Australia lied about E. Timor deaths: Files<\/p>\n
CANBERRA (Reuters): Secret files released on Tuesday show the
\nAustralian government lied about its knowledge of the murder of
\nfive journalists in East Timor weeks before Indonesia invaded in
\nlate 1975, political analyst Des Ball said.<\/p>\n
The files show the government was informed that the
\njournalists were dead on Oct. 16, the same day they were reported
\nmissing, Ball told reporters at a news conference at which 70,000
\npages of diplomatic documents were made public.<\/p>\n
The government did not confirm the deaths for days and six
\nmonths later said investigations were still under way. Successive
\nadministrations have told parliament and the next of kin they did
\nnot know the details of the deaths.<\/p>\n
The funerals were delayed for months and only charred bits of
\nbone were ever produced as remains.<\/p>\n
The files expose \"the most shameful episode in the history of
\nAustralian foreign policy,\" Ball told reporters at the release of
\nthe files at Australia's national archives.<\/p>\n
Ball, an Australian National University professor who has
\nwritten a book about the events, was selected by the government
\nto summarize his findings from the secret papers.<\/p>\n
Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, Britons Malcolm
\nRennie and Brian Peters and New Zealander Gary Cunningham, aged
\n21 to 29, were killed in the Timorese town of Balibo several
\nweeks before Indonesia invaded East Timor on Dec. 7, 1975.<\/p>\n
The files showed four of them were killed while they hid or
\nwere held in a house. Charred bones were found in the home.<\/p>\n
A fifth body, also burned, was found nearby, which Ball said
\nconfirmed rumors that one journalist had escaped from Indonesian
\ntroops before being captured and killed in a way that is \"too
\nhorrible to recount\".<\/p>\n
Ball said the files show Australia has long known about the
\njournalists' deaths at the hands of Indonesian troops.<\/p>\n
They show \"how the Australian government connived with Jakarta
\nover Indonesia's covert invasion...how it dealt with the killing
\nof the five Australian-based journalists at Balibo...and how it
\nlied to the Australian parliament and public, including next of
\nkin, over the ensuing quarter of a century,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The documents showed then prime minister Malcolm Fraser's
\ncoalition government kept its officials in the dark, sending a
\nteam to investigate the \"presumed deaths\" six months later.<\/p>\n
Fraser, now head of CARE Australia, was not immediately
\navailable for comment.<\/p>\n
Secret memos, cables and letters sent and received by the
\nforeign department from 1974 to 1976 are being released ahead of
\nthe usual 30-year wait in a bid to clear the air over one of the
\nmost controversial events in Australian history.<\/p>\n
Files released last week revealed that Australia knew in
\nadvance of the invasion of East Timor and effectively gave
\nIndonesia's then President Soeharto tacit approval to annex it.<\/p>\n
Indonesia and its Western allies were concerned pro-communist
\nEast Timorese would take over the territory.<\/p>\n
Having advance notice \"was a major intelligence coup but it
\ndoes raise the question at what point access to privileged
\ninformation becomes complicity if you don't make any objections
\nto the substance of what you're receiving?\" Ball said.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups said up to 200,000 people died during the
\ninvasion and subsequent fighting and famine in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Ball praised the release of the papers but said the omission
\nof key intelligence files leaves some questions still unanswered.<\/p>\n
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has refused to cast
\njudgment on the governments of the time.<\/p>\n
East Timor voted for independence last year after 25 years of
\nIndonesian rule. It is under temporary UN control after the vote
\ntriggered a wave of violence by pro-Jakarta militias.<\/p>",
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