Catharine Munro, Jakarta – When Guntur Alfie's friends and colleagues told him to buy a bullet proof vest to sit in judgment on Indonesian military officers charged with human rights abuses in East Timor, they were only half joking.

The university lecturer has been approved by President Megawati Sukarnoputri to join the bench for Indonesia's unprecedented and long-delayed human rights tribunal.

The US Congress has made the bringing of rights abusers to justice a key requirement for re-establishing military ties with Indonesia.

But as details emerge of how the court will be run, legal experts and human rights lobby groups are becoming concerned that the government has not provided the crucial requirements for a just court. "The signs are that the emphasis is not being placed on delivering justice in accordance with international standards, it's about providing a show," said Amnesty's Indonesia researcher Lucia Withers.

Amnesty supports Jakarta's efforts, believing that it is better for the perpetrators of human rights abuses to be tried in their own country, rather than in an international court.

But one of the concerns is the low rate of pay for those on the bench, which has been a barrier to tackling corruption in Indonesia's courts.

For example, when hearing a case, Guntur will be paid 4,500,000 rupiah a month, the salary of a secretary in the private sector.

A lecturer in legal administration at a regional university, Guntur must give up his main source of income – working as a legal adviser – to join the bench.

"If you look at the price of daily needs nowadays it may not be adequate," Guntur said. "But since it's a duty for my country I am ready to do my job, although the risks far outweigh the benefits," he said.

Guntur would be well aware that Supreme Court judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who had been responsible for setting up the tribunal, was assassinated in broad daylight by expert marksmen.

Police allege that it was the youngest son of the former dictator Suharto who ordered Kartasasmita's killing, and suspects are now before the court.

But some observers maintain that the military had more of an interest in killing the judge, who had delivered at least one favorable judgment for the Suharto family.

The government has not decided whether it will provide security for the 35 judges of the tribunal, which will include 18 legal experts and 17 permanent judges.

One appointee, district court judge Binsar Gultom, said he wanted his family's safety assured. "I would urge the government to provide security measures for the judges and their family," Binsar said.

The East Timor-based Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP) said security was going to be a problem for a court that would challenge members of one of the country's most powerful institutions, the security forces.

"The previous judge was already killed and we don't know who did it," said program director Christian Ranheim.

Of concern to Amnesty and JSMP is the absence to date of a protection program for witnesses of the two cases that Indonesia has agreed to try – the massacres at Liquica and Suai in the months leading up to the August 30 vote for independence in East Timor.

"If you don't get witnesses from East Timor – victims and victims' families – you won't have a fair trial," Ranheim said.

Indonesia has already lost support from one key international body, the office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHRC).

UNHRC has backed out of a scheme to provide training for the judges in protest at President Megawati Sukarnoputri's decision to narrow the scope of the tribunal to specific months before the independence vote.

There are claims that Indonesia is not pursuing the big military fish, such as then military commander and Security Minister Wiranto.

But the accused officers who have been named as suspects are still too powerful, according to University of Indonesia criminal law expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo.

The most senior officer to be named is General Adam Damiri, a two-star general who was regional commander based in Bali and remains on active duty.

"Their position would make witnesses and the victims too scared so they would not give a full account to the public prosecutor," said Harkristuti.

Compounding their challenges, the judges have only received one week's training in the highly complex field of human rights law, according to Justice Department director general Soejatno.

Amnesty's Withers said judges hearing cases of atrocities in Rwanda and Bosnia usually had 15 to 20 years' experience. "Are these people actually going to understand what they are dealing with?" she asked. According to one of the judicial appointees contacted by AAP, the answer is no.

"I feel that few people on the bench have adequate knowledge of human rights... I noticed that when we talked during the breaks (in training)," he said on condition of anonymity.