ABC AUSTRALIA, Monday, February 19, 2007. 7:49pm (AEDT)
Howard letter helped bring about E Timor independence poll
By Geoff Thompson
A new commission of truth and friendship between East Timor and Indonesia has
heard that it was a letter from John Howard which propelled East Timor on the path to
an independence referendum.
Indonesia's former foreign minister, Ali Alatas, was the first to address the Truth and
Friendship Commission, which is intended to reconcile East Timor and Indonesia over
the violence which surrounded the 1999 vote for independence.
Outlining the diplomatic manoeuvres which led to the referendum, Mr Alatas said that
it was a letter from Mr Howard which angered the then Indonesian president BJ Habibi
enough to decide that East Timor should immediately determine its own future rather
than Indonesia being burdened by a period of special autonomy.
The commission is designed to answer critics who argue the two nations have not
addressed the violence which surrounded the former Indonesian province's vote for
independence in 1999.
Future hearings may include evidence from Indonesia's former military chief, General
Wiranto, and the jailed former militia leader Eurico Guterres.
The new commission has no power to recommend prosecutions and its organisers
say it hopes to promote reconciliation rather than recrimination, in the spirit of South
Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
A 2,500-page report released last year, based on evidence from 8,000 witnesses,
blamed Indonesia for the deaths of up to 183,000 civilians during its 24-year
occupation of East Timor.
© 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
