Indonesia, E.Timor say to leave bloody past behind

JAKARTA, June 5 (Reuters) Indonesia and East Timor today pledged to move forward with reconciliation despite criticism over progress at looking into the violence during the tiny nation's 1999 vote for independence from Jakarta.

The two nations set up a truth commission in 2005 to investigate the bloody 1999 events.

The body, modelled on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has no power to prosecute, prompting criticism from rights groups that it serves to whitewash the atrocities.

Defending the body, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) was a ''noble approach'' to dealing with the past.

''We will continue the process at CTF until its conclusion and we have agreed to extend for another six months,'' Ramos-Horta told a joint news conference after talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

''I believe that it will satisfy the people of both sides and it will set a precedent for other countries to deal with similar situations,'' he added. The Nobel Peace Prize winner was on his first foreign trip since taking power last month.

The United Nations estimates about 1,000 East Timorese died during the post-vote mayhem, blamed largely on pro-Jakarta militias backed by elements of the Indonesian army.

Indonesian officials say only about 100 people were killed.

Ramos-Horta did not refer to violence in which two backers of former president Xanana Gusmao died during campaigning on Sunday ahead of East Timor's June 30 parliamentary elections.

Yudhoyono said the two countries must ''move forward'' and leave the past behind.

''I believe very strongly that the president of Timor Leste will follow what we have agreed so far,'' Yudhoyono said. Both leaders pledged to increase cooperation in trade, energy and education.

''We hope that more Indonesian companies can invest in East Timor,'' Yudhoyono said, adding that Indonesia planned to set up a language centre in East Timor, where Indonesian is widely spoken.

He said the two countries had delineated 97 per cent of their borders and expected to settle any remaining issues soon.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 at the end of Portuguese rule and annexed the territory later that year, maintaining a heavy and sometimes harsh military presence.

East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to split from Indonesian rule but some pro-Jakarta voters and officials argued that the referendum had been rigged by the United Nations, although independent observers concluded the ballot was largely fair.

Militia leader Eurico Guterres, the only person jailed in Indonesia for the violence, is serving a 10-year sentence.

REUTERS SYU ND1528