Thread: Dili Massacre

An australian just made a documentary about this, but Indonesia managed to block its filming here. Appears that the episode still has the ability to embarrass the government. Two main stories, the massacre was rebel elements trying to disrupt the indepenance process, or it was militia and undercover indonesian military funded by jakarta...

here, more info Milky.

form here http://www.indonesiamatters.com/6435...-tour-of-duty/

Timor Tour of Duty

November 2nd, 2009, in News & Issues, by Patung
A newly released film on East Timor in 1999 opens old wounds between Indonesia and Australia.

Premiering at the New York International Film Festival, October 22 to 29, is the Australian documentary Timor Tour of Duty which is said to "explosively" reveal the Indonesian military's secret war against Australian and international soldiers in East Timor, after the new country voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999.

Trailer

The documentary features a re-creation of a firearm and grenade attack on Australian forces near the border with Indonesia on 14th June 2001, which many have suspected was carried out by TNI Special Forces, Kopassus, dressed up as East Timorese pro-integrationist militia. [1]

Timor Tour of Duty is directed and produced by Melbournian Sasha Uzunov, said to be a freelance photo journalist, blogger, and amateur film maker, and who himself served in the Australian army, doing two tours in East Timor (1999 and 2001). [2]
Some of the, sometimes curious, press releases about the film:

Pete’s comrade, Scott Sherwin reveals they [returning Australian soldiers] were treated as outcasts by the Australian government because the true details about the firefight could have disrupted sensitive diplomatic relations with Indonesia.
Indonesia still remains a hotbed of anti-western sentiment as witnessed by terrorist bombings in recent times.

And

Sasha Uzunov, an Australian film maker and former soldier who served in East Timor believes that the United States was the “good guy” back in 1999 when it intervened in the tiny southeast Asian land of East Timor to avert genocide at the hands of the Indonesian military.

The film recently won a special commendation Platinum Reel Award from the 2009 Nevada Film Festival.

^ and ^^,

Thanks for the info and additional info, KW.

In the US, Dili is rarely discussed or referred to, but I assume in Oz it's more known about as it's local, or more local.

I remember reading/hearing the Indonesian government wanted to solidify it's territory in the outer places/islands, and paid Indonesians from Java to relocate. (probably, the poorer folks).

Originally Posted by Milkman

In the US, Dili is rarely discussed or referred to, but I assume in Oz it's more known about as it's local, or more local.

Yup, particularly in the Australian media at the moment.

The Balibo Five were a group of journalists for Australian television networks based in the town of Balibo in East Timor (then Portuguese Timor) where they were killed on 16 October 1975 during Indonesian incursions prior to the their invasion.[1]
In 2007, an Australian coroner ruled that they had been deliberately killed by Indonesian special force soldiers.[2] The official Indonesian version is that the men were killed by cross-fire during the battle for the town.[3]

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Federal Government 'failing' Balibo Five

By News Online's Sarah Collerton
Posted Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:23am AEST
Updated Mon Jun 22, 2009 8:08am AEST
Maniaty bumped into Greg Shackleton and his crew, who were on their way to Balibo. (Dean Lewins: AAP Image)

• Related Story: Balibo preview set for press freedom summit
• Related Link: Retelling truth: Balibo stories and journalism (Opinion)

The Australian journalist who broke the story of the Balibo Five is disappointed his own government has failed to act over the deaths of the journalists.
In 1975, the group of five Australian residents were shot and stabbed to death in a small town in East Timor.
Decades later, in 2007, NSW deputy coroner Dorelle Pinch found Indonesian troops killed the five journalists to cover up the East Timor invasion.
The coroner's report recommended certain Indonesians be prosecuted, but none of them has been charged.
Tony Maniaty says Australia's response to the Balibo Five issue and the NSW coroner's report has been "very slow, unresponsive and un-Australian".
"As an Australian citizen, I find it very strange that a coroner's made these recommendations and they haven't been acted on," he told ABC News Online.
"I think there is a lingering concern that it might upset relations with Indonesia."
The author of Shooting Balibo says the Rudd Government should be acting on the coroner's findings by now.
"It tempts you to think the issues have been put, not in the 'too hard basket', but the 'too sensitive basket'," he said.
But he suspects no Australian government will bring the Balibo Five killers to justice.
"Both sides of Australian politics have been implicated in this cover up of what really happened in East Timor in 1975," he said.
"The only hope is that some independent [politician] might raise the issue but it doesn't have much traction in Canberra."
A few months after the deaths of the Balibo Five, another Australian journalist, Roger East, was killed on the Dili wharf.
Maniaty is also critical of the handling of East's "blatant murder".
"Roger East was an Australian murdered in front of many witnesses and his case isn't even opened," he said.
War work

