Mike Steketee, National Affairs Editor – Downer's achievements as our longest serving foreign minister aren't all he claims and must be balanced against some calamitous mistakes
Savouring his record as Australia's longest serving foreign minister, Alexander Downer offers as his greatest achievement the creation of a free and independent East Timor.
HS Dillon, Jakarta – The report of the joint Commission for Truth and Friendship, recently presented to the two heads of state who established the body, could certainly be lauded for ending a culture of denial by affirming that gross violations of human rights preceding and immediately after the East Timor referendum did indeed take place.
Warren Reed – By any measure, our intelligence agencies are the eyes and ears of the nation. But in the lead-up to the violence and killings of 1999 in East Timor it seemed that Canberra's political masters were like two of the wise monkeys, seeing nothing and hearing nothing. The third monkey, however, had a lot to say, the nature of which bore little resemblance to the truth.
Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – Although the government has taken the blame for the East Timor violence in 1999, there remains an opportunity for individuals to seek redress through national or international courts, the National Commission on Human Rights says.
Eko Waluyo, Sydney – At the handover of a report by the joint Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) in Bali, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accepted the report and expressed deep regret for the role the Indonesian military played in systematic human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999.
Aboeprijadi Santoso, Jakarta – The final report of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF), titled Per Memoriam ad Spem (Through memory toward hope) is a political document of compromise rather than a complete and verified factual report on what, when and why violence occurred in connection with the August 1999 popular consultation in East Timor.
When the Commission of Truth and Friendship was set up in August 2005 by the governments of Timor-Leste and Indonesia to "establish the conclusive truth regarding the events prior to and immediately after the Popular Consultation in 1999", there was scepticism about what it would achieve.
A recent report into the violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999 places the blame for crimes against humanity squarely at Indonesia's feet.
Usman Hamid, Jakarta – On July 15, Indonesia and Timor Leste officially accepted a report produced by the joint Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF). The report concludes crimes against humanity took place, with militia groups, the military, the police and the civilian government bearing institutional responsibility.
Hamish McDonald – Hilario Madeira was the sort of priest who makes you understand how the balance of the global Catholic congregation is shifting to the developing world, away from a jaded Europe.
Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) on Thursday admitted partial responsibility for gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999, saying it would abide by any government decisions to follow up on a joint truth commission report.
Ben Doherty, Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, who plans to contest next year's election, has supported the establishment of a war crimes tribunal to try Indonesian military figures accused of inciting violence during East Timor's independence vote in 1999. Mr Wahid said further formal investigation of alleged human rights violations was needed urgently.
Paul Toohey – There was never any question that it would tread softly. After all, it was called the Commission for Truth and Friendship, not the commission for truth. It was set up by the leaders of East Timor and Indonesia not merely to rake over the horrors of 1999 but most of all to find a way forward for two neighbours with a history of bad blood.
This Report presents the results of the two and a half years of work by the world's first bilateral Truth and Friendship Commission. It is comprised of nine chapters.
I. Mandate and implementation
New York – UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that the early release of a report blaming Indonesia for crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999 would mark the first step toward achieving justice and reconciliation.
Andi Abdussalam, Jakarta – The governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste in Bali on Tuesday expressed deep regret over the gross human rights violations committed during and after the referendum that led to the secession of East Timor from Indonesia in September in 1999.
Bruce Haigh – The release of a joint Indonesian-East Timor report on Tuesday by the Commission for Truth and Friendship into the causes of the crimes against humanity in the run-up to East Timorese independence in 1999, raises the issue of the culpability of Australia in the crimes committed by Indonesia's military, the Tentara Nasional Indonesia or TNI, and its militia surrogates.
In 2000, the then Indonesian president, Abdurrahman Wahid, performed one of the most difficult acts a nation's leader can perform. He apologised to the victims, both dead and maimed, of his country's violent actions.
Clinton Fernandes – Imagine the reaction if an inquiry assigned responsibility for the Holocaust without mentioning Hitler, and focused only on the last few months of World War II. Yet that is what the Truth and Friendship Commission has tried to do in the case of East Timor.
Olivia Rondonuwu, Nusa Dua – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is satisfied with Indonesia's expression of regret over violence surrounding Dili's 1999 independence vote and says it is now time to move on.
Abdul Khalik, Nusa Dua, Bali – A joint truth commission report has found several high-ranking military officers supported pro-Jakarta militia groups that perpetrated gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.
Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta – The casualty list piled into the newsroom like a high-scoring sports box line. Even in Jakarta little imagination was needed to hear the distant screams as gloomy dispatches filled the day.
Aubrey Belford, Nusa Dua – Indonesia on Tuesday accepted a truth commission report blaming it for gross human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999, amid fresh calls for the perpetrators to face international justice.
Geoff Thompson
Mark Colvin: Indonesia has accepted that its own officials, military and police, funded, armed and collaborated with the violent anti-independence militias that ran riot in East Timor eight years ago.
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed his "deepest remorse" to those who lost their lives and property.
