Abdul Khalik and Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) is moving closer toward submitting its conclusions about alleged human rights abuses in Timor Leste, with its final public hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

At the sixth and last public hearing, Lt. Gen. (ret) Kiki Syahnakri, the East Timor province military commander in 1999, and Col. Aris Martono, who headed an army battalion deployed to the province that year, will explain their version of events. The hearing will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Central Jakarta.

"Col. Aris will clarify accusations of violence made against him during the hearing in Dili, while Pak Kiki will clarify several issues," Lt. Gen. (ret) Agus Widjojo, a commissioner representing Indonesia, said.

After the hearing, commissioners representing both countries will gather until Tuesday to discuss what will be included in the commission's final report, which will be based on public hearings, submissions, research and document reviews.

CTF co-chairman from Timor Leste Dionisio Babo Soares said he was optimistic the commission would produce a credible report after two years of investigations. However, many people remain skeptical about how credible the report will be.

"We will announce the extent to which human rights violations occurred and we will also name individuals who committed abuses. However, we agreed institutions would be held responsible," Soares told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"We hope we can submit our final report (to the governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste) in January or February at the latest," he said.

Soares said he was unable to reveal which institutions or people might be blamed for human rights violations during and after the 1999 referendum that let to the creation of Timor Leste as an independent state. "We are still discussing the situation and have not yet decided which institutions will be held responsible. All commissioners must agree on this," he said. "But we do have a list of people connected to human rights violations," he added.

The credibility of the CTF was put into question in July when the UN prohibited its officials from testifying at the commission due to the fact it was seen as offering amnesty to those who had committed serious crimes.

An alliance of non-governmental human rights organizations criticized the commission's performance Tuesday, saying it would not be able to reveal the truth behind the violence that followed Timor Leste's split from Indonesia.

"The CTF should have explained in more detail who those testifying were, why they were summoned and whether their testimonies were relevant to the incident," impunity division head at the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Haris Azhar said Tuesday.

Representatives from the NGOs claimed the CTF's performance proved the commission was only established to conceal the truth behind the incident and manipulate the facts about what they considered gross human rights violations.