East Timor is preparing a "joint position" on the verdicts of the Jakarta court, currently trying those deemed responsible for the violence in Timor in 1999, and Dili will examine all options to rectify shortcomings in Indonesia's judicial system, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said Friday.

"From the beginning, the Timorese government has sought not to make significant comment, or add to the general chorus of skepticism, while the trials are still taking place", Ramos Horta told Lusa in Dili on returning from an official visit to Malaysia.

Ramos Horta's comments came after the first verdicts were given this week at the special human rights court in Jakarata, set up following international pressure to try 18 senior officials and army officers accused of unleashing the violence that killed over 1000 and left East Timor in ruins after the pro-independence referendum in 1999. A group of Indonesian commanders were acquitted Thursday on various charges of allowing massacres of civilians.

The Jakarta court's decision was widely condemned by the international community, including the UN. There have also been widespread calls for the setting up of an international court to ensure a more rigorous prosecution of those responsible for the bloodshed of 1999.

Ramos Horta, however, said he preferred not to make any comment on an international tribunal until there had been contacts between the Timorese Council of Minister, the Presidency and Parliament. "Indonesia has the chance to prove that it does not need an international court to carry out trials and that Indonesian justice can operate with credibility, transparency and integrity", said Ramos Horta.

Nevertheless, Dili's foreign minister said that until now, the Jakarta trials had only damaged Indonesia's credibility.