War Crimes: The Movie – ISN
October 8th, 2009
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=106861
After a movie based on the deaths of five journalists at the hands of the Indonesian army in East Timor hit the screens, Australian police launched a war crimes investigation into their deaths, sparking ire in Indonesia and ambivalence in East Timor, Simon Roughneen writes for ISN Security Watch.
Looking back: history of Timor-Leste in pictures at CAVR museum in Dili (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Almost 35 years ago, five Australia-based journalists died while reporting on the early stages of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Jakarta maintains that the men died in the crossfire as the Indonesian army fought Timorese
fighters in Balibo, which sits a few kilometers from the border separating Indonesian West Timor from the eastern half of the island, now known as Timor-Leste.
The murders made headlines recently. On 24 July, Balibo’ premiered in Melbourne, with Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta in attendance. The movie does not stick to the events of the day, digressing into a fictionalized scenario where the young Ramos-Horta accompanies another journalist, Roger East, to Balibo, to investigate the five’s disappearance. East went to Timor and, according to dozens of eyewitnesses,was shot on the Dili waterfront when the Indonesians took control of the city.
Real-time impact
The movie seems to have had some real-time impact beyond the silver screen. On 20 August, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced that it would launch a war crimes investigation into the deaths, based on 2007 recommendations by the deputy New South Wales coroner.
The coroner’s report concluded that Brian Peters, Malcolm Rennie, Gary Cunningham, Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart were shot or stabbed as they tried to surrender to the Indonesian-led troops who stormed the border town on 16 October 1975. According to the coroner, the men’s bodies were dressed in military uniforms and photographed with guns, before being incinerated in an attempt to portray them as combatants killed in a mortar attack. (more…)
Robot Wars: The Hal Factor – ISN
September 25th, 2009
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=106325
Rapid technological developments are changing how wars are fought, but as Predator drones and ground robots are supplemented by bigger, better and deadlier upgrades, moral and ethical implications will need to be assessed.
US drone (cc) Illetirres/flickr
Simon Roughneen writes for ISN Security Watch.
Over the past decade, the use of unmanned aircraft and ground-based robots in combat has grown rapidly. The first drone kill was on an al-Qaida suspect in Yemen in 2002. The US military does not release precise figures, but since 2008, at least 40 people have been killed in dozens of UAV strikes in Pakistan, including Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who is thought to have been behind the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, there were no unmanned systems in use on the ground.
However, according to PW Singer – author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century – by 2008 there were 12,000 of these in a variety of forms and carrying out different tasks, as part of the US deployment in Iraq.
Technological advances mean that an increasing share of the battlefield workload is being carried out by machines, a trend that looks set to grow exponentially. (more…)
Clouds of War over Burma – ISN
September 11th, 2009
The ruling junta may provoke renewed conflict with ethnic minorities ahead of 2010 elections as it seeks to impose its will on autonomous borderlands, Simon Roughneen writes for ISN Security Watch.
Recent fighting in northern Burma sent over 35,000 refugees into China, prompting fears that the ruling junta is seeking a
Protestors in London, 2007 (cc) Orhan Tsolak/flickr
military solution to its recent demand that 17 ethnic militias based in Burma’s borderlands merge with the state security forces before 2010 elections.
Over the weekend of 28 August, the junta’s army overran territory previously controlled by one of the militias, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, comprised of Kokang-Chinese who have been in the region for decades. The group – like many of the other militias in the borderlands – is thought to be involved in the ‘Golden Triangle’ drug trade.
The fighting came just days after US Senator Jim Webb’s visit to Burma, where he met the junta’s leader, General Than Shwe, and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite US and international condemnation of sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi to another 18 months house arrest on 11 August, Webb got little by way of concessions from the junta. He secured the release of John Yettaw, the apparent guilty party in the case that saw Suu Kyi found guilty of violating her original house arrest terms. However, as things stand, the junta will proceed with elections scheduled for 2010, without Suu Kyi, without her National League for Democracy (NLD) and without the 2,100 political prisoners currently in jail in Burma.
