Arrest Warrant Issued for Former Officer

The Jakarta Post - Friday, March 2, 2007
Abdul Khalik

The Indonesian government will not respond to an arrest warrant issued Thursday by an Australian court for former military commander Lt. Gen. (ret.) Yunus Yosfiah, saying it considers the case long since closed. "It is already a closed case. It is an old issue and we have finished with it," Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kristiarto Suryo Legowo told The Jakarta Post.

The New South Wales state coroner issued the warrant for Yunus after he failed to appear at an inquest into the death of British-born journalist Brian Peters, one of five Australia-based reporters killed during an attack by Indonesian troops on the town of Balibo, East Timor, on Oct. 16, 1975.

Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch issued the warrant after Yunus failed to respond to a series of letters requesting he testify before the inquiry, but she conceded the order has no power outside Australia. "It's an indication of how seriously I regard the necessity of having him here," Pinch was quoted as telling the court by AP. But "it is probable that he will not appear to be examined unless compelled to do so"

Yunus, a lawmaker from the United Development Party (PPP), questioned the Australian court's authority to issue the warrant. "They can't do that. Is there any law for this? You can ask legal experts about this," he was quoted as saying by detikcom.

Yunus said he did not have to explain why he refused to attend the inquest because he had already explained everything to then foreign minister Alwi Shihab and the House of Representatives.

Kristiarto also underlined that the warrant was not enforceable inside Indonesian territory because the Australian court has no jurisdiction here. "We simply will not do anything as Indonesian territory is outside of any Australian court's jurisdiction," he said.

Indonesia maintains the reporters were killed accidentally in a cross fire, but several people claiming to be eyewitnesses testified before Sydney's Glebe Coroner's Court this month that Yunus ordered his troops to open fire on the unarmed journalists and burn their bodies.

Yunus earlier dismissed these claims as politically motivated lies.

AP reported that the inquiry was called at the request of Peters's family. In Australia, a state coroner can investigate any resident's death not due to natural causes, especially if the circumstances are deemed suspicious, regardless of where the death took place.

But the coroner's court has no power to extradite Yunus from Indonesia, or to compel him to testify unless he comes to Australia of his own will.

The five journalists were killed as Indonesian special forces attacked a local militia that had claimed sovereignty after Portugal abandoned its former colony. The attack was a prelude to an Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December of that year.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and ruled the tiny half-island territory until 1999, when a UN-organized referendum resulted in an overwhelming vote for independence. Withdrawing Indonesian troops and their militia auxiliaries destroyed much of the country's infrastructure and killed more than 1,000 people.

There have been repeated investigations into the journalists' deaths since 1975, but successive Australian governments have said they accept that the reporters were not intentionally killed.

Last year, an independent report presented to the United Nations found that the five journalists were probably killed deliberately by the Indonesian soldiers. The 2,500-page document, which was based on eyewitness accounts of the shooting, called for "further investigation of the elusive truth of this matter".