The former ABC journalist broke the Balibo Five story to the world and the events leading up to their deaths have haunted him ever since.
"We were in Balibo for a couple of days, I was doing a piece-to-camera and as I was just getting into it, an artillery shell flew over our heads and exploded," Maniaty said.
At that point, he did not question Fretilin orders to escape Balibo.
On his way back to Dili, he had "a strange Australian encounter in the middle of nowhere", bumping into Channel Seven journalist Greg Shackleton and his crew, Gary Cunningham and Tony Stewart, who were on their way to Balibo.
"I tried to talk them into coming with us but Greg was determined to get up there to Balibo," he said.
Back in Dili, he warned two other Australians from heading to Balibo, but Channel Nine reporter Malcolm Rennie and cameraman Brian Peters were just as determined.
Within a few days, all five Australian journalists were murdered in the border town.
Returning to Timor

Maniaty suffered flashbacks of the events for years, but in his role as consultant to the upcoming film Balibo, he confronted his past head on and returned to the town for the first time.
He says returning was not traumatic, but it was difficult.
Maniaty also finds it difficult to understand why the "brave" and "naive" Balibo Five stayed in the war-ravaged town.
"It's at the very core of war reporting, this question of when to stay and when to go," he said.
"It's an enigma why they stayed to the very, very end."
It is a subject that came up when he reunited with an East Timorese colonel on his return to the now independent nation.
"I was standing with Colonel Sobika, who had tried to get [the Balibo Five] to leave Balibo," he said.
"He just looked into the blue sky and said 'I still can't work out why they would have stayed'."


Federal Government 'failing' Balibo Five - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Balibo five pleaded for lives: witness

November 1, 2009
AAP
A witness has come forward 34 years after the Balibo Five were killed, saying he saw Indonesian soldiers murder the newsmen as they pleaded for their lives.
A man named only as Alberto said he saw two men shoot three of the five journalists, all of whom died in the East Timorese border town of Balibo in 1975.
"I saw it, absolutely, with my own eyes," Alberto told the Nine Network.
"He said `journalist, I'm a journalist', but the Indonesians didn't want to know about him being a journalist and fired off shots.
"The one standing fell to the ground and then they fired at the other two who were seated on the ground."
The revelation comes after the Australian Federal Police in September launched a war crimes investigation into the deaths of Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie and New Zealander Gary Cunningham.
Successive Australian and Indonesian governments had claimed the men were accidentally killed in crossfire but a 2007 NSW coronial inquiry found a group of soldiers led by Indonesian Special Forces captain Yusuf Yosfiah ordered the deaths.
It is believed three of the men were shot. Another - probably cameraman Brian Peters - was attacked in the street and the fifth man was stabbed by Indonesian Special Forces commander Christoforus da Silva, the coronial inquiry was told.
Asked if he knew the names of the men he saw pull the trigger, Alberto told the 60 Minutes program: "There were two people who killed them, one whose name I know was called Chris, the other name I have forgotten. It was 34 years ago."
Teuku Faizasyah, of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, maintained Indonesia's line that the men were killed accidentally.
"It is the war, conditions of the war," he said.
"During the war it's confusing. Our understanding of the issue is that they were killed during crossfire.
"War is war, to be killed in a crossfire in the line of war, it is a risk, and anyone can happen."
But Mr Faizasyah ruled out an investigation based on the emergence of the fresh eyewitness account.
"You may conduct your inquiries on your side," he said. "(For Indonesia), it's a case closed."
Balibo five pleaded for lives: witness

Indonesia 'tortured' Balibo Five


Mr Ramos Horta says the film is largely accurate

East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta has said five foreign journalists who died in Indonesia's 1975 invasion were tortured and shot by the military.
He made the allegation at the Melbourne launch of the film Balibo, which depicts their deaths as Indonesia's army crossed into East Timor.
Jakarta has always said that they were killed in crossfire with rebels, which Australian governments have accepted.
The film shows them being shot on the orders of Indonesian army officers.
Mr Ramos Horta was a rebel commander at the time and is a central figure in the film. He said he had looked into the deaths of the "Balibo Five" soon after they were killed in the border town of Balibo.
FROM BBC WORLD SERVICE





More from BBC World Service

At the Melbourne premiere, he claimed the film was largely accurate, but that its makers were unable to convey the full horror of the killings because it would be too shocking for cinema audiences.
He said the journalists were not just killed by the Indonesian military but, as he put it, "brutally tortured".
Their bodies were burned to dispose of the evidence of their killings, he said.
Diplomatic reticence?
Balibo is the first feature film to be shot in East Timor.
It tells the story of Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie and New Zealander Gary Cunningham - who were killed when Indonesian troops overran Balibo in October 1975.
The filmmakers have said that the official Indonesian and Australian view that they died in crossfire is absurd.

That film's version of events was validated by an Australian coroner in 2007.
After a fresh review of the evidence, the coroner ruled that the journalists had been killed as they tried to surrender to Indonesian forces.
The filmmakers are hoping that Balibo will spur the Australian government into action.
Almost 18 months on, it still has not given its response to the coroner's findings - a reticence which may stem from its fear of upsetting diplomatic relations with Jakarta, says the BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney.
Indonesian troops invaded East Timor shortly after Portugal withdrew in 1975, ending 450 years as its colonial ruler.
At least 100,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of Indonesia's 25-year occupation, which ended with East Timor's independence in 2002.
At the Balibo premiere, Mr Ramos-Horta applauded the changes which had taken place recently in Indonesia.
"It is better. Indonesian democracy today is one of the most inspiring in the south-east Asia region."

