Yesterday, as most of the news media were busy with another matter, the AFP quietly dropped its investigation into the murder of five journalists on assignment for Australian TV in East Timor in 1975.
It’s widely recognised that the Balibo Five, as they became known, were murdered in cold blood by the Indonesian military because their presence posed a threat to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. A 2007 coronial inquest into their deaths found the five were killed deliberately on orders that emanated from the highest levels — and that Australian intelligence agents knew this, because they were listening in.
But successive Australian governments have been too gutless to call our powerful neighbour to account for these deaths.
Although it came more than 30 years too late, the AFP investigation into the deaths was a welcome development. The fact that it has been abandoned due to “insufficient evidence” is galling and will have serious repercussions for those still suffering at the hands of the Indonesian military — most notably indigenous West Papuans.
Tony Abbott flew to Jakarta this week for the inauguration of Indonesia’s new president, keen to normalise relations with “our most important neighbour”. With asylum seekers and spying scandals top of the agenda, the deaths of five men 40 years ago might not seem to be the most important bilateral concern between our two countries.
But for the message it would send to Indonesia, it’s vital that the Australian government finally take steps to prosecute those responsible for the deaths of the Balibo Five — and acknowledge that we were complicit in the ensuing cover-up. The Australian government must finally tell Indonesia that its military cannot get off scot-free when it murders civilians, no matter their nationality.
6 thoughts on “Crikey says: why we must learn the truth about the Balibo Five”
klewso
October 22, 2014 at 2:09 pm… what, and jeopardise our close relationship with our closest neighbour …. as long as we continue to discount New Guinea?
JMNO
October 22, 2014 at 2:12 pmSigh, here we go again on the Balibo Five. I think you’ll find that the coronial inquiry did NOT find conclusively that their deaths were ordered from Jakarta. It drew that conclusion despite the absence of evidence to support it. It’s because that’s what they and a lot of others in Australia want to believe.
Intelligence analysts listening in all came to the view that it was a stuff-up, not a conspiracy, a local decision taken by soldiers who were appalled at being filmed doing something they shouldn’t have been doing in a place they shouldn’t have been and who acted before they had time to think of the consequences. Anyone who knew anything about the Indonesian Army, and this didn’t include Australian television stations, knew that they would kill first and ask questions later.
The Jakarta Government was seriously embarrassed by it. They knew it would cause serious diplomatic problems.
I am not condoning the invasion, and Australia’s role in encouraging the Indonesian takeover was disgraceful. Roger East, the journo in Timor at the time of the actual invasion was definitely executed. The real crime was the hundreds of thousands of Timorese killed after the invasion.
CML
October 22, 2014 at 3:53 pm@ JMNO – I agree.
If some people want to continue their fight for ‘justice’ over the deaths of five Australians, then good luck with that. NOT going to happen after 40 years.
There wasn’t much justice around for the thousands of East Timorese who were slaughtered, but they seem to have come to terms with it. The ‘niceties’ of war perhaps???
gerri willesee
October 22, 2014 at 4:48 pmSo many emotional contradictions with the death of Gough. All those fabulous revolutionary changes he gave us in 1972, all the way down to the horror of his attitude to Timor Leste’s plea for independence. I still want justice for those 5 boys and for Roger East.
It would be a wonderful gesture for Jokowi to offer a public apology at the beginning of his term.
Norman Hanscombe
October 23, 2014 at 10:27 amJMNO’s comments are accurate but not what most want to hear. Our history re matters related to decolonising the old Dutch territories has always been blinkered. In 1955 while training as a teacher, the NSW Labor Government not only allowed visiting Indonesian representatives to address us about their “right” to have West Irian, but also
Norman Hanscombe
October 23, 2014 at 10:41 amAPOLOGIES I must have hit a wrong button. To start again:
JMNO’s comments are accurate. hear. Our history re decolonising the old Dutch territories has always been blinkered. In 1955, while training as a teacher, the NSW Labor Government allowed visiting Indonesian officials to tell us about their “right” to West Irian, and when I pointed out they were wanting to be Latter Day Colonialists, to which they declined despite repeated requests to respond, I was called into the Office and told my scholarship could be cancelled.
As for East Timor, it was Fretlin which began the hostilities when they rose up to block a plebescite organised by a Left-wing Portuguese Government which allowed them to decide what status they wanted. As Fretlin leader Jose Ramos Horta said at the time, they weren’t leaving the decision to peasants, 90% of whom were illiterate, and didn’t know what was best for them. That’s why when eventually they had a vote for their first Government Fretlin polled more poorly than those who led National Independence Movements have in any similar ballot.
I often wonder why it’s so difficult for people to carry out relevant research.
the Indonesians