Introduction Into The Balibo Secret
Unearthed secret Defence Department documents prove a massive armaments diversion in the region was at the centre of the Balibo cover up. A conspiracy to keep all Australian Prime Ministers from 1975 onwards ignorant of the arms diversion and the secret Indonesian invasion and thus from intervening in East Timor cost the lives of not only six journalists but hundreds of thousands of East Timorese. There will be no real justice for the dead until this story is told.
There are two camps of contention concerning the questions did Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam know of the deaths of the five journalists in East Timor on 16 October 1975 and did he see documents warning of the upcoming invasion of Balibo? It has been claimed by some people, including some of his own officials, that Whitlam actually gave the green light to President Suharto of Indonesia to invade the fledging democratic nation of East Timor.
From my twenty years of research Whitlam appears a particularly honest man with an even pedantic if not obsessive approach to protocol. When an outraged Margaret Whitlam asked her husband why he didn’t slap Governor General Sir John Kerr’s face and rip up the letter that withdrew his commission as Prime Minister, Whitlam replied “Because, Margaret, it was a legal document”. (“Margaret Whitlam”. Susan Mitchell page 266). He had a seeming profound respect, if not fixation for the sanctity of the official written word. If that is the case the following may appear shocking. If we go to the 2007 Coronial Report on the Inquest Into The Death of Brian Raymond Peters, the Coroner Dorelle Pinch notes on page 103 of her report that he was never even aware Indonesian special forces invaded Balibo in mid October 1975, "Rather he was of the impression that the first time Indonesian soldiers invaded East Timor was the attack on Dili on 7 December 1975." The Coroner then notes "As to the time he learnt of the deaths of the journalists, Mr Whitam gave evidence that he was briefed for the first time on 21 October. He stated that he was certain of the date because he was able to check his movements in his Official Diary."
So Mr Whitlam always believed the journalists were killed, not by Indonesian soldiers as the Coronial Inquest found, but in local partisan crossfire between East Timorese forces! This has been the official Indonesian and Australian Government’s line for the last 32 years! Would Whitlam lie under oath against his memory of events, let alone his own documented records. It seems out of character in the extreme that a trained and experienced lawyer would go against his memory of events as well as the document record of his Official Diaries to make a false statement and perjure himself, if he had prior knowledge of the invasion and up to the minute information concerning the murders of the Balibo Five.
We cannot prove or disprove claims that Gough Whitlam was aware of what was going down between Indonesia and East Timor in mid October 1975. Whitlam states he was not told of the deaths for five days and then appears ignorant about an Indonesian secret invasion and the reason he was briefed on the 21st about the deaths is given on page 106 of the Coronial Report by his Defence Minister Bill Morrison. "It was suggested to Mr Morrison that the reason the families were not immediately notified of the deaths was that DSD capabilities would be compromised if that was the only source of the information. However Mr Morrison pointed out that Kompas, an Indonesian newspaper, carried headlines on 20 October that Australians had been killed in East Timor and the text reported four bodies had been found. From that time, the article provided collateral for the DSD signal and it was not the protection of that source that caused further delay."
Whitlam-as well as the relatives -it seems from his testimony, was kept in the dark until the information was out in the public domain. The deaths being outed in the media, they had to tell Whitlam after the newspaper article on 20 October and they did so, as he and his diary notes the next day, the 21st, for he would find out anyway and they would look stupid or worse. Also Bill Morrison stated at the 2007 Inquest that he did not brief Whitlam of the invasion because Whitlam 'had enough on his hands' and Foreign Affairs Minister Don Willesee also claimed to have kept stum according to his daughter. Both men claimed Arthur Tange ordered them to keep it quiet.
There is also Whitlam's massive tome " The Whitlam Government 1972-1975" written soon after events, which goes into minute and copious detail the history leading up to and into proceedings in Indonesia and East Timor in 1975 and it is all pro Suharto and scorn for Fretelin. Then there is the later work "Abiding Interests" which is embarrassing in its ignorance and praise for Suharto and Indonesia and both books celebrate the work done by the Indonesians in East Timor. The extent of Whitlam’s true knowledge of events in Balibo we will look at later but what we can prove is that every other Australian Prime Minister after Whitlam for a 30 year period was ignorant of the secret Indonesian invasion of Balibo! This ignorance resulted in allegedly hundreds of thousands of East Timorese joining the Balibo Five in death!
The reason why both Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser were so scornful of Fretelin as a communist regime, why nothing was ever done by them and the other PM's for decades to save the people and they were so supportive of Suharto is because this was the information and advice they were given by their Australian Government officials and Indonesian President Suharto and his officials. If we go to "The Whitlam Government 1972-1975" page 111, Whitlam notes concerning the discussions around the future of East Timor in 1975, "On 30 October Willesee offered an Australian venue for round table discussions. In Rome on 1 and 2 November the Portuguese and Indonesian foreign ministers agreed on the need for a meeting between Portugal and the three Timorese parties. Again it was impossible to reach agreement. Soon after the coup in Canberra on 11 November Fraser wrote to Suharto that he hoped to establish with him the close personal ties that he understood that I had with him.”
The Coroner of the Inquest in 2007 handed down her finding which in part stated Brian Raymond Peters part of the group “collectively known as “the Balibo Five” died at Balibo in Timor –Leste from wounds sustained when he was shot and/or stabbed deliberately, and not in the heat of battle, by members of the Indonesian Special Forces, including Christoforus da Silva and Captain Yunus Yosfiah on the orders of Captain Yosfiah, to prevent him from revealing that Indonesian Special Forces had participated in the attack on Balibo.”
The ignorance of what was actually going on here and what Whitlam revealed above in his book, but which was really revealed at the 2007 Coronial Inquest is breathtaking. The above dates quoted by Whitlam, 30 October and 1 and 2 November were two weeks after the commencement of the secret Indonesian invasion of East Timor and the deaths of the journalists at Balibo, however Whitlam writes as if nothing has happened and peaceful negotiations are under way to resolve the future of East Timor! What’s more Whitlam notes Indonesian foreign ministers agreed to the need for more meetings between Portugal and the East Timorese when the Indonesians had already landed and taken Balibo and Maliana and were indeed advancing and would attack and take Dili on December 7, in what was already a military takeover codenamed Operation Flamboyan! Whitlam seems profoundly ignorant of Operation Flamboyan and the attack and murders at Balibo, but what we can note here from the above is that new Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is totally ignorant of Operation Flamboyan, and the deaths at Balibo! What's more Malcolm wanted to be friends with Suharto too, just like Whitlam! He was caretaker Prime Minister and even weeks after the invasion he still knew nothing about it and he was kept out of the loop for his term of office and reportedly hundreds of thousands of peoples native to this land would follow the dead journalists prematurely into the dust of East Timor. That Malcolm Fraser would become a renowned humanitarian and globe trotting statesman for other causes had no impact on his ignorance of the Indonesian secret war in East Timor. Successive Prime Ministers Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard and Kevin Rudd, up to the 2007 Inquest, would all join the ignorance party.
