1999 East Timor war crimes evidence stolen
Wednesday May 31st 2006, 1:16 am

Gusmao: you'd throw your hands up too (image: ABC)

The only thing which could possibly be worse than the recent violence in East Timor is exploitation of the unrest to steal and destroy evidence from the TNI-supported militia killings of pro-independence Timorese in 1999.

Gusmao has gone softly-softly on the massacres since independence… but then again, what else could he do? Trials of TNI soldiers and officers for crimes against humanity so far have been a total farce.

Will Wiranto and his co-conspirators get away with it in perpetuity?

Sure seems like it.

-weez


7 Comments so far
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Call me cynical, but when I heard this on the radio at lunchtime, I immediately thought this had been orchestrated from over the border in Indonesia, as opposed to being a random act of criminal damage. I don’t think Gusmao and co will be too upset – gives them an excuse to bail out of prosecutions. He is pragmatic enough to know picking a fight with the Indonesian military is not a particularly useful thing for East Timor to do.

Comment by Living in Canberra 05.31.06 @ 7:22 pm

OK, ‘cynical,’ how about the whole thing was orchestrated from across the border? It is in Indonesia’s interests to create as much hell for Timor-Leste as possible.

Comment by weez 06.01.06 @ 7:32 am

Have you guys read article written by Tim Anderson about Howard’s Plan in East Timor? I have read it the indonesian version but i can perhaps find the english version.

It is pretty sad to hear that the document is stolen. A more likely plausible analysis will be the Indonesian agents involvments but it could perhaps be an outcome of randomly riotious acts. I havent had a chance to contact my friends at Yayasan HAK, a leading human rights organisation that investigated the gross violation of human rights in East Timor after the referendum, to find information about this stolen document.

Comment by citu 06.01.06 @ 4:48 pm

Thanks for that, Citu. I haven’t read Anderson’s bit yet but I will look it up.

Comment by weez 06.03.06 @ 7:25 am

I found the link for that article. Check this out!

Comment by Citu 06.03.06 @ 3:18 pm

Good going, Citu. reading….

Comment by weez 06.03.06 @ 4:04 pm

OK, I’ve read Anderson. I remain a bit foggy on the existence of an Australian-backed coup that was suggested. I’d like to know more about TNI or Kopassus activities in recent weeks.

I saw Alkatiri interviewed by Kerry O’Brien on the 7:30 Report. I was unmoved by Alkatiri’s body language and delivery. Alkatiri left me with the impression that there was more to know than he was saying.

Comment by weez 06.03.06 @ 5:25 pm



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