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Army Chiefs "Knew Of Atrocities" In East Timor
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA (IslamOnline) - General Wiranto, the retired army chief, and other members of the Indonesian military high command, are set to be under immense fire from the United Nations and foreign countries over the massacres in East Timor.
After secret talks between the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) special investigation team in East Timor and pro-Indonesian militia leaders, information has leaked that the Indonesian army might have had knowledge of the carnage.
It has been left to Australian Ambassador to Jakarta, John McCarthy, to comment on the possible involvement of Indonesian generals who might have approved the actions of the pro-Jakarta militias.
In an interview Monday in the Sydney Morning Herald, McCarthy said he did not believe the sort of activity that was taking place in East Timor in the lead up to the ballot could have taken place without the broad knowledge of senior commanders in the Indonesian army.
Observers in Jakarta believe that his comments are likely to inflame relations between Australia and Indonesia. They told IslamOnline that it seems the Australians are working towards total confrontation with Jakarta.
"Interference in the affairs of Indonesia is one thing, commenting on events that happened in East Timor without proof and evidence supporting that, is dangerous," Mohamad Ishahok told IslamOnline.
He said that the postponing of an Australian visit by Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, said to be due to his health, is most likely due because mounting tension over the ambassador's comments.
Australian and United States ambassadors in Jakarta have been outspoken in comments concerning members of the Indonesian government and military. Jakarta has so far reacted by giving the foreign diplomats the benefit of a doubt.
Jakarta has yet to officially react to McCarthy's comments. Relations between the two neighbors have been severely strained since the Australian government gave the go ahead for its troops to lead an international peacekeeping force into East Timor to quell the bloody reactions against the independence movement of the East Timorese.
Wiranto yesterday blasted outgoing Australian Ambassador John McCarthy for pointing out that army leaders had "broad knowledge" of last year's atrocities in East Timor.
"If someone has an opinion and an interpretation, please deliver them officially to the Indonesian government," Wiranto told the press in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
He said foreigners should stop interfering in Indonesia's domestic affairs.
"We are a nation with high self-esteem, respect and independence. How can a nation as big as this always be meddled in by foreigners, even though we have our own ways of settling problems?"
Wiranto, who was questioned by Indonesian prosecutors over the atrocities, challenged McCarthy to officially deliver his public comments on the East Timor violence to Indonesian authorities.
"I have followed prevailing legal procedures in the investigations from the beginning until the end. If then there is someone with different opinions and interpretations, please deliver them officially."
Pro-Jakarta militias were blamed for the killing spree and destruction after East Timor voted massively for independence from Indonesia after 29 years of annexation. The territory was abandoned by the Portuguese colonial power in 1971 and was immediately overrun by Indonesian troops.
Diplomats in Canberra, Australia, blamed ''rogue elements'' in the Indonesian army for sponsoring the violence. Former Australian diplomat James Dunn also said he had evidence of the involvement by senior Indonesian army officials in the violence.
''The people who organized this violence, it is now very clear, were the TNI [Indonesian army]. They paid the militias and issued them with arms,'' Dunn told a newspaper.
General Wiranto, as well as former President B.J.Habibie, has been accused of ordering the massacre, former militias who are said to be dealing secretly with the UNSC earlier said.
Wiranto may be one of the major suspects named in the probe by the UNSC. The Australians might single him out and attempt to bring him to face justice. Wiranto has denied any involvement in the massacres, while Habibie has remained silent.
Habibie was instrumental in forwarding steps towards East Timorese independence, and members of the Indonesian administration believe he should be left out of any probe on the issue.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard met Wahid last week on the fringes of a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in the latest attempt to patch up relations between the two countries, sour since 1999.
However, East Timor, a sensitive topic, was not raised when the two leaders met.
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