Recent Reformed Indonesia and US Ties: Two Sides of A Coin (10 of 10)

Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations
Prepared Statement of Rep. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman

A Global Review of Human Rights: Examining the State Department's 2004
Annual Report

March 17, 2005

In Indonesia, elections resulted in the transfer of power to an elected opposition leader. However, Indonesia's ad hoc trials on East Timor acquitted most militia leaders and Indonesian officers indicted by the UN for crimes against humanity in connection with the 1999 violence, and levied only minimal penalties against others, none of whom has spent a day in jail. Rather than achieving accountability, the trials became a mechanism for impunity and were viewed as seriously flawed by most international observers. Many of those indicted for crimes against humanity in East Timor continue to maintain powerful positions, and the military continued its offensive in Aceh, attacking dozens of civilian targets even after the tsunami devastated the region. I am disturbed that given these circumstances, the State Department recently certified cooperation on the Papua killings to allow resumption of IMET military training.