From Joyo News Service

Britain's Secret Bid to Put Lid on Death of Balibo Five

Also: The Age: Britain lied about 1975 Timor deaths; The Advertiser: Asia-Pacific Play down the Timor deaths, say British

The Australian
Thursday, December 1, 2005

Richard Lloyd-Parry, Patrick Walters,
Additional reporting: Padraic Murphy

BRITAIN asked the Australian embassy in Jakarta not to press the Indonesian Government about the fate of five Australian-based journalists killed by invading Indonesian troops in East Timor in 1975, according to newly released diplomatic cables.

In a startling insight into foreign complicity in Indonesia's invasion of the former Portuguese colony, the documents also show that Britain used its position as chair of the UN Security Council to "keep the heat out of the Timor business" in discussions in the UN.

"We have suggested to the Australians that, since we, in fact, know what happened to the newsmen it is pointless to go on demanding information from the Indonesians which they cannot, or are unwilling to provide," Britain's ambassador to Jakarta, Sir John Ford, wrote in a secret October 24, 1975 dispatch.

His cable, dated eight days after the deaths of the so-called Balibo Five in then Portuguese East Timor, ends by suggesting that the journalists were responsible for their own deaths.

"They were in the war zone of their own choice," he wrote.

Sir John even advised Indonesian officials on ways of suppressing reports of atrocities committed by the invading soldiers, even though he knew them to be accurate.

On Christmas Eve 1975, in a cable copied to 10 Downing Street, Sir John said: "Once the Indonesians had established themselves in Dili they went on a rampage of looting and killing ... If asked to comment on any stories of atrocities I suggest we say that we have no information."

The official British documents have been obtained after a long-running campaign by relatives and supporters of Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie, two British journalists who were working for Australian television.

Peters, 29, and Rennie, 28, together with three colleagues from Australia and New Zealand Greg Shackleton, 28, Gary Cunningham, 27, and Tony Stewart, 21, were killed while filming a clandestine attack on Balibo by Indonesian soldiers and local anti-independence East Timorese. Their deaths also sparked a long-running controversy about how much the Whitlam government actually knew about the incident with accusations that Canberra concealed its full knowledge of the killings.

Australia's ambassador to Indonesia in 1975, Richard Woolcott, yesterday emphatically denied the British claims saying that the Jakarta embassy had done everything it could to ascertain the fate of the Balibo five.

"I have no recollection of Sir John Ford making those sort of representations to me or making representations to other people in the embassy," Mr Woolcott told The Australian.

"We certainly would not have reacted to any suggestion from the British that we desist from doing so. If the British had suggested we do so we would have reported it."

Witness reports suggest the newsmen were murdered in order to prevent evidence of Indonesia's covert war on East Timor from being broadcast to the outside world.

Signals intelligence enabled the Australian embassy to learn within 24 hours of the probable fate of the journalists.

Australia's own diplomatic cable traffic in October 1975 indicated the high level of concern in Canberra about learning the exact fate of the five.

Greg Shackleton's widow Shirley yesterday described the British documents as "significant" and said she was particularly incensed by the British ambassador's claim the men "were in a war zone of their own choice".

"That's just more lies. They were journalists doing their job. There was no war zone, Indonesia has never declared war on East Timor."

WAR ZONE

* October 16, 1975: The Balibo Five - Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, New Zealander Gary Cunningham, and Britons Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters - were killed during an assault on Balibo in
East Timor. The Indonesian Government said the journalists were caught in the cross.re between Indonesian forces and East Timorese troops but witnesses have said they were killed after surrendering.

* June 2000: Australia's Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Bill Blick, commissioned by then defence minister John Moore to examine claims that intelligence relating to the killings had been withheld or destroyed by the Defence Signals Directorate.

* February 2001: UN police in East Timor say they have uncovered new evidence. They recommend that arrest warrants be issued for senior Indonesian defence personnel, including LieutenantGeneral Yunus Yos.ah, who witnesses claim, shot at the journalists.

* June 2002: Mr Blick .nds the DSD had no warning that the .ve were in danger.

* 2002: Families claim the UN investigation has virtually collapsed due to obstruction from Indonesia.

Peters Rennie Stewart Cunningham Shackleton

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The Age
December 1, 2005

Britain lied about 1975 Timor deaths

By JAMES BUTTON
EUROPE CORRESPONDENT
LONDON

THE British Government lied about Indonesian atrocities in East Timor in 1975 and suppressed information about the killing of Australian and British journalists, according to newly released diplomatic documents.

The documents, extracts of which appeared in The Times yesterday, show Britain also used its position as chair of the UN Security Council to "keep the heat out of the Timor business", for which Indonesia was "much gratified".

On Christmas Eve 1975, the British ambassador to Jakarta, Sir John Ford, cabled London to say that Indonesian soldiers had gone "on a rampage of looting and killing" in East Timor's capital, Dili. However, "if asked to comment on any stories of atrocities, I suggest we say that we have no information".

Sir John also asked the Australian embassy in Jakarta not to press the Indonesians for details of the deaths of five television journalists, killed while filming an attack in the town of Balibo.

The journalists were Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, New Zealander Gary Cunningham and Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie, whose relatives fought to have the documents in The Times released.

A cable from Sir John in October 1975, eight days after their deaths, states: "We have suggested to the Australians that, since we, in fact, know what happened to the newsmen, it is pointless to go on demanding
information from the Indonesians which they cannot, or are unwilling, to provide.

"Since no protests will produce the journalists' bodies, I think we should ourselves avoid representations about them."

Mr Peters' sister, Maureen Tolfree, said the documents proved her family had been "lied to, that everything has been covered up". She wants the Cabinet Office to release more documents before an inquest into her brother's death in Sydney early next year.

British Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster will table questions in Parliament this week asking how much Britain knew about the deaths of the "Balibo five". "There is clear evidence that the British Government was complicit in a cover-up," he said.

The documents also record Indonesia's pleasure that Britain managed to secure a relatively mild statement of condemnation from the UN.

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The Advertiser
December 1, 2005

Asia-Pacific Play down the Timor deaths, say British

FIONA HUDSON, LONDON

BRITISH diplomats asked Australian officials to refrain from pressing Indonesia too hard for details on the deaths of the five journalists in East Timor in 1975, secret documents reveal.

The papers, obtained under freedom of information by relatives of two of the dead men, reveal the British wanted to play down the incident to "keep the heat out of the Timor business".

The five Australian-based journalists were killed in an attack on the Timorese border town of Balibo in October, 1975. Their families insist there was a cover-up and they were murdered, not killed in crossfire as official reports claimed.

The fresh documents reveal Britain's Ambassador to Jakarta at the time, Sir John Ford, wrote in a diplomatic cable: "Since no protests will produce the journalists' bodies I think we should ourselves avoid representations about them."

The cable, obtained by London's The Times newspaper, went on: "We have suggested to the Australians that, since we, in fact, know what happened to the newsmen it is pointless to go on demanding information from the Indonesians which they cannot or are unwilling to provide. They (the dead men) were in the war zone of their own choice."

An inquest is to be held into the death of cameraman Brian Peters by the NSW state coroner next year. His sister, UK-based Maureen Tolfree told The Times she wanted any other documents held by the British
Cabinet Office released in time for the inquest. "I have won a victory by persuading the Australians to hold the inquest but it is very important now that the hearing is given access to all the relevant papers," she said.