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Lest We Forget

Sources for reading the Secret Report of the
(Indonesian) Investigative Commission into Human Rights Violations in East Timor
KPP-HAM: Komisi Penyelidik Pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia di Timor Timur

Report Date: Jakarta, 31 January 2000
Period of Investigation: January to October 1999


This Indonesian government-sanctioned secret report investigated gross human rights violations occurring in Timor-Leste (East Timor) between January and October 1999.

The report was produced by the Investigative Commission into Human Rights Violations in East Timor (KPP-HAM) in fulfilment of the mandate assigned by the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on 22 September 1999. 

The inscription at the head of the report states: "Secret: For the Investigative Purposes of the Attorney-General's Office".

The original was written in Bahasa Indonesia and has since been translated into English.

The report was obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald and published on its web site on 30 April 2001.



The report can be read:



* On the Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP) website
(Without the 1st chapter)
http://www.jsmp.minihub.org/Resources/2000/KPP%20Ham%20(e).htm

(The JSMP is based in Dili, Timor-Leste: http://www.jsmp.minihub.org/ )



* On the Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) website
(Includes Table of Contents; doesn't include the 1st chapter)
http://www.asia-pacific-action.org/southeastasia/easttimor/reports/komnasham_1999hamviolations_310100.htm



* Within the book:
Masters of Terror: Indonesia's Military and Violence in East Timor in 1999
Paper 3. Full Report of the Investigative Commission into Human Rights Violations in East Timor KPP-HAM (pages 15-59, 262-4)
Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No. 145
Publisher: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia (Canberra, 2002)

(ISBN 0 7315 5419 1, 325pp)

(Includes: all chapters, 2 tables, footnotes. Variations on JSMP & ASAP website versions: suspect list, chapter 3 is shorter)

(This book also includes papers by Hamish McDonald, Desmond Ball, James Dunn, Gerry van Klinken, David Bourchier, Douglas Kammen and Richard Tanter)





"KPP HAM has been successful in collecting facts and proofs that provide strong indications that serious violations of human rights have been carried out in a planned and systematic manner and on a large and wide scale in the form of mass murder, torture and maltreatment, forced disappearance, violence towards women and children (including rape and sexual slavery), forced evacuations, scorched earth policies and destruction of property, all of which constitute crimes towards humanity. ...

KPP HAM also found strong evidence concerning getting rid of and destroying evidence, which is a criminal act. ...

The types of acts and the pattern of crimes against humanity were as follows: The involvement of the civilian and military apparatuses including the police cooperated with the pro-integration militia groups in crimes against humanity. This represented abuse of power and authority and resulted in the involvement of military institutions as well as civil agencies."

Indonesian Commission of Investigation into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM)


"I'm impressed by the report of KPP HAM (the Indonesian government-sanctioned Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations) in East Timor. It was a noble attempt by concerned Indonesians to deal with ugly realities."

James Dunn, UNTAET Expert on Crimes Against Humanity in East Timor, in Jakarta Post interview 'Perpetrators of war crimes 'didn't mind the bloodshed' ' (5 February 2001)


" ... the efforts of those who compiled the KPP HAM report are to be congratulated for their commitment, their candour and their impartiality."

James Dunn, 'Crimes Against Humanity in East Timor, January to October 1999: Their Nature and Causes' (14 February 2001): http://www.etan.org/news/2001a/dunn1.htm



News coverage of the KPP-HAM report: http://www.etan.org/et2001b/april/22-30/28jakarta.htm

See also: BD: War Crimes & Crimes Against Humanity

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