Truth-seeking and local histories in East Timor

Asia Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law

Volumn 3, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 77-96

  Rawski, Frederick ^a  

^a UNITED NATIONS   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 34248082122     PISSN: 13881906     EISSN: 15718158     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157181502761418139     Document Type: Review

References (25)

1. E Timor Militia Boss Says to Name Indonesia Generals, Reuters, 14 September 2001.
2. Cohen, M. Survivors in East Timor Find It Hard to Forgive, Far Eastern Economic Review, 28 March 2001.
3. For a discussion of this historical period and the interaction between Portuguese colonial administration and pre-existing Timorese structures of authority, see Davidson, K.G. The Portuguese Colonisation of Timor: The Final Stage, 1850-1912, Doctoral Dissertation, University of New South Wales, 1994, pp. 108-139.
4. Pelissier, R. Timor En Guerre: Le Crocodile et Les Portugais 1847-1913, 1996.
5. Jardine, M. Genocide in Paradise, Odonian Press, 1995, at pp. 21-24.
6. This was so much the case that when Fretilin was re-established in the UNTAET period, the leadership felt it necessary to issue an apology to families of UDT supporters murdered in Aileu 25 years earlier. See Dodd, M. Fretilin Admits its Bloody Past to Ensure East Timor's Future, The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 May 2000.
7. For an outline of the history of the militia and their antecedents, see Robinson, G. People's War: Militias in East Timor and Indonesia" South East Asia Research, Vol 9 Issue 3, 2000, p271.
8. Ian Martin was the former Head of UNAMET Mission and has written a detailed account of the ballot and its aftermath. See Martin, I. Self-Determination in East Timor: The United Nations, the Ballot, and International Intervention, Rienner, 2001.
9. U.N. Doc. No. SC/RES/1272 (1999). Available at http://www.un.org/Docs/ scres/1999/99sc1272.htm.
10. UNTAET Regulation 2000/15 on the Establishment of Panels with Exclusive Jurisdiction over Serious Criminal Offences (6 June 2000). See the regulation establishing the Serious Crimes Panel is modelled very closely on the International Criminal Court statute. Available at: http://www.un.org/peace/ etimor/untaetR/Reg0015e.pdf.
11. For a critical history of the work of the Serious Crimes Investigative Unit, Prosecutor for Serious Crimes and the Serious Crimes Panel, see La 'o Hamutuk Bulletin Vol. 2 No. 6-7, October 2001. Available at: http://www.etan.org/lh/bulletins/bulletinv2n6.html.
12. UNTAET/REG/2001/10 on the Establishment of a Commission on Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (2001). Available at: http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/untaetR/Reg10e.pdf.
13. Stahn, C. Accommodating Individual Criminal Responsibility and National Reconciliation: The UN Truth Commission for East Timor, American Journal of International Law, 2001,Vol 95, p. 952.
14. For a more detailed review of the legal mandate of the Commission under Regulation 2000/10, see note 12. For a Timorese perspective on the Commission's approach to community reconciliation, see Babo, D. & Nahe B. The Philosophy and Process of Grassroots Reconciliation (and Justice) in East Timor, Paper prepared for the "Road to Reconciliation" conference, April 2001, Bergen, Norway. For information on the Commission's current activities: http://www.easttimor-reconciliation.org.
15. Letter from Prosecutor General Mohamed Othman, 7 September 2000.
16. See e.g. East Timor's Gusmao and Militia Leader Hold Reconciliation Talks, AFP, 27 November 2001;
17. and Milita Leader, Xanana Agree to End Hostility, The Jakarta Post, 28 November 2001.
18. Yemris, F. Xanana Greets 800 Ex-Militia Families, The Jakarta Post, 28 November 2001.
19. When government representatives came to Ainaro to canvass local opinion on the drafting of a Timorese Constitution, he suggested that the UN convene a 'forum' to bring together law scholars and leaders from the former kingdom of Wehali in West Timor and those in Ainaro, Same and Suai to discuss issues of customary law as well as a possible Timorese unification. As expected, rumblings of Timorese unification elicited a very negative response from the Indonesian West Timor military commander who likened the pan-Timor movement to the 1965 communist movement, adding that anyone spreading such an ideology would be "digging his own grave." See Ada Gerakan Separatis Ingin Bentuk Negara Timor Raya, Media Indonesia, 16 December 2001;
20. Military Warns of New Greater Timor Independence Movement, Jakarta Post, 16 December 2001.
21. Traube, E.G. Cosmology and Social Life: Ritual Exchange Among the Mambai of East Timor, (University of Chicago Press, 1986) p.7.
22. Hayner, P.B. Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity, Routledge, 2001, p. 25.
23. Robinson, G. People's War: Militias in East Timor and Indonesia, South East Asia Research, Vol 9, Issue 3, 2002, p. 306.
24. Defendants on trial for human rights violations in Indonesia have deployed such a history as part of their own defence theory, testifying that the 1999 violence was merely "the legacy of latent enmity within an ethnic group." See Indonesia Rights Court is a Tool of Foreigners: Defence Lawyers, AFP, 25 March 2002.
25. As of Summer 2002, a poorly drafted amnesty law was being considered by the East Timorese Parliament. Among other things, the law would give amnesty to those guilty of crimes against property, as well as resistance fighters who were guilty of crimes against humanity. See East Timor Amnesty Bill Flawed, Perpetrators of War Crimes May Escape Prosecution, Human Rights Watch Statement, 18 July 2002. Available at: http://hrw.org/press/2002/07/etimor0718.htm.