The UN has its own investigation team in East Timor. Some prosecutions have started against minor players. But the power to investigate stops abruptly at the border with West Timor.

Moreover, the UN does not have full access to signals intelligence that may point the finger at who exactly in Jakarta was pulling the strings. Australia has considerable evidence in its possession. When, if ever, will it be handed over?

The trial of Mr Milosevic may heighten the pressure. If Yugoslavia's former head of state can be charged, it creates something of a blueprint, morally if not procedurally, for more extensive investigations into the East Timor violence, and more robust questioning of Indonesia's security apparatus, including former military chief General Wiranto.

In this context, Clause 60 of the indictment against Mr Milosevic carries powerful resonances: "A superior is responsible for the acts of his subordinate(s) if he knew or had reason to know that his subordinate(s) was/were about to commit such acts or had done so and the superior failed to take the necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts or to punish the perpetrators thereof."

The Milosevic indictment carries documented evidence of more than 750 Kosovars killed in the rampage between January 15 and May 26, 1999. It details meticulously the hellfire inflicted on innocent civilians: hundreds of thousands forced from their homes, villages pillaged, homes, farms and businesses burnt, and a litany of rapes, beatings and murder. All hauntingly akin to the horror stories that would emerge only months later from Manatutu, Los Palos, and Dili itself.

The Milosevic trial may serve as a road map for future war crimes proceedings. The Indonesian Government should ready itself for the journey. So, too, Australia. This time, it cannot stand squeamishly on the sidelines. The world will be watching.