The Fight for the Truth of the Balibo Five

The sky was slightly overcast that morning. Shirley Shackleton, aged 80 at that time, lost in thought beside a grave in the Tanah Kusir Cemetery, South Jakarta. Her eyes seemed puffy from crying.

She scattered flowers on the grave. On the tombstone, the names of the five bodies buried were carved: Garry James Cunningham, Gregory John Shackleton, Malcolm Harvie Rennie, Anthony John Stewart and Brian Raymond Peters. They were Australian television journalists and all died at the same time on October 16, 1975.

"They were killed on assignment. I'm here trying to bring home my husband's body," Shirley, widow of the late Greg Shackleton, told reporters in mid-October 2012.

Her husband's body was buried with his four friends in that grave for 37 years. Shirley had been tirelessly trying to bring him back home. Nick Xenophon, an independent Australian senator who accompanied Shirley, called on the new Jakarta governor to help Shirley. He also hoped for the truth behind the deaths of the five journalists to be revealed. 

For decades, the case, which is known as the Balibo Five, has come and gone.  It's unclear who killed them, and how and why they were killed. The Indonesian and Australian governments seemed to cover it up for the sake of maintaining good relations between the two countries.

Uncovering the Violations

In early September 1975, Gough Whitlam, the Australian prime minister, came to the Channel 7 studio where Greg worked to be interviewed about Australia's budget. In the dressing room, he met Greg who was very eager to cover the situation in East Timor.

At that time, the attention of the Australian people and government to East Timor was growing, especially after the Indonesian military occupied several areas there since August 1975. As a result of the occupation, the pro-independence Fretilin was forced to retreat from several posts such as Batugade.

Whitlam told Greg that the situation there was chaotic and dangerous. The area had been in limbo since Portugal's 1974 Carnation Revolution, which spawned two decisions for the colony: decolonization and democratization. After the revolution, the Portuguese left, which caused a turmoil in East Timor. Political parties flourished with their own goals: integration into Indonesia (the Timorese Popular Democratic Association or Apodeti), federation to Portugal (the Timorese Democratic Union or UDT), and independence (The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor or Fretilin). Meanwhile, the Indonesian military invasion turned everything for the worse.

"If anything happens, there will be no one there to take care of you," Whitlam told Greg, as he testified to the National Press Club in Australia in November 1995. 

A week later, Whitlam met Greg again and warned him, but Greg was adamant. Greg believed that the invasion had to be broadcast to the world, and that the invasion was a violation of the attitude of the Indonesian government itself, which previously through Foreign Minister Adam Malik stated their disinterest in attacking East Timor.

Revealing the truth of the Balibo Five is not a fight between Indonesians and Australians.

Greg then left with his two friends, Anthony and Garry, in early October 1975. Upon arrival in Dili, they met Tony Maniaty, an ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) journalist who had just returned from Balibo, a small town near the West Timor border, 10 kilometers from Indonesian territory. 

Tony told them that Indonesian warships were on shore alert, ready to attack Fretilin. He warned of the dangers of reporting but they ignored him. Along with two Channel 9 journalists, Malcolm and Brian, they decided to continue to Balibo to cover Indonesia's covert military operations.

Arriving in Balibo on October 13, 1975, they occupied a house inside Fretilin territory. "For security, the wall of the house had a picture of the Australian flag with the word 'embassy' written on it," Clinton Fernandes, a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Australia, told Historia. Three days later, right before dawn, the Indonesian military, dressed in civilian clothes, moved into Balibo.

In the morning, gun fires broke out. The five journalists climbed a hill to take pictures, but very soon were spotted and bombarded with shots. Terrified, they returned to the house. "That's when the soldiers found them. They were shot despite raising their hands in surrender and saying, 'Australia... Australia... journalist'" disclosed Clinton.

When they were shot, the journalists were in civilian clothes, but strangely, when their bodies were discovered several days later, they were all covered with military clothing. Their bodies had also been burned. The Australian government only found out about the incident on October 21, 1975. The Indonesian government declared the journalists were killed accidentally in a firefight. Whitlam, who approved Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, accepted this explanation. 

From Balibo, the bodies of the journalists were moved to Karet cemetery in 1975, and later moved to Tanah Kusir in 1979. In 1975, Shirley tried to bring her husband's body back, but the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs informed her that she would have to pay $48,000.

The Australian People's Objections

In contrast to their government's stance, Australians were questioning the deaths of the five journalists. Harbor workers called for a boycott of Indonesian ships, "until we have clarity on the deaths of our journalists," said the chairman of the Waterside Workers' Federation in Sydney. Protests intensified after Roger East, a journalist investigating the death of his friends, was killed in December 1975 in Dili. A visit by the Indonesian Journalists Association in 1976 was boycotted.

Four years later, as quoted by Kompas, October 20, 1979, Minister of Information Ali Moertopo stated that Indonesia wasn't involved in the death of the six Australian journalists. The Australian government confirmed the statement in 1996, and the case was considered closed. Relatives of the victims accused the two countries of covering up the case due to their support for each other in the invasion of East Timor. 

When John Howard was prime minister of Australia, the case resurfaced due to new testimony. Alexander Downer, Australia's foreign minister, ordered the New South Wales Coroner's court to investigate again in 1998. As a result, in 2007 it was stated that the five journalists were murdered. The court also proposed to bring the perpetrators to a war crimes court, but the Australian government didn't respond. Likewise, the Indonesian government believed that the proposal could worsen the relations between the two countries. 

"This is very strange. But it has become clear that the fight for justice is not a fight between the Australian people and the people of Indonesia or East Timor, but a fight against those who want immunity," Clinton said.

As a result, bringing her husband's body back home was impossible for Shirley. But, in front of the Indonesian human rights activists, Shirley said, "I won't give up."

Shirley Shackleton passed away on January 15, 2023. Her husband’s body remains in Indonesia.