Downer will not be able to rewrite history in East Timor

If Downer believed that ''rogue elements'' of the TNI were abroad in East Timor it should have spurred him to press for their removal and for an international peacekeeping force to ensure that further rogue TNI behaviour could be curtailed.

The truth will come out and hopefully soon for the family and relatives of Lieutenant-Colonel Merv Jenkins, military attaché at the Australian embassy in Washington in 1999. Ashamed of its fearful prevarication the Australian government, for the first time ever, decided to withhold information from its United States allies. It chose to hide its knowledge of the involvement of the TNI in the bloodshed in East Timor, fearing the US response to its perfidy to the people of East Timor. Jenkins told his US interlocutors the facts to preserve the broader and long-term relationship. Found out, he killed himself soon after interviews with visiting Australian officials.

If Australia wants to have a reasonably healthy long-term relationship with Indonesia, unpleasant matters need to be dealt with.

Australia must examine its own role in this sorry affair in the interests of the health of our democracy, public service and parliamentary institutions.