There is a massive cover up and it is ongoing. The Coroner of the 2007 Inquest into Brian Peters' death formally referred her finding on war crimes committed by certain Indonesians at Balibo on 16 October 1975 to the Commonwealth Attorney General. The Attorney General seeking prosecution passed it on to the Australian Federal Police. The AFP website notes all kinds of difficulties in a such a criminal proceeding but notes an investigation is onging so it can't say much. How long will it take and would they ever seek extradition of these Indonesians after all this time? They want to hurry up, they are old men.
The real answer behind what is going on may be in the website of the Australian National Archives in its Fact sheet 238-The 'Balibo Affair', East Timor, October 1975. Concerning Indonesian criminality in the deaths of the Balibo Five as found by the Coroner nearly three years ago and an Indonesian invasion of East Timor in mid October 1975 also found, the official record of our National Archives states and I quote, "Fretilin declared the territory's independence on 28 November (1975). Indonesia's response was an invasion of East Timor beginning on 5 December...
That is the official line still, that Indonesia first invaded at Dili in December! The cover up is still going on for those students of history who go to the official records. What are the chances of finding anything in the files they offer the researcher! There is no closure for the relatives or anyone else. The only real closure to be found is in the following revelations contained in this website. My website is designed so that even those who can't afford the book can go to the relevant National Archives files, files that were illegally and carefully hidden for 30 years and pull up the documents that blow the whole thing open.
In “The Cameron Diaries” by the late, The Hon Clyde Cameron, page 90, the author notes, concerning the day Tuesday 23 March 1976, that a recommendation was put forward by a committee of senior Whitlam ministers that “East Timor should have the choice of (a) independence (b) adherence to Portugal or ((c) incorporation with Indonesia. The Committee also recommended the withdrawal of Indonesian forces in accordance with the Security Council’s decision, the stationing of a UN peacekeeping force in Portuguese East Timor, urgent humanitarian aid to all areas of need in Portuguese East Timor and the suspension of Australian defence aid to Indonesia if they do not withdraw their forces from Portuguese East Timor.”
This is the real world! The Security Council was involved, UN peacekeeping efforts were in place, the Whitlam ministers were behind these initiatives and advising even more. However Whitlam’s attitude is revealed on page 633 of the above book. Concerning a Caucus motion “of protest over Indonesia’s refusal to grant visas to Members of the Australian Parliament to attend East Timor. The Canberra Times report reads: Mr Whitlam pointed out that a delegation from Australia would be interfering in the internal affairs of another nation, Indonesia."
On page 654 it is noted when Ken Begg asked Whitlam a question concerning weapons sales to Indonesia "Do you agree with the Party's decision taken at Perth not to provide the, or not to permit the sale of arms or munitions?" Whitlam's reply could not have been more categoric! "No I don't!" he replied."
That is how hoodwinked Whitlam is, he still wants to sell arms to the Indonesians! Whitlam has seemingly no idea of what went down in Balibo or East Timor in general. What is interesting is that Whitlam, instead of condemning Operation Flamboyan as a clandestine operation to take over East Timor, always believed the Indonesians were only doing good in East Timor while his ministers knew the truth of Indonesian expansionist aggression! Only they lived in the real world. Why? The reason why Whitlam was not living in it is that Whitlam was being briefed by rogue Australian Government officials and Malcolm Fraser would inherit these same rogue officials and their briefings and disinformation. Both men who would become renowned humanitarians were tricked into doing nothing from briefings by their officials that in Whitlam’s own words, when replying to a challenge by George Negus that the invasion took him by surprise, “Not really, because as I said earlier to you, the new Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, Mr Anthony, had three months earlier said that East Timor was coming under Communist control, that Fretelin was Communist. Now that played on Indonesia’s paranoia about all things which are thought to be Communist.”
This is what the Australian officials and even Suharto himself and his officials briefed Gough Whitlam on concerning the need for the invasion of Dili in early December, it was the threat of the Red Menace! Whitlam had recalled Australian troops from Viet Nam and it subsequently fell to the Communists! The Australian officials and Suharto however mentioned nothing to Whitlam or Fraser about Operation Flamboyan, the attack on Balibo and the murder of the journalists that they were themselves fully aware of. Defence Secretary Sir Arthur Tange gave the orders concerning the relatives and Whitlam to be kept in the dark and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Renouf at the 2007 Coronial Inquest admitted he must have seen the documents concerning the invasion of Balibo and the journalists. Both men went to work for the Fraser Government. It is on record in a further briefing they jointly dissuaded new Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser from doing anything to help the people of East Timor.
HOW MALCOLM FRASER GAVE THE GREEN LIGHT TO PRESIDENT SUHARTO FOR THE ILLEGAL INDONESIAN INVASION AND TAKEOVER OF EAST TIMOR TO PROCEED
Mr Gough Whitlam has been denigrated and accused of giving the green light to President Suharto for Indonesia to invade East Timor in mid 1975. However at the 2007 Inquest Into The death Of Brian Raymond Peters, the Coroner, Magistrate Dorelle Pinch noted on page 103 of her Coronial Report concerning Mr Whitlam’s testimony to the inquest, “Even at the time of the inquest he seemed unaware that Indonesian Special forces had participated in the attacks on Balibo and Maliana. Rather he was of the impression that the first time Indonesian soldiers invaded East Timor was the attack on Dili on 7 December 1975.”
Mr Whitlam’s coronial testimony was given under oath and it seems hard to believe that Mr Whitlam, being an eminent lawyer and statesman would commit perjury. Mr Whitlam in fact did not perjure himself at the inquest but was in reality kept in the dark concerning the covert invasion of Balibo. In 1975 Australian embassy officials were in bed with their Indonesian counterparts in Jakarta. Don’t take my word for it, the Coroner Ms Pinch noted the facts in her coronial report. She revealed that the Australian officials in Jakarta were briefed on every detail of the invasion in consecutive meetings with the Indonesians.
“On 10 July 1975, Mr Tjan told officials at the Australian embassy that the Indonesian Government had made a final policy decision that East Timor would be incorporated into Indonesia.”
“On 30 September 1975, Mr Tjan informed the Australian embassy that President Suharto had agreed that up to 3800 Indonesian soldiers would be put into East Timor gradually to assist the anti-Fretilin forces.” Again. He further indicated that the operation would begin on 15 October and that the initial thrust would be through Balibo and Maliana.”
“On 15 October, Mr Tjan confirmed that the Operation would commence that day. He stated that all Indonesian Special Forces operating in East Timor would be in civilian clothes.” Coroner’s Report , page 72.
It was indeed the Australian officials and not Gough Whitlam who were aware of the impending invasion of Balibo according to the Coroner’s Report! And the officials covered it up and kept it from their Prime Minister. These rogue Australian officials also backed up the Indonesian lie that the journalists were killed in a crossfire by local Timorese partisan forces and also that there were no intercepts of Indonesian battlefield communications mentioning murder, facts which the Coroner also found to be false. The Coroner was not allowed by mandate to go near Australian Government culpability in the deaths, but if she was, she would have found this myth that Whitlam gave the green light to Suharto was actually also a lie and cover up. That the lie was a key piece of disinformation manufactured by the rogue Australian officials in connivance with their Indonesian counterparts to fabricate a falsehood that this was Australian Government policy. Unknown secret government documents, revealed for the first time, uncover the motive behind the conspiracy and cover up which enabled East Timor to be taken over so compliantly and completely by the Indonesians. It is history that needs outing.
