East Timor:
More questions than answers

by Peter Mac

The Australian Government's second inquiry into the 1975 killing of five 
journalists in Balibo, East Timor, has concluded that the Indonesian 
military had covered up the real story behind the killings.

However, the inquiry has failed to draw significant conclusions as to the 
identity of the killers, or even that the killings were deliberate, despite 
key eye-witness evidence to that effect previously given on last year's ABC 
Four Corners program.

The crucial witness interviewed on the Four Corners program, Orlando 
Gutteres, who claimed to have witnessed the killings in Balibo while on 
duty as a soldier in the Indonesian Army, was not interviewed.

As a result, the Inquiry concluded limply that while it was possible that 
the journalists were murdered, there was no compelling evidence that this 
was so.

The widow of one of the journalists, Shirley Shackleton, has criticised the 
terms of reference of the inquiry by lawyer Tom Sherman as "designed to 
stifle his findings from the outset".

The Australian Foreign Minister has with ill-concealed relief washed his 
hands of the Inquiry, announcing that "Australia has done all it can" to 
investigate the killings.

There is now clear evidence from many sources, even including the Sherman 
report, of a cover-up at the highest level within the Indonesian military, 
many of whom now hold important positions within the Government.

Despite this, the Australian Government has now asked the Indonesian 
Government itself to contribute any information it can regarding the 
matter.

The Information Officer for the Campaign for an Independent East Timor 
(CIET), Andrew Alcock, has expressed sharp criticism of the Inquiry for its 
failure to interview key witnesses, including Mr Gutteres.

Mr Alcock said that there should have been a lot more pressure from the 
Australian Government to let Sherman actually go to East Timor and 
interview whomever he liked, with interviewees being guaranteed immunity 
from threats by Indonesian military and intelligence personnel.

There is now intense speculation as to the direction of Australian foreign 
policy in the light of the Indonesian Foreign Minister's stated intention 
to eventually grant East Timor independence.

Such an outcome of the tragic East Timor saga would, for example, force the 
Australian Government to renegotiate with East Timor over the Timor Gap 
Treaty previously made with the Indonesian Government over oil exploration 
and drilling in the Timor Straits.

Predictably, the Government's statements concerning East Timorese 
independence have avoided this issue. They have instead focused on the 
likely cost to Australia of aid to the tiny reborn nation as a 
justification for indefinitely delaying the granting of independence. The 
Government continues to express a preference for autonomy — that is East 
Timor remaining part of Indonesia.

CIET has commented that:

"The recent statements by the Australian PM and Foreign Minister give the 
world the impression they begrudge the East Timorese their right to 
independence. They have told the world that an independent East Timor could 
cost Australia $50 million per annum.

"We believe this is saying to the world that Australia is trying to block 
East Timorese freedom from 24 years of terror because it does not want to 
live up to its obligations.

"For the past 24 years Australian Governments have supported Indonesia's 
illegal occupation of East Timor. Now that this appears certain to change, 
the Australian Government wants to blame those who want this crime to stop, 
for the problem that successive Australian Governments have caused.

"We challenge the Australian Government to release details of the costs to 
Australian taxpayers of the military aid and co-operation extended to 
Indonesia and the profits made from arms and equipment sales to Indonesia 
over the past 25 years."

South Australia's United Trades and Labour Council has now called for a 
series of measures to achieve independence for East Timor. These include:

* the release of East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao;
* the establishment of a UN peace keeping force, with an Australian 
contingent;
* the banning of military and intelligence links with Indonesia;
* the cessation of military co-operation with Indonesia;
* the revocation of the Timor Gap treaty between Indonesia and Australia;
* the investigation of massacres and other human rights violations;
* the provision of relief aid and the co-ordination of relief agencies;
* the payment of reparations by Indonesia for crimes carried out in East 
Timor, and by others for sales of military equipment to Indonesia.