Asad Latif – Indonesia has shown real statesmanship in its dealings with Timor Leste, the latter's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said during a visit to Singapore. This, he suggested, is why the former Indonesian territory would not push for an international tribunal to try Indonesian soldiers and others responsible for deaths and destruction in 1999, when it voted to secede from Indonesia.

Human rights activists have demanded a United Nations war crimes tribunal for Timor Leste similar to tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Rights groups have also dismissed as a sham a human rights court which Jakarta has set up to try those associated with the 1999 violence.

However, Mr Ramos-Horta made a case for reconciliation. Delivering a public lecture organised by the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies on Friday, he noted the goodwill with which Jakarta had recognised the reality of Timor Leste's independence.

It took only about one month after independence in May last year for Timor Leste President Xanana Gusmao to pay a state visit to Indonesia, he said. "I bow to Indonesian courage and statesmanship," he said, calling Indonesia "a new country" after the fall of the Suharto regime.

On Thursday, he said in Jakarta that Indonesia had made "a tremendous effort" to bring to justice those responsible for violence in Timor Leste, then known as East Timor. "Indonesia has made a tremendous effort, with all the limitations and flaws that everyone knows about, to establish it [the trials]", AP quoted him as saying.

On Friday, he placed his nation's strong ties with Indonesia in context by giving examples of how long it could take to resolve international conflicts.

He said that Iraq and Iran had not normalised relations even 15 years after the end of their war. Likewise, there was no reconciliation between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Kuwait, which Baghdad invaded.

A report on Timor Leste's security prepared by the Lisbon-based Institute of Strategic and International Studies last year said that the new government might try to exert pressure on Jakarta over the trial of senior military officers before an international tribunal.

"Thus, future bilateral relations may continue to be fraught by residual tensions stemming from the events of 1999 and Indonesia"s 24-year-long occupation,' it said.

On Friday, however, Mr Ramos-Horta underlined the importance of his country's relations with Indonesia, saying: "We need a secure border and need to focus on creating jobs for our people."