War Crimes, The Movie
By Simon Roughneen for ISN
Almost 35 years ago, five Australia-based journalists died while reporting on the early stages of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Jakarta maintains that the men died in the crossfire as the Indonesian army fought Timorese fighters in Balibo, a few kilometers from the border separating Indonesian West Timor from the eastern half of the island, now known as Timor-Leste.
The murders made headlines recently. On 24 July, external pageBalibo premiered in Melbourne, with Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta in attendance. The movie does not stick to the events of the day, digressing into a fictionalized scenario where the young Ramos-Horta accompanies another journalist, Roger East, to Balibo, to investigate the five's disappearance. East went to Timor and, according to dozens of eyewitnesses, was shot on the Dili waterfront when the Indonesians took control of the city.
Real-time impact
The movie seems to have had some real-time impact beyond the silver screen. On 20 August, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced that it would launch a external pagewar crimes investigation into the deaths, based on 2007 recommendations by the deputy New South Wales coroner.
The coroner's report concluded that Brian Peters, Malcolm Rennie, Gary Cunningham, Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart were shot or stabbed as they tried to surrender to the Indonesian-led troops who stormed the border town on 16 October 1975. According to the coroner, the men's bodies were dressed in military uniforms and photographed with guns, before being incinerated in an attempt to portray them as combatants killed in a mortar attack.
Since then, the deceased men's families have unsuccessfully lobbied successive Australian governments for justice.
It is not clear how effective the AFP investigation will be, as it will require Indonesian cooperation. Indonesia has ruled out extradition and is angry that the AFP is opening the case.
Partners at odds
It is not clear how effective the AFP investigation will be, as it will require Indonesian cooperation. Indonesia has ruled out extradition and is angry that the AFP is opening the case.
This has prompted some 'realists' to argue that Australia should not compromise its now-steady bilateral relations with Jakarta.
Speaking to ISN Security Watch, spokesperson for the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry Teuku Faizasyah said "we regard this as a closed case. and while we value our excellent partnership with Australia, this is something of an
irritation, and will have implications for bilateral relations, depending on how Australia approaches it."
Australia has worked closely with the Indonesian police on counterterror operations since the 2002 Bali bombing, in which dozens of Australians died. That collaboration has yielded some spectacular results. Others have stated that the Balibo 5 were foolhardy and reckless, venturing willingly into the danger zone. This view overlooks the fact that under international humanitarian law, reporters cannot be treated as combatants.
Teuku Faizasyah said "we are sympathetic to the families of the deceased, but we hope that they understand this past tragedy happened during a war."
As a young journalist, Tony Maniaty reported from Balibo just days before the five were killed. He now teaches journalism at the University of Technology in Sydney, and is author of Shooting Balibo. He told ISN Security Watch that nowadays war reporting is a much more dangerous business than in 1975, adding that "although the insurgents, terrorists and government forces can kidnap and kill reporters impunity, the Balibo story can help raise awareness of journalist's rights and responsibilities in warzones."
The case could re-open the dark dealings carried out as Indonesia undertook its then-undeclared and illegal invasion of the former Portuguese colony.
In the book external pageDeath in Balibo, Lies in Canberra by academic Des Ball and journalist Hamish McDonald, the authors outline how Australian diplomats knew in advance that the invasion would take place, but that Canberra did nothing to prevent it.
Had the Australians warned the TV stations, they would have conceded foreknowledge of the invasion, in turn prompting questions about why it was not trying to prevent it.
Indonesia held onto Timor-Leste until 1999, when a UN-backed referendum saw Timorese vote to leave Indonesia, whose occupation was never recognized under international law. That anniversary came and went one month ago, with Ramos-Horta reiterating his view that external pageno international tribunal should take place to investigate crimes committed during Indonesia's occupation.
Pat Walsh is senior advisor to the Post-CAVR secretariat in Dili. The CAVR produced a external page2,800-page report that is considered the definitive account of Indonesian occupation. He told ISN Security Watch that the Balibo movie and AFP case will “intensify lobbying and advocacy for justice to be pursued on behalf of thousands of Timorese.”
Like Australia, Timor-Leste's leaders do not want to jeopardize relations with Jakarta, and are full of lavish praise for the democratic progress made by Indonesia since 1998. While this prompted predictable derision from human rights activists, those wary of Balibo causing an Australian-Indonesian rift found renewed succor. The argument goes along the lines of 'if the East Timorese can let bygones be bygones, when perhaps 200,000 of them died, then surely Australia should not make a special case for five people.'
A subtle counter-argument suggests that it would show self-confidence and maturity for Indonesia to acknowledge abuses in Timor.
The Balibo murders were among the earliest atrocities committed by the Indonesian army and/or its Timorese proxy militias. One of the last acts of barbarism was a massacre of over 200 people in a Catholic church in Suai, in the southwest, just days after the 30 August 1999 secession referendum.
The ringleader was an Indonesia-based civil servant named Maternus Bere, indicted by a UN investigation in 2003. He was arrested in Timor-Leste in mid-August, but soon released after Indonesia threatened to boycott Dili's 10th anniversary celebrations, in turn prompting protests from Timorese victims groups and a threat by the parliamentary opposition to stop Ramos-Horta from travelling to the UN General Assembly.
Given the zeal with which Ramos-Horta wants to move on from the past, some Timorese may find it incongruous that he supports an investigation into Balibo 5 killings.
However, as Maniaty put it to ISN Security Watch, “President Ramos-Horta has to be pragmatic. Timor's nation-building and security challenges mean that it needs a good relationship with Jakarta going forward, even though there are many thousands of Timorese who deserve justice.”
Dark dealings