'Balibo' case awaits revelation of key suspect
'Balibo' case awaits revelation of key suspect
By Aboeprijadi Santoso
AMSTERDAM (JP): The brutal attack that killed five Australia-
based journalists in Balibo, East Timor, on Oct. 16, 1975 remains
relevant even today. The recent accusation by police under the
authority of the United Nations Transitional Administration in
East Timor against Lt. Gen. (ret.) Muhammad Yunus Yosfiah as the
leading executioner, is a reminder of the poisonous legacy of the
Indonesian army in East Timor.
Last month the UN civil police said that after seven months of
investigation into the "Balibo case" they were seeking a warrant
to arrest Yunus, another Indonesian and one East Timorese.
Yunus has again denied the allegations, the latest denial on
Thursday in a meeting with legislators. He said he is willing to
go to Australia to clear himself of the allegations.
"Balibo" was a prelude to the full-scale invasion on Dec. 7,
1975 and to a much greater human tragedy, victimizing a
neighboring people. It was the beginning of a flagrant violation
of the Indonesian constitution that requires the state to respect
the sovereignty of other nations.
Despite years of inquiries, the case has not been fully
clarified, suggesting that some key aspects are protected from
being pursued. Impunity thus prevails.
Further, the case is an example of the threat against the free
press by state and murderous army units that were condoned by the
great powers.
1975 is a decisive year. The West lost Indochina, Cambodia's
Pol Pot started a genocidal "Year Zero" and Soviet jet fighters
landed in Cam Ranh, Vietnam. Meanwhile the struggle for hegemony
intensified and the strategic deep trench of Ombai-Wetar Straits,
east off Timor coast, became critical.
It strengthened the need, basically agreed at Jakarta-Canberra
1974 summits in Indonesia's Wonosobo and Australia's Townville,
to take over East Timor.
However, that scenario was almost overtaken as the radical
nationalist Fretilin guerrillas controlled most territory.
Jakarta, therefore, launched a covert campaign "to stimulate a
liberation war in the style of Lawrence of Arabia," the late Gen.
Dading Kalbuadi told this writer in 1995.
In reality, it was a heavily armed operation to create a
"civil war" and crush the Fretilin. They used some 3,800
"volunteers".
This piece of information "was the official side (of the
story), and you've just heard the unofficial side," Gen. Benny
Moerdani was quoted as saying, after he communicated Jakarta's
military preparation to then Australian Ambassador Richard
Woolcott a few days before "Balibo" occurred.
By the time the five television newsmen -- Gary Cunningham,
Gregory Shackleton, Tony Stewart, Brian Peters and Malcolm Renie
-- arrived in Balibo in western East Timor, it was possibly
feared they could have known and revealed the positions of the
troops led by Col. Dading who penetrated from the neighboring
Indonesian town of Atambua.
Yet neither Canberra nor Jakarta had forewarned them. So when
one commando (RPKAD) unit -- the "Susi Team" led by a "Major
Andreas" -- entered Balibo at dawn and faced brief resistance
from the Fretilin, the confrontation with the newsmen -- not the
killing -- seemed inevitable.
Four of them were found dead, then dressed in Fretilin uniform
and burnt. Questions remain about just who were involved when the
"Susi Team" came face to face with them and whether the unit came
armed with foreknowledge, thus targeting the journalists.
According to four witnesses interviewed by journalist Jill
Jolliffe, the Balibo Five, as they became to be known, were
unarmed and executed as they surrendered asking for protection.
They were fired on "immediately without mercy" from about 10
meters and one was killed with a knife. (The Sydney Morning
Herald, June 21, 1999).
The men who allegedly took part in the slayings included Maj.
Andreas, Capt. Ali Mussa, Lt. Selamat Kirbiantoro, and others
identified as Kris, Marcos and Yusuf.
It is also possible that some of the witnesses were involved
since they were acting under the unit's command. A different
source said a certain "Capt. Soeharto" killed the first two
newsmen.