In his new book “Malcolm Fraser, The Political Memoirs” with Margaret Simons, Whitlam’s old friend Malcolm Fraser notes that Whitlam indeed gave the green light to Suharto to invade East Timor! Malcolm states, “ It is now a matter of historical record that the Whitlam government knew of the invasion before it happened. Whitlam had, in 1974 and early 1975, made it clear to Indonesian President Suharto that he believed East Timor should become a part of Indonesia. Suharto, who might have been dissuaded from the invasion if Australia had strongly opposed it, had instead taken comfort”.
Page 450. Fraser is openly implying it was Whitlam’s fault. His book came out after the movie Balibo in which the same message was conveyed to the audience concerning Whitlam’s and Suharto’s role in the invasion by the ‘two pieces of shit in the same shirt’ analogy. Not only this but Fraser is obliquely implying Gough had prior knowledge of the invasion through Balibo. Some friend he is while Whitlam is in a nursing home! This is clearly brutal and we do not wish to stress Mr Whitlam further. Yet we can show Malcolm Fraser was the one who really gave the green light to Suharto. As Malcolm Fraser states in his book, "On 7 December, when the Fraser government was still in caretaker mode, there was a full invasion and the East Timorese capital of Dili was captured."
Page 450. Though personally finding it abhorrent Fraser further noted of his helplessness to do anything but acquiesce and do what his officials ordered, that is write Suharto and say he accepted annexation was Whitlam government policy, "I couldn't change policy anyway in caretaker mode and Indonesia was our most important neighbour, and I was being told I must do this thing."
Page 451. He was under the orders of the rogue officials and capitulated against his better judgement. The dismissal of Prime Minister Whitlam less than a month after Balibo was an essential part of the planned operation that involved Australian complicity in the takeover (handover) of East Timor to Indonesia. The ousting of Whitlam was a main cog in the perfect timing, ensuring no one at all was at the helm in Australia at the time and it all went like clockwork. Yet unlike Whitlam, when Fraser was in caretaker government, he was aware something was terribly wrong leading up to the open Indonesian invasion of Dili. As his book states concerning the 7 December invasion when the Fraser government was still in caretaker mode, “The caretaker Foreign Minister, Andrew Peacock, issued a statement saying events in East Timor were ‘deeply regretted’. Behind the scenes, Fraser was troubled and conflicted. A fortnight before the full invasion, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had told him that it was vital to Australia’s long term relationship with Indonesia that he send Suharto a message to indicate that a Fraser government would not change the Whitlam government’s policy on Indonesia.”
Page 450. Here Fraser by his own admission is being asked by the officials inherited from Whitlam, to maintain Gough’s policy, a policy Fraser claims gave the green light to Indonesia to invade! Indeed Fraser as a lame duck was not merely being asked, he was being ordered to appease Suharto. “It really was put to me with the utmost urgency that it was most vital that I communicate to Suharto.”
Ibid page 451. Here is the difference between Whitlam and Fraser. Whitlam was duped by some his own ministers and officials, but always believes he had only communicated to Suharto a desire for self determination or peaceful annexation for East Timor. When Whitlam was asked by Ken Begg in 1976 if he had given the green light to Suharto to invade he replied “Never, never and the President would not have expected, let alone sought such an understanding.”
“ The Cameron Diaries” Clyde Cameron, page 653. Fraser however was aware of the Indonesian action and the gravity of what he was doing. “On the one hand, I abhorred the incorporation. It was contrary to everything we believed about self determination of peoples. On the other hand, I couldn’t change policy and Indonesia was our most important neighbour…”
Page 451. Fraser put nothing in writing and ordered it remain secret and used his ambassador in Jakarta Richard Woolcott to deliver the desired message. “Woolcott was to tell Suharto that Fraser recognised ‘the need for Indonesia to have an appropriate solution for the problem of Portuguese Timor’, and regretted ‘irritants’ to the relationship such as protests over the invasion by Australian trade unions.”
Page 451. “Five days later, Woolcott reported back that Suharto ‘greatly appreciated the message, and had asked for ‘amplification’ on Fraser’s recognition for an ‘appropriate solution’. Woolcott had used diplomatic niceties, telling Suharto that he assumed Fraser meant ‘a solution which accommodated Indonesia’s policy interests’. The invasion proceeded.”
Page 451. What happened to that bit when blaming Whitlam, “Suharto who might have been dissuaded from the invasion if Australia had strongly opposed it, instead had taken comfort”? Breathtaking duplicity. He gave the green light to Suharto to proceed in the invasion of Dili through Woolcott! Yet he has the gall to blame Whitlam for it!! This duplicity is only eclipsed by his arrogance in denigrating Australian trade unions as mere ‘irritants’ to a foreign leader! Well if that is so, what does that make the average Aussie worker who makes up these unions, a flea on a mosquito? Here is the key to understanding Fraser’s mindset and role in the dismissal of the democratically elected Government of Australia. The votes of the unions are an irritation, the vote of a member, the average Australian worker is as nothing. Fraser never had to work for a living his entire life, everything was given to him. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth the only thing that was not given to him was the Prime Ministership. Anyone who was in Canberra watching events unfold in late 1975 would notice his petulance as he ranted and raved against the government, digging his heels in like a spoiled child, almost bringing the nation to its knees as money supply ran out, demanding, even behind the scenes threatening the Governor General to give him the prize of Prime Minister. He told Kerr in their last face to face meeting that “ if he did not act then the opposition would be forced to criticise him: they would have to say that he had failed in his duty and that he had imperilled the reserve powers of the Crown forever; he said that supply running out and Kerr’s failing to act would effectively destroy the reserve powers.” Page 302.
Here is an unelected citizen threatening the Queen of England’s representative in Australia that he had better remove the democratically elected Prime Minister of Australia or else! Sir John Kerr was probably aware Malcolm Fraser’s privileged childhood meant he used to play with a little boy called Rupert Murdoch. Fraser further told Kerr if he did not sack Whitlam the Australian people “ will not forgive you for not calling an election and they’ll say that you’ve betrayed your power, you’ve betrayed your position, by not using the powers that are clearly available to you.” Page 302
Fraser clearly threatened to use his. Here he is not just advising but warning the Governor General, which are interactions that are exclusively the realm of an elected minister! Fraser may also have told Kerr about Kerry Packer and how he was to help in November 1975 “Kerry would ring up the office and have wobbly knees. He’d say, “You’ve got to change; you’ve got to give in”. And the way we dealt with that was to get Eggleton to ring up Rupert, and get Rupert to talk to Packer, and tell him to straighten up. And that worked.” Page 291
Malcolm was a special boy alright and he always got his way, as he would in this case by using his privileged friends, as Kerr capitulated to the pressure, much of it from the media. However Malcolm never realised he would be used also by the rogue Australian officials, as was Whitlam.
