It will be a miracle if, in the next five to 10 years, Indonesian school children can learn about another Timor Leste story.

A new story is being investigated to combat the standard Indonesian text about the country's former 27th province. And this story can be seen unfolding through the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) and its latest hearings held in Dili this week.

The Commission of Truth and Reconciliation of Timor Leste (CAVR) had its first public hearings a few years ago, though its government and parliament have yet to respond to the commission's findings. So the stories coming from the CTF process are not new, especially to the Timorese.

But it is through the formal setting of the CTF, appointed by two governments, that Indonesians have heard first-hand accounts of what happened in our neighbor's country – before and after the 1999 referendum leading to its independence.

The commissioners have been asked to filter what they hear and review findings from additional research. They also must review four documents including Timor Leste's serious crimes unit under its judiciary, the CAVR report, the report of the Indonesian government-appointed fact-finding mission on human rights violations to East Timor, and the report of Indonesia's human rights ad hoc court.

Regardless of the commission's final report, which is expected in January next year, since its first hearings late last year, Indonesians following the testimonies have been seen to squirm uncomfortably in their seats.

The story of 1999 is being aired as dirty laundry across the world – albeit including versions from Indonesian highly ranked and retired officers.

We hope the commission will be able to convince us – and the world – there's a sensible explanation for the Timor story offered to-date – which is the "NGO version" of Timor. And if the tales are true, would there be official acknowledgements of secret, "heroic" operations "to defend East Timor's integration" in the face of its separatist movement?

For as our soldiers were considered heroic in all the country's "hot spots" and respected no matter what, even the murdered activist Munir had seemed to give up on telling his fellow citizens an international tribunal for generals suspected of crimes against humanity was not such a bad idea.

We resisted, and the international community has today adopted a "wait and see" attitude, pending the report of the commission, but that attitude is accompanied by constant criticism and demonstrations.

The commission is however the first of its kind in the world, because it was set up by two countries – the former occupier and the newly independent nation.

But the United Nations has effectively boycotted the process, saying it cannot allow its personnel to testify on the grounds the framework of the CTF, which has no mandate to even recommend prosecution of individuals suspected of crimes, violates UN principles for justice.

The latest rallies this week sought to remind the public there can be no friendship without justice, and there cannot be justice without trial. There is no justice through "a political compromise", protesters said.

The repeated arguments of the commissioners are hard to fathom from the perspective of victims. Moreover, addressing victims themselves is not the mandate of the CTF.

Unlike other similarly-named commissions globally, "reconciliation" is not even part of its name. Accusations of a whitewash by the CTF of atrocities against Timorese will continue.

And they will only stop under on condition: if the honorable commissioners representing the two nations can come up with a credible report and a common understanding of what happened in 1999 and why.

What constitutes credible may be the main thing bugging all 15 members day and night – what could be a "common" ground between the highly emotionally charged version of the previously occupied, and the so far coolly detached, official version of a benevolent ruler? There is little chance now of having an impartial version without the UN presence.

The truth, or the version closest to it, will hurt – but this is the main mandate of the CTF. Perhaps then, the CTF would indeed be the first step toward friendship, as its supporters say, if the resulting report is credible. So far, however, it remains a big "if".

The CTF needs all the help it can get. The least we could do is give them the benefit of the doubt, and trust they will do their best.