Sir, - The sight of Slobodan Milosevic, "the Butcher of Belgrade", being brought before a court was a wonderful thing to behold. After so many years, what was previously thought to be a pipe dream has finally come true. And what makes it even more so was that it came after the arrest in Tanzania last week of Sylvestre Gambucitsi, a former town mayor in Rwanda who planned and took part in the murder of 20,000 Tutsis in 1994.
While the course of justice in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, as well as in Chile, Argentina and Guatemalas, seems to be progressing apace, there is one area where that course hasn't moved one step - Indonesia. Or more specifically Indonesia's inaction over the crimes committed by its military in East Timor. Indeed in many respects, the course of justice seems to have gone backwards.
In the two years since September 1999, despite countless promises, not one perpetrator has been brought to justice - even though the Indonesian Attorney General, Marzuki Darusman, has named top members of the military police as well as government officials for the violence and destruction that left 90 per cent of East Timor destroyed, and 10,000 people dead.
Indeed, despite the promises to investigate and try these figures, many have since received promotions. One figure named by Mr Darusman, General Mahidin Simbolon - who was a key figure in setting up the pro-Indonesian militias in East Timor - has been made the military commander of West Papua. One shudders to think what plans he has in store for the much oppressed and defenceless West Papuans. Other commanders are also now in senior positions in Aceh.
If there is one thing that the Milosevic case has shown it is that trials for war crimes and crimes against humanity should not be conducted in domestic courts.
In Indonesia most of the judiciary were appointed during the Suharto era, and many have shown, time and time again, leniency for crimes committed by the military. After the Santa Cruz massacre on November 12, 1991, in which 271 people were gunned down, an Indonesian court sentenced some junior officers to several weeks' imprisonment. One of those convicted actually began his sentence with a two-week holiday in Bali.
On May 4th this year a court in Jakarta sentenced three East Timorese militiamen to 20 months' imprisonment for the murder of three UN aid workers in Atambua, West Timor on September 6th, 2000. The three - an American, an Ethiopian and a Croatian - were hacked to death with machetes, then their bodies were dragged along the street before being burnt. On hearing the sentence, one of these self - confessed killers, Julius Naisama, declared, "I accept the sentence with pride." Last year, the UN issued arrest warrants for the arrest of a serving member of the Indonesian military, Lt Sayful Anwar, for his involvement in the murder of a group of nuns in Los Palos, East Timor on September 1999. Lt Anwar is currently in Indonesia and no attempt has been made to detain him.
To many Indonesians , these people are heroes who have done no wrong. In Serbia, many people, including many members of the current government, may not have liked Milosevic, but they did support his wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. In Indonesia, even though many people disliked Suharto and the Indonesian military, they nevertheless supported the war in East Timor.
Given that Indonesia has had ample time to prove itself capable of administering justice, and given that its courts have consistently made a mockery of the very word justice, surely it is time for the international community to say enough is enough. The UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, warned Indonesia last year that if it didn't try human rights abusers, the international community would do so. Surely it is time this promise was realised in East Timor as it is being realised in the Balkans. - Yours, etc.,
Sebastiao Gutterres, East Timor/Ireland Solidarity Campaign, Dame Street, Dublin 2.