Australian diplomats in Jakarta and Canberra or Australian defence intelligence operatives? Senior ministers in the Whitlam government or senior public servants?
At first light on 16 October 1975, Indonesian special forces stormed the East Timor village of Balibo, killing five newsmen. A quarter of a century later, the fate of these unarmed civilians continues to nag at consciences in Britain, New Zealand and Australia.
Did highly-placed Australians secretly sign off on Indonesia's plan to invade its neighbour? Did they know that the newsmen were targets? Did they choose to leave these young men to the mercy of the Indonesian Army? In this book, a long-term analyst of Indonesian defence and foreign policy and a world-renowned expert on military intelligence uncover what Canberra has been hiding.
Here is a story that follows a trail of cover-ups and denials which reaches from Australia's capital to Jakarta . . . to five corpses in a small village in East Timor. It presents new information about how two governments conspired to invade a country, and how intelligence services allowed the Balibo Five to be executed to protect their sources. We finally learn what Canberra has been hiding. Essential reading for anyone seeking to draw lessons from East Timor's tragic birth as a nation.
