Pete,
To clarify some of the early history and the short civil war...
In May 1974, Horta, who was a member of Fretilin ,had family ties with the Carrascalo's and forged a fragile union of UDT and Fretilin under the umbrella, ASDT which collapsed as the UDT realised that Fretilin,would outstrip them due to their large Maubere base.

It was the UDT that staged the August coup attempt,with the tacit approval of the remaining Portuguese and police who ordered the military confined to barracks whilst the UDT elements killed what Fretilin executives who remained in Dili whilst the bulk of Fretilin were in the mountains, introducing their policies to the Villages.

Rogerio Lobato,brother of Nicolau, led the troops out of the barracks opposing the coup and within 3 weeks, the coup had been put down by troops supporting Fretilin, who sought to hand back control to the Portuguese.Fretilin wanted to go to an election as they knew they had overwhelming support from the non-elites.

Meanwhile the routed UDT elements sought support from the Indonesians who were already carrying out intimidating incursions at the border.
Faced with the refusal of Portugese governors to resume control and imminent Indonesian invasion, Fretilin unilaterally declared Independence on 28th November.
Maracas

Dear Foxy,

I have seen the film BALIBO, have you? Who on earth would let John Pilger make up there mind for them.....

It is a superb film, amazingly told with incredible performances and crafting. No doubt you are looking for a political diatribe film from the likes of Pilger. I am sure you and a dozen mates would crowd into see that one.

trizzie

Foxy,

Right on. How can anyone assume the righteousness of one individual on any issue.

It tells you that some people are merely happy to hear the opinions of like-minded people rather than real debate.

The complexity of any issue/s is hardly likely to be answered by one person or persepective, even by St John Pilger.

Sorry, previous comment was addressed to Trizzie (not Foxy).

Chris and Trizzie,

I haven't seen 'Balibo' either and I may not get around to seeing it. I miss quite a few films and TV shows I should see.

It may well be that it is dramatically powerful, but I don't see how that excuses the removal of dialogue which exposes the complicity in those crimes of the Australian Government of the day.

How are audiences, who go to the trouble and expense of seeing that film, to learn the full picture of how their own Government elected to care for the welfare of all of its citizens as well as to behave decently on the international stage, colluded in the murder of its own citizens and covered up that crime for decades to come?

Most are unlikely to take the additional effort to find that information elsewhere and will most likely remain ignorant.

---

Foxy, John Pilger has indeed done us a great favour in exposing this glaring and inexcusable omission from 'Balibo', but has he "consistently [had] the courage to tell us the truth," as you put it?

If you check John Pilger's site http://www.johnpilger.com you will find that he has inexplicably failed to even once, as far as I can tell, ask questions about that other raging controversy, that is, 9/11, even though it has been used as the principle justification for so many of those other wars he rightly denounces.

How is his silence on that issue, 'consistent' with outspokenness on this issue?

(I should inform readers that Graham Young has objected to my raising, on this forum, "[my] conspiracy theories about 9/11", as he puts it, and has deleted one of the three posts I previously made on this forum and has threatened to delete any more which raise that issue. Nevertheless, I believe that I have shown that raising that issue, in the way I have in this post, is appropriate.)

maracas1

Thanks for the information. It shows how complex the personal politics and bitter the faction fighting were in emerging Timor Leste in 1975.

Nothing was cut and dried or simply good vs bad.

In that vain the accounts of Australians involved in the decision making processes present a more complex picture of the journalists and East Timor than today's Anglo activists would wish.

For example in a speech he made June 26, 2002 Gough Whitlam pointed out the warnings he gave:

"In my book Abiding Interests (1997) I recalled my warnings to the leader of the five:

Before Greg Shackleton left for Timor I had spoken to him twice at Channel 7, where he produced the Sunday program This Week. On 18 September, before I recorded an interview on the Budget, he told me that he was taking a team to cover the civil war in East Timor. I warned him that the Australian Government had no way of protecting him or his colleagues.

...On 28 September...I gave Shackleton the Red Cross information and again warned him that the Australian Government had no way of protecting him or his colleagues. Nevertheless, he took his team to Dili on 10 October and to Balibo the next day. On the way they passed three ABC TV newsmen and an AAP correspondent who were returning to Dili.

...In one of his despatches Shackleton told Channel 7 that it was the team's intention to LINK UP WITH INDONESIAN TROOPS [capitalised for emphasis] should there be an invasion. Cyril Jones, the channel's chief of staff and news producer at the time, has disclosed that they appeared confident that this could be achieved." [cached on the East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) website http://www.etan.org/et2002b/june/23-30/26whtlm.htm ]

Whitlam is usually a forthright and accurate speaker/witness. If Whitlam's depiction of the tragically murdered Balibo Five is correct their motivation may not simply have been revealing the injustice of the expected Indonesian invasion or "No Pasaran!" [the Indonesians "Shall Not Pass"].

"link up with Indonesia troops" suggests a mixture of motives and attitudes to the Indonesians.

Pete