Dili – The East Timorese parliament narrowly approved Wednesday a controversial general amnesty for all crimes committed up to March 31, including the so-called "serious crimes" carried out by anti-independence militias and Indonesian troops in 1999. The bill, presented by Justice Minister Domingos Sarmento, passed in generality by 24 votes to 18 with 14 abstentions. It will face an item-by-item debate and vote next week.
The government, which had twice failed to get approval for similar bills in 2001 and 2003, justified its move with the need for national reconciliation.
The amnesty comes as the Timorese prepare to celebrate the second anniversary of their hard-won independence on May 20.
The bill's preamble underlined "the importance of forgiving, without forgetting, even those who committed so-called "serious crimes"(s) because the spirit of national reconciliation must also extend to them".
"Serious crimes" is the term applied in East Timor to crimes against humanity committed around the time of the country's 1999 independence plebiscite by the scorched-earth campaign unleashed by Indonesian occupation forces and proxy militias.
Opposition lawmaker Leandro Isaac questioned the government's initiative, asking how Timorese victims could "forgive the butchers" when they had yet to "recover psychologically from the crimes".
Many civil society organizations also denounced the amnesty, with some forecasting its application could provoke "chaos in the justice system".
Some 250,000 East Timorese were forced to flee their homes during the pro-Indonesia rampages that destroyed about 75 percent of the territory's infrastructures. More than 1,000 independence supporters were killed.nt-seat passengers to wear seat belts," said a national police spokesman, Zainuri Lubis.
bis said Jakarta drivers who refuse to belt up could face a fine of up to one million rupiah (115 dollars) or up to a month in jail.
Several other Indonesian cities will soon follow suit. Others, such as the second largest city of Surabaya in East Java, have already enforced the law.
The government in 1998 announced plans to enforce the 1992 law but drivers complained they could not afford to fit belts amid an economic crisis.
Despite Wednesday's belated crackdown, owners of cars without seat belts have been given until November 2005 to instal them.