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Indonesia 'tortured' Balibo Five

somethign in the paper today

From left, Mark Leonard Winter, Thomas Wright and Gyton Grantley as Tony Stewart, Brian Peters and Gary Cunningham, portraying three of the Balibo Five in new film. (Photo courtesy of Balibo Films Pty.)
Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club to Screen Balibo Five Film

An Australian movie about the Balibo Five is set to be screened today even without the approval of Indonesia’s censorship body.

The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club organized the private screening of “Balibo” at a cinema in Jakarta, limited to invited guests only.

The movie tells of how five Australia-based journalists were brutally killed by Indonesian soldiers in the East Timorese town in 1975, which contradicts the Indonesian government’s version of the newsmen being killed in a crossfire.

Pudji Rahayu, head of the secretariat at the Film Censorship Agency (LSF), said Robert Connolly’s “Balibo” was not in their list of movies to be reviewed, let alone be aired.

“Every movie that will be screened in Indonesia must go through our censorship first,” she said, “and if they have not been submitted, they cannot be aired.”

Anthony Deutsch, JFCC’s vice president, said the event would be a private screening and that it was not for public consumption. “However, we will take it into consideration any decision [of the LSF],” he said.

The film is also due to be shown in the upcoming Jakarta International Film Festival, but those screenings could hinge on LSF approval. The LSF has formed a special team to assess whether the film is too politically sensitive for Indonesian audiences. According to a law on film censorship, a movie rejected by the LSF cannot be aired or distributed.

Earlier this year, the Australian federal police announced that it would start a war crimes investigation into the killings, weeks after the movie was released in the country.

The Australian Associated Press reported that the Indonesian government has labeled the movie “offensive. ”


Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club to Screen Balibo Five Film - The Jakarta Globe

From left, Mark Leonard Winter, Thomas Wright and Gyton Grantley as Tony Stewart, Brian Peters and Gary Cunningham, portraying three of the Balibo Five in new film. (Photo courtesy of Balibo Films Pty.)
Australian Film ‘Balibo’ Banned by Indonesian Censors

The local premiere of the acclaimed Australian film, “Balibo,” which recounts the murder of five journalists allegedly at the hands of Indonesian soldiers during the 1975 invasion of East Timor, was stopped on Tuesday after the censorship board banned the movie.

The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club had planned to show the film for the first time in Indonesia to a private audience at the Blitz Megaplex in the Grand Indonesia Mall.

But a few minutes after the 7 p.m. screening time had passed, JFCC President Jason Tedjasukmana emerged from the screening room to tell a crowd of about 100 journalists and other invited guests, “We have some bad news. The LSF [Film Censorship Agency] officially banned it today.”

The film had been submitted to the LSF by the Jakarta International Film Festival (Jiffest), which had planned to screen the film during the festival, which begins on Friday. The censors reviewed the film Tuesday afternoon, according to Tedjasukmana, and news of the ban was relayed to the journalists’ group by Jiffest officials.

Nauval Yazid, Jiffest’s manager, said that while the censors gave no official reason for the ban, the festival would abide by the ruling.

“They told us that we cannot show the movie,” he said. “The reason was not really clear. It is likely because of concerns that it will affect relations with East Timor and Australia.”

As with all films shown publicly in the country, the festival’s organizers are required to submit all entries to the LSF for approval before screening. Nauval said “Balibo” was added to this year’s line-up because the festival thought it was an important film that ought to be seen by Indonesian audiences.

Pudji Rahayu, the head of the LSF secretariat, refused to comment on the ban when contacted by the Jakarta Globe.

JFCC board members debated whether to press ahead with the screening despite the ban, but were dissuaded after lawyers told them they could face criminal charges for defying the ban.

“Even though this is a private screening, it is in a public place,” Tedjasukmana, a correspondent for Time magazine, said. “There is a very high risk in showing a banned film in a public place.”

The film tells the story of five journalists who were killed in the tiny border town of Balibo when it was taken over by Indonesian forces in October 1975. The so-called Balibo Five, according to official government accounts, died in crossfire.

Asked about the ban following Tuesday’s announcement, freelance journalist and well-known press freedom activist Ezki Suyanto was seething. “This is ridiculous,” she said. “They [the censors] cannot accept reality.”

Given the widespread availability of pirated DVDs, however, it is assumed that copies of the movie will be circulated widely.

here is an approx translation of an indonesian newpaper's version of the banning.

Balibo Film Prohibition Authority Lembaga Sensor

Film Balibo

Balibo Film

Artikel Terkait:

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Jumat, 4 Desember 2009 | 02:57 WIB

Friday, December 4, 2009 | 02:57 pm

KUPANG, KOMPAS.com --Diizinkan atau tidak film "Balibo" yang disutradarai Robert Connolly dan dibintangi artis kelahiran Australia, Anthony Lapaglia, diputar di Indonesia adalah kewenangan Lembaga Sensor Film (LSF).

KUPANG, KOMPAS.com - Allowed or not the movie "Balibo" directed by Robert Connolly and stars Australian-born artist, Anthony LaPaglia, playing in Indonesia is the authority of Film Censorship Institution (LSF).

