Gusmao and Wiranto – what’s going on?
Yesterday on The Wire we heard from East Timor activist Joao Sarmento, who was protesting about Timorese President Xanana Gusmao’s meeting with Indonesian Presidential candidate General Wiranto over the weekend. General Wiranto was Indonesia’s Armed Forces Commander and Defense Minister in 1999. Before and after East Timor’s vote for independence, his troops and militia groups murdered more than 1500 people, displacing three quarters of the population and destroying more than 75% of East Timor’s infrastructure. In February of this year, General Wiranto, along with seven others was indicted for crimes against humanity by the Special Panel for Serious Crimes in East Timor. The Timorese government is reluctant to prosecute Wiranto or other indicted Indonesian officials, preferring the reconcilliation process. Today we take a look at the motivations behind the meeting between Gusmao and Wiranto. Cinnamon Nippard spoke with David Bouchier, Lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Western Australia, and John Miller, Media and Outreach Coordinator for the East Timor Action Network, in New York.