Roger East and the Balibo Five: a long official silence

The culture of unaccountability

The sheer expediency of the official Australian response to Balibo (and Roger East) is not an anomaly. This tendency for grasping pragmatism in the pursuit of perceived strategic (or economic) gain has been repeatedly demonstrated by the Australian foreign affairs establishment from the Korean War to the Timor Gap and beyond. Therefore, access to the archival record is critical. The mere existence of Australia's Archive Act and Freedom of Information mechanisms (including the 30-Year Rule) delude many into believing that the Commonwealth bureaucracies are transparent. They are not.

Let us consider the documents that would have been compiled on Roger East's summary execution and the staggering atrocities committed in Dili (and throughout East Timor) in the days, weeks and months after the invasion. For example, how exactly did the Indonesian military first become aware of Roger East's presence in East Timor during the chaos? The film Balibo proposes a very chilling answer to this question. The suspicious non-existence of detailed documents related to Roger East demonstrates that it is not only the Indonesian military which can be cold blooded.

All Commonwealth files handed over to institutions such as the National Archives of Australia (NAA) are subjected to a classification system - this system decides how the file can be accessed (or at all) by a researcher. Yet it is ultimately the bureaucratic institution itself which decides exactly which archival files it will hand over. If a surrendered file does slip through the cracks it can still be continually “closed”, but its existence will at least be registered on the catalogue. If for argument sake ASIS hands over certain files (it is under no obligation) to provide information to the NAA about what they keep). Conveniently, the most important documents can remain tightly under wraps and their non-existence remains the shadowy property of the chosen.

Despite the Peters Coronial Inquest, various books and articles that suggest otherwise; they are, as those in “the game” would say; only the visible tip of the iceberg. Therefore, Roger East and the Balibo Five can serve to warn us all of that uncomfortable fact.