Mengenai film Balibo adalah kewenangan LSF sebagai lembaga resmi dan tidak ada intervensi dari pihak mana pun, termasuk pemerintah Indonesia, kata Direktur Jenderal Nilai Budaya, Seni, dan Film (NBSF) Departemen Budaya, Seni, Pariwisata, Cecep S.

Balibo film is about the authority of LSF as a formal institution and there is no intervention from any party, including the Indonesian government, said Director General of Culture Value, Arts, and Film (NBSF) Department of Culture, Arts, Tourism, Cecep S.

Film Balibo mengisahkan peristiwa kematian sejumlah wartawan jaringan televisi Australia di kota Balibo, Timor Timur, 16 Oktober 1975.

Balibo film recounts the death of a number of Australian television network reporter in the town of Balibo, East Timor, October 16, 1975.

Disela rapat koordinasi persiapan Festival Musik Sasando Piala Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono di Kupang, Kamis, Cecep menegaskan bahwa larangan pemutaran Balibo adalah untuk menjaga hubungan Indonesia, Australia, dan Timor Leste yang tengah harmonis.

Coordination meetings were interrupted preparation Sasando Music Festival Cup President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Kupang, Thursday, Cecep emphasized that the playback restrictions of Balibo is to maintain relations between Indonesia, Australia and East Timor which was harmonious.

"Ada bagian-bagian tertentu dari film tersebut yang tidak boleh diputar atau ditayangkan karena tidak baik dalam menjaga hubungan kedua belah pihak, misalnya mengingatkan lagi hal-hal yang telah diselesaikan pada masa lalu," katanya didampingi Kepala Dinas Pariwisata NTT Ansqerius Takalapeta dan Bupati Rote Ndao Lorensius Haning.

"There are certain parts of the film that should not be played or shown as not good in keeping the relationship on both sides, such as another reminder that things have been done in the past," said Tourism Office accompanied by the head of NTT and Regent Takalapeta Ansqerius Rote Lorensius Ndao Haning.

Dirjen Cecep mengatakan dalam waktu dekat akan segera diberikan klarifikasi kepada pihak yang berkepentingan mengapa film yang tenar dengan sebutan "Balibo Lima" karena melibatkan lima orang wartawan itu, tidak boleh diputar di Indonesia.

Cecep Director General said in the near future will be given clarification to interested parties why the famous movie called "Balibo Five" because it involves five journalists, should not be played in Indonesia.

"Kita akan segera melakukan klarifikasi kalau memang sangat dibutuhkan. Tetapi prinsipnya pemerintah tidak ingin mengintervensi profesionalisme dari Lembaga Sensor Film Nasional kita yang telah melaksanakan tugas sesuai dengan peraturan yang berlaku. Kita tidak ingin mengintervensi," katanya.

"We will be clarifying if it was needed. But the principle, the government does not want to intervene in the professionalism of the National Film Censorship Institute of us who have been carrying out duties in accordance with existing regulations. We do not want to intervene," he said.

"Dan klarifikasinya pun tidak akan jauh berbeda dari apa yang telah disampaikan juru bicara Menteri Luar Negeri RI, beberapa waktu lalu," katanya.

"And the clarification is not going far different from what has been presented spokesman Minister of Foreign Affairs, some time ago," he said.

Sebelumnya, juru bicara Deplu, Teuku Faizasyah, mengatakan kasus kematian lima wartawan asing di Timor Timur tahun 1975 itu sudah selesai dengan kesimpulan bahwa kematian mereka karena kecelakaan.

Earlier, State Department spokesman, Teuku Faizasyah, said the deaths of five foreign journalists in East Timor in 1975 had been completed with the conclusion that their deaths were due to accidents.

"Indonesia tidak melihat adanya suatu kepentingan untuk membuka kasus ini lagi. Sudah disimpulkan bahwa kematian kelima wartawan asing tersebut adalah karena kecelakaan bukan disengaja," katanya.

"Indonesia does not see the existence of an interest to open this case again. It was concluded that the deaths of five foreign journalists was because the accident was not intentional," he said.

Kasus kematian lima wartawan Australia di Balibo kembali menguji ketahanan fondasi hubungan bilateral RI-Australia setelah Polisi Federal Australia (AFP) resmi menyelidiki tuduhan kejahatan perang dalam kasus yang populer disebut "Balibo Five" itu.

The case of the death of five Australian journalists in Balibo again test the resilience of the foundation of bilateral relations RI-Australia after the Australian Federal Police (AFP) official investigating alleged war crimes in a case popularly called "Balibo Five" were.

Berbagai media cetak dan elektronika Australia menjadikan investigasi AFP terhadap kasus "Balibo Five" serta pandangan publik Australia dan tanggapan pemerintah dan parlemen Indonesia atas keputusan AFP itu.

Various print and electronic media make Australia the AFP investigation into the case of "Balibo Five" and the Australian public views and responses Indonesian government and parliament over the AFP's decision.

