In a just world, Prabowo Subianto should not be Indonesia’s new president. He ought to be facing the full strength of the law in court, if not serving time.

The closest he’s come to justice is being banned from the US by three presidents, Clinton, Bush and Obama, and from Australia and presumably other jurisdictions. That he has escaped justice is principally due to the junior status that his principal victim, East Timor, occupies in the great scheme of things.

Prabowo’s background is primarily military and most of his military career was spent in East Timor. His fitness for office should be assessed against this background.

In 1975, his former father-in-law, Suharto, invaded and occupied Portuguese Timor in violation of the UN Charter. Two truth commissions have reported on the international legal dimensions of the violent occupation. Both concluded that Indonesia and its military committed crimes against humanity and war crimes. No Indonesian military, including Prabowo, have been held accountable for these violations of international........

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