Paul Toohey – Three months before Indonesia invaded East Timor in December 1975, Gough Whitlam dismissed an Indonesian proposal to send a joint international military force to restore peace to the civil-war-torn colony.
WikiLeaks' declassified US diplomatic cables questions the perception of Indonesia as a premeditated invader, after Mr Whitlam rejected a proposed joint peacekeeping army involving Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Portugal and New Zealand.
The cables infer the indifference of Mr Whitlam, as prime minister, paved the way for Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor.
Mr Whitlam did not return calls yesterday but East Timor expert Damien Kingsbury, professor of political studies at Deakin University, claims any Indonesian offers at the time were a smokescreen.
"It never had substance," he said. "Indonesia's preparations for invasion were already well underway."
Mr Kingsbury nonetheless said Mr Whitlam was "happy for Indonesia to take over Portuguese Timor, though he would have preferred it to be done in a more lawful way."
The cables show the Americans believed the Indonesian peacekeeping proposals were genuine, but went nowhere because Australia was not interested. They noted Mr Whitlam's recent comments that Timor was "in many ways part of (the) Indonesian world".
It also quoted Australian advisors as saying President Suharto was "almost 'mystically' sure Timor will eventually become part of Indonesia". American Embassy officials in Jakarta were briefed by Indonesia's acting foreign minister, Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, on Suharto's plan for regional governments, particularly Australia, to intervene in Timor.
At the time, Portugal was in strife at home and two Timorese factions in the colony, Fretilin and UDT, were running amok in a bloody internal campaign on the island.
A cable noted that the head of DFAT, Alan Renouf, told Americans he believed Indonesia would have to move to Timor to "restore law and order" because Australian intervention was "out of the question".
According to a September 4 cable, the Indonesians proposed a multi-nation task force to restore "order and security in order that decolonization process can in orderly manner"; and would put Indonesian soldiers, and other forces, under the direction of an international authority.
It also proposed that all participating nations adhere strictly to the guidelines, share cost, and share power in the aftermath until decolonization was achieved.
The Americans reported that their sources in the Australian Embassy in Jakarta told them that Mr Whitlam was reluctant.
Mochtar also told the Americans that Mr Whitlam did not want to provide troops and feared Indonesia might repeat what it had done in West Irian, denying the people their promised self-determination.
"Mochtar said he had assured Australia that Indonesia would 'play it straight' this time," said the cable.
Mr Whitlam, who was under pressure from his own party to take a stand on Timor, told Parliament the day before Mochtar briefed the Americans that he would not be party to any intervention in Timor of a "colonial character".
Despite decades of conspiracy theories about US meddling in this matter, one cable set out their position clearly: "We are anxious not to become involved in Portuguese Timor," it said.
"Apart from humanitarian concern for welfare of populace and their right to self-determination, our only interest in (the) territory's future lies in possible impact a change in its status might have on our relations with Jakarta".