The policy set by rogue Australian officials kept all later Prime Ministers in the dark. Fraser and Whitlam were totally blindsided and manipulated into backing Indonesia in the fight over East Timor as was the next administration. In the “Hawke Memoirs” Bob states concerning his first Prime Ministerial trip overseas “ I went first to Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, to establish in the public mind the priority my Government attached to the Asia-Pacific region.” Page 209.
Was new Prime Minister John Howard as predictable in toeing the line drawn by the rogue Australian officials to promote Suharto? “He went to Asia before America, Japan before China-and he went to Indonesia first.” The March Of The Patriots” Paul Kelly, page 438.
What about Paul Keating? “No country is more important to Australia than Indonesia.” Ibid Page 438.
HOW JOHN KERR ENABLED THE INVASION OF EAST TIMOR
That cablegram sent by Fraser through Woolcott to Suharto acceded to, if not authorised, on Australia’s part, an acceptance of the invasion of Dili to proceed, which was supposedly Whitlam government policy, no wonder it was ordered by Fraser to be kept top secret and worded not in the first person! Who wouldn’t want to distance themselves from that evil appeasing message and keep it quiet? The reality was, as we saw from the Coroner’s report, that these same officials who had ordered Fraser to send the appeasing message to Suharto, also knew the Indonesians had illegally invaded Balibo! That Australian citizens and resident workers had been murdered in this secret invasion, where the Indonesian Special Forces would be wearing disguised uniforms! What is more, besides keeping it from Whitlam and Fraser, these same rogue officials ordered the heads of the two departments, Defence and Foreign Affairs to deceive and cover it up from Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser as well! As the Coroner noted in her report concerning the Foreign Affairs minister Don Willesee, “Mr Briot was Chief of Staff for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the late Senator Willesee. He had the requisite security clearances to see classified material that came into the office. Mr Briot first became aware of the deaths of the journalists on the day of their deaths or the next day. (On the basis of the evidence I have determined the message was received on 17 October). Mr Briot stated that Mr Willesee received the message at the same time. The latter went to try to see the Prime Minister. From other evidence it is apparent that he did not see him at the time. However he did see the Minister for Defence, Mr Morrison as well as Mr Jockell and Sir Arthur Tange. Mr Briot recalled that Senator Wilesee returned from that meeting angry and upset.” Coroner’s Report, page 109.
Mr Willesee was angry and upset because he wanted to tell Prime Minister Whitlam as well as the relatives about the murders but was told to keep quiet. His daughter was reported in the Brisbane Times on 8/11/2007 as stating: “her father claimed the five journalists were “murdered” by Indonesian soldiers at Balibo in East Timor, not caught in crossfire as officially reported.” So earlier in Whitlam’s time, the ministerial head of the Department that was now urging Fraser to send that appeasing letter to Suharto, knew it was murder. The above newspaper article also stated “In his dying days in 2003, Mr Willesee told his daughter the Australian government covered up the affair The Australian newspaper reported today. Mr Willesee’s daughter has written how her father talked bitterly and unforgivingly about Australia’s role in the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.” Brisbane Times, 8/11/07.
At the meeting with Arthur Tange, Don Willesee “ had wanted to inform the families immediately but had been “persuaded” that to do so at that time without any information in the public arena would reveal that the information came from Intelligence material and would thus jeopardise the Defence capability.” Coroner’s Report page, 110.
That is a valid claim but they were a bit paranoid for Willesee was never allowed to say anything to Whitlam or the relatives! Don Willesee, the ministerial head of the Department of Foreign Affairs was then forced to unhappily go along with the set up of the invasion and keeping Whitlam in the dark and complied also in the suppression of knowledge of the ‘murders’ and the Indonesian involvement in the invasion of Balibo. He thus did not stop the rogue officials utilising the false ‘Whitlam Policy on Indonesia’, but by regretting it later and trying to do something about it retrospectively by informing his daughter and even the relatives of the journalists, of the murders, after the invasion was successful, he redeemed his humanity. But he still never told Whitlam. Gough would not learn of Indonesian planning and involvement in Balibo until the Coronial Inquest in 2007! What about the head of the Department of Defence Bill Morrison who was also at the meeting with Defence Secretary Arthur Tange where the order was given to keep everything quiet, wouldn’t he have informed Whitlam about a secret invasion on our doorstep where Australian citizens were reported killed? (It should be revealed here that the reason the F111 jet fighter was ordered for our air force by the Menzies government was because of the Australian military’s fears of Jakarta. The Australian military was extremely wary of the threat of Indonesian expansionism.) Mr Morrison knew about the earlier extensive Indonesian briefings to their Australians counterparts of the upcoming attack and takeover of East Timor through Balibo, however listen to Bill Morrison’s lame excuse for why he kept Whitlam in the dark concerning early warnings of the attack, taken from the Coroner’s Report: “he did see the cable of 13 October advising of the intended Indonesian attack on 15 October. Mr Morrison commented that he had not discussed this information with Mr Whitlam because “he had enough on his hands”… Page 104.
That is nigh on unbelievable and a sceptical person may be forced to consider that he was in bed with the rogue officials just like Don Willesee! His further statement to the Inquest concerning the murders of the journalists proves he was, like Willesee in on the cover up. When he learned about the murders on what he claims was the16th October “He was shocked because he had no idea they were in Balibo.” Again “Mr Morrison recalled that he flew to Brisbane on the Friday (17th) then to Sydney the following day, returning to Canberra for a Cabinet meeting on the afternoon of the 20th.” Coroner’s Report, page 105.
Mr Whitlam recalls the day and refers to his notes in his official diary concerning the Cabinet meeting, “No one mentioned anything to him about the journalists at the Cabinet meeting.” Ibid Page 103.
This is despite Gordon Jockel of JIO stating at the 2007 Inquest that when he received the Intelligence on the journalists murders: “He immediately took the intercept personally to the Defence Minister Mr Morrison who reacted with shock and horror.” Page 102.
Earlier Morrison kept information concerning an imminent invasion from his Prime Minister because he “had enough on his hands” and now that it had happened, if he was mildly concerned- not even shocked and horrified -he would have mentioned it to Whitlam at the Cabinet meeting surely. So why didn’t he brief Whitlam? A cynical person might say he was in bed with the rogue officials because besides this anomaly, he never ever told Whitlam that the Indonesians invaded through Balibo and killed the journalists, even though he was the responsible minister and was briefed about it on the 16th October! Here is a further excuse from him for why he didn’t tell Whitlam at the time, “It was on pain of death to go near him”. For the next 32 years our one time Minister of Defence- who could order Australian soldiers to rush to their deaths in battle- claimed he was scared he would die if he went near Whitlam. And he never did. But to be fair to Mr Morrison, he was not some sort of ministerial pussy as he would have us believe, he was, just like Don Willesee following the orders of the rogue officials.
