Papua police move criticised

Timbul Silaen stood trial over the 1999 violence in East Timor

Human rights groups have criticised Indonesia's appointment of a police chief accused of failing to prevent violence in East Timor to the new chief in another restive province.

Timbul Silaen was named on Monday as the new head of police in Papua, where a small group of separatists are agitating for independence.

Police in Jakarta defended his appointment, pointing out that an Indonesian court acquitted him of human rights abuse charges in East Timor last year.

Only six of 18 Indonesian officials accused in the bloodshed were convicted, and the tribunal process has been dismissed by critics as a sham.

Hendardi, the head of Indonesia's Human Rights and Legal Aid Association, said Mr Silaen's appointment showed Jakarta's disregard for due process.

"This is to show the public that the military did nothing wrong in East Timor. It means they do not care about justice," he said.

"The perpetrators (of the violence) are being rewarded," he said.

The crimes were committed during the period in 1999 when East Timor was voting for independence from Jakarta.

The United Nations estimates more than 1,000 people were killed at the time by various pro-Jakarta militias, with backing from the Indonesian army.

Mr Silaen is expected to arrive in Papua in the coming weeks, as part of a rotation of the police chief there.

He was appointed on a day of high tensions in the province, as separatists marked their would-be independence day.

A group pf several hundred people defied a ban on raising the independence flag, but there were no reports of violence.

At the weekend more than 40 people were arrested at a similar ceremony.

The separatists were marking the anniversary of Papua's independence from Dutch rule in 1962, before the province was swallowed by the Indonesian state.