The Commission of Truth and Friendship will formally submit its findings to Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his East Timorese counterpart, Jose Ramos-Horta later today. The 300-page report was prepared by a Commission set up by both governments, to hear evidence of crimes against humanity committed around East Timor's vote for independence in August 1999.
Yemris Fointuna and Abdul Khalik, Kupang, Jakarta – Former pro-integration militias have rejected a truth commission report that blames them and the Indonesian government for gross human rights violations during the 1999 carnage in East Timor.
Mark Forbes, Denpasar – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will reject a recommendation he apologise for Indonesia instigating gross human rights abuses during East Timor's 1999 independence vote, instead expressing regret, according to his Defence Minister, Juwono Sudarsono.
Natasha Robinson – A few grainy photographs, a couple of dog-eared letters home, and the contradictory memories of friends. For actor Anthony LaPaglia, piecing together the life of executed Australian journalist Roger East has not been an easy task.
Denpasar – East Timorese members of the bilateral commission with Indonesia on atrocities committed in 1999 suggested amnesty recommendations for the crimes but were turned down by their Jakarta counterparts, commission officials said Tuesday.
Olivia Rondonuwu, Nusa Dua – Indonesia and East Timor expressed regret on Tuesday for violence surrounding Dili's 1999 independence vote after a joint probe blamed state institutions for "gross human rights violations."
Daniel Flitton – The sorry history of violence in East Timor did not begin with the militia rampage following the 1999 independence ballot. For more than two decades after Indonesia's 1975 invasion, the Timorese suffered. Thousands needlessly died.
The governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste have missed an historic opportunity to provide justice for more than 1,000 people killed during Timor-Leste's vote for independence in 1999, Amnesty International said today.
This week the report of the bilateral Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) will be handed over to the presidents of Indonesia and Timor-Leste. The report concludes that crimes against humanity took place for which militia groups and the Indonesian military, police and civilian government bear institutional responsibility.
A former militia leader who claims the Indonesian military drugged him and gave him weapons to kill independence supporters in East Timor says the generals responsible must be held to account.
This week we are facing two challenging humanitarian issues, the situation in Zimbabwe and the findings of the Indonesia-East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission.
From Australia's point of view the Zimbabwe problem is an urgent human rights issue, one that has stirred the passions of most of us. The reality, however, is that we can't do much to influence the outcome.
International tribunal needed in wake of commission of Truth and Friendship report
The Australian media (Sydney Morning Herald July 11, 2008) has obtained leaked copies of the report of the joint Indonesia and Timor-Leste Commission for Truth and Reconciliation. Surprisingly, the Commission has come up with a report that lays the major blame for the 1999 bloodshed in Timor-Leste at the feet of Indonesian military, police and government officials.
Stephanie March, Dili – East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta is pushing for new laws to grant amnesty to perpetrators of the violence that wracked the tiny nation in 2006.
Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – An Australian investigator has named Indonesian military officers responsible for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999, including acts of torture where victims were forced to eat their own ears.
Hamish McDonald, Asia-Pacific editor – The emails still keep coming from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, several times a day, attached with transcripts of what the minister said at this or that "doorstep" and notifying where the minister might be ambushed for the next one.
Alexander Downer – Even in 1999 it was widely known that elements of the Indonesian military were behind the violent militia activity in East Timor.
Tom Hyland – Indonesian soldiers, police and civilian officials were involved in an "organised campaign of violence" that prompted Australian military intervention in East Timor in 1999, says a leaked report by a government inquiry.
Tom Hyland – The report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship is a bitter pill for the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a slap in the face to the Indonesian military, and a challenge to the UN to act on the crimes of 1999, for which no one in authority has been held to account. So many crimes, so few criminals.
The long-awaited report by the Indonesia-East Timor 'Commission on Truth and Friendship' (CTF) has been handed down, confirming what we already knew about the events in East Timor in 1999; that the crimes against humanity committed by the military and their proxy militias were an all of state affair.
Natasha Robinson – As Anthony La Paglia sits on a Darwin balcony overlooking over the Timor Sea, he insists that his latest project, Balibo, is much more than a ripping Australian political thriller.
Indonesia says it will completely accept a long-awaited report which blames it for murders, rapes and torture in East Timor in 1999.
Lindsay Murdoch – The massacre in the East Timor enclave of Oecussi was supposed to have been kept secret forever.
But Marcus Baquin pretended to be dead when a militiaman, under the command of an Indonesian soldier identified as Anton Sabraka and a militia commander known Gabriel Kolo, slashed the right side of his face and ear with a machete.
Rachael Brown reporting
Emma Alberici: A leaked report into the handling of East Timor's 1999 independence referendum is being celebrated as a crucial step on the road to reconciliation.
The ABC has obtained a copy of the report to be released in a special ceremony by the presidents of both nations next week.
Lindsay Murdoch – The Hollywood actor Anthony LaPaglia has called on the Northern Territory Government to hold a coronial inquiry into the assassination of Roger East, a largely forgotten Australian journalist he is portraying in the movie Balibo.
The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) is deeply disturbed by heavy-handed police actions – including the use of tear gas and large numbers of arrests – against nonviolent student demonstrators in Dili this week.