A Truth Commission for the World
 

By Bob and Alice Evans,
Directors of Plowshares Institute

For more than 20 years we have worked as international mediators with participants of numerous truth commissions throughout the world. We believe that the Commission on Truth and Friendship (CTF) between Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, and Timor Leste, predominantly Christian and the newest country in the UN, has greater potential to be a catalyst for international transformation and reconciliation than any of the previous thirty truth commissions.

This first truth commission in the world between two independent nations provides insights and approaches to assist other nations with tragic histories such as Palestine and Israel, Northern Ireland and England, and perhaps, eventually, Iraq and the US. As founding directors of Plowshares Institute, an international U.S.-based non-profit organization which has been nominated in successive years for the Nobel Peace Prize, we were invited by the Commission to serve as two of the three international advisers to the CTF during the two and a half years of its existence. Our colleague, David Cohen, the Director of the War Crimes Studies Center at the University of California, Berkeley, CA, was the third international adviser accompanied by his team of student researchers from the university.

Prior to our appointment, we had worked intensively in both Indonesia and East Timor. These experiences led to our strong admiration for the passion of Indonesian people to build a strong democracy as they emerged from decades of military-oriented dictatorships and instilled in us deep compassion and concern for the struggling new nation of Timor Leste (formerly East Timor).

The five commissioners and three alternates appointed by each of the Presidents of Indonesia and Timor Leste were nationally recognized persons of distinction and integrity. The commissioners had served their respective countries as a judges, lawyers, military generals, ambassadors, professors, businesspersons and freedom fighters. They labored under national and international suspicion that the CTF had been established to ‘white wash’ crimes against humanity, placing friendship between the two countries before truth and justice. Several national and international human rights non-government organizations predicted that the commission would advise amnesty for perpetrators and promote impunity for gross violations of human rights. The United Nations, under the direction of a new Secretary General, refused to cooperate with the Commission because of its potential to recommend amnesty. Other critique was based on the fact that the Commission’s investigation was limited to immediately prior to and following the 1999 popular consultation, thus omitting human rights violations during the 24 years of Indonesian presence. The final report has dispelled these suspicions.

Most world shaping changes are rooted in the personal transformation of individuals. To adapt Gandhi’s challenge to “become the change we want to see,” the CTF commissioners “became the reconciliation they sought.” The sixteen commissioners and alternates began their journey with radically different life experiences and world views. In transforming encounters over 30 months they came first listen to one another, then to respect, dialogue, and understand one another, and, finally, to love one another.

The Commissioners took this journey in the shadow of 350 years of Portuguese colonization of East Timor and 24 years of Indonesian governance supported by its military forces. East Timor was invaded in 1975 by order of Indonesia’s President Suharto with the support of the U.S. and Australia under the Cold War assumption that East Timor would become a Communist state. During these two decades, thousands of Indonesian soldiers lost their lives in what they understood to be a struggle for integration into Indonesia and liberation from colonial oppression. At that same time one fourth of the population of East Timor died. Those who resisted the Indonesian presence experienced intimidation, prison, and appropriation and destruction of property by both the military and pro-integration military trained and armed Timorese militias with the support of pro-integration civilians and the Indonesian government. One of the primary challenges facing the diverse Truth Commission was whether the conflict was about liberation of East Timor from colonial oppression or occupation by Indonesia as a new repressive colonizer. Many Americans and Europeans have a deep appreciation of these divergent perspectives as they hear their own citizens and Iraqi citizens debate the liberation – or occupation - of Iraq.

The conflict between Indonesia, pro-integration Timorese and Timorese independence forces came to a head in 1999 when the United Nations mandated a referendum or “popular consultation” on the status of East Timor. More than three quarters of the Timorese population voted in favor of independence rather than integration with Indonesia. The backlash by pro-Indonesian forces and militias resulted in the deaths of 1500 people, the flight of thousands of people to West Timor and the burning of the capital of Dili and other principal towns. The level of violence following the vote led to wide criticism of the UN’s administration of the referendum as biased and inadequate though well meaning. It also led to international rage at Indonesia’s role in the carnage and the vehement denial by military leaders of any responsibility.

In May, 2005 the commissioners assumed the challenges to “reveal the factual truth’ of the nature and causes for the events prior to and following the referendum and to make recommendations to heal the wounds of the past and promote reconciliation and friendship between the nations. They met monthly with a small staff, had one of the lowest budgets of any previous truth commission and had the impediments of different languages and distinctly different experiences of their tragic history. During the past two years, the international advisers worked with sub-committees and research teams and were available as consultants at Commission meetings and public hearings.

While the Commission drew on evidence from previous human rights investigations in both countries, it also based its findings on additional intensive research as well as public and private hearings with government and military officials, victims of the violence in 1999, human rights advocates and researchers from both countries. The Commissioners were aware of serious contradictions between the testimony of several military and militia witnesses and well-documented, independent research on specific gross violations of human rights.

The commissioners often strongly disagreed. They debated and listened to one another, and ultimately arrived at the unanimous conclusion that gross violations of human rights were committed by representatives of both nations. They assigned a preponderance of responsibility to Indonesia. Based on the principle that a culture of responsibility is central to sustaining peace, promoting security and preventing violations of human rights, the Commission made the difficult and hard-fought decision to not recommend amnesty to any groups or individuals. As mandated in the original CTF objectives, the final draft of the report focused on institutional responsibility. However, extensive and carefully documented footnotes provide conclusive evidence of individual culpability. The commission also creatively expanded its mandate to limit its investigation to 1999 by including evidence from the 24 years prior to the referendum as the only way to understand the causes of the conflict, to reveal the conclusive truth about violations of human rights and to prevent re-occurrence of such violations in the future.

Equally important, the Commission chose to overcome their painful history by emphasizing restorative justice - the restoration of the injured parties and communities - rather than focus on retributive justice - the prosecution of perpetrators. As advisors with a primary role in the formulation of recommendations, we were gratified that the commission sought to heal the wounds of the victims on both sides by first exposing the truth of violations of human rights that had been denied by perpetrators and government representatives and second through a set of recommendations that promote healing and build sustainable and just relationships among individuals, their communities and the two nations. The recommendations seek to assure non-reoccurrence of human rights violations through acknowledgement of responsibility by both governments, institutional reforms and human rights training programs within the military and police, the establishment of formal visa-free “peace zones” to encourage economic and cultural exchanges, and the establishment of a Document and Conflict Resolution Center.

The CTF report by these courageous commissioners was not only accepted but also endorsed by the two Presidents in the presence of senior government officials of both Indonesia and Timor Leste in an official ceremony on July 15, 2008. In the history of truth commissions only about five percent of their recommendations have been implemented by the receiving governments. In the case of the CTF, both governments publicly committed to establish a bi-national working group to vigorously implement the recommendations. This level of commitment promises a much higher implementation rate than previous truth commissions. Many of the human rights NGOs that publicly criticized the commission have now described the report in various responses as “independent,” “comprehensive,” “professional” and “brave.” The Secretary General of the UN who refused to cooperate with the commission has described the report as “a step toward achieving justice and reconciliation.”

The CTF journey has revealed many lessons to those who seek to be faithful and responsible agents of reconciliation. The commission embraced a listening, liberating, healing and transformative process which Plowshares Institute has promoted world wide for 25 years. Similar processes which value relationships and a commitment to truth over retribution hold transformative and healing potential for post conflict situations between ethnic or religious communities, for polarized nations like our own, and for individual citizens struggling with questions of conscience. The Commission on Truth and Friendship is indeed a truth commission for the world.