Peter Clack – The Australian Government sent a police delegation to train the Indonesian Police Force in Jakarta while Australian Federal Police officers were on duty in East Timor in September, it has been confirmed.

The AFP was unable to comment in detail this week about a report of a delegation of 10 Australian state and federal officers to Jakarta led by an AFP agent. AFP sources say the delegation went to Jakarta from September 6-10 to provide technical advice to Indonesian police about a computerised data system. At the time, the AFP already had one specialist agent based in Jakarta, who was seconded to work with Indonesian police intelligence.

In another incident in August, a group of five Indonesian police had visited Melbourne on an undisclosed mission, where they were the guests of the AFP. AFP officers were directed to meet the Indonesians at the airport, take them to hotels and " show them hospitality".

A detachment of about 50 AFP officers were in East Timor when violence flared after the announcement of the independence vote on September 3. Many Australian police were evacuated but a small group stayed at the besieged United Nations compound in Dili with about 2000 East Timorese civilians.

Disgruntled AFP officers who have returned from East Timor say they are outraged by the support and assistance given by Australia to Jakarta while they were being " shot at" by pro-Indonesian forces. "The blokes are outraged by this, to show consideration to those people who were shooting at us," one officer said. "There are a number of disgruntled police." The officer said a delegation of 10 people had gone to "the law-enforcement establishment" in Jakarta to assess the training needs of the Indonesian police and offer assistance.

"By the time the delegation arrived in Jakarta, there was an open, undeniable effect that the Indonesian police were having in East Timor. They had joined the militia and Indonesian military in hostile gunfire and attacks on the UN compound and convoys, which included members of the AFP. Why did it go ahead?" A spokeswoman for the AFP said a police delegation, including state police, had gone to Jakarta in September but that the information had been made public at the time.