[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 70 (Monday, May 21, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S5278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

SENATE RESOLUTION 91--CONDEMNING THE MURDER OF A UNITED STATES CITIZEN 
 AND OTHER CIVILIANS, AND EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING 
THE FAILURE OF THE INDONESIAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM TO HOLD ACCOUNTABLE THOSE 
                      RESPONSIBLE FOR THE KILLINGS

  Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself, Mr. Feingold, and Mr. Leahy) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 91

       Whereas on September 6, 2000, a paramilitary mob in the 
     West Timor town of Atambua killed 3 United Nations aid 
     workers, including United States citizen Carlos Caceres;
       Whereas Caceres and the other victims were stabbed and 
     hacked to death with exceptional brutality, and their bodies 
     were then set on fire and dragged through the streets;
       Whereas Caceres, an attorney originally from San Juan, 
     Puerto Rico, whose family now resides in the State of 
     Florida, had e-mailed a plea for help saying that ``the 
     militias are on their way'', and that ``we sit here like 
     bait'';
       Whereas on May 4, 2001, an Indonesian court in Jakarta 
     meted out only token sentences to the murderers of Carlos 
     Caceres and the other United Nations workers, and failed to 
     allot any punishment whatsoever to the Indonesian military 
     commanders alleged to have sanctioned this attack;
       Whereas these token sentences have been condemned as 
     ``wholly unacceptable'' by United Nations Secretary General 
     Kofi Annan, and described by the Department of State as acts 
     that ``call into question Indonesia's commitment to the 
     principle of accountability'';
       Whereas the self-confessed killer of Carlos Caceres, a pro-
     government militia member named Julius Naisama, was sentenced 
     to spend not more than 20 months in jail, and remarked 
     afterwards, ``I accept the sentence with pride'';
       Whereas the murders of Carlos Caceres and the other United 
     Nations workers fit a pattern of killings perpetrated or 
     sanctioned by the Indonesian military in Aceh, Irian Jaya, 
     and other parts of the Indonesia, both during and since the 
     end of the Suharto regime;
       Whereas, despite Indonesian government promises of judicial 
     accountability, since the initiation of democratic rule in 
     Indonesia in 1998, no senior military official has been put 
     on trial for human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, 
     torture, or incitement to mob violence; and
       Whereas the Government of Indonesia could have prevented 
     both the murder of the United Nations workers and the 
     subsequent miscarriage of justice if the Government had--
       (1) upheld its explicit commitment, made after the August, 
     1999 referendum in East Timor, to ensure that Indonesian 
     military forces would safeguard United Nations workers and 
     Timorese refugees from attacks by the paramilitary militias 
     who had killed approximately 1,000 East Timorese civilians in 
     the preceding weeks;
       (2) brought charges of murder or manslaughter against the 6 
     men who proudly admitted to killing the United Nations 
     workers in an unprovoked attack, rather than only the lesser 
     charge of conspiring to foment violence; and
       (3) brought charges against senior military commanders who, 
     according to the United Nations, the Department of State, and 
     the Government of Indonesia itself, are suspected of arming 
     and directing the paramilitary militias responsible for the 
     carnage in East Timor: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That (a) the Senate--
       (1) condemns the brutal murder of Carlos Caceres, a United 
     States citizen;
       (2) decries the inadequate sentences given by the 
     Indonesian judicial system to the self-confessed killers of 
     the 3 United Nations aid workers;
       (3) calls on the Government of Indonesia to indict and 
     bring to trial the senior military commanders described in a 
     September 1, 2000, statement by the Government of Indonesia 
     itself, as suspects in the mass killings following the 
     August, 1999 East Timor referendum; and
       (4) offers condolences to the family, friends, and 
     colleagues of Carlos Caceres and the other victims of the 
     September 6, 2000, attack.
       (b) It is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the President should, at every appropriate meeting with 
     officials of the Government of Indonesia, stress the 
     importance of ending the climate of impunity which shields 
     those individuals, especially senior members of the 
     Indonesian military, suspected of perpetrating, collaborating 
     in, or covering up extra judicial killings, torture, and 
     other abuses of human rights; and
       (2) the President should consider the willingness of the 
     Government of Indonesia to make rapid and substantive 
     progress in judicial reform when determining the level of 
     financial support provided by the United States to Indonesia, 
     whether directly or through international financial 
     institutions.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this resolution to the President.

                          ____________________