Documents show Australia knew of E. Timor attack<\/p>\n
CANBERRA (Agencies): Australia knew in advance of the 1975
\nIndonesian invasion of East Timor and stood by for three days
\nwhile Jakarta troops readied for the bloody event, secret
\ndocuments released by the government revealed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
An 885-page book of memos, cables and letters sent and
\nreceived by Australia's foreign department between 1974 and 1976
\nconfirmed what sporadic leaks and published recollections of the
\nperiod have charged -- that Australia gave tacit approval to
\nJakarta to annex the neighboring former Portuguese colony.<\/p>\n
East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence last year and
\nis under temporary United Nations control after the referendum
\ntriggered a wave of violence by pro-Jakarta militias.<\/p>\n
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said the release of
\nthe documents, which do not include cabinet or intelligence files
\nfrom the period, would help clear the air over what is considered
\nto be one of the most controversial events of Australian history.<\/p>\n
The documents, released four to six years ahead of the usual
\n30-year wait, showed Australia's embassy in Jakarta received full
\ndetails from Indonesia of the timing of an attack on the Timorese
\ntown of Balibo in October 1975 -- three days before it occurred.<\/p>\n
Five Australian journalists were killed in the assault.<\/p>\n
Downer said the documents show the then-Labor government of
\nGough Whitlam had advance warning of the attack, but there was no
\nevidence Australia could have prevented the journalists' deaths.<\/p>\n
Mystery still surrounds how the five died, and who killed them
\nnear the town of Balibo, on the East Timorese side of the border.<\/p>\n
\"There's a full selection of documents on this matter
\npublished in this volume, including some suggested earlier to be
\nmissing,\" Downer told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"I myself pass no judgment on these documents other than to
\nstate that the Department of Foreign Affairs had no information
\nbeforehand of any intentions to kill the journalists, although it
\ndid have prior knowledge of the planned invasion,\" Downer said at
\nthe official release of the documents.<\/p>\n
Australia's two key political parties, the left-leaning Labor
\nand right-leaning Liberals, have come under fire for their
\nactions during the period.<\/p>\n
Whitlam's Labor government was in office when Indonesia's then
\npresident Soeharto ordered the invasion of East Timor, and
\nMalcolm Fraser's Liberal\/National coalition was in power when
\nIndonesia annexed East Timor in 1976.<\/p>\n
Cabinet debate from the time will not be known until the 30-
\nyear waiting period is up, and Downer said intelligence reports
\nmight never be released for reasons of national security.<\/p>\n
Recognition<\/p>\n
Australia was the only western nation to recognize Indonesia's
\nrule over East Timor.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups said up to 200,000 people died during the
\ninvasion and subsequent fighting and famine in East Timor,
\nsparked by Portugal's withdrawal in 1975 from its former colony.<\/p>\n
Indonesia and its Western allies reacted to the withdrawal
\nwith alarm, fearing pro-communist East Timorese were taking over
\nand another communist stronghold would emerge in the region,
\nmonths after the fall of Saigon to communist North Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Soeharto also had tacit U.S. support for the invasion, which
\ntook place just after a visit by then President Gerald Ford.<\/p>\n
With the Vietnam War fresh in mind, Australia told Jakarta it
\ndid not want to get involved in East Timor -- a territory it had
\nonce called \"an essay in the hopeless\". Critics said that
\ndecision gave Soeharto a green light to invade.<\/p>\n
\"While preferring the integration of Portuguese Timor with
\nIndonesia, the Whitlam government wished there to be a genuine
\nact of self-determination in the territory,\" Downer said.<\/p>\n
Indonesian forces withdrew from East Timor last year after a
\n25-year guerrilla war and a bloody rampage by pro-Jakarta
\nmilitias following the announcement that the population had voted
\noverwhelmingly for independence in a UN-held referendum on Aug.
\n30.<\/p>\n
East Timor is now set to become the world's newest independent
\nnation within two years, after the current United Nations
\nadministration hands over power.<\/p>\n
Former Australian diplomat James Dunn said the release of the
\nsecret diplomatic cables showed Australia's policy towards
\nIndonesia's annexation of East Timor was \"ill-conceived and
\nutterly unrealistic\".<\/p>\n
Dunn was Australia's consul to East Timor when it was a
\ncolonial outpost of Portugal.<\/p>\n
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton said in a
\nstatement that the collection of documents \"falls well short of
\nthe comprehensive release of records required in the public
\ninterest and bears the taint of political partisanship.<\/p>",
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