Mark Forbes Denpasar – Australia was overzealous and "gung-ho" towards East Timor, the former Indonesian foreign minister, Ali Alatas, has said at an inquiry aimed at healing the wounds left by the bloody aftermath of Timorese independence.
Mr Alatas told the Commission of Truth and Friendship that he did not blame the Prime Minister, John Howard, for the bloodshed surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999. However, he said that a letter from Mr Howard to the then Indonesian president, B.J. Habibie, provoked Indonesia's about-face in holding the referendum.
The letter, which outlined Australia's support for an independence vote, was not the "bone of contention", Mr Alatas said yesterday. "It was rather the spirit of overzealousness of Australia suddenly sending troops and the largest contingent. Sometimes it's a gung-ho attitude."
Mr Alatas, who is now a foreign policy adviser to the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was the commission's first witness. He said he was not aware of evidence the Indonesian military was complicit in the slaughter of East Timorese carried out by local militia.
However, witnesses later gave graphic accounts of military members ordering the murder of Timorese civilians. About 1400 people were killed before and after the independence vote.
The commission was established by Dr Yudhoyono and his Timorese counterpart, Xanana Gusmao, in the hope their nations could move on from the bloody events. Amnesty is being granted to perpetrators if they testify truthfully.
The commission was formed after a United Nations report called for war crimes charges against military and militia leaders. Trials in Indonesia, which have convicted only one militia leader, have been widely criticised.
Mr Gusmao and Dr Habibie are expected to give evidence before the commission. The testimony of Indonesia's former military chief, General Wiranto, is also widely anticipated.
The brief of the commission, which comprises five members each from Indonesia and East Timor, is to promote reconciliation and recommend amnesties and compensation. It is unclear if it may recommend prosecutions of witnesses judged to have been untruthful.
Emilio Bareto testified how he narrowly escaped death during a massacre of more than 50 civilians seeking refuge in a church on the outskirts of the town of Liquica in April 1999.
Mr Bareto said he saw an Indonesian officer, a member of his family, order local militia to fire on about 2000 people sheltering in the compound. "He was not armed, he was in civilian clothes," Mr Bareto said.
Before being slashed across his head with a machete, Mr Bareto said he saw several people stabbed to death. Police had earlier secured the roads to the compound to allow pro-Indonesian militia members through, Mr Bareto said.
The commission plans to continue public hearings until June.