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Editorial & Opinion ; EDITORIAL: De
- Subject: Editorial & Opinion ; EDITORIAL: De
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1998 19:44:00
Subject: Editorial & Opinion ; EDITORIAL: Deafening silence over
journalists' killings
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Editorial & Opinion
EDITORIAL: Deafening
silence over journalists'
killings
IN October 1975, TV journalist Greg
Shackleton trekked to the village of Balibo
in East Timor with four Australian-based
colleagues -- Tony Stewart, Malcolm
Rennie, Brian Peters and Gary
Cunningham.
They had earlier heard that Indonesian
warships were sighted off the coast and
that an invasion was imminent. The morning
before the attack, Shackleton filed the
following report:
''Last night, a group of East Timorese
gathered in this tin shack, bracing
themselves against the Indonesian
invasion. The air was so thick with fear that
you could reach out and touch it. There
were many questions: Why, they asked, are
the Indonesians invading us. Why, they
asked, are the Portuguese not helping us
as we are still a Portuguese colony. Who,
they asked, will pay for the terrible damage
to our homes.''
It was Shackleton's last report. The next
day, Indonesian soldiers came and shouts
of ''Australian journalists, non-combatants''
were heard before they were drowned by
gunfire.
For 23 years, the death of the Balibo Five
has been shrouded in controversy. The
Indonesians have consistently maintained
that the men were cut down in crossfire.
The 1996 Sherman Report, commissioned
by the Australian government, concurred
with the Indonesian claim. ''More likely than
not,'' it concluded, ''the Balibo Five were
killed in the heat of battle while fighting was
continuing to occur.''
Still, the issue refuses to die.
In August, the Geneva-based International
Commission of Jurists (ICJ) produced a
damning report on the incident. Indonesian
troops, it said, set out from nearby
Batugade with the intention to kill the
journalists. The commission called for
several retired Indonesian military officers,
including current Information Minister Yunus
Yosfiah, to be brought before an Australian
judicial inquiry.
And last week, an eyewitness claimed that
Yosfiah, then a captain of the elite Red
Beret force, ordered his troops to fire at the
journalists through the windows of the
house in which they were taking refuge.
One was knifed in the back after he was
ordered out of the house. The newsmen
were then stripped of their civilian clothes
and dressed in military uniforms. Their
bodies were later posed with machine guns
and photographed, and then burnt.
According to the ICJ, the killings were
aimed at ''concealing from world scrutiny
the activities of the invading forces as they
began their clandestine offensive''. Indeed,
the Balibo Five were not the only journalists
murdered. A sixth journalist, Australian
Roger East, was killed when Indonesian
troops parachuted into Dili in December
1975.
If the Indonesians had hoped that dead
journalists tell no tales, then they had almost
succeeded. The world heard little about the
invasion of East Timor which resulted in the
death of an estimated 200,000 people,
about one-third of the population. It was a
genocide comparable to Cambodia's
killing fields.
Given the new evidence, Australian Foreign
Affairs Minister Alexander Downer
announced he would reopen the inquiry into
the Balibo Five. And in reaction to the news
that Indonesia's President BJ Habibie
could also be holding an inquiry, he said:
''We can't force them to do that but we
would obviously welcome further
information provided by the Indonesians
and any investigation they may conduct into
these events, which were of course a long
time ago.''
This doesn't sound like a person particularly
interested in uncovering the truth. Of
course, the truth may not serve the interests
of the Australian government. There is
evidence that its foreign affairs department
had been involved in a cover-up of the
killings. Australian diplomats were said to
have been briefed by Indonesian
intelligence officials on plans to attack
Balibo three days before the attack.
Australian diplomats were also aware of
Jakarta's invasion plans from late 1974.
Indeed 23 years later, many questions
remain. Why did the Australian government
maintain a stoic silence over the killing of
their citizens? Why did the country, almost
alone, recognise the annexation of East
Timor by Indonesia? Why was nothing done
by the global community, when for 23 years
the UN Security Council has demanded
unconditional Indonesian withdrawal from
East Timor?
Clearly, we cannot bring the dead back to
life. But the least we can do is to put these
questions to rest.
The Nation