Australia 'not duped' by Jakarta over E. Timor

Australia 'not duped' by Jakarta over E. Timor

CANBERRA (Reuters): Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Wednesday rejected news reports that his government had been duped by assurances Indonesia was acting in good faith in East Timor.

"They of course gave us constant assurances (but) we were constantly unconvinced," Downer said in a statement.

The weekly news magazine, the Bulletin, said that Indonesian security forces under Gen. Wiranto were behind much of the violence that broke out in the wake of the Aug. 30 vote for independence in East Timor.

Australian intelligence documents leaked to the magazine showed that Downer knew about Jakarta's complicity all along, it said.

"The documents leave no doubt that despite denials at the time by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, the Australian government was fully aware of the duplicitous role of the Indonesian military," the Bulletin said.

Hundreds were killed by pro-Jakarta militiamen, backed by elements of the military, in a campaign of retribution after the vote in which East Timorese voted overwhelmingly in favor of separation from Jakarta.

Downer said Canberra had consistently protested against the actions of the Indonesian troops, making over 120 representations to the regime of former president B.J. Habibie.

"But we never had confidence in the capacity of the Indonesian military to live up to their responsibilities and that is why the Australian government put the army together in Darwin, to be prepared to move into East Timor if we had to," he said.

Australia is leading the 15-nation INTERFET force which ended the violence in the stricken territory. INTERFET is due to be replaced by a UN Transitional Authority in East Timor, UNTAET, early next year in the run-up to independence.

Shadow foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton said Downer had been too ready to believe denials by the then Indonesian foreign minister that Jakarta was involved.

"Why did you publicly and repeatedly accept (former foreign minister) Ali Alatas's February assurance that nothing was happening other than an a legitimate arming of security artilleries?" he asked Downer in parliament.

But Downer said the government would never have relied on the Habibie regime's assurances alone.

"We had a large number of sources of information, different analysts have written different things and put forward different ideas and advice," he said.

"We, at the end of the day as a good government, make our own judgments. I think our judgments were constantly good."