Indonesia accepts E. Timor atrocities report
July 17th, 2008 | by Indonesia News |Indonesia yesterday accepted a truth commission report blaming it for gross human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999, amid fresh calls for the perpetrators to face international justice.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to implement the commission’s recommendations and expressed “regret” to East Timor for the months of violence, including murders and rapes surrounding its independence vote.
“We have conveyed our very deep regret about what happened in the past, that caused casualties and material damage,” he said alongside East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta on the resort island of Bali.
“We must learn from what happened to find out the facts over who has done what to whom, and who must be held responsible.” But he added: “We cannot move forward and reach our dreams if we always focus our attention on the past,” a sign Indonesia wants to draw a line under the matter despite calls for an international tribunal.
An estimated 1,400 people were killed when local militias backed by the Indonesian military rampaged through East Timor as the then-province voted to break away from Indonesia, which invaded in 1975.
turkishdailynews
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