If the reader didn’t believe anything was going on behind the scenes before, it should be clear now. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Gough Whitlam was not only deceived by rogue officials in the Departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs, but also the head ministers of these departments concerning Indonesian involvement in the invasion of Balibo and the deaths of the journalists. Once Gough was removed the lie could be created and maintained without Whitlam’s protest, that Gough told Suharto Indonesia could have East Timor with Australia’s blessing, that indeed it was ‘Australian Government policy’! Caretaker Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was briefed on this “Whitlam policy on Indonesia” then manoeuvred and compromised into following it and okaying the invasion of East Timor to proceed by these same officials, when they knew of covert Indonesian Special Forces war and bloody murder of Australians citizens behind the scenes! That monstrous lie the ‘Whitlam policy on Indonesia’ facilitated it all, and Whitlam had to be kept in the dark and removed, because if he found out he would have come out against it all. So would have Fraser. Hawke. Keating. Howard.
We are going into the heart of a conspiracy where it was not Whitlam and his Cabinet who were aware of what was going on in East Timor, but certain Australian Government officials. And another official, the highest in the land, himself became a lynch pin for the invasion of East Timor. He was no less than the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Sir John Kerr, Australian Governor-General. We are not saying John Kerr was aware of the manipulations surrounding the takeover of East Timor, there is no proof of that, but Sir John was used to facilitate the operation.
Before we reveal this latest deception of Whitlam, let us restate Gough was not the appeaser of Suharto, but he was a pawn in the Indonesian and the Australian official’s game. Was Suharto also just a pawn, duped by his officials and generals into believing Fretilin and the East Timor independence movement were communist? Whitlam pulled our troops out of Viet Nam and it would become a losing battle and fall to the communists and Whitlam would have felt disquiet and perhaps some guilt about this at the time and his detractors would have attacked him over it in Parliament, the clubs and the press. But as history would soon show, the reality was it was a losing battle anyway and Whitlam saved Australia-and Aussie soldiers lives-from its first major loss in a war, we are still undefeated, unlike the Americans and that is fantastic, but this played on the initial doubts that would have been on Whitlam's mind at the time in relation to East Timor. As Gough notes in his book "The Whitlam Government 1972-1975", when he met Suharto in Townsville in 1975, "Our discussions in Townsville turned more upon Viet Nam, where the North was overunning the South, than on Timor, where the two principal parties, UDT and Fretilin, had formed a coalition on 22 January." Page 108
Besides keeping Whitlam in the dark concerning the covert invasion of Balibo, instead of telling Whitlam the Indonesian Special Forces were invading East Timor through Balibo, the rogue Australian officials informed Whitlam through his Intelligence briefings, that East Timor was actually in danger of being overtaken by communist forces! What a crock! Using the old ‘communist menace’ scare tactic that was employed successfully in Chile and elsewhere to kick off insurgencies and coups, Whitlam was led to believe East Timor was under communist threat. Whitlam recalls, “On 28 November Fretilin, without holding elections, issued a unilateral declaration of independence and proclaimed the Democratic Republic of East Timor; the nomenclature had overtones of East Germany, North Korea and North Viet Nam.” Page 111.
Was Suharto also briefed by his officials on the threat of a communist menace in East Timor and this played on both the President’s and Gough’s emotions, using the old ‘red terror’ to scare them-and Gough already would have had an element of worry in his mind over events in Viet Nam -they jointly believed the only answer was for Indonesia to become involved in East Timor? It is not known if the communist scare was implanted in Suharto’s mind by his officials and his generals as it was in Whitlam and Fraser’s minds by their own officials, or if he was privy and directing the operation through Balibo as well as Dili? What we can say is the conniving Australian officials reinforced this communist propaganda in Gough's mind and after Viet Nam, Whitlam was resolute against creeping communism and easy meat to be used in Indonesia’s plans to attack and take East Timor. Gough was outspoken and then always pro Indonesia as far as communism was concerned and with the rogue officials providing him with Intelligence that Fretilin and the East Timor independence movement were communist (as was done to every Australian Prime Minister after him) what chance did he have of learning the truth? He was thus set up and this pro Indonesia stance would be used and manipulated by the rogue Australian officials to manufacture an evil lie that Whitlam told Suharto that Indonesia should takeover East Timor. This foreign policy deception costs the lives over the next two and a half decades of an estimated hundred thousand East Timorese.
As we saw, Fraser stated in his new book this exact lie, that it was Whitlam Government policy that Indonesia annexe East Timor. But where is the proof? There isn’t any. Indeed concerning the two people involved there is a Gough Whitlam denial of it and Suharto himself never made an assertion to such an agreement, so there is no plaintiff or defendant to such a claim of wrong doing and the charge, on the available evidence could never stand up in a court of law. So why are people so accepting that Whitlam is to blame for giving the green light to invade? The answer is that it is Intelligence disinformation, plausible scandal of the worst kind, wrought so skilfully by officials who make a living out of manufacturing such things, that even some of Whitlam’s old uncorrupted officials believe it. The strange dichotomy that some officials- like Whitlam himself- always believed they were in the loop when even they were deceived by a rogue nucleus of bureaucratic influence. Ironically Whitlam has too much class and respect for protocol to dignify it with the response of proof of confutation.
We have seen Malcolm Fraser is caught red handed by his own admission of giving Suharto permission for the invasion to proceed through Woolcott. He knew bad things were going down and he was worried, but it seems he never ordered Woolcott to issue a retraction of his message or a clarification to Suharto, or indeed his own proper ‘amplification’ of policy that Suharto requested of him and that he could provide now he was Prime Minister, overriding the notorious ‘Whitlam policy on Indonesia’. Indeed like the Prime Ministership he was not given until he threw his monumental tantrums, he now wants historical absolution from any wrong doing in the Indonesian invasion of East Timor! With all the arrogance of a spoiled brat caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he points the finger at Whitlam, to alleviate his own blame and by these writings in his new book Fraser has proved he is no friend to Whitlam. He is a ruthless politician who hasn’t changed from that day of 11 November 1975, when he unconstitutionally received advice and gave advice and warnings to Sir John Kerr. But the threats made by Fraser we noted above in Kerr’s office were childish pressure compared to what happened next after Fraser left that tantrum filled meeting. For John Kerr would ring Fraser and again offer advice and receive advice from this unelected citizen. This advice took the form of four crucial promises. Fraser well knew that giving and receiving advice from the Governor General under the Westminster System of responsible government- that is the tradition of ministerial responsibility-that this interaction was the province only of an elected minister. By accepting instructions from Kerr and giving assurances they would be carried out, he assumed the role of a Government minister and pulled the rug out from under Prime Minister Whitlam, just as he threatened to Kerr must happen! He is doing it again, letting Whitlam take the fall for East Timor. He is also reinforcing the rogue official’s line. But he isn’t that astute, for as the reader has seen in his book he goes on to admit that it was actually himself who gave the green light to Suharto to continue the invasion of Dili! He tries to clear the record in this apparently well-timed book by blaming Whitlam when he apparently can’t fight back, but like a prowler returning to the scene he leaves his footprints all over it. He also gives up the rogue official’s evil manipulations. The Governor General also thus becomes exposed.
