Jakarta – A commission set up to examine violence surrounding East Timor's 1999 independence vote brushed off Monday a UN boycott threat.
The United Nations warned last week that it would not send any officials to testify to the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF), which has no prosecution powers, unless it rules out recommending amnesties.
"It will not affect us at all," said the Indonesian CTF chairman, Benjamin Mangkudilaga. His East Timorese counterpart, Jacinto Alves, could not be reached for comment.
Mangkudilaga said that the CTF was a bilateral affair set up by East Timor and Indonesia and had nothing to do with the UN.
The world body is demanding that the commission amend its terms of reference to state that it has no authority to recommend amnesties for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or gross violations of human rights.
UN officials have been asked to give testimony to the commission, which is set up along the lines of South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
"This commission was formed by the presidents of both countries and it is those two who have the authority to decided on whether to review (the terms of reference)," Mangkudilaga told AFP.
Mangkudilaga said that to his knowledge, the leaders were unlikely to order a review of the terms and noted that many people asked to testify have refused. Dozens of witnesses and experts, however, have presented testimony.
East Timor and Indonesia, which ruled the former Portuguese colony for 24 years, set up the CTF in 2005.
The East Timorese voted overwhelmingly in favour of breaking away from Indonesia in a 1999 UN-sanctioned referendum, but the vote triggered an orgy of violence blamed on militias backed by the Indonesian military.
Some 1,400 people were killed and much of the nation's infrastructure was deliberately destroyed.
East Timor's leaders have taken a largely conciliatory stance towards Indonesia since then, arguing that good relations with its giant and more powerful neighbour are crucial to its future.