Dalam pernyataan persnya, AFP menyebutkan investigasi kasus "Balibo Five" sudah dimulai pada 20 Agustus 2009 dan pihak keluarga lima wartawan yang tewas tahun 1975 ini sudah diberitahu pada 8 September 2009.

In a press statement, the AFP says the investigation cases of "Balibo Five" was started on August 20, 2009 and the family of five journalists killed in 1975 who has been notified on September 8, 2009.

Sementara itu, Minister Counselor Fungsi Pensosbud KBRI Canberra, Raudin, mengatakan sikap resmi KBRI Canberra atas masalah "Balibo Five" sejalan dengan apa yang telah disampaikan Juru Bicara Deplu RI di Jakarta, Teuku Faizasyah.

Meanwhile, Minister Counselor Embassy Canberra Pensosbud function, Raudin, said the official stance on the issue Embassy Canberra "Balibo Five" in line with what has been delivered RI State Department spokesman in Jakarta, Teuku Faizasyah.

Kompas.Com - Pelarangan Film Balibo Kewenangan Lembaga Sensor




**********


Stop Press, the Australian news this morning reported that the reporters showed the film despite the ban yesterday.



It will be interesting to see if there are any repercussions....

Indonesian journalists defy Balibo ban Indonesian journalists to defy 'Balibo' ban - Yahoo! News

JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesia's journalists Thursday vowed to defy a ban on the screening of Australian movie "Balibo", saying the film depicting alleged war crimes by Indonesian forces in East Timor is educational.
The film directed by Robert Connolly and starring Anthony LaPaglia was banned without explanation on Tuesday hours before it was due to premier in Indonesia at a private showing for the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club.
It depicts the alleged murder of five Australian-based journalists by invading Indonesian forces in the East Timorese border town of Balibo in 1975.
Indonesia claims the reporters -- two Australians, two Britons and a New Zealander -- were killed in crossfire and has refused to cooperate with an Australian war crimes investigation launched this year.
Alliance of Independent Journalists head Nezar Patria said its members had been invited to a screening Thursday night at Utan Kayu Theatre in Jakarta, regardless of the ban.
"We're not afraid of screening 'Balibo' tonight because we'll screen it at a theatre with limited seats, not at a huge cinema," he said.
"The film is also about journalism so we as journalists can learn something about reporting on a conflict area."
The film, which opened in Australia in July, was also scratched at the last minute from the programme for the Jakarta International Film Festival starting next week.
Censors have yet to comment publicly on their decision to ban the film, but Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told parliament on Wednesday it was meant to protect the country's global image.
Indonesia's military has also applauded the decision.
"I haven't seen the film myself but from what I've heard, it depicts foreign journalists being killed by Indonesian military," military spokesman Sagom Tamboen told AFP.
"This is very hurtful to us. We believe the journalists died in crossfire. We thank the censorship board for its decision to ban 'Balibo' in Indonesia."
Patria, however, said the ban was regrettable.
"This should be interesting and educational as our relations with Australia can become more mature," he said.

gotta love this reasoning....


Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman
People Want East Timor Massacre Movie Banned, Indonesian Military Says

The Indonesian Armed Forces said on Friday that it expected everyone to respect the decision of the Film Censorship Institute (LSF) to ban the Australian film ‘Balibo,’ claiming that the people had voiced their decision through the censors.

“It has been banned by the LSF. The institute is the people’s voice. So let us respect the people’s voice,” Army Chief Gen. George Toisutta said.

Speaking after inaugurating Brig. Gen. Paulus Lodewijks as the new commander of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus), Toisutta stressed the Army supported fully the LSF decision because they saw it as the wish of the people.

“We respect the LSF, we respect the people’s voice,” he said.

Ezki Suyanto, a member of the Alliance of Independent Journalists’ (AJI) committee council, which screened the movie at the Utan Kayu Theater on Thursday, questioned the military’s logic.

“If the movie hasn’t even been screened yet, how could the public demand that the government ban it?” she asked the Jakarta Globe.

She learned that Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik and some officials were invited by the LSF to watch the movie, “but is that what they call ‘the people’?” she said.

The fact that at least 300 people attended the screening on Thursday night, she added, suggested that not everyone wanted the film banned.

She said she had queried some of the audience at Thursday’s screening and none of them said anything to discredit the army.

“It’s just an ordinary movie and some said many parts of the movie were embellished,” she quoted some viewers as having said.

Ezki said defying the government was not the intent of the alliance. “We simply want to tell the public that the movie does not in any way discredit the Indonesian Armed Forces. There is a lesson here, especially for journalists.”

Jero said the movie did discredit Indonesia and its military and could reopen old wounds between Indonesia, East Timor and Australia. “For the sake of the country, the movie is not fit for playing in theaters. The movie is political,” he said.

The film tells the story of five journalists killed when Indonesian troops took over the border town of Balibo in East Timor in October 1975. A sixth journalist died weeks later when Dili was invaded by Indonesian forces.

Indonesia says the journalists were killed in a crossfire but an Australian coroner’s inquest in 2007 found that the five were killed deliberately by Indonesian forces, prompting the Australian Police to launch an official investigation into the incident two months ago.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said the probe was a backward step and could harm bilateral ties.