The four crucial assurances Sir John Kerr required of Fraser over the phone are revealed in Fraser’s book “Malcolm Fraser The Political Memoirs.” On page 304 it is stated concerning Kerr’s phone call to Fraser, “He opened by saying this would have to remain confidential. What followed was one of the most momentous phone calls in the history of Australian politics. Fraser turned over the agenda for the joint party meeting that he had in his hand and made notes on the back. That piece of paper remains in Fraser’s possession today. It records, in Fraser’s unmistakable scrawl the substance of the undertakings Kerr sought from him. If Whitlam was dismissed and Fraser was made Prime Minister, would he agree to call a double dissolution election? Would he agree to run a caretaker administration, making no policy changes? Would he obtain supply straightaway? Would he advise dissolution on that very day? There was a further condition-less expected, but highly significant. Kerr asked Fraser to guarantee that no action would be taken against ministers of the Whitlam government over the loans affair, and that there would be no royal commission.” Again “There has been some controversy about this telephone conversation. Kerr later denied that it ever took place.” Page 305.
Kerr, when he made this denial did not know Fraser had made a note of the four questions while Kerr was asking them! Why lie when the written record proves otherwise? What could be behind the need for such vice regal deceit? The answer is a truly horrifying secret. We have made the unheard of claim that the dismissal of the Whitlam Government was connected to the secret Indonesian invasion of Balibo and the takeover of East Timor. What follows is proof of that link. Both the dismissal and the invasion were secret operations, they were indeed one combined operation set up at the same time. They were both ‘ambushes’. Mr Whitlam notes in his book “The Truth of The Matter”, page 105, that on the day of the dismissal he rang the Governor General and told him “that I wished for an early meeting with him; I had put the proposition which he had suggested to defer the half-senate elections; since the Opposition had now rejected it, I wanted to ask him to set the process for those elections in train straight away.” Page 105. Kerr agreed. Whitlam goes on “So it was arranged I would call on him immediately the House adjourned for lunch.” Page 106.
Paul Kelly in his book “November 1975” noted the following concerning that fateful call by Whitlam to Sir John Kerr:
“Kerr’s deception of Whitlam was elaborate. The Governor-General encouraged Whitlam to believe his Senate election would be approved when Kerr’s real intention was to sack Whitlam.
Kerr then made a fateful telephone call to Malcolm Fraser – a call whose contents are a matter of profound dispute between Fraser and Kerr. This goes directly to the question of whether or not Fraser had prior knowledge of the dismissal.
Kerr says that he called Fraser to confirm for himself that there was no change in the Opposition’s position as a result of the 9 am meeting between the two sides. But Fraser’s version of this discussion is more substantial.
Kerr rang Fraser around 10.15 am. It is described by Fraser’s official biographer, Philip Ayres, as ‘the most momentous call Fraser had ever taken’. Fraser confirmed that the Opposition’s position had not changed and that temporary Supply would not be provided for a Senate election. According to Fraser, Kerr then asked him four questions:
1 If commissioned as caretaker Prime Minister could Fraser guarantee to provide Supply?
2 And if so commissioned would he immediately recommend an election for both houses?
3 Would he be prepared to agree to undertake no new policies and make no appointments of significance before an election?
4 And would he also be prepared to agree, while caretaker Prime Minister, to initiate no inquiries into the activities and policies of the Whitlam Government?
Fraser answered yes to each question.
Ayres says that after this conversation Fraser ‘now felt sure of the outcome – though he did not yet have knowledge of it’. For most people this distinction is not plausible. Fraser now knew that Kerr was planning to dismiss Whitlam and commission him that very day.
But Kerr rejects Fraser’s version of the conversation.
There was a motive for Kerr to put these questions to Fraser – to ensure that his plans would be smoothly implemented.
If Fraser’s version is correct it means that Kerr’s solution to the crisis was now based not just on Whitlam’s ignorance but on Fraser’s knowledge. Whitlam would be ambushed; Fraser would be prepared. Whitlam was deliberately never warned by Kerr; but Fraser, according to his own version, was carefully warned by Kerr what to expect.
The conflict over this crucial conversation reveals that the disputes over the facts of the 1975 constitutional crisis are not limited to Kerr and Whitlam but extend also to Kerr and Fraser.” Pages 248-251
We now go to Sir John Kerr’s own book “Matters For Judgement” and let him have his say concerning the day of dismissal. On the 11th November after seeing Mr Whitlam, Kerr notes:
“I next spoke to Mr Fraser who confirmed that the position and the Opposition policy remained the same. I said nothing else to him about the situation.”
P.355 “Matters for Judgement”
“On my return to Yarralumla after the ceremony at the Stone of Remembrance I made an arrangement to the Prime Minister to come at 12.45 p.m. when he expected to be finished in the House, and for Mr Fraser to come a quarter of an hour later. Mr Fraser was not told why I wanted him to come.”
Ibid. P.356
After dismissing Whitam Kerr notes
“I now sent Captain Stephens to bring Mr Fraser to my study. When he came in I told him of the action I had just taken. Mr Fraser’s face revealed nothing of the impact this news must surely have had upon him.”
Ibid. P.364
Of course Fraser’s face revealed nothing for Fraser has subsequently admitted he had prior knowledge of the dismissal! He knew already!
“I offered to commission him as caretaker Prime Minister upon certain conditions. I said, ‘In accordance with constitutional principle you will, if you accept the commission, have also to accept the political responsibility for my decision to dismiss and later to dissolve.’ This had to be done without consulting Mr Fraser in advance.”
Ibid. P.364
Kerr tells a bald face lie that he did not consult with Fraser in advance! Why?
Paul Kelly makes a further note in his book “November 1975” page 249 regarding Kerr’s forewarning of Malcolm Fraser.
“After the Ayres book was published Kerr said in an interview with The Australian that it was ‘quite inconceivable that, at the very height of the crisis and after I had made my decision as to what I would do if the situation remained unchanged, I would on the telephone have asked him (Fraser) the substantive formal questions listed by Dr Ayers as having been asked …The notion … that I actually warned Mr Fraser of my intentions in advance is without foundation.”
“November 1975” P.249.
Another bald faced lie! Why would the Governor General who is also the Queen’s representative in Australia, as well as Commander In Chief Of The Armed Forces deliberately apply deception, that is untruths, to his dismissal of the elected Prime Minister of Australia? What is he trying to hide? The answer is truly shocking. What’s more, Malcolm Fraser is not the only one Kerr is having arguments with concerning the veracity of his statements. Kerr noted in “Matters For Judgement” page 358, concerning events when he dismissed Whitlam, shortly before commissioning Fraser, “ Things then happened as I had foreseen. Mr Whitlam jumped up, looked urgently around the room, looked at the telephones and said sharply, “I must get in touch with the Palace at once.”
Now one could forgive Mr Kerr a lapse in memory of events but now he remembers an exchange whose profound detail would have to be a concoction in line with the one concerning the denial of the four questions. Kerr goes on, “When he said ‘I must get in touch with the Palace at once’, I replied ‘It is too late.’ He said, ‘Why?’ and I told him. ‘Because you are no longer Prime Minister…” Page 358.
We do not have to highlight the blatant deception further for as Mr Whitlam notes in his book “The Truth of The Matter”, “Sir John says that I ‘rose and looked about for a telephone and said I must get in touch with the Palace’. This is a concoction and an absurd one.” Again “To imagine that I could have procured the dismissal of the Governor-General by a telephone call to Buckingham Palace in the middle of the night -it was 2 am in London is preposterous; to imagine that I would have done so is ludicrous.” Again “I had no knowledge of the procedure for making calls. I did not know the number of the Palace. I had no staff with me. He had his aides, his secretaries, his telephonists, his police. I was trapped in an ambush; my sole instinct was to escape …” Page 110.
