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We strongly oppose Prabowo Subianto that has been accused of serious crimes returning to power

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Timor-Leste National Alliance for an International Tribunal (ANTI) Statement - November 10, 2023

We have been carefully following with serious concern the political developments and changes that are currently taking place in Indonesia, specifically the presidential candidates who will compete in the upcoming 2024 elections.

We have been following these developments with a range of feelings of 'shock" and sadness and we have been completed devastated because the candidates include former general Prabowo Subianto, who may likely take power. We feel this way because the victims and families of violence and massacres and crimes against humanity, have again and again raised our voices against crimes he has committed.

We value and respect the political and democratic developments that are taking place in Indonesia which demonstrates a very positive climate. However, we feel that demands for the right to justice and deep injuries from the violence and cruelty of the past will be intensified if we see the main perpetrator that has been accused of serious human rights violations during the Soeharto regime return to peak power and take a key and strategic position in government. The former General Prabowo Subianto, who is currently the Indonesian Minister of Defence and also one of the strongest candidates for the President of the Republic of Indonesia for the upcoming period, is accused in a case of serious human rights violations.

When we recall the bloody incidents from the past, we remember the role of the former General Prabowo Subianto as a key actor in planning cruel, barbaric and inhumane actions and organised and systematic serious human rights violations during the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste.

For the last two decades the victims of human rights violations and their families in Timor-Leste have continued to urge and have consistently awaited justice for the victims and their families, including urging the UN Security Council to provide justice for victims.

The following facts relate to the involvement of the former General Prabowo Subianto:

The facts show that during the Suharto regime Prabowo Subianto was involved in a series of serious crimes and human rights violations in Timor-Leste such as the massacre that occurred in 1983 in Viqueque which is known as the Kraras incident with 200 victims losing their lives. This town was known as the "town of widows" because many of the husbands of the victims were massacred in this bloody incident.

According to a report published by the truth commission CAVR, Chega! it was noted that at least 530 people were killed by the Indonesian military during the counter-insurgency operation that took place in 1984, across the entire region of East Timor (Timor-Leste). Meanwhile hundreds of others are presumed to have died of hunger in concentration camps on a hill named Bibileo and in several other areas.

In the same Chega! report it was reported that the campaign activities and actions carried out by military troops in the Special Forces Command were directly led by Prabowo who is responsible for the highest level of violations and crimes that had ever occurred based on a survey between 1983 and 1984. During the occupation the Special Forces Command played a pivotal role in setting up militias who worked for the Indonesian military up until 1999. The formation of pro-Indonesian militias was the product of Prabowo and the Special Forces Command.

In addition, there is strong evidence about the involvement of Prabowo as the person responsible and intellectual actor for a bloody incident known as the Santa Cruz massacre on 12 November 1991, which according to a report from Amnesty International killed more than 300 people who at that time were holding a peaceful demonstration in Santa Cruz. This suspicion is based on the fact that prior to the aforementioned massacre, Prabowo conducted a work visit to Headquarters of the 303 Army Strategic Reserve Command in Liquintai, Taibesi.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto is accused of being involved in several acts of kidnapping and enforced disappearances of university students in 1997-1998 and a range of violations when the dictator Soeharto was in power.

Based on the facts of this bitter and cruel history, we, the alliance of civil society organisations, survivors, victims and families of victims under the National Alliance for an International Tribunal (ANTI), wish to convey our attitude and demands as follows:

1. We appeal to and urge the voters in Indonesia and all elements of pro-democracy civil society who are fighting to promote and strengthen democracy and human rights in Indonesia to unite with the community of victims, survivors, and families of victims who were massacred in Timor-Leste to not give their vote to the former General Prabowo Subianto, who was a criminal perpetrator of crimes against humanity in Timor-Leste, to become the upcoming President of the Republic of Indonesia;

2. We the community of victims, survivors, and families of victims of massacres and victims of human rights violations in Timor-Leste urge all those in this modern and civilized community, the intellectuals and all elements of the Indonesian community to consider the voices of victims for justice to demand political responsibility and justice against the main perpetrators and intellectual actors who were involved in planning the cruelty and human rights violations in Timor-Leste so they do not return to power;

3. We urge the international community to put pressure on and demand that the pro-democracy leaders and defenders of human rights in Indonesia strongly and consistently prevent perpetrators of human rights violations from returning to power to avoid potential human rights violations in the future and to uphold the democratic process in Indonesia;

4. We urge the UN Security Council to be consistent in eradicating impunity, based on the alleged facts of the involvement of the former General Probowo Subianto in a range of human rights violations in Timor-Leste and in Indonesia. We urge the use of effective measures to ensure that the perpetrators of crimes and human rights violations are held responsible for their actions in a credible manner, especially former General Prabowo Subianto and other perpetrators;

5. For the Government of Indonesia and the Government of Timor-Leste to strengthen and promote principles of democracy through efforts to combat impunity and to establish cooperation links based on respect for human rights values and the rule of law. Therefore, we urge and stand together with the Indonesian community to NOT ALLOW and trust a major perpetrator of crimes against humanity such as Prabowo Subianto to occupy an important and key position as the President of the Republic of Indonesia;

6. We urge the international community to encourage every nation to take responsibility for arresting the former General Prabowo Subianto for crimes against humanity for which he is accused of.

ANTI
Dili, 10 November 2023

Aliansi Nasional Timor Leste ba Tribunal Internasional (Timor-Leste National Alliance for an International Tribunal)

Tel: +670 77432621, 77372095, 78474876 78164385
maubere81@gmail.com, ixavier@asia-ajar.org, josem@jsmp.tl, jhano.hak@gmail.com

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