COMMISSION ON TRUTH AND FRIENDSHIP HOLDS HEARINGS IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 DILI 000338

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MTS, DRL, AND S/WCI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/5/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KJUS KAWC TT ID
SUBJECT: COMMISSION ON TRUTH AND FRIENDSHIP HOLDS HEARINGS IN
TIMOR-LESTE

REF: JAKARTA 908, JAKARTA 909

DILI 00000338 001.2 OF 004


CLASSIFIED BY: Henry M. Rector, Charge d'affaires a.i., U.S.
Embassy Dili, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



(C) 1. Summary. The bilateral Commission On Truth and Friendship
(CTF),established by Indonesia and Timor-Leste in 2005 to
determine facts and accountability in connection with human
rights abuses committed at the time of the 1999 referendum on
independence, held public hearings in Dili on September 25 - 27.
The hearings took testimony from Timorese perpetrators,
witnesses, and victims. Although little new information was
brought to light - most of the participants repeated accounts
previously presented in earlier UN and Timorese inquiries -
patricipants tended to stress the role of the Indonesian
military and political leaders. Timorese civil society
expressed little interest in the hearings, regarding the CTF as
at best irrelevant to the cause of justice and at worst a
political exercise meant cement good ties to Indonesia at the
cost of the truth. The Timorese CTF Commissioners counter that
critics misunderstand or willfully ignore the body's true
mandate. Morever, the country's political leadership remains
firmly committed to the CTF, regarding it as indispensable for
future good relations with its giant neighbor, Indonesia. This
was stressed by President Ramos-Horta in his September 27
address to the UN General Assembly and by Deputy Prime Minister
Guterres at the CTF's opening session. End summary.


2. (U) The bilateral Indonesian-Timor Leste Commission On Truth
and Friendship (CTF) held its fifth and final public session in
Dili, Timor-Leste, on September 25 - 27. In the hearings, the
CTF, which was formed to determine accountability for human
rights abuses committed at the time of the 1999 referendum on
independence, sought to address crimes committed by Timorese
members of pro-integration militias as well as by members of the
pro-independence FALINTIL guerilla group.


3. (U) Monday, September 24, the CTF Commissioners met in closed
session with Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, the former
FAINTIL commander, who was arrested in 1992 and subsequently
imprisoned in Jakarta. In a second closed session on September
28, the Commissioners interviewed another former senior FALINTIL
commander, Taur Matan Ruak, who is now chief of Timor-Leste's
defense forces.


4. (U) On Tuesday, September 25, Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis
Guterres opened the session, reaffirming the GOTL's strong
support for the CTF. In his remarks, Guterres praised the
progress the CTF had made to date and acknowledged the
difficulty in dealing with painful episodes of the past.
Stressing the importance of the CTF's work to the bilateral
Timorese-Indonesian relationship, he said that the two sides
must recognize that Timor-Leste and Indonesia had deep cultural
ties that preceded the trauma of the Indonesia annexation; these
links must reinforce the future relationship. The CTF's
findings, he said, must ensure that the crimes of the past never
be repeated. He also said that both sides must respect the
sacrifice that had been made in the struggle for independence.


5. (U) In his brief opening remarks, Indonesian CTF Co-Chair
Benjamin Mangkoedilaga announced the witnesses who would give
testimony. He reiterated the CTF's mandate, stressing that it
was not a judicial or prosecutorial body. The CTF, he said,
aimed to reveal to determine what happened, why it happened, who
was responsible (emphasizing institutional responsibility),and
lessons learned to prevent non-recurrence of events in the
future.

Timorese Victims, Perpetrators Implicate Indonesia

-------------- --------------


6. (U) On Tuesday, September 25, the CTF heard testimony from
Tomas Aquino Goncalves, a former leader of the pro-integration
group APODETI and regent of Ermera. Goncalves has also
testified before the UN's Serious Crimes Unit and the Commission
On Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR). In his
testimony, Goncalves described support from the Indonesian
military and other agencies to pro-integration militias dating
back to 1974. He claimed that he and others had been trained by
an Indonesian Special Forces unit near Belu, West Timor, led by
two Timorese, Kalbuadi and Mahedi. After training, Goncalves
and his comrades broke up into three groups for the purpose of

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infiltrating East Timor. He claimed that during a 1999 trip to
Jakarta, he received orders and commitments of support from two
Indonesian Cabinet members, Minister of Information Yunus
Yosfiah and Transmigration Minister Hendropriyono.
Hendropriyono, he said, had authorized him to divert funding
from transmigration programs to support militias.