Now under the largely undefined rules of the Reserve Powers, Governor- General Kerr would seem to have the power to dismiss Whitlam, it was up to his discretion and the prerogative was his alone, indeed under our Constitution the Queen Herself could not dismiss Whitlam! So if it was all perfectly above board and legitimate and obeying the rules of protocol, as Kerr would have us believe, why go into this elaborate maze of lies to cover it up? Because it was essentially an unconstitutional and thus illegal ambush of Whitlam, but the four questions were even more explosive than the dismissal, for they were relevant to Kerr’s position as Commander In Chief Of The Armed Forces. Those four questions - besides alerting Malcolm Fraser of what was about to happen and what he would have to do in his side of the bargain to make it stick - set the stage for the uncontested open invasion of Dili and the formal acceptance of the takeover of East Timor by Indonesia on the part of Australia.
The reader is about to learn from Malcolm Fraser’s new book “Malcolm Fraser The Political Memoirs” why Kerr lied so vehemently in word and writing concerning the making of these promises. There are three reasons, each one particularly pertinent to three of the questions and each one relevant to East Timor! The answer to the first question asked by Kerr over the phone - concerning the dismissal of the Prime Minister and the calling of a double dissolution and agreed to by Fraser- meant that Whitlam would be gone and Australia leaderless and so could not do anything about the Indonesian invasion of its close neighbour East Timor. Fraser was just a lame duck caretaker. The second question, would Fraser run a caretaker administration and make no new policy changes is answered by Fraser himself when he lamented in his book over the situation in East Timor, “ On the one hand, I abhorred the incorporation. It was contrary to everything we believed in about self-determination of peoples. On the other hand, I couldn’t change policy anyway in caretaker mode…”
Page 451. That second question by Kerr and its affirmation by Fraser supplied the legislative authority for the Indonesians to invade and annexe East Timor because as was further noted by Fraser, “ A fortnight before the full invasion, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had told him that it was vital to Australia’s long term relationship with Indonesia that he send Suharto a message that a Fraser government would not change the Whitlam government’s policy on Indonesia.” Page 450.
That supposed Whitlam Government policy was that Australia accepted Indonesia’s right to annexe East Timor, as purportedly told to President Suharto by Prime Minister Whitlam himself! However there is not a shred of evidence to support the fact that this conversation ever occurred, indeed the man concerned, Gough Whitlam vehemently denies it. According to Whitlam he made no such acquiescence to Suharto nor did the President request it and this foreign policy never existed. Suharto did not beg to differ. Yet Malcolm Fraser asserts his officials claimed to him it did. From his new book, Malcolm laments about the unchangeable Whitlam Government policy on Indonesia and how the officials used it then to appease Suharto. Concerning the orders to Fraser to send a letter to Suharto assuring the President the Whitlam policy on Indonesia would be maintained, “ I was being told that it was vital that I do this thing.” Thus began the tightrope walk of every Australian government since over East Timor-principle on the one hand and pragmatism on the other. Fraser was very reluctant to do what the Department of Foreign Affairs was recommending. After a phone call to the Australian Ambassador in Jakarta, Richard Woolcott, Fraser ultimately refused to send a letter but instead authorised the sending of a top-secret cablegram to Woolcott worded in the third person and authorising him to pass a message to Suharto.” Page 451.
This counterfeit Whitlam policy that ‘Indonesia could have East Timor’ was invented, manufactured and sent by the rogue officials to Fraser, yet he apparently perceived the evil intent and claims he attempted to dilute it. “Fraser chose his words carefully. “I was trying to say as little as possible. The draft came to me, and I remember altering the words to try and weaken them.’ Woolcott was to tell Suharto that Fraser recognised ‘the need for Indonesia to have an appropriate solution for the problem of Portuguese Timor…’” Page 451
We have to restate, if the reader didn’t believe anything was going on behind the scenes before, it should be clear now. Whitlam was not only deceived by rogue officials in the Departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs, but also by the head ministers of these departments concerning Indonesian involvement in the invasion of Balibo. Caretaker Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was then manoeuvred and compromised into okaying the invasion of East Timor to proceed by these same officials when they knew of covert Indonesian Special Forces war and bloody murder of Australians behind the scenes! That monstrous lie the ‘Whitlam policy on Indonesia’ facilitated it all, and Whitlam had to be kept in the dark and removed, because if he found out he would have come out in denial and repudiating it all and so spoiled it. So would have Fraser. Hawke. Keating. Howard. Yet the reality of the existence of that policy is maintained to this very day!
The Reserve Powers of the Governor General are largely undefined and thus can be abused. The highest Defence official in the land, Commander In Chief - and indeed also arguably the highest official concerning foreign affairs, Head of State -Sir John Kerr, as we’ve seen has been caught out in outrageous lies and unconstitutional and even illegal action. He asked Fraser over the phone and in person in writing, if he would make no policy changes, but the rogue Australian officials wanted Fraser to put the one concerning the ‘Whitlam policy on Indonesia’s right to East Timor’ in writing for the President of Indonesia, just for good measure. Such appeasement, no the correct term is conspiracy, by these Australian officials is truly heartless. As we saw it wasn’t Whitlam’s policy at all, but a monstrous lie and the rogue Australian officials already knew when they asked Fraser to send the letter, that Indonesian Special Forces had swept through Balibo, murdering Australian journalists and anyone in their path on their way to Dili. Then the ‘Whitlam policy’ became the key to Australian and thus international acceptance of the invasion of East Timor.
The next of the questions Kerr put to Fraser related to a promise of no investigation of the loans affair or a royal commission. As Fraser himself notes “ only months before he had called for a royal commission into the loans affair…” Page 304
For those who have visited the website of the upcoming book “Secret Ally” www.balibosecret.gwds.com.au the story of a massive arms diversion in the region of the ‘Coral Triangle’ that includes East Timor and Indonesia was summarised. This arms deal included Mirage jet fighters for Colonel Gaddafi of Libya by one Michael Murphy. The arms dealer would then attempt to lend Arab money residual of this arms deal to the Australian Government. The following National Archives documents taken from the file A1209 Part 6 were among many reproduced
MR MICHAEL MURPHY-MISREPRESENTATION OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT ARMAMENTS AUTHORITY
Transia
Motion in the Senate to Establish a Select Committee on Overseas Loan Raisings-October 1975.
Establishment and Report of Senate Privileges Committee on Overseas Loan Raisings-October 1975.
Possible establishment of Royal Commission.
15/10/75 75/3913 3270 (Mr Garland)-initiatives through Mr Michael Murphy, connection with Khemlani and Harris.
