MARKING press freedom journalists from across East Timor have flocked to the town of Balibo to commemorate the death of five Australian-based journalists who were murdered there by Indonesian soldiers on October 16, 1975.
Known as the Balibo Five, the newsmen arrived in the small border town and witnessed the invasion of Indonesian soldiers across the border from Indonesian West Timor into the then Portuguese East Timor.
In 2007, an Australian coroner ruled that the Balibo Five had been deliberately killed by Indonesian special forces soldiers.
The official Indonesian version is that the men were killed by cross-fire during the battle for the town.
During a solemn ceremony at which candles were lit in their memory, Father Jovito Rêgo de Jesus Araújo, a priest of the Diocese of Dili, prayed for the five Australian journalists and said their deaths were not in vain as they tried to report a little-known invasion to the world.
“Their blood will inspire journalists in Timor to fight for humanity,” Fr Araujo said as candles were lit at the house in which some of the journalist were stabbed to death.
“Nobody (outside Timor) knew what was happening here.
“They come for humanity… and they were here for that reason.
“I hope that God will inspire by the blood of these five journalists, the journalists in Timor, to fight for humanity, to promote human rights, and to do the best to tell the truth because they died for the truth.
“I believe they are in heaven.
“And in heaven, they will pray for us.
“We ask God by the intercession of these five journalists, who saved themselves by their blood, who are scattered in this place, to inspire all the journalists in Timor to tell the truth, to build public opinion to educate people and journalism, to become a school of education of people’s rights.”
The Balibo Five working for Australia’s Nine and Seven TV networks comprised two Australians, reporter Greg Shackleton, 29, and sound recordist Tony Stewart, 21; a New Zealander, Gary Cunningham, 27, cameraman, and two Britons, cameraman Brian Peters, 24, and reporter Malcolm Rennie, 29.
While the men were aware that Indonesian troops were to mount an attack on Balibo, they believed that, as journalists, they would not be considered military targets.
Mr Shackleton was filmed painting an Australian flag and the word “AUSTRALIA” on the wall of a house in the town square.
Balibo House Trust, established in 2003 with funding from the Victorian Government and television stations Seven and Nine, now owns this house and preserves it as a community learning centre.
