Jakarta – Indonesia urged the international community to respect a joint truth commission tasked at gathering the facts surrounding Indonesia's military rampage ahead of East Timor's 1999 vote for independence, local media reported on Saturday.

"The international community should respect and support efforts by Indonesia and Timor Leste as sovereign nations to solve their past problems with a future-oriented approach," Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Kristiarto Legowo was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.

The comments came after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday criticized the commission for granting amnesties to those suspected of serious human rights abuses during the elections. A spokesman for Ban said United Nations officials would not testify before the panel unless "the terms of reference are revised to comply with international standards."

Among those called to testify before the joint panel is Ian Martin, the UN special representative in East Timor in 1999.

The commission "cannot endorse or condone amnesties for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or gross violations of human rights, nor should it do anything that might foster them," a spokesman for Ban said Thursday. "It is the firm intention of the secretary general to uphold this position of principle."

Indonesia and its former colony East Timor had agreed that the truth and friendship commission would not prosecute anyone found guilty of human rights abuses during the balloting eight years ago.

"The important things is that we do not allow ourselves to be held hostage by the past," Ramos Horta, the current East Timor leader, said after visiting Indonesia in early June. "It will set a precedent for other countries to deal with similar situations."

The Indonesia-East Timor Commission of Truth and Friendship is similar to South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and occupied the former Portuguese colony for 24 years. As many as 200,000 civilians died during that period. East Timor voted to become independent in the UN-sponsored referendum in 1999, and became a nation in 2002 after being administered by the UN for more than two years.

Human-rights groups have criticized the commission because it lacks the ability to bring senior members of the Indonesian Armed Forces to justice for ordering military-backed militias to massacre Timorese civilians and raze villages.

Both countries had agreed to extend by six months the work of the joint truth panel. The commission's mandate is now set until February 2008.