Jakarta – Indonesia's military said Thursday it would cooperate with a special human rights court set up to try top commanders and militiamen accused of crimes in East Timor in 1999.
"We support it as long as it is in line with our laws," said armed forces spokesman Air Vice Marshall Graito Usodo. He said the men would be provided with defense lawyers for the proceedings.
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that trials for 19 suspects were expected to begin by the middle of January in Jakarta.
The trials are expected to test the strength of the ties between President Megawati Sukarnoputri and the army, which backed her takeover of power from former head of state Abdurrahman Wahid six months ago.
Hundreds of people were killed and about 250,000 others fled their homes in a three-week rampage by the Indonesian army and its militia proxies after East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia in August, 1999. The violence ended when international peacekeepers arrived.
The United Nations accepted Jakarta's pledge that it would conduct its own inquiry and prosecute those responsible for crimes surrounding the independence vote. It did so despite recommendations that an international war crimes tribunal akin to those for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda was needed for East Timor.
"Its a tricky point," said Andi Malarangeng, a prominent analyst and former government policy adviser. "Megawati needs the military's support in these turbulent times, but international pressure and local non-governmental groups are behind the ad hoc trial."
He said it was the first time that high-ranking officers had agreed to be tried in a civilian court. Among those accused are Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri – who was regional military in East Timor at the time of the violence.
Analysts say they don't expect Megawati's administration to vigorously prosecute top officers to avoid losing the support of the military brass.
She has come under fire recently from human rights and other non-governmental groups and from top parliamentary leaders for doing little to combat endemic corruption and revive the moribund economy.
"There will be a middle line taken. There will be some action but it won't go as far international expectations," Malarangeng predicted.