The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer reported last night about the 10th anniversary of East Timor’s independence. Following Portuguese decolonization of Portuguese Timor in 1974, East Timor declared independence, and was subsequently invaded by Indonesia. East Timor battled Indonesia for independence for the next two decades, eventually winning in the late 1990’s. One particular line of the NewsHour report illustrates perfectly the link between law and security strategy:
East Timor has not pursued war crimes tribunals against Indonesia, calculating that it needs to keep the peace with its much larger neighbor… But local activists warn that having no international judicial process keeps East Timor vulnerable to renewed violence, the process of healing from the trauma of occupation incomplete.
For East Timor, a war crimes tribunal would be a weapon of both domestic stabilization and international provocation. However, East Timor cannot have one without the other. Many Timorese view foregoing war crimes tribunals as foregoing justice. Timorese leaders fear the Indonesian government would take the opposite stance. Thus, foregoing war crimes tribunals, though it risks domestic instability, is a strategic decision geared toward mitigating international tension.