Agus Sudibyo from the Science and Aesthetic Foundation (SET), a media watchdog, urged the LSF to explain the ban.

“They must explain to the Indonesian public why they ban certain movies.”

A former soldier confessed to the murders yesterday after seeing the film, he was part of a death squad sent to silence the 5 journo's.

Kinanti Pinta Karana & Markus Junianto Sihaloho
People watching the film 'Balibo' which depicts the murders of Australia journalists during Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor. (Photo: Irwin Ferdiansyah, AP)
‘We Killed Balibo 5,’ Former Indonesian Soldier Says

Aformer Indonesian soldier said he was there when Indonesian military forces killed the five Australian journalists who died in Balibo, East Timor, in October 1975, and burned their bodies to conceal the evidence that the military was active in that area.

However, he gave contradictory accounts of precisely what happened that day.

Col. (Ret.) Gatot Purwanto, then a first lieutenant in the Sandi Yudha Special Forces Command, which took part in plainclothes military operations in East Timor, told Tempo magazine that he witnessed the incident that day on the outskirts of Balibo.

Gatot told the magazine that the five journalists — Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart, Gary Cunningham, Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie — were alive when the soldiers arrived at the house and “arrested” them.

He said the soldiers faced a dilemma because if the journalists were freed they could tell the world the Indonesian military was operating in that area.

They wanted at all costs to make sure the presence of the Indonesian military remained secret, he said, adding that the troops had entered East Timor secretly and were not wearing their uniforms.

Indonesia did not officially invade East Timor until December, three months later.

“Thus it was difficult to make decision. Maybe from higher-up it was considered to be the best solution. I don’t know for sure,” he said.

“If we had not executed them, they could testify that it was true that there was an invasion by the Indonesian army.”

Gatot could not immediately be reached for additional comment.

However, Gatot also told the magazine the journalists were killed when soldiers opened fire on the house where they were located in response to gunfire believed to have come from the direction of the house.

“So the shooting took place because there was a provocation from the area of the house where they were hiding,” he reportedly said.

Gatot said the journalists’ bodies were taken to the nearby home of a local Chinese shop owner and were burned using paddy husks.

“If they’re dead and we ignore the bodies, there would be evidence that they were shot in an area taken over by Indonesian soldiers. To make it easy, we just got rid of all traces. We said we knew nothing. That was our spontaneous reaction,” Gatot said.

Gatot spoke after watching a screening of “Balibo,” an Australian-made film about the deaths of the five journalists. The screening was held by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), despite a ban by the Film Censorship Institute (LSF).

Air Vice Marshal Sagom Tamboen, a military spokesman, said he respected what Gatot was reported to have said but berated the Australian filmmakers for bringing the movie into Indonesia.

“The film has triggered this problem. They should not have brought the movie to Indonesia,” Tamboen said.

He said that Gatot never stated that the Australian journalists had been shot by Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) at that time.

He added that in time of war all those in the war zone faced the same risk.

“If someone who shouldn’t have been hit was hit, that’s the risk. Why were they on the battlefield? It is the same risk for any soldier on the battlefield,” Sagom said.

The military has continued to say that the five journalists were killed in crossfire.

A former soldier

a Colonel according to Oz media

quite correct, the jakarta globe quote above also gives him up as a retired Col.

my mistake, I posted the orginal one after hearing it on the news channel, in between trying to wake up and eating an earful from the missus.

Remembering the 1975 Balibo incident: An opportunity to correct past wrongs?

Aboeprijadi Santoso , Amsterdam | Tue, 12/08/2009 9:38 AM | Opinion
Balibo is just one shameful chapter in our Indonesia’s past, but it could be viewed as a symbol for so many human wrongs, for so many shameful things, that have befallen our nation.
When the commander of the East Timor invasion, gen. Benny Moerdani, learned of the presence of five foreign journalists in Balibo he quickly dispatched the order through the chain of command that there were to be no witnesses to Indonesia’s flouting of international law. The order trickled
down through col. Dading Kalbuadi who instructed capt. Yunus Yosfiah to order his unit, the Susi Team, to “silence” all five newsmen on Oct. 16, 1975.
What else were the soldiers and militia to do when their commanders relayed the direct order that “there are to be no witnesses”?
At work was the political-military logic, which was built on the fundamentals of Soeharto’s New Order state. Dading’s reply to Benny’s order — “Don’t worry” — tells us the depth of that logic. Subsequently they took it for granted that those journalists, who were there to report on the secret operation in East Timor, simply had to be eliminated. (Benny’s quotations are taken from Jill Jolliffe’s ‘Cover Up, The Inside Story of the Balibo Five’, 2001, p. 312).
The Balibo killings, in other words, were a symptom of New Order’s way of doing things: routinized cover-up. Today it would be impossible to launch a military campaign into another country and systematically eliminate any witnesses without the knowledge of the President and parliament.
Gen. Ali Moertopo’s Opsus (Special Operation) in East Timor led by Gen. Benny, was open-ended, resulting in an almost 25-year brutal occupation with countless tragedies. Hence, our national shame.
The context to the conflict was, of course, the Cold War. A potential “enemy in our backyard” or — in the words of an Indonesian diplomat before the UN General Assembly in 1976 — “a fire at our neighbor’s house”, was the excuse to invade our tiny neighbor. Once annexed, its troubles were belittled as “a pebble in our shoe”.

