Sydney Morning Herald: 26 April 2000
EAST TIMOR: OPINION - ASHES TO ASHES, DUST TO DUST
After 25 years of pain and anguish, Shirley Shackleton has finally come face to face with an eyewitness to the murder of her journalist husband, Greg, in Balibo, East Timor.
By SHIRLEY SHACKLETON
TWENTY-FIVE years ago, Greg Shackleton, my 29-year-old journalist
husband, died with four colleagues while on assignment in East Timor ; two
months later, in December 1975, Roger East, another Australian journalist,
was killed. The circumstances of these six deaths have never been
adequately explained.
Those who died with my husband in Balibo were Tony Stewart, an Australian
sound technician, and the New Zealand cameraman Gary Cunningham, who
both worked for Channel 7, and English-born cameraman Brian Peters and
Malcolm Rennie, a BBC-trained reporter, both with Channel 9.
In 1989, I visited East Timor and confronted the man responsible for the
deaths. This year I made a second visit and met a witness to the killings at
Balibo and interviewed three men who were forced to burn and bury a body
which I believe was that of Roger East.
I heard news of the killings on October 16, 1975, on ABC radio. Indonesia
claimed that the journalists were killed in crossfire between warring
Timorese factions. Soon after this I received a telegram signed by a Dr Will
of the Australian Consulate in Jakarta stating that the remains sent to him
for identification could only be described as possibly human. Dr Will
subsequently denied sending me the telegram, but he confirmed that the
words used were identical to those in his report.
An hour after the telegram arrived, a spokesman for the Australian
Department of Foreign Affairs called to ask if I wanted the bodies brought
home. If I insisted, he said, I would have to pay and it would be very
expensive.
Trying not to cry, I read out the telegram and asked if we were talking
about
five coffins or a matchbox that could be flown home in the pilot's pocket.
The
remains must be minute, I cried, whatever they have in Jakarta, wasn't my
husband. He was definitely human.
I should have realised this outburst would give the bureaucrat just what he
was fishing for. A memo could be written claiming I had given permission to
hold a funeral in Jakarta. Later I was asked if I wanted to send flowers. I
refused.
Reports of a funeral followed. Sixteen years later an English activist sent
me
a glossy photograph of the funeral of the Balibo Five. It was a big affair.
The
mourners included the Ambassador to Indonesia, Richard Woollcott, his wife
and embassy officials. None of the dead men's families were present. Some
had not been invited. There was only one coffin.
On December 7, Indonesia invaded East Timor . Roger East, who had gone
to investigate what had happened at Balibo, was said to have been killed on
December 8.
By then my hair had gone white in a wide strip at the temples and I had
large lump in my breast which later subsided. You expect that after a time
your grief will lessen, but unless you know the truth you cannot begin to
heal. The anguish in not knowing is excruciating. Some people handle grief
by not seeking the truth. They hope the tragedy will go away. Refusing to be
silenced helped settle my grief; but it would be quite wrong to assume that
it
has gone away.
In 1989, the 14-year-long Indonesian blockade was lifted. By then I was a
fully committed activist for the rights of the Timorese nation. I went into
East Timor to witness the situation for myself and found I was staying at
the same hotel as General Murdani, who had headed the invasion.
I decided I would have to confront him. My legs shook as I entered the
dining
room and when I introduced myself by name everyone stopped what they
were doing. The sudden silence was overwhelming. Murdani shook his head
and turned his back to me. "No journalists,'' I said. He turned and stared
at
me then nodded imperiously and murmured "after breakfast''. A Timorese
waiter raced across the room carrying a large pot of coffee. Double strength
for courage, he whispered.
Because he is a Catholic, I appealed to the general to tell me what
happened at Balibo. He denied any knowledge of the fate of the Balibo Five
or of Roger East. Afterwards, I wrote these words:
My visit this year was nothing like the first. Dili had swarmed with
hard-eyed,
heavily armed men in combat uniform; now in the burnt-out city everyone
smiled. The differences were exhilarating even the foliage seemed greener,
more luscious.
On this visit I met Tomas Gonsalves. He had accompanied the attacking
force of 100 red beret Kopassandha (secret warfare) troops into Balibo.
Tomas admitted that Balibo was not defended. There was a lot of gunfire,
but it all came from invading Indonesians.
Tomas described how four of the five died. Leading the attack was
Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah, a Buginese from South Sulawesi known as an
"orang tempur", a fighting animal. He was promoted after his work in Balibo
and served as Minister for Information in the Habibie Government.
The journalists were looking out of the window as the troops approached
their house. Four immediately exited by the front door. They were not armed
or wearing anything that could be mistaken for a uniform. One stood in front
with his hands raised and the other three stood in a row behind him. The
fourth remained in the house. Yosfiah immediately fired a hail of bullets
and
his men followed his example. Tomas was then told to go away and did not
see how the fifth man was killed. The four bodies were soaked in petrol and
set alight. We were unable to discover what happened to their remains.
At the Turismo I met John, the brave waiter with the coffee on the day I
spoke to Murdani. He had served Roger his last meal and described him as
determined to retreat to the mountains in order to report to the outside
world.
Later that day three men took me to the place where I believe Roger's
remains were buried, a hundred yards or so from the sea, under a pavement.
The victim the three men described was tall and had sandy hair. He was
also not wearing uniform. The men had been forced to burn hundreds of
bodies lying on the beach that day.
Though I have repeatedly requested that a full judicial inquiry be held
into the
killings at Balibo and of Roger East, successive Australian governments
have failed in their duty to do so.
I dismiss the official investigation, called the Sherman Report, because it
is
so deeply flawed. In 1975, a witness called Jose Martins gave compelling
evidence about the killings under cross examination in Melbourne. He was
later refused permission to come back to Australia. In 1996, Tom Sherman
failed to find him in Jakarta; it was later claimed that Martins was
poisoned
in 1996 after the Sherman preliminary investigation was announced.
The six journalists were sacrificed, along with hundreds of thousands of
Timorese , to Australia's good relationship, which existed only in the minds
of government bureaucrats. Timor 's tragedy started with the burning of my
husband and his colleagues and ended with the whole of Timor ablaze.
After 25 years of pain and anguish, Shirley Shackleton has finally come face
to face with an eyewitness to her husband's murder in Balibo.
Turismo Hotel, East
Timor , 1989
The general has a Christian soul and an
almost kindly smile so
it's easy to forget his role
in the genocide of this Isle.
When I asked him
for
the simple truth
I could see by the look in his eyes
With all his power he
could only tell
Weak, pathetic lies.