Indonesia's powerful military is not giving up. After humiliating the country with its mishandling of East Timor, the armed forces have rammed legislation through the Parliament that gives the government new powers in the event of an emergency. Opponents fear that the groundwork is being laid for a coup, a charge that is denied by the military. Given recent events, the accusation cannot be lightly dismissed.
The armed forces, known as the TNI, must feel as if the noose is tightening. United Nations peacekeeping forces are taking control of the situation in the battered province of East Timor. Order is being restored. The militias that were set up and armed by the military and went on murderous rampages before and after the referendum are being tamed. There is mounting evidence of atrocities, and there must be concern that the evidentiary trail will lead to the TNI.
The U.N. Human Rights Commission is debating the dispatch of a special team to investigate human-rights abuses in East Timor. While conceding that crimes may have taken place, the Indonesian government wants any probe to be led by its own people. Given the complicity of that same government in the crimes committed in the province, there is little hope that such an inquiry would establish the truth.