'Balibo' stirs more than painful memories. Then Ambassador to Indonesia Richard Woolcott told 'The Australian' (August 07 09)

"Any suggestion that the embassy knew that they were there is wrong. But it's 30-odd years on now, and I'm not sure there is a great deal to be gained from going over it. It's like what happened in Nazi Germany."

The released documents indicate otherwise - in particular the document dated October 25 1975 signed by Woolcott detailing a meeting with an Indonesian called Yoga. Whilst 1975 was an entirely different world, 'Balibo' and Jill Jolliffe's research give Australians a salient lesson in international politics.

How far would our government go to protect its intelligence sources - that is, disclosing what it knows will lead to a good inference about how it knows? How far would an Australian government go to allow another country to 'save face' to protect trading and other vested interests?

Six Australian deaths? More?

It is very interesting to read two articles about the 'historical truth' as presented in this film. This one by Gary Neal and the other by Paul Cleary:- How 'Balibo' distorts history.

Gary writes, “….reasonably truthful telling” and “Unlike most films which purport to have an historical foundation, Balibo is both well researched......”

Paul writes, “As much as two thirds of the 111 minutes portrayed in Robert Connolly's film, Balibo, is fictionalised”.

What is truth, eh?

Apparantly Whitlam did use intelligence/information at hand to warn Shackleton of the Balibo Five before they reached East Timor.

According to Evan Williams who worked in Whitlam Office at the time (1975) http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25914564-15803,00.html :

"When Shackleton interviewed Whitlam twice in 1975 before his departure for East Timor, Whitlam warned him that the situation was increasingly dangerous and that the Australian government had no way of protecting him or his colleagues. Those interviews are on record.

... The real villain of 1975 was Portugal, the worst European colonial power and the longest-surviving European dictatorship, which had done nothing to prepare for their inevitable withdrawal from the region.

...In 1999, Australian troops were part of the peacekeeping force that led to East Timorese independence and the creation of Timor-Leste. Australian troops are still helping to keep the peace in Timor-Leste. What Whitlam and others feared has come to pass: the presence of a militarily unstable and economically unviable client state on Australia's doorstep. Nowhere in Balibo are these facts acknowledged. To have done so would have meant, among other things, acknowledging one of the more admirable foreign policy decisions of the Howard government. I know how difficult that can be, but it will be a pity if the deaths of the Balibo Five, and a film about their suffering, should be tainted with political recriminations, whatever side of the fence we may be looking from."

Its all very convenient for some Timor Leste politicians gaining top prizes at the UN while their countrymen fought, died and starved. The top Portugese worshipping echelon have installed themselves while criticising Australian Government contributions whenever convenient.

Pete

The recent movie "Balibo" is just fiction. It was based on a one-sided story by dubious "testimonies" coming from anti-Indonesian East Timorese who had vested interest to exploit the accidental deaths of these journos into political dark propaganda against Indonesia. The movie is as "historical" as the movie "Planet of the Apes" as far as Indonesia is concerned.

The truth is these journos mingled with Fretilin gunmen in Balibo. They stayed at Fretilin HQ in Balibo. While much was made about the Australian flag painted on the house, the camera never showed the Fretilin flag painted on the other side of the house.

Indonesia also was already planning to openly invade the half-island, hence we have nothing to hide. As far as foreign opinions, Suharto already got the green light from US President Gerald Ford. Meanwhile, it was Oz PM Gough Whitlam who was requesting Indonesia to invade ET to prevent communist Fretilin from taking power. That was all we need. Whether the Balibo Five survived or not, is inconsequential for Indonesian plans. Indonesian military did not even know of their presence in ET.

INDONESIAN COMBAT REPORT OF THE EVENTS IS AS FOLLOWS (source: Kopassus, 2001, p228-230 by Ken Conboy)

Indonesian and integrationist Timorese partisan forces entered Balibo at dawn of October 16, 1975. Combat Teams Prayudha 2 and 3 attacked Balibo Fort from the east, capturing the fort after 30-minutes mortar bombardment and firefight which left two Fretilin defenders dead and one Indonesian injured.

Team Prayudha 1 and integrationist Timorese partisans entered the town. They were met with gunfire which hit a Timorese partisan in the back. The shots came from a house painted in what Indonesian soldiers thought was Republic of China (Taiwanese) flag, which was commonly painted on houses owned by Chinese residents of ET. Twelve commandos sprayed the house with AK-47s through its windows. Inside, they found two dead Timorese and four dead Caucasians. They also found one Carl-Gustav submachine gun.

The rest of the two dozen Fretilin gunmen had already fled the town, which fell into Indonesian hands.

Assuming the dead Caucasians were Portuguese communists, Timorese partisans looted the house and burned it down (with the corpses inside), along with most of Balibo (arson being favorite pastime of East Timorese). After being informed later that the dead Caucasians were actually Oz journos, Indonesian soldiers kindly recovered the four charred corpses from the house. A fifth, decaying white body, was discovered in nearby forest in the following week. Appearantly, one of the journos split from his mates and fled to the jungle but did not survive. The bodies were delivered to Jakarta for funeral.

IN CONCLUSION, the journos were killed accidently in combat, a risk faced by every war correspondents. They knew the risks yet chose to be in Balibo in close proximity with Fretilin gunmen during combat situation. They were killed because as war correspondents they did not manage their risks well.