Indonesia's E Timor abuses listed, by Worker Freedom

East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao wants to move on

A report into Indonesia's conduct during its 24-year annexation of East Timor says that as many as 180,000 civilians died of hunger or illness.
It documents abuses committed by Indonesian security forces, including the use of starvation as a weapon.

East Timor's president will formally hand over the report to the United Nations on Friday.

Indonesia has dismissed the report, saying it is time for the two countries to look to the future.

"We have agreed to co-operate for reconciliation and for solving our problems, therefore there is no need to look into the past because that does not help," Indonesia's State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said.

A copy of the document has been leaked to The Australian newspaper, which has published extensive details.

The 2,500-page report, produced by the East Timorese Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, makes profoundly disturbing reading, according to the BBC's Jakarta correspondent, Rachel Harvey.

EAST TIMOR

1975: Indonesia invades after colonial power Portugal withdraws
Indonesia's often brutal rule opposed by Fretilin fighters
1999: More than 1,000 people killed over independence referendum
2002: East Timor becomes independent nation

E Timor: Birth of a Nation

Based on testimony from thousands of witnesses, the report documents a catalogue of abuses committed by Indonesian security forces.

Starvation, rape, torture and execution-style killings were all used as part of what the report describes as a "systematic plan".

"Rape, sexual slavery and sexual violence were tools used as part of the campaign designed to inflict a deep experience of terror, powerlessness and hopelessness upon pro-independence supporters," the report says, according to The Australian.

The report said that Indonesia's policy of deliberate starvation could have cost the lives of between 84,000 and 183,000 people between 1975 and 1999.

Reluctant to publish

It is understood the report is also critical of the tactics used by the Timorese resistance movement, led by the man who is now East Timor's President, Xanana Gusmao.

The territory won independence after a UN-sponsored referendum in 1999, which was itself the focus of widespread violence. Mr Gusmao has had a copy of the report for some months, but has been extremely reluctant to make it public.

The governments of both East Timor and Indonesia have consistently said they wish to leave the past behind and look to the future.

Since he first came to power, President Gusmao has called on the East Timorese to move on - focusing on reconciliation, not retribution.

He argues that as a small territory, dominated by its giant neighbour, East Timor has to achieve good working links with Indonesia. But others are dismayed that various attempts so far to prosecute those responsible for the suffering in East Timor have achieved little.

Critics of the government's approach say East Timor needs to see justice before it can come to terms with the past.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4630122.stm

Unfortunately this article from the BBC does not mention the US support and complicity in the 1975 Invasion of East Timor and the atrocities of the Indonesian military.This happend after the Indonesian Military killed many Indonesians in an anti-communist purge after General Shuharto's coop.

Worker Freedom