But the justification at home for the atrocities that occurred remained as it had always been: “a mission to maintain state unity”. The obsession with unity displayed by the military — itself becoming a sacred state institution — thus became a powerful justification for the many war crimes it committed. Since the mission into East Timor often involved intelligence operations, both its sacrosanct status and its justifications were simply taken for granted.
So, is the Balibo incident really any different to other unresolved atrocities in which army intelligence units, claiming to act in the interest of the state, took the lives of innocent civilians?
Forget for a moment the great tragedies of 1965-1966 and the prolonged war in and around East Timor’s Matebian in the late 1970s. Remember instead the 1983 massacre of Kraras villagers in East Timor, the 1980s torture center in a Pidie village, Aceh, the 1984 Tanjung
Priok killings, the 1989 Talangsari assault or the more recent assassination of rights activist Munir, to
name a few.
Such cases were never clarified and ended up in impunity apparently because they were all part and parcel of state’s sacred mission and were justified as such.
Even in civilian crimes such as the recent Antasari murder trial, a police officer, whose career reflects New Order’s legacy, explicitly used the same language — a discourse of “state mission” — when he allegedly ordered thugs to kill Nasruddin Zulkarnaen.
Indeed, the Balibo commander, the late gen. Dading Kalbuadi, proudly saw the Balibo case as part of his patriotic dedication running from the late 1940s to the war against the Permesta rebellion in the mid-1950s. In 1995, he told this writer: “East Timor? Well, we had to take it over. Just like Lawrence of Arabia’s [mission] in the Arab land, you know”.
Meanwhile, evidence, including eye witness accounts, has accumulated and debated in many publications, commissions and courts around the world. So such so that it has become simply ridiculous to maintain Dading’s claims that the Balibo journalists were victims
of cross fire, and not murdered in cold blood.
Let us remember that when President Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid apologized in Dili in 2001 for the occupation and subsequent tragedies (the only Indonesian state leader to ever do so), it surely included the Balibo tragedy.
Therefore, to suggest, as the Indonesian military and diplomats voice to this very day, that the Balibo incident was just collateral damage incurred in the heat of battle, is a pertinent lie.
Neither should the case be considered closed. It appears that Jakarta is now taking fruit from the CTF pact (RI-Timor Leste Joint-Commission of Truth and Friendship), using it to once and for all relegate to the pages of history whatever past wrongs the military and militia committed in East Timor, effectively diffusing any investigations into cases like Balibo.
In doing so, the authorities have encouraged, and at times forced, society to turn a blind eye. The most recent example of this is the Film Sensor Agency’s blanket ban on the film Balibo.
It’s an anomaly in this infant democracy that prolongs Balibo-like agonies and leaves little room for future generations to learn from our own past. Indonesian journalists cannot be blamed for their belated solidarity on the Balibo case, since they too were victims of repressive media constraints by the New Order regime.
Instead of this arrogant approach to our nation’s wrongs, we should take the stance of Argentina, where the post-military regime has allowed the public release of Argentine in the Seventies, a documentary film similar to Balibo.
In a democracy that has started to stabilize itself with growing electorate maturity, the free flow of information is a must. Without this, past wrongs will only burden us with more national shame.


The writer is a journalist. He covered East Timor in the 1990s for Radio Netherlands.

..... double post

Watched Balibo this evening. Good movie and as the articles above indicate, it is a pretty accurate rendition of events.

Journo union demands response from Indonesian President on Balibo
March 9th, 2010



The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance has asked Foreign Minister Stephen Smith to raise the banning of Robert Connolly’s film Balibo with Indonesian President Susilo Bamban Yudhoyono during his visit to Australia this week.

‘The fact that the government of Dr Yudhoyono will not even allow the film to be shown to the Indonesian public suggests that this matter is far from resolved,” said MEAA’s federal secretary Christopher Warren.

“As far as this country’s community of journalists is concerned, the failure of Indonesian power holders to acknowledge and take appropriate action for what happened in Balibo in 1975 represents an important barrier to the development of full and cordial relations between Australia and Indonesia.”
Last week, the Jakarta chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) has filed a lawsuit against the Indonesian Censorship Institute (LSF) for banning Balibo. Wahyu Dhyatmika, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of AJI, told the press that it was “[President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono]’s homework to clear up this matter”.

The LSF banned the film – about Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor and the Australian journalists who died covering the events – when it was scheduled to screen at the Jakarta International Film Festival last December. Private screenings were organised after the film was censored. At the time, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the ban was to protect the international image of Indonesia, and Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik added that Balibo could damage relations between Australia, Indonesia and East Timor.

Yudhoyono will address the Australian Parliament tomorrow.

encoremagazine.com.au

March 9, 2010

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has received an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia at Government House this morning.

Indonesian President Yudhoyono honoured by Governor-General

Balibo widow testifies in Jakarta
Matt Brown

The widow of an Australian journalist killed by Indonesian troops in East Timor in 1975 has testified in a Jakarta court.

