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Balibo film revives controversy Indonesia 'tortured' Balibo Five
(about 3 hours later)
A film receiving its world premiere in Melbourne is likely to revive the controversy over the deaths of five foreign journalists in East Timor. East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta has said five foreign journalists who died in Indonesia' 1975 invasion were tortured and shot by the military.
The five Australia-based correspondents died during Indonesia's invasion of the territory in 1975. He made the allegation at the Melbourne launch of the film Balibo, which depicts their deaths as Indonesia's army crossed into East Timor.
Jakarta has always said that the five, who died in the town of Balibo, were killed in crossfire, an explanation accepted by Australian governments. Jakarta has always said that they were killed in crossfire with rebels, which Australian governments have accepted.
The film, Balibo, shows them being shot on the orders of Indonesian officers. The film shows them being shot on the orders of Indonesian army officers.
It is the first feature film to be shot in East Timor, and it tells the story of five journalists - two Australians, two Britons and a New Zealander - who were killed when Indonesian troops overran the border town of Balibo in October, 1975. Mr Ramos Horta was a rebel commander at the time and is a central figure in the film. He said he had looked into the deaths of the "Balibo Five" soon after they were killed in the border town of Balibo.
Jakarta has always maintained that the journalists were killed in an exchange of fire between its own troops and East Timorese rebels, an official explanation accepted by successive Australian governments. At the Melbourne premiere, he claimed the film was largely accurate, but that its makers were unable to convey the full horror of the killings because it would be too shocking for cinema audiences.
But the film shows them being brutally executed, on the orders of Indonesian military chiefs. He said the journalists were not just killed by the Indonesian military but, as he put it, "brutally tortured".
The President of East Timor, Jose Ramos Horta, was a rebel commander at the time, and is a central figure in the film. Their bodies were burned to dispose of the evidence of their killings, he said.
He claimed it was largely accurate, but that its makers were unable to convey the full horror of the killings because it would be too shocking for cinema audiences. Diplomatic reticence?
In Melbourne for the premiere, he claimed that the journalists were not just executed by the Indonesian military but, as he put it, "brutally, brutally tortured". Balibo is the first feature film to be shot in East Timor.
The film makers have said that the Indonesian and Australian government's version of what happened is absurd, a view validated by the findings of an Australian coroner in 2007. It tells the story of Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie and New Zealander Gary Cunningham - who were killed when Indonesian troops overran Balibo in October 1975.
After a fresh review of the evidence, he ruled that the journalists had been killed as they tried to surrender to Indonesian forces. The filmmakers have said that the official Indonesian and Australian view that they died in crossfire is absurb.
The film makers are hoping that Balibo will spur the Australian government into action. That film's version of events was validated by an Australian coroner in 2007.
Almost 18 months on, it still has not given its official response to the coroner's findings - a reticence which may stem from its fear of upsetting diplomatic relations with Jakarta. After a fresh review of the evidence, the coroner ruled that the journalists had been killed as they tried to surrender to Indonesian forces.
The filmmakers are hoping that Balibo will spur the Australian government into action.
Almost 18 months on, it still has not given its response to the coroner's findings - a reticence which may stem from its fear of upsetting diplomatic relations with Jakarta, says the BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney.
Indonesian troops invaded East Timor shortly after Portugal withdrew in 1975, ending 450 years as its colonial ruler.
At least 100,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of Indonesia's 25-year occupation, which ended with East Timor's independence in 2002.
At the Balibo premiere, Mr Ramos-Horta applauded the changes which had taken place recently in Indonesia.
"It is better. Indonesian democracy today is one of the most inspiring in the south-east Asia region."