Significantly, some witnesses quoted "Andreas" as telling the
group: "If anyone asks, say it was war, (and) we found some white
bodies". Clearly, it was an attempt to deny that the actors knew
that the victims were journalists and to use the war as a smoke
screen.
That, indeed, became the standard response of both Jakarta and
Canberra. "They were (caught) in cross fire," said Dading in 1995
(The English term "cross fire" was his).
A year later, the man in charge of Canberra's official
inquiry, Tom Sherman, said, it all happened "in the heat of the
battle."
But James Dunn, a former Australian consul who examined the
town a day after the killings, strongly contradicted this (Radio
Netherlands Feb. 7, 1996).
One man who closely observed the whole operation was the late
Jose Martins Jr., a Timorese admirer of Gen. Ali Moertopo, then
Soeharto's confidant directing Jakarta's operation (Opsus) in
Timor.
In 1992, he told Radio Netherlands, that the RPKAD commando's
had infiltrated East Timor since August 1975, "with Portuguese
names, acting as tourists, with maps, etc". When the major sweep
came in mid-October, there were fierce battles in nearby areas of
Batugade and Maliana -- not in Balibo.
Former chief of one of the political parties, Apodeti,
Guilherme M. Gonzalves (whose son, Tomas, joined the "Susi Team")
and former Fretilin Chairman Francisco X. do Amaral told me in
1995 that they received similar reports.
The Balibo killings, therefore, were cold-blooded murders.
At his home in Lisbon, Jose Martins told this writer,
"unfortunately some (of the officers) were cruel. That was not
necessary". Then he mentioned: "Sinaga, Maj. Andreas ..."
Jose Martins, who was mysteriously dead on arrival at Jakarta
airport in mid-August 1997, never revealed the identities of the
names.
But Jolliffe's and other sources confirm that the man known as
"Maj. Andreas" is definitely Muhammad Yunus Yosfiah. In 1975 his
rank was captain, but he was called "major" apparently to boost
his role as a RPKAD commander.
In 1998, Yunus, as then president B.J. Habibie's Minister for
Information, became popular when he revoked Soeharto's hated
instrument to control the press, the media publishing permit or
the SIUPP.
On the Balibo issue, Yunus first denied allegations of his
role, but later admitted, that he led the attack in Balibo. He
said he had stayed there for 10 days, but had never seen (the
journalists) alive or dead" and never had a report on that
(Sydney Morning Herald, May 29 1999).
As to the shooting from 10 meters and the instruction to lie,
Yunus replied: "Bullshit!" (Kompas, June 27, 1999).
So, how could a commander and intelligence officer stay 10
days in a small town yet not knowing anything about the incident?
While it can be established that "Maj. Andreas" was Yunus, it
is not yet very clear whether allegations against him are true.
The Balibo slayings become a lesson of how a military regime,
with a little help from big friends, started to act disastrously
against a small nation by killing journalists.
In 1975 the East Timorese were threatened -- not by Indonesia,
but by the army commanders in the name of Indonesia. Today the
East Timorese and the Indonesians embark on a difficult processes
of reconciliation to build new societies.
With the two countries now free, more evidence on "Balibo" may
come forward.
The press and the press freedom that "Maj. Andreas" and his
unit allegedly destroyed in Balibo in 1975 are the very same
profession and principle that Minister Yunus respected and which
made him respectable in 1998.
If Yunus did take part in those killings, he, being "reborn" a
democrat, ought to have felt the pain of that irony. A celebrated
killer of SIUPP, he has conceded a similar irony: "ABRI (the
Indonesian armed forces) might be a frightening (force), but I'm
a democrat". (Kompas, June 27, 1999).
Yunus should give his full version of the event. Given the
stakes and in the spirit of reconciliation, his full testimony
could contribute to "restore" his reputation, but also that of
his corps.
By doing so, he would honor his claim and respect the public
who wish to remember him as an anti-SIUPP democrat.
Finally, his full story could, perhaps, contribute to the
reconciliation between the Indonesian army and East Timor,
strengthening peace and security at the border.
The writer is a journalist with Radio Netherlands.