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EAST TIMOR:
Balibo witness crucial to any inquiry
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Title -- 2194b EAST TIMOR: Balibo witness will be crucial to any inquiry
Date -- 22 June 1999
Byline -- Hamish McDonald
Origin -- Pacific Media
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Source -- Sydney Morning Herald, via fbp@igc.apc.org, 22/6/99
Copyright -- SMH
Status -- Unabridged
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EAST TIMOR
Balibo witness will be crucial to any inquiry
By HAMISH McDONALD, Herald Foreign Editor in Jakarta
The new witness who has come over from the pro-Indonesian side in East Timor to talk about the 1975 killing of the five Australian-based TV newsmen in East Timor is an important breakthrough in opening up an incident that has vexed Australia's relations with Indonesia for nearly a quarter of a century.
The witness, interviewed by the journalist and longtime Timor analyst Jill Jolliffe, singled out Indonesia's Information Minister, retired Lieutenant-General Yunus Yosfiah, as ordering and taking part in shooting four of the men while they tried to surrender.
The witness has been a member of the pro-Indonesia party Apodeti since its founding in 1974 and is acknowledged by all accounts, including those of Indonesian authorities, to have been one of the local partisans helping Indonesian special forces making the October 16, 1975, attack on Balibo village.
He recently abandoned the Indonesian cause and is now outside Indonesia, seeking asylum in Australia where he wishes to give sworn evidence to any reopened inquiries into the Balibo deaths. As yet, he is too fearful of reprisal against relatives to let his name be used.
But his preliminary testimony to Jolliffe corroborates that of several other Timorese witnesses, to the two inquiries by government lawyer Tom Sherman and to media investigations, that four newsmen died in one place, and another was killed trying to run from the village.
Until the witness can be identified, it is likely to be shrugged off by the Indonesians allegedly involved. Last month Mr Yunus admitted for the first time that he took part in the Balibo attack, but denied ever having seen the newsmen "alive or dead".
The witness has already been interviewed by Australian consular officials and there can be no excuse now for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade failing to get him to a location where he is confident enough to speak out.
As yet, his evidence is short on detail. He names Indonesian special forces personnel accompanying then Captain Yunus as Lieutenant Slamat Kirbiantoro (now a Brigadier-General in military intelligence in Jakarta), a Captain Ali Mussa, and others known as "Kris", "Marcos" and "Yusuf".
The last four names are the cover names of other officers taking part in Operation Flamboyant, as the covert invasion of East Timor launched in October 1975 was called.
The identity of some of these officers has recently been revealed in a book by Indonesian war correspondent Hendro Subroto (Eyewitness to the Integration of East Timor) who was at Balibo soon after the attack. Their present-day roles add up to a mini who's who of the Indonesian Government and elite society.
As well as Mr Yunus, they include Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, Ambassador to China Kuntara, and eminent medical specialist Tommy Marzuki.
Getting them to open up about this tragic event will be highly delicate, not least because of the huge resentment in military circles here that the UN vote allowed by a civilian "interim" president, Dr B.J. Habibie, could put the stamp of ultimate defeat on their Timor campaign.
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