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Jakarta hopes UN commission won't come to Indonesia

Antara - March 22, 2005

Jakarta – Indonesia is hoping the Experts Commission the UN has set up to reinvestigate the 1999 human rights violation cases in Timor Leste will not need to carry out its mandate or come to Indonesia because Indonesia and Timor Leste already have set up a Truth and Friendship Commission to deal with the matter, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said here on Tuesday.

"We hope the UN commission will not reexpose the cases and nor come to Indonesia. It is enough for the commission to conduct an exchange of documents and past records with Indonesia," he said after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to report the results of his recent visit to the US where he had also met with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Juwono said there was no need for the UN commission to come to Indonesia because Indonesia and Timor Leste had already set up a Truth and Frienship Commission to settle the matter.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Timor Leste President Xanana Gusmao signed an greement on the establishment of the commission in Jakarta on March 9.

Juwono said Kofi Annan had said he would study the framework used by the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission. He said if the UN Commission came to Indonesia it could become a "wild ball" and a political "ping-pong" ball that could mess up the reconciliation that President Yudhoyono and President Xanana had built so far. He said the presence of two commissions would confuse both the people of Indonesia and Timor Leste.

Juwono said the Truth and Friendship Commission also involved human rights and legal experts as well as academics and politicians. "They are not inferior compared to the three legal experts assigned by Kofi Annan," he said.

He said there was no need for the UN Commission to revive past incidents in East Timor and make a problem out of it.

Asked what if the UN continued with its plan to send the commission here, Juwono said Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda was currently still studying the possibility and later would consult with the President before a decision would be made.