A human rights organisation has taken the government to task for not demanding an apology from Indonesia for the Dili massacre which killed over 200 East Timorese and 20-year-old Malaysian student Kamal Bamadhaj.

"The cold-blooded murder of Bamadhaj 10 years ago has gone unpunished. Malaysia did not demand for an official apology, Indonesia did not volunteer either

"Both governments of Malaysia and Indonesia have shown that they would rather sweep any remaining memory of his murder under the carpet," said Suaram secretariat member Elizabeth Wong in a statement yesterday, which was released on the 10th anniversary of Bamadhaj's death.

Wong also demanded an apology from the Indonesian government for its military atrocities committed on Bamadhaj.

The massacre was committed by the Indonesian military during a funeral procession in Dili - the capital of East Timor - on Nov 12, 1991.

The peaceful march, to commemorate a student killed earlier by the Indonesians, later turned into a protest demanding for East Timor's independence.

Indonesian troops opened fire into the crowd when the procession reached the city's Santa Cruz cemetery. Bamadhaj was found bleeding profusely near the cemetery but he died on his way to the hospital.

The dead toll was 271, while 250 were reported missing and 381 wounded.

East Timor, located to the east of Java, was occupied by Indonesian troops in 1975 and it was not until 1999 when its people were given the opportunity for a referendum where they overwhelmingly voted for independence.

Victims of abuses

It was estimated that about 200,000, out of a total of 600,000 East Timorese, died during the 24-year occupation as a result of war and starvation. The East Timorese were also victims of forced assimilation, torture and other human rights abuses.

Bamadhaj was working as a part-time translator for an Australian non-governmental organisation in East Timor during the Dili massacre. He was then a student activist in Australia, deeply concerned with the human rights situation in East Timor.

His mother, Helen Todd, initiated legal proceedings a year later in the United States against Major-General Sintong Panjaitan who was in charge of the Indonesian army in the region.

Through various provisions in the US legal system, Panjaitan who had been attending the Harvard Business School, was removed from his position and served with a writ accusing him of murdering Bamadhaj.

In 1994, Panjaitan was ordered by the court to pay Todd US$4 million in compensatory damages and US$10 million in punitive damages.

However, Panjaitan had by then fled from the US and returned to Indonesia.