7. (U) Goncalves said that in reality, his own role was as a
"double agent" in the years prior to 1999. He explained that
although he took orders from Jakarta, he also made a good faith
effort to perform his duties as regent of Ermera and also had
contacts with FALINTIL. Goncalves said that at the request of
Xanana Gusmao, imprisoned at the time, he had taken documents to
Macao to publicize the plight to East Timor internationally.
When pressed on this point further, Goncalves refused to
elaborate, saying that he was withholding certain information
until such time as it could be presented to an international
tribunal with the power to prosecute. (Goncalves has said
elsewhere that these documents outline Indonesia's plan to
infiltrate and annex East Timor.) Goncalves said that he
supported the CTF's mandate to expose the truth, but said that
justice had not yet been done.


8. (U) The afternoon session consisted of a statement by Sancho
Ramos Reissurreicao, a victim of Battallion 745. Ramos, a cab
driver, was stopped by six Indonesian soldiers in 1999 while
driving two foreign journalists and their interpreter. The
interpreter was led away never to be seen again, while the
soldiers severely beat Ramos and the two journalists with rifle
butts. They managed to escape when the captors, intending to
shoot them, told them to march down the road. Ramos hid in a
ditch, but was found by the journalists later when they returned
to the scene to search for him. He received medical treatment
in Australia.


9. (U) On Wednesday, September 26, the CTF heard testimony from
Francisco de Carvalho Lopes, a founder of the pro-integrationist
groups FPDK (Forum For Unity, Democracy and Justice) and BRTT
(East Timor People's Front). Carvalho was asked about his ties
to pro-integration militia, MAHIDI (Life Or Death With
Indonesia),founded by his brother Cancio di Carvalho. Carvalho
Lopes replied that FPDH has provided some financial support to
this group, and that it had also received funding from the
Indonesia military. In closing his testimony, Carvalho Lopes
stated that the victims of human rights violations under the
Indonesian occupation were still awaiting justice. If this were
not forthcoming from either the Timor-Leste or Indonesian
authorities, it should be referred to the UN, he said. He said
Indonesia should pay restitution to victims of human rights
violations and their families, and urged the GOI to apologize
publicly.


10. (U) The Commission then heard testimony from Marcus, a
survivor of a forced march in Oecussi on September 8-9, 1999. A
pro-integration militia from Pasabe burned the villages of Tumi,
Bisibiselo, and Naibaba, killing 18 inhabitants and forcing 74
others to march towards Pasabe. The militia was led by Gabriel
Colo, a Timorese soldier in the Indonesian army, and Antonio
Sabraka, a village leader from Pasabe. During the march Colo
ordered the execution of some of the villagers. Marcus managed
to escape.


11. (U) Also on September 26, the CTF heard testimony from Jhony
Marques, leader of the pro-integrationist militia Team Alfa
currently serving a 33-year prison sentence in for the September
1999 murder of nuns in Lospalos. He admitted that he had
carried out the murder, but claimed he had done so under the
influence of a mind-altering drug. He testified that he
Indonesian military battalion 621 had raped 300 Timorese women
in the Lautem area. Marques also claimed that the Alfa militia
had received orders and materiel from then-Presiden B.J. Habibie
and his security minister Feisal Tanjung as well as from
Indonesia's military leaders. In the late afternoon, testimony
was heard from Mario Goncalves, a victim of human rights
violations committed in Loloti, near Ermera.


12. (U) Thursday, September 27 was devoted to victim testimony
from Mario Goncalves, a former low-level FALENTIL operative, who
described human rights abuses inflicted on him and others in the
Bobonaro district had suffered at hands of Jony Franca, a
pro-integrationist militia leader. He claimed that Indonesian
police and military were present during the incidents. Franco
cut off Goncalves' ear and forced him to eat it. Franca himself
was supposed to testify as well, but he and Rui Lopes, a former
pro-integration leader and former District Administrator of

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Covalima, failed to appear, so the session adjourned early.


