When we recall the bloody incidents from the past, we remember the role of the former General Prabowo Subianto as a key actor in planning cruel, barbaric and inhumane actions and organised and systematic serious human rights violations during the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste.

For the last two decades the victims of human rights violations and their families in Timor-Leste have continued to urge and have consistently awaited justice for the victims and their families, including urging the UN Security Council to provide justice for victims.

The following facts relate to the involvement of the former General Prabowo Subianto

The facts show that during the Suharto regime Prabowo Subianto was involved in a series of serious crimes and human rights violations in Timor-Leste such as the massacre that occurred in 1983 in Viqueque which is known as the Kraras incident with 200 victims losing their lives. This town was known as the “town of widows” because many of the husbands of the victims were massacred in this bloody incident.

According to a report published by the truth commission CAVR, Chega! it was noted that at least 530 people were killed by the Indonesian military during the counter-insurgency operation that took place in 1984, across the entire region of East Timor (Timor-Leste). Meanwhile hundreds of others are presumed to have died of hunger in concentration camps on a hill named Bibileo and in several other areas.

In the same Chega! report it was reported that the campaign activities and actions carried out by military troops in the Special Forces Command were directly led by Prabowo who is responsible for the highest level of violations and crimes that had ever occurred based on a survey between 1983 and 1984. During the occupation the Special Forces Command played a pivotal role in setting up militias who worked for the Indonesian military up until 1999. The formation of pro-Indonesian militias was the product of Prabowo and the Special Forces Command.

In addition, there is strong evidence about the involvement of Prabowo as the person responsible and intellectual actor for a bloody incident known as the Santa Cruz massacre on 12 November 1991, which according to a report from Amnesty International killed more than 300 people who at that time were holding a peaceful demonstration in Santa Cruz. This suspicion is based on the fact that prior to the aforementioned massacre, Prabowo conducted a work visit to Headquarters of the 303 Army Strategic Reserve Command in Liquintai, Taibesi.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto is accused of being involved in several acts of kidnapping and enforced disappearances of university students in 1997-1998 and a range of violations when the dictator Soeharto was in power.

Based on the facts of this bitter and cruel history, we, the alliance of civil society organisations, survivors, victims and families of victims under the National Alliance for an International Tribunal (ANTI), wish to convey our attitude and demands as follows:

1.    We appeal to and urge the voters in Indonesia and all elements of pro-democracy civil society who are fighting to promote and strengthen democracy and human rights in Indonesia to unite with the community of victims, survivors, and families of victims who were massacred in Timor-Leste to not give their vote to the former General Prabowo Subianto, who was a criminal perpetrator of crimes against humanity in Timor-Leste, to become the upcoming President of the Republic of Indonesia;