Shirley Shackleton came to Jakarta to testify in a court case against the Indonesian government's decision to ban the Australian feature film Balibo.

The film depicts the murder of her husband Greg and four other newsmen by Indonesian forces invading East Timor in 1975.

The government banned the film citing the violence it depicts and its failure to represent the Indonesian government's perspective.

Mrs Shackleton says she hopes the Indonesian people will be allowed to make up their own minds.

At times the judge appeared dismissive of her testimony.

He is expected to make a ruling next month.

xxx.xxx.xx

Australian Wife of Balibo Reporter Prepares to Meet Censors



The wife of an Australian reporter allegedly killed by Indonesian forces in East Timor in 1975 said on Wednesday that she trusted the Indonesian people to make up their own minds about what happened.

Shirley Shackleton, wife of late journalist Greg Shackleton, is in Jakarta to testify before a court that is hearing a petition against the government’s banning of the movie “Balibo” last year.

“Tomorrow I’ll be cross-examined rather fiercely in the court. I’m nervous about that as I want to do well,” she told Indonesian reporters at a press conference.

Asked what she thought of Indonesia’s official claims that the reporters were accidentally killed in crossfire rather than executed in cold blood, she said: “That’s been rubbish for 35 years.”

“They were just doing their job like you are.”

“Balibo,” the first feature film ever made in East Timor, premiered in Melbourne last July before an audience including East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, who says Indonesian forces murdered the reporters.

Starring Anthony LaPaglia, it tells the story of five journalists killed when Indonesian troops overran the East Timorese town of Balibo in October, 1975, and a sixth who died later in the full-scale assault on Dili.

Jakarta has always maintained that the so-called “Balibo Five” died in crossfire as Indonesian troops fought East Timorese Fretilin rebels.

Indonesian banned the film for national security reasons but groups including the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) have launched a legal challenge against the censors’ decision.

“A film should never be banned in a country which is a democracy. Any organization that tried to ban what the people want to see is making a mockery of democracy,” Shackleton said.

“This is about the film and the rights of the people here to watch, think, believe and say what they want, not what the government wants them to do.

“This film lets the cat out of the bag, you can’t keep it quiet any longer, the cat escapes. They have made a problem if they want to censor the film. I trust the Indonesian people to make up their own mind.”


Agence France-Presse
thejakartaglobe.com

Wife of Balibo Reporter Blames His Death on Army
The wife of an Australian reporter allegedly killed by Indonesian forces in East Timor in 1975 told a Jakarta court on Thursday that she believed her husband was shot after surrendering to the Army.

At a hearing called over a ban on a controversial movie about the events, Shirley Shackleton said she was convinced by evidence given to an Australian inquest into the deaths of her husband and four other foreign journalists.

“It found that their hands were in the air giving themselves up, they were not armed and were wearing civilian clothes and the perpetrators of this atrocity were members of [the Indonesian Military],” she said.

“Balibo,” the first feature film ever shot in East Timor, premiered in Melbourne last July before an audience that included East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, who says Indonesian forces murdered the reporters.

Starring Anthony LaPaglia, it tells the story of the five journalists killed when Indonesian troops overran the East Timorese town of Balibo in October 1975, and a sixth who died later in the full-scale assault on Dili.

Jakarta has always maintained that the so-called “Balibo Five” died in a cross-fire as Indonesian troops fought East Timorese Fretilin rebels.

Indonesia banned the film but groups including the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) have launched a legal challenge to the censors’ decision.

Shackleton, 78, said she returned to Jakarta to support the filmmakers’ bid to lift the ban “because they reached their objective to clarify the lies and the cover-up. In good Aussie slang … the cat is out of the bag.”

The ban has stirred debate over the nature of free speech and democracy in Indonesia.

It has also threatened to overshadow relations between Canberra and Jakarta after Australian police last year launched a war crimes investigation into the deaths.

An official from the film censorship board told the court that “Balibo” was “one-sided” as it failed to include the official Indonesian version of events.

Speaking before the court convened, Shackleton said the case was “important to establish whether democracy is alive and well in Indonesia.”

“I hope the ban will be lifted,” Shackleton said, adding: “Isn’t that what democracy is based on?

At least 100,000 East Timorese lost their lives during the brutal Indonesian occupation.


thejakartaglobe.com

Govt bans Indonesian official: WikiLeaks
December 18, 2010


AAP

The latest revelation from WikiLeaks says the Australian government has quietly blacklisted a prominent Indonesian political figure implicated in the Balibo Five killings.

The Fairfax media says Canberra has been working with Indonesian authorities to manage the fallout from the scandal.

Secret US diplomatic cables reveal that Australia has declared Yunus Yosfiah, a special forces captain during the 1975 invasion of East Timor, to be persona non grata with sanctions that would bar him from entering Australia.

New South Wales Deputy Coroner Dorelle Pinch found in 2007 that Yosfiah ordered and participated in the murder of the five Australian newsmen at Balibo.

He later became a general and minister of information in the late 1990s, and remains an influential figure in Indonesian politics.

au.news.yahoo.com