James Dunn – As horrifying details emerged about the TNI-backed militia rampage which followed the East Timor independence referendum demands have grown from within and outside the United Nations for an international investigation.

Progress, however, has been disappointingly slow. The establishment of a tribunal is taking longer than expected because not all members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) are enthusiastic for international intervention.

Some western governments also seem to be weakening in their support because they fear a tribunal would either fail to attract the necessary co-operation from Indonesian authorities, or that its outcome could destabilise Indonesia's new Wahid Government, whose reformist agenda carries many hopes in the West.

Even some of the Australian media have expressed doubts, with one Canberra columnist making the absurd suggestion that our media should apologise to Indonesia for its exaggerated and sensational reporting on human rights abuses in Timor.

These responses are part of a pattern of international behaviour since human rights became a focal point for international action. In the early stages of a conflict, human rights abuses, and the need to investigate or remedy them, have invariably been the focus of attention in UN or UN-backed interventions.

Then the pragmatists usually take over, and calls for reconciliation tend to displace calls for the guilty to be indicted and brought to justice.

The most prominent of the initial demands for action in East Timor came from Mary Robinson, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, and was supported by the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, himself.

At a special session of the UNCHR, convened in Geneva on September 29, Mrs Robinson's proposal became the subject of a resolution subsequently referred to ECOSOC for formal endorsement.

The need for an international investigation is not in dispute. Even President Wahid, on the eve of his election, acknowledged its importance. The big question is the scope of its inquiries, what form it will take and the extent of Indonesian support.

First there are the killings. In general terms we need to find out the number and identity of victims, how they were killed, who were the killers and, most importantly, who planned the operation and gave the orders.

Second, there are the mass deportations to West Timor. Third, there is systematic destruction of Timor's towns and villages. Who did the planning and gave the orders?

Although support for the work of an international tribunal was formally excluded from the UN Transition Authority for East Timor's terms of reference, this should not impede the investigation.

More critical to the outcome of the investigation is the kind of support it receives from Indonesian authorities, particularly from the TNI [Indonesian armed forces] commanders. Investigators need to interview militia commanders and the TNI generals implicated in their operations.

In practice, the most important inquiry is the one President Wahid should himself be ordering. A central concern of the democracy movement is to end the armed forces' notorious role which accorded Indonesian generals great political influence, and has enabled them to cover up the brutal behaviour of the TNI.

That kind of investigation could not be carried out by a UN tribunal, which will have no authority to probe into the past.

There are prominent Indonesians keen to launch such an investigation, and to carry it out fearlessly. A limited investigation was launched in October by KOMNAS [National Commission on Human Rights] and its findings concerning the refugees in West Timor were refreshingly frank.

But the investigations need to range much wider than particular incidents, if the Indonesian people are to confront the ugliness of the brutal past of a military, some of whose generals are still in a position to wield the excessive power they enjoyed under Soeharto.

The shocking excesses of the post-plebiscite militia operation is only the tip of an iceberg of human rights abuses, the full exposure of which is essential to fundamental and lasting democratic reform.

[James Dunn is a former Australian consul in Portuguese East Timor. He is the author of Timor: A People Betrayed.]