Adam Bennett, Sydney – A Sydney coroner has invited a former Indonesian general and government minister to give evidence about the deaths of the Balibo Five, as he was again linked to their killings.
The inquest at Glebe Coroner's Court in Sydney is hearing evidence into the death of Brian Peters, one of five Australia-based newsmen killed in Balibo, East Timor, during the Indonesian invasion of 1975.
In what she acknowledged was an "unusual" step, Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch today read an open letter to the court in which she asked Yunus Yosfiah to appear before her.
Mr Yosfiah, a retired lieutenant-general who was a minister in the Habibie government in the late nineties, has been named on numerous occasions during the inquest as the commanding officer of the 1975 Balibo invasion, and the man who ordered the journalists' deaths.
Official government reports have said the five journalists were killed in crossfire between Indonesian forces and Fretilin troops on October 16, 1975.
But several East Timorese eyewitnesses have told the inquest the men were executed and their bodies burnt.
"In the course of the inquest I have heard evidence that you are one of the commanders of the Indonesian forces that attacked Balibo on 16 October, 1975," Ms Pinch wrote in the letter.
"Furthermore, you were one of the first to enter the township and were there when the journalists died. It seems, therefore, that you may be able to provide important evidence about how Mr Peters and his colleagues died and what happened to their bodies subsequently."
Ms Pinch said she had previously sent an invitation to Mr Yosfiah via Indonesia's Ambassador to Australia, Teuku Mohammad Hamzah Thayeb, but had received no response.
Mr Yosfiah today was named again in relation to the Balibo Five, in evidence given by a retired Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) official, Adrian Bishop.
Most of Mr Bishop's evidence was given in closed court, after Ms Pinch yesterday agreed some evidence may prejudice Australia's national security and defence interests.
Mr Bishop had been called before the inquest to give evidence about a string of Indonesian military signal intercepts he saw in December 1975 while working at DSD headquarters in Melbourne.
In summarising some of the secret evidence considered appropriate for open court, counsel assisting the inquiry Mark Tedeschi QC, said Mr Bishop had named Mr Yosfiah in connection with the journalists' death.
"On the intercepts he (Mr Bishop) had seen he reached the conclusion that the journalists had been killed by soldiers under the command of Yunus Yosfiah," Mr Tedeschi said.
In evidence given in open court, Mr Bishop said he had seen a number of low level Indonesian military signal intercepts referring to the deaths of the Balibo Five.
One, dated either October 17 or 18, said "five white people had been killed" in Balibo, Mr Bishop said. Another, dated October 18, said: "We believe the five white people were journalists".
In a final intercept, dated sometime after October 20, the disposal of the journalists' bodies was discussed. "It said that the bodies of the journalists had been reduced to ashes," Mr Bishop said.
Asked by Mr Tedeschi if he saw any intercepts indicating the five men could have been killed in crossfire, Mr Bishop said: "No".
Mr Bishop is the latest commonwealth official to give evidence of seeing intercepts which referred to the killing of the five journalists. The inquest continues.