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Summons Causes Indonesian Leader to Leave Australia as Tensions Flare
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A thirty year old controversy has flared up between Indonesia and Australia, when Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso left Australia, prematurely ending his state visit to the island nation. Sutiyoso says that he left when men burst into his hotel room and asked him to sign an invitation to participate in a coroner’s inquest regarding the deaths of five Australian journalists in Baliboa, East Timor on October 16, 1975. Sutiyoso has said that he left because, “I was angry because I was not supposed to be treated like that as a state official who came on an official invitation.” The summons was sent by Australian Deputy State Coroner Donnelle Pinch because, under Australian diplomatic immunity laws, Sutiyoso could not have been subpoenaed to appear before the inquest.
Pinch’s inquest to determine the cause of death of the five journalists is welcomed news from the journalists, many of whom do not believe the state’s official story, but believe that there was an intergovernmental cover up.
There
have been two previous investigations of the 1975 killings and both have
determined that the five journalists were killed accidentally when they were
caught in a cross fire between military forces. However, according to an eyewitness who is being called “Glebe Two” by
the coroner, Yunus Yosiaf, who would later become a minister in the Indonesia
Government, opened fired on five Australian reporters and ordered his troops to
do the same. Yosiaf, in an ABC interview
this February, acknowledged that he was in Baliboa at the time, but that he was
never in contact with any of the journalists and did not order their
killing. While publicly denying any
involvement with the killing, Yosiaf refused to participate in the coroner’s
inquest. Like Yosiaf, Sutiyoso acknowledged
that he was stationed in
East Timor when the journalists were killed, but denies that he had any direct involvement in their deaths.
Mark Tedeschi, the senior lawyer assisting in the inquest, believes that the new evidence is enough to bring war crimes charges against members of the Indonesian government. He has not yet announced any names for who will face charges, saying that he would wait until the coroner’s investigation was concluded before releasing names.
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