Bernard Lagan and Louise Williams – The Government's links to Indonesia were under strong attack last night after Jakarta refused to allow an Australian Government-appointed investigator into East Timor to gather new evidence on military abuses.
And the Government's claim of success in getting agreement for an Australian defence attache to monitor military activity in Timor was also criticised as unlikely to clear up allegation of a recent massacre. An inconclusive result could be portrayed by Jakarta as an Australian all-clear.
Australia had wanted to send the former head of the National Crime Authority, Mr Tom Sherman, to East Timor to investigate fresh allegations that the Indonesian military had executed five Australian-based journalists in East Timor in 1975. The refusal was confirmed by the Minister for Defence, Mr Moore, who returned at the weekend from talks with the Indonesian President, Mr B.J. Habibie, and the head of the Indonesian armed forces (ABRI), General Wiranto.
The Indonesians agreed only to allow Australia's Jakarta-based defence attachi into East Timor tomorrow to investigate allegations of Indonesian troop build-ups and allegations of the further slaughter of civilians.
The Australian Embassy in Jakarta confirmed Mr Moore had raised the issue of access to East Timor for Mr Sherman, but Dr. B. J. Habibie had replied: "That would not be possible." Dr Habibie is understood to be unwilling to antagonise the powerful armed forces by attempting to re-open an inquiry into the killings.
The new information about the Balibo killings, aired on ABC-TV last month, implicated Indonesia's Minister for Information, Lieutenant-General Muhammad Yunus Yosfiah, who led a special forces unit during the incursion into East Timor in October 1975.
Last month, General Yosfiah denied he supervised the killings and, at the same time, the Habibie Government announced it would not re-open the investigation. Mr Sherman found in an earlier inquiry that the newsmen were probably killed accidentally in crossfire between pro-and anti-independence fighters. His conclusion was reached without an attempt to visit Indonesia or East Timor, because permission was considered unlikely under the former Soeharto government. Mr Moore claimed that Australia's defence attachi would be given unlimited access on East Timor this week.
Indonesia's refusal to allow Mr Sherman into East Timor and the inadequacy of an inquiry by the defence attachi were condemned last night by politicians, the International Commission of Jurists and by the East Timorese independence activist Mr Jose Ramos Horta.
Mr Ramos Horta condemned Mr Moore's show of support for General Wiranto, who is facing harsh criticism for the actions of his troops, including security forces who opened fire on thousands of unarmed students in Jakarta on November 13.
"Instead of supporting democracy – and democracy means that the army must get out of politics in Indonesia – [Australia] goes on embracing the same people that kept Soeharto in power for 32 years," Mr Ramos Horta said.