will come to him and reconcile with him and I will forget justice from a Western country... I am very, very disappointed with the Australian Government."

Mr Campos left Australia on Monday for Indonesia having entered the country last year on a World Youth Day visa. He was identified in Sydney by the sister of 11-year-old Francisco Ximines, who Mr Campos had beaten to death in 1979 while trying to extract information.

Clinton Fernandes, Australia's principal East Timor analyst in 1998-99, told the Herald last year that Mr Campos was convicted of the crime in East Timor. A higher court acquitted him.

The Greens senator Bob Brown accused the Government of helping Mr Campos. "It is not just remiss; this is by deliberation. It is a shameful day for injustice."

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions had asked federal police to continue investigating Mr Campos but charges were not laid before he left. He had applied for refugee status and been granted a bridging visa which expired yesterday. Had he not left, the Attorney-General could have stopped him from being deported while the investigation continued.

The federal police said yesterday that it did "not have sufficient evidence to proceed with any charge against Mr Campos at this time".

Justice still lagging for Timor's human rights victims, says UN

Jakarta Globe - September 16, 2009

A new report finds East Timor is still lagging in efforts to prosecute human rights violations that occurred under Indonesian rule and during its turbulent transition to independence.

The report from the United Nations says 301 people indicted for human rights abuses during that period are still at large. "The vast majority of those at large are believed to be in Indonesia," the report says, "and Timor-Leste has never formally requested their extradition."

All 18 suspects who faced trial in Indonesia for East Timor violations were acquitted last year, it notes.

The report urges civil society organizations to continue pressing Indonesia to prosecute those suspected of serious rights violations in East Timor.

On Tuesday the UN continued its condemnation of East Timor's recent decision to release alleged former militia leader Martenus Bere.

"What we know is that the legal means to release someone from prison were not followed," said Louis Gentile, the