Aftermath Timor Leste: reconciling competing notions of justice

Susan Harris Rimmer, The Australia Institute
Juli Effi Tomaras

Abstract

Introduction In 1999, Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said of the violence in Timor Leste (previously known as East Timor):

To end the century and the millennium tolerating impunity for those guilty of these shocking violations would be a betrayal of everything the United Nations stands for regarding the universal protection and promotion of human rights.

20 May 2007 marks the seventh anniversary of Timorese independence.

This e-brief gives a brief summary of the transitional justice mechanisms employed in the case of Timor Leste and the results so far.

See further:

United Nations, ‘High Commissioner for Human Rights reports on the situation in East Timor as the Commission on Human Rights considers holding special meeting’, media release, HR/99/90, 17 September 1999.

Background: 1999 Violence and Occupation After the September 1999 referendum vote to separate from Indonesia, approximately 1500 Timorese died, 300 000 were displaced to West Timor, and the infrastructure of Timor Leste was left in ruins. However, there were serious violations against human rights long before the 1999 vote, beginning with Indonesia’s occupation of the island in December 1975.

Timor Leste became a Portuguese colony in the 16th century. In 1960 it was deemed by the UN General Assembly a ‘non-self governing territory’. In 1974 the colonial power Portugal withdrew from Timor Leste and a brief civil war followed. After achieving nine days of independence, declared by the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Frente Revolucionária de Timor Leste Independente, or Fretilin) on 28 November 1975, Indonesian forces occupied and annexed Timor Leste.

An estimated 20 000 Indonesian troops were deployed to the region by the end of 1975. While casualty estimates vary, anywhere from 60 000–100 000 Timorese were probably killed in the first year after the violence began in 1975. Timor was declared the 27th province of Indonesia on 31 May 1976. Indonesia’s claim over Timor was never accepted by the UN, and was only unilaterally accepted by one nation–Australia.

In 1979 the U.S. Agency for International Development estimated that 300 000 East Timorese (nearly half the population) had been uprooted and moved into camps controlled by Indonesian armed forces. During the 25 year occupation by Indonesia, the UN documented a series of massacres including in Kraras (August 1983), Santa Cruz (2 November 1991), Maubara and Liquiça (4–6 April 1999) and Dili (17 April 1999).

Importantly, the exact number of Timorese deaths at the hands of the Indonesian military was not definitively known until late 2005, with previous estimates ranging from 120 000 to 230 000. On 12 November 1979, Indonesia’s foreign minister, Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, estimated that 120 000 people had died in Timor Leste since 1975. Amnesty International estimates that 200 000 died from military action, starvation or disease from 1975–1999. A genocide expert, Ben Kiernan, has noted that the deaths must also be seen in context of the total original population base of just 700 000 people.

The Final Report entitled Chega! (‘Enough’ in Portuguese) by Timor's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) proves that an upper estimate of 183 000 died as a result of both killings and deaths due to privation. CAVR's estimate of the minimum total number of conflict-related deaths is 102 800 (plus or minus 12 000). The report details that 18 600 non-combatant East Timorese were killed or disappeared and at least 84 000 more died as a direct result of displacement policies during Indonesia's occupation.

The cost in lives to the Indonesian military of the long occupation is also not certain. Indonesian General Wiranto stated in September 1999 that Indonesia lost 3700 troops during the first five years of its occupation of the former Portuguese colony. Media outlet, Associated Press, noted that this previously classified figure squared with generally accepted estimates that between 5000 and 10 000 Indonesian troops died in the quarter-century effort to keep Timor Leste, but also confirmed that ‘[t]he final tally is still secret’.

The UN also noted the imprisonment of thousands of activists (most notably Xanana Gusmão in 1992), the exile of thousands more and incidences of torture, assault and inhumane treatment perpetrated against Timorese resistance fighters and civilians; including systematic gender persecution.

In January 1999, against a backdrop of economic turmoil, a new climate of political liberalisation, and sustained and mounting international pressure, Indonesian President Habibie suddenly announced that the East Timorese would be allowed a referendum to decide whether they wished to accept or reject ‘wide ranging autonomy’ within the Indonesian Republic. A formal agreement between Indonesia, Portugal and the UN was reached on 5 May 1999 which charged the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) to organise a referendum. According to the agreement, Indonesia was to provide the security for the ballot. Voter registration began on 16 July 1999, with teams of independent observers reporting political violence by the Indonesian military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, or TNI) and paramilitary groups, allegedly designed to intimidate voters.

A ‘popular consultation’ or referendum was held on 30 August 1999. On 4 September 1999, it was announced that 78.5 per cent of the population had voted against Timor Leste remaining as part of Indonesia, and therefore independence would be granted to the territory. The announcement of the ballot result resulted in immediate acts of violence, a ‘scorched earth’ policy, looting, massive evacuations and forced deportation of the population, overseen by the departing Indonesian military. In the months surrounding the 1999 vote, pro-Jakarta militias killed an estimated 1400 people, burned towns to the ground, destroyed 80 per cent of the territory's infrastructure and forced or led more than a quarter of a million villagers into Indonesian-ruled West Timor.