Webb since penned an op-ed in the New York Times, pushing his view that the US should engage with the junta, which in turn has drawn scorn from Burmese exiles, who cite remarks by Suu Kyi’s lawyer countering Webb’s statement that she would consider supporting reduced sanctions on the junta. (more…)
Teenage angst in East Timor – The Casual Truth
August 31st, 2009
http://thecasualtruth.com/node/77
Yesterday, East Timor (the official name is ‘Timor-Leste’) marked a decade since it voted to end Indonesia’s long, brutal and illegal occupation. It is sure to be an emotional occasion – a time for celebration certainly, and maybe for somber reflection.
Building for the future: trainees learn basic construction as part of a USAID-funded Education Development Centre project (Simon Roughneen)
After all, an estimated 150,000 people died during the 24 years Jakarta put its jackboot to the Timorese throat. Out of a population of around 700,000 in 1974, when Portuguese colonial rule ended, this is perhaps the highest death-toll per capita of any conflict anywhere, since World War II. It is hard to find any Timorese person who has not been touched, one way or another, by such large-scale tragedy.
The 10th anniversary of Independence
With the anniversary looming, many activists and NGOs jumped at the opportunity to lobby again for some form of justice for past crimes perpetrated in East Timor. The government in Dili does not want this, preferring instead to maintain good relations with Indonesia, the now-amicable ex-invader to the north (and east, and west).
Both sides of this debate have merit, though perhaps not equal merit. However, dealing with the past should not mean future progress must be neglected, or international relationships compromised.
Therefore, given the retrospective theme of much of the 10th anniversary coverage so far, it is worth looking into the country’s future – through a dark glass though, rather than any crystal ball clarity. (more…)
Suu Kyi verdict: trying to make wind solid – ISN
August 12th, 2009
As expected, Tuesday saw Aung San Suu Kyi found guilty of violating her house arrest terms by the Burmese authorities. The show trial will prevent the iconic dissident from taking part in 2010 elections. How will the world respond?
Activists mark the 12th anniversary of the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi in London in 2007
It must be one of literary history’s deep ironies. George Orwell spent some of his formative years serving King and Empire in resource-laden Burma, which, of all the Crown’s far-flung jewels, he regarded as the one most likely to prosper after independence.
Instead, the erstwhile ‘rice-bowl of Asia’ has gone on to become a living embodiment of Orwell’s magnum opus, “1984.” The absurd dystopia that is modern-day ‘Myanmar’ – the name applied to Burma by its military rulers – lives up to its ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ credentials today. A military court declared pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest. The sentence handed down was three years in prison with hard labor, but in a display of sardonic faux-magnanimity, the regime commuted her sentence to a mere additional 18 months under house arrest.
This will keep her under lock-and-key until after the national elections scheduled for next year. The elections are already controversial, with 25 percent of seats reserved for the ruling military, over 2,000 opposition politicians and dissidents in jail, and many others in exile. All of which completely undermines any prospect of free and fair elections. (more…)
Sentence Suspense in Burma – ISN
August 3rd, 2009
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=103928
Aung San Suu Kyi trial daily protest at Burma Embassy in London (cc) totaloutnow/flickr
The postponement of a verdict in the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi is more likely due to the junta’s fear of unrest rather than any second thoughts about a guilty verdict, writes Simon Roughneen for ISN Security Watch.
It has been dismissed as a “show trial” by US President Barack Obama. Even the normally reticent heads of state in ASEAN – the Southeast Asian regional bloc which includes Burma as a member-state – have chimed in, saying that the release of Aung San Suu Kyi is imperative if elections due to be held next year are to be free and fair.
Suu Kyi is on trial for violating the terms of her house arrest, after a US citizen swam – undetected by the military security that keeps a close watch on her residence – across Rangoon’s Lake Inya to reach her lakefront bungalow. The man, John Yettaw, is on trial separately, after being picked up by police after swimming back across the lake.