The above data are relevant to October 15 1975, the exact date of the invasion of Balibo and the blocking of supply as well as the loans affair, which precipitated it all. Kerr’s demands of promises from Fraser on 11 November 1975, three weeks before the invasion of Dili, which Malcolm acceded to allowed for:
1. No Australian Prime Minister being at the helm during the invasion of Dili.
2. A policy in place allowing it to happen which could not be overridden.
3. No investigations of the Whitlam government concerning the loans affair or any person involved including Tirath Khemlani, George Harris, Michael Murphy (thus the arms dealer or the financial connections and monies residual to the arms deal offered to the Whitlam government) or investigation of the Whitlam ministers involved in the financial transactions before and subsequent to the removal of Whitlam.
The guarantees given by caretaker Fraser to Kerr made for the perfect covert war and cover up. As Fraser’s book notes “Fraser understood this commitment not to pursue Whitlam and his ministers to be a permanent undertaking, applying not only for the period of the caretaker government, but for good.” Page 304.
Kerr stipulated to Fraser that the questions and promises between them were to remain secret and has always denied asking the questions or receiving the promises. However Kerr was unaware they were written down at the time, signed, witnessed and dated and existed in document form and that he would thus be caught up in blatant lies! Imagine if you could catch a Governor General out in lies used to remove a democratically elected Prime Minister of a large Commonwealth nation with powerful NATO connections and significant United Nations influence, install a lame duck leader and thus a foreign coup could be carried out in its region! That the price agreed to for the handing over of a little fledging country to the aggressor was the cover up of a massive arms diversion to an international terrorist. (See above website).
Like Malcolm Fraser, Sir John Kerr wrote his own memoirs and like Malcolm he should never have gone there. But what about clearing Whitlam’s name in connection with the policy that allowed Australia to accept the Indonesian invasion of East Timor? We would like to present a further quote from the great man concerning the charges of guilt levelled at him over the invasion from “The Cameron Diaries” page 520, recorded in May 1977. “Even when I can clear myself from aspersions by quoting documents, I don’t do it and I won’t do it.” He goes on to note he has the records of the letters and conversations he had with Suharto, “He went on to say these would clear him but, ‘I can’t produce the refutations being made against me without imperilling the relations between our two countries”
Someone should tell Mr Whitlam and he’s heard this before and its more valid than ever, “Its Time!”
Thirty five years ago five Australian based journalists disappeared at a beachhead named Balibo in East Timor, where Indonesian special forces wearing disguised uniforms invaded the country. Their bodies were never found (just a few ‘possibly human’ ashes and bone fragments) and a sixth Australian based journalist Roger East went looking for them. On being told by witnesses that the journalists were in fact murdered and cremated by Indonesian invaders, Roger returned to the capital Dili and attempted to get the truth out to the world’s waiting media.
What Roger learns is that a blanket Australian travel/media ban has been placed over East Timor, nobody can get in and he can’t get the news out or taken seriously. What he is unaware of is that the travel/media ban is a ploy to cut off East Timor and news of the Indonesian invasion of Balibo and the subsequent murders of the journalists, from the outside world. He is also ignorant of the dark and grotesque treachery that for months the Indonesian Intelligence and Defence officials had been briefing their Australian counterparts on the exact timing and agenda of the Balibo invasion and the Indonesian takeover and occupation of East Timor! That the Australian Government officials received a last briefing by their Indonesian counterparts about the actual Balibo invasion and the murders of the five journalists by the Indonesians! That the several briefings were covered up so that Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was kept out of the loop as to knowledge of the murders and Indonesian involvement and that he was himself in the process of being removed so that he would never learn of the appalling truth behind Balibo and thus interfere. That his successor, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was also kept ignorant, both men being fed the plausible disinformation that the East Timor independence movement was communist penetrated! That the Fretilin party and charismatic leader Ramos Horta were also communist! That the five dead journalists had been seen fraternising with and were actually taken to Balibo by these communists! That their deaths were thus their own fault, a product of their naïve sympathies for the communists, which resulted in them being caught in a crossfire in a civil war between East Timorese’ communists and UDT and APODETI freedom fighters, who wished for Indonesian integration to save them from the red menace! That the Indonesian military, staunch allies of the West, would at last enter the territory through Dili in early December 1975, annexe East Timor and eradicate this communist insurgency.
Roger East, the only Westerner who knew the real truth of the secret Indonesian atrocity at Balibo, unaware of the propaganda and the forces aligned against him, possibly believed as he watched the parachutes fall over Dili that he could get news of this further invasion and the atrocities he was witnessing out to a waiting world and help curtail it. The reality was (and is), as Roger knew, the East Timorese were not a communist people, but why would the Australians be in bed with the Indonesians in a lie to help them cover up Balibo and take over East Timor? Why would rogue Australian officials get rid of Gough Whitlam, a democratically elected Prime Minister, convince subsequent replacement Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser to let the Indonesians have their way in the territory and not get UN peace keepers involved, resulting in the deaths of thousands of East Timorese?! Why would subsequent Australian Governments and investigations toe the Indonesian line of the death of the journalists in civil war crossfire and that there were no intercepted Indonesian communications mentioning murder, when the 2007 Coronial Inquest into Brian Peters’ death would find the opposite was indeed the case? Why the Coronial Inquest would itself be banned from going near any question or evidence of Australian Government culpability in the deaths? The answer is these rogue officials were involved in covering up a massive armaments diversion being undertaken in the region of the ‘Coral Triangle’ of which East Timor and Indonesia are a part. That the arms dealer at the head of this operation was claiming a personal affinity with Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Dr Jim Cairns and access to and permission to move Australian armaments! The arms dealer also made claims in relation to finance for the Australian Government. An Australian Armament’s Authority violation and Interpol International arrest warrant was placed on his head, but Whitlam, Dr Cairns and new Treasurer Bill Hayden were unaware of these charges as they innocently and unknowingly had business interactions with the arms dealer!
At the time of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, October 1975, preservation and presentation of secret documents concerning the arms dealer - we reproduce herein - to Parliamentary scrutiny were being pursued, Senate Committees were set up to look into the documents that led straight to the arms dealer and a Royal commission to look into the matter was pending! Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen, the Premier of Queensland, in a Malcolm Fraser initiated investigation, was hot on the heels of the arms dealer in Europe! What stopped the presentation of secret documents to Parliament, the Senate Committee’s investigations, the Royal Commission and Sir Joh from finding the truth about the arms dealer? The answer is that the Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed from government and an assassination attempt was made on the life of Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelki Petersen, in which two of his staff were almost killed!
The invasion of Balibo and the sacking of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam were connected, for the Indonesians knew all about the arms deal that went down in the ‘Coral Triangle’ from their Intelligence sources. The cover up of the arms dealer within the Australian Parliament was achieved by the removal of the Whitlam Government and the locking up of the government files for the mandatory thirty year period, the standing down of the Senate Committees and the cancellation of the Royal Commission. But how did the Australian officials who knew all about the Australian Armament’s Authority violation and Interpol international arrest warrant out on the arms dealer and kept it from the Whitlam Government, stop the Indonesians from informing the Government? The answer is the price the Indonesians demanded from the Australian officials to maintain the cover up was the unconditional handover of newly independent East Timor to Indonesia with Australian complicity! It worked. To read the documents on the arms dealer that lay hidden for over 30 years and the real conspiracy surrounding Balibo one only needs to explore herein.
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