13. (U) The proceedings were sparsely attended; those present
were predominantly foreign diplomats, members of foreign NGOs,
and journalists. This created the appearance of a boycott by
members of Timorese civil society, an impression reinforced by a
peaceful demonstration of about fifty people staged outside the
building on the hearing's first day. The hearings were
televised on the national station RTTL, but the transmission
does not reach outside Dili, and most Timorese do not have
televisions in any case.

NGO Alternative Hearing

--------------


14. (SBU) A coalition of NGOs organized an "alternative public
hearing" on September 28 - 29. The organizers charged that to
date, the CTF's public hearings had served primarily as a forum
for Indonesian generals to defend themselves and to blame the UN
and pro-independence forces for the human rights violations that
took place (reftels).


13. (C) Angelina Sarmento, one of the alternative hearings'
organizers, elaborated on this in an October 2 meeting with DCM.
She charged that the CTF was defeating its stated purpose of
strengthening Indonesian-Timorese friendship by failing in its
mission to reveal the truth. Reinforcing a culture of impunity
for politicians and generals, she said, was no basis for future
friendship between the two countries. In the meantime, the
victims' desire for justice and material reparations was being
ignored. Ms. Sarmento said the purpose of the alternative
hearings was to provide more balanced testimony in a context
that was more credible to Timorese victims and witnesses.

Legal Questions Linger

--------------


14. (SBU) Some elements of civil society continue to challenge
the legality of the CTF, saying that the Timorese government
negotiated its Terms of Reference with Indonesia without either
consulting Parliament or submitting the TOR for its approval.
Legal analysis prepared by the Judicial System Monitoring
Program found that the formation of the CTF and its TOR's
amnesty provision are probably in violation of Timor-Leste's
Constitution.

Church Ambivalent

--------------


15. (SBU) Timor Leste's Catholic hierarchy has been somewhat
ambivalent about the CTF exercise. The Church has consistently
made clear that while it supports reconciliation, it warns that
"forgetting is not the same as forgiving." It has also
emphasized the fact that the victims' need for justice has
remained by and large unmet. On September 31, Bishop Basilio
Nascimento of Baucau welcomed the CTF's hearings as an
opportunity for Timorese victims of human rights violations to
speak out. However, Rev. Martinho, the head of the Diocese of
Dili's Peace And Justice Secretariat, spoke at the alternative
hearings, representing the Bishop. He expressed concern that
information and recommendations contained in the final report of
the CAVR, which he endorsed, would be absorbed into the CTF's
final report and put to unworthy political uses.

Political Establishment Still On Board

--------------


16. (C) Jacinto Alves, a Timorese CTF Commissioner, expressed
frustration that some elements of civil society do not grasp the
limited nature of the CTF's mandate. In an October 3 meeting
with DCM, he said that by simply establishing the facts of what
happened, the CTF can contribute to the reconciliation process
by stopping the cycle of accusation and counter-accusation.
However, it was never meant to serve as a tribunal. Alves
freely stressed the importance of the CTF's role in establishing
good relations with Indonesia. By jointly acknowledging the
truth about the past, Timor-Leste and Indonesia could avoid the
kind of difficulties that Japan has had with Korea and China
over historical disagreements. With regard to the amnesty
issue, he said that the TOR merely established the right of the
CTF to recommend amnesties, but did not oblige governments to

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accept them. Any amnesties granted, he said, would ultimately
be the doing of the two governments, presumably in accordance
with their respective legal requirements.


17. (SBU) At any rate, Timor-Leste's political leadership
remains firmly committed to the CTF, convinced that it is
indispensable to future good relations with its giant neighbor.
President Jose Ramos-Horta defended it in no uncertain terms in
his September 27 address to the UN General Assembly, saying "For
Indonesia and Timor-Leste, two developing countries and emerging
democracies, facing a multitude of domestic and regional
challenges, we simply cannot walk the path some of suggested to
us, the path of justice at any cost. We must guard against
destabilizing our fragile democracies." There has been no
criticism from the FRETILIN opposition, which was in government
at the time the CTF was set up. The lone voice of criticism
from Parliament has been that of CNRT MP Cecilio Caminha, who
voiced mild concern about the body being "politicized."
RECTOR