Two weeks ago, Suu Kyi’s defense team said that they did not expect a verdict until mid-August. Then, on 28 July, the Burmese Supreme Court announced a decision would come as early as 31 July. With pro-Suu Kyi crowds gathering in Rangoon, and increased security on the streets, officials in Napyidaw reportedly phoned the Court last Friday morning to compel a delay in announcing the verdict. (more…)
Indonesia Terror: War of Ideas – ISN
July 23rd, 2009
The 16 July terrorist attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in Jakarta illustrate that in some ways, Indonesia is a victim of its own successes in recent years, Simon Roughneen comments for ISN Security Watch.
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=103588
Since 1998 Indonesia has successfully made the transition from autocracy to democracy and has overcome secessionism and economic chaos. The world’s largest Muslim-majority country has confounded Cassandras who thought it set to go the way of former Yugoslavia – too vast, unwieldy and diverse to hold to together, much less function as a stable and sustainable democracy.
Indonesia had apparently taken care of its indigenous terrorist threat, too. After a number of deadly attacks carried out by Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), up to 2005, Jakarta’s Detachment 88 counterterrorist police has acted decisively against JI. Indonesian authorities have jailed hundreds of terrorists and executed three involved in the 2002 Bali bombings following a very high-profile criminal trial. (more…)
East Timor: justice in the dock – ISN
July 16th, 2009
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=103345
Seeking to leave the past behind, East Timor could be undermining the rule-of-law and fostering a sense of impunity, with negative implications for future development.
By Simon Roughneen in Dili
Gregorio Saldanha at former prison door, now a museum, in Dili (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
On July 13, opening statements for the defence of former Liberian President Charles Taylor were delivered at Special Court for Sierra Leone proceedings in The Hague, with Counsel Courtenay Griffiths QC telling the court that whatever atrocities took place in Sierra Leone, were beyond the control of the indicted ex-warlord. Meanwhile, on the same day in Dili, the trial of 28 people accused of trying to assassinateEast Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta on February 11 2008 opened in equally dramatic fashion, with one of the accused, Angelita Pires, coming to proceedings barefoot in traditional Timorese dress, setting the tone for what is likely to be a confrontational few months in court.
While Taylor, Slobodan Milosevic and others have been met with due process, and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has been served with an arrest warrant for crimes committed in Darfur, there has been scant justice applied for crimes committed during or after Indonesian occupation, with the notable exception of the assassination attempt on the President, described by current PM Xanana Gusmao as “a coup attempt”. (more…)
Indonesia’s Dangerously Dull Election – ISN
July 2nd, 2009
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=102764
SBY on the campaign trail, Jakarta, June 4 2009. (Photo: Dimas Ardian, Bloomberg News)
By all accounts, it has been one of the tamest election campaigns in Indonesia since the country democratized over a decade ago. On 8 July, voters will choose their president and vice-president for a five-year term, with incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono all but assured of victory, according to opinion polls.
One poll conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute (Lembaga Survei Indonesia – LSI) found that even though the president’s popularity has declined somewhat in recent weeks, he remains far more popular than the two other candidates. The survey was conducted between 15-20 June and polled 2,000 people across 17 provinces. It found that 67.2 percent of respondents intended to vote for Yudhoyono, 15.8 percent for former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, 8.3 percent for Vice President Jusuf Kalla, and 8.7 percent undecided. In the LSI’s April survey, Yudhoyono obtained 75 percent, Megawati 16 percent and Kalla only 3 percent.
Weak competition has put paid to the prospect of a close race or contentious outcome. According to C Holland Roberts, CEO and Chairman of LibForALL , “both Golkar [Jusuf Kalla's party] and PDI-P, [led by Sukarnoputri], are fronting presidential candidates that are difficult for the populace to get excited about.” (more…)
Malaysian Islamist Party to support Catholics? – ISN
June 5th, 2009
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=100969
A row over the use of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims highlights the need for Malaysia’s political forces to repackage their rhetoric in order win over a multi-ethnic population
The latest phase in an ongoing row between the Catholic Herald and the Malaysian authorities took its latest turn last week, with a high court ruling on Thursday effectively upholding the federal government’s 2007 ban on non-Muslim’s using the word “Allah” to denote God. (more…)
