Jakarta – Indonesia and its former colony East Timor agreed Tuesday to extend by six months the work of a joint truth commission tasked at gathering the facts surrounding Indonesia's military rampage ahead of East Timor's 1999 vote for independence. The commission's mandate now extends until February.
At a joint press conference in Jakarta after holding talks with East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the two countries also agreed that the truth and friendship commission would not prosecute anyone found guilty of human-rights abuses surrounding the balloting eight years ago.
Human-rights groups have criticized the commission because it lacks the ability to bring senior members of the Indonesian Armed Forces to justice for ordering military-backed militias to massacre Timorese civilians and raze villages.
"Both of our governments – East Timor and Indonesia – agreed and are committed to solving our past problems based on the principle of truth, friendship and reconciliation, not through the judicial system," Yudhoyono said.
The Indonesia-East Timor Commission of Truth and Friendship, similar to South Africa's post-apartheit Truth and Reconciliation Commission, had been scheduled to conclude its job in August after it was extended for one year in 2006.
"The important things is that we do not allow ourselves to be held hostage by the past," Ramos Horta said. "It will set a precedent for other countries to deal with similar situations."
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and occupied the former Portuguese colony for 24 years. As many as 200,000 civilians died during that period. In 1999 in a UN-sponsored referendum, East Timor voted to become independent and became a nation in 2002 after being administered by the United Nations for more than two years.
In addition to bilateral economic issues, Yudhoyono and Ramos Horta also discussed education and border problems.
Nobel laureate Ramos Horta arrived in Jakarta Monday for a three-day visit to Indonesia, his first overseas trip after he was sworn in as president May 20. Ramos Horta won a landslide presidential election last month, replacing former rebel fighter Xanana Gusmao.