Jakarta – The US-based Human Rights Watch on Saturday urged East Timor's parliament to exclude serious human rights crimes from a general amnesty law now under consideration that proposes to pardon culprits in the country's 1999 bloodbath.

"The law could undermine the work of Timorese and international bodies investigating and prosecuting the grave abuses that took place in East Timor during the country's 1999 referendum on independence from Indonesia," said the human rights advocate group in a press statement made available in Jakarta.

East Timor, a former Indonesian territory that became an independent country two years ago, is mulling legislation that would grant clemency for those who have committed "serious crimes" against the Timorese people in the bloodbath of 1999.

The amnesty is expected to be passed on May 20, marking the second anniversary of East Timor as nation.

"It is bitterly ironic to mark East Timor's second anniversary of nationhood by undermining justice for the most serious crimes that accompanied the country's independence," said Charmain Mohamed, East Timor researcher for Human Rights Watch.

"Reconciliation has a place, but there can't be reconciliation without judicial accountability for violations of basic international human rights," he added.

In a United Nations-backed referendum in August 1999, the East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia, unleashing a wave of murder and mayhem perpetrated by pro-Jakarta militias which the Indonesian military did little to prevent.

More than 1,000 people were killed and 500,000 were forced to flee their homes in the ensuing anarchy, which had to be quelled by an international peace-keeping force.

A UN-created Special Panel for Serious Crimes in East Timor, comprised of international and East Timorese judges, has indicted four Indonesian generals, including retired General Wiranto who is now a presidential candidate in Indonesia, for committing "serious crimes" in the 1999 incidents.

The indictment has seriously tarnished the presidential candidacy of Wiranto, who was defence minister and military commander-in-chief in 1999. "The Timorese leaders should not pardon crimes in advance of trial and conviction," Mohamed said.

"Pardoning serious violators, especially before they've even faced a trial, contradicts the principle that time served should be proportionate to the gravity of the crime," he said.