Agus Muliawan

June 18, 2002

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Her Excellency Megawati Sukarnoputri
President, Republic of Indonesia
Office of the President
Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 1
Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia

Via facsimile: 62-21-778-182

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Your Excellency:

East Timor's media faced their first real test under a democratic environment when they covered September's United Nations-supervised poll electing a constituent assembly and a transitional government. The press performed admirably, with few cases of political harassment and most Timorese journalists attempting to be fair and balanced in their reporting.

New York, December 12, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes yesterday's announcement that the killers of journalist Agus Muliawan were among those convicted of "crimes against humanity" in connection with the violence that surrounded East Timor's August 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia.

The Special Panel for Serious Crimes of the District Court in the East Timor capital, Dili, issued the verdicts on December 11. This landmark case marks the first successful prosecution for crimes against humanity in East Timor.

EMERGING FROM DARKNESS AND DEVASTATION, East Timor's journalists took their first steps toward building an independent press for the fledgling nation. The leaders of the new country have pledged to promote press freedom after they achieve formal independence (expected by the end of 2001). "We have no intention to interfere in any way with the press: it must be independent of government," Nobel laureate and East Timor political leader Jose Ramos Horta told CPJ in May.

The UN and the Indonesian government both think they know who killed two journalists in East Timor last year. So why aren't the suspects on trial?

[Click here for full list of documented cases]

At its most fundamental level, the job of a journalist is to bear witness. In 1999, journalists in Sierra Leone witnessed rebels' atrocities against civilians in the streets of Freetown. In the Balkans, journalists watched ethnic Albanians fleeing the deadly menace of Serbian police and paramilitaries. In Indonesia, they recorded the violence of Indonesian-backed militias against supporters of political independence. Some who wrote about what they witnessed ended up dying because of the stories they told.

In August, as East Timor prepared to vote on whether to declare independence from Indonesia, military-backed, pro-Indonesia militias threatened, harassed and physically assaulted journalists covering the disputed territory. The attacks began shortly after the announcement in March of a United Nations-brokered agreement to hold an August 30 referendum on the independence issue.

The Indonesian military was bitterly opposed to the referendum, having occupied the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and fought a protracted war against independence. On April 17, following an escalating series of threats, rampaging militia members sacked the offices of Suara Timor Timur ("The Voice of East Timor"), the territory's only daily newspaper. The paper was shut down for more than two weeks, and many of its employees were driven into hiding. At about the same time, foreign journalists in East Timor began to face threats and beatings from the militias.

September 30, 1999

His Excellency Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
President, Republic of Indonesia
Office of the President
Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17
Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia
VIA FAX: +62-21-778-182


Your Excellency,

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the recent killing of Indonesian journalist Agus Muliawan, who was among a group of nine church workers massacred on Saturday, September 25 as they traveled to Baucau from Lospalos, East Timor. The gunmen were identified in Western news reports as Indonesian troops or pro-Indonesian militia members.

September 30, 1999

Mr. Ian Martin
Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of Mission
UNAMET Headquarters
Mitchell Street
Darwin, Northern Territory
Australia 0810
VIA FAX: +61-88-941-8710


Mr. Martin,

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the killing of Agus Muliawan, an Indonesian journalist who was among a group of nine church workers massacred on Saturday, September 25, as they traveled to Baucau from Lospalos, East Timor. The gunmen were identified in Western news reports as Indonesian troops or pro-Jakarta militia.