Response over Balibo Five - hypocrisy over journalist killings criticised
Title -- 3804 EAST TIMOR: Response over Balibo Five - hypocrisy over journalist killings criticised
Date -- 19 October 2002
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Jason Brown, jason@oyster.net.ck, 19/10/2
Copyright -- PMW
Status -- Unabridged
Post a comment on PMW's Right of Reply: www.TheGuestBook.com/egbook/257949.gbook
RESPONSE OVER BALIBO FIVE - HYPOCRISY OVER JOURNALIST KILLINGS CRITICISED
www.asiapac.org.fj/discuss/messages/208.html
* See PMW 3802/3
AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): A Pacific journalist has expressed his dismay over what he describes as the hypocrisy over the Australian government's alleged role in a cover-up of the killings of the Balibo Five journalists by Indonesian soldiers in East Timor in 1975.
Cook Islands-based Jason Brown says that Australia is in danger of being seen as "America's Pacific poodle".
Responding in an open letter to the commentary carried on Pacific Media Watch yesterday "From Bali to Balibo - 27 years of lies", Brown wrote today that by "properly investigating historic wrongs like the Balibo Five" Australia would be taking a solid step to a more independent role in the region.
The Balibo Five, as they are now known, were a group of Australian television network reporters who were killed when Indonesian special forces attacked the border town on 16 October 1975. They were Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, both Australians; Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie, both Britons; and Gary Cunningham, a New Zealander.
A sixth journalist, Australian freelancer Roger East, was also executed almost two months later after Indonesian forces invaded the capital of Dili on December 7.
"As an Australian citizen I was dismayed by the attack in Bali last weekend," wrote Brown.
He added that as a journalist of 20 years in the Cook Islands, he was "disgusted to learn that no proper inquiry" had been held into the killings of the Balibo Five journalists.
"Australia has spent many millions of dollars in the last few years through its AusAID Pacific Media Iniative, preaching the virtues of good governance, transparency and accountability.
"To discover that the Australian government has been actively participating in a cover-up all these years of the callous murder of five journalists working towards those principles is the very definition of hypocrisy.
"From this distance, it appears Australia values playing realpolitik as an imaginary partner of America more than living up to the principles it claims to espouse.
"The sad truth appears to be that Indonesia has been used for decades by Australian politicians as some kind of imminent threat -- allowing themselves a foot up into international affairs.
"Until Australia carves its own identity in the Pacific, regardless of threats or pressure from bigger neighbours or partners, it will always be in danger of being seen as America's Pacific poodle.
"Properly investigating historic wrongs like the Balibo Five would be a solid step in that direction."
Jason Brown's full letter is posted at:
www.asiapac.org.fj/discuss/messages/208.html
PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).
© 1996-2002 Copyright - All rights reserved. Items are provided solely for review purposes as a non-profit educational service. Copyright remains the property of the original producers as indicated. Recipients should seek permission from the copyright owner for any publishing. Copyright owners not wishing their materials to be posted by PMW please contact us. The views expressed in material listed by PMW are not necessarily the views of PMW or its members. Recipients should rely on their own inquiries before making decisions based on material listed in PMW. Please copy appeals to PMW and acknowledge source.
For further information, inquiries about joining the Pacific Media Watch listserve, articles for publication, and giving feedback contact Pacific Media Watch at:
E-mail: delaro@clear.net.nz Fax: (+679) 30 5779 or (+612) 9660 1804
Mail: PO Box 9, Annandale, NSW 2038, Australia
or PO Box 78028, Grey Lynn, Auckland 1002, New Zealand
Website: www.pmw.c2o.org