East Timor News Digest 2 – February 1-28, 2010
- UN extends mission in East Timor - Agence France Presse
- UN extends Timor mission, cuts police ahead of possible pullout - Associated Press
- East Timor swears in new anti-graft boss - Agence France Presse
- East Timor anti-graft tsar sees long fight ahead - Reuters
- East Timor's graftbuster appointed - Agence France Presse
- Plot to vilify Timor rebel's lover cited - Melbourne Age
- Prosecutors seek big jail terms for East Timor rebels - Agence France Presse
- Defence concerns in East Timor political attacks trial - Radio Australia
- QC slams Ramos-Horta assassination case - ABC News
- Aussie expert adds to Timor case doubts - Australian Associated Press
- Video spotlights East Timor police abuse - Agence France Presse
- Are we really East Timor's heroes? - Real Matilda
UN extends mission in East Timor
Agence France Presse - February 27, 2010
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to extend the mandate of its mission in East Timor (UNMIT) for another year.
The 15-member body decided to extend the mandate of UNMIT, which expired Friday, until February 26, 2011 at the current authorised levels. It also endorsed UN chief Ban Ki-moon's intention to reconfigure UNMIT's police component with a view to its drawdown.
Nearly all of UNMIT's more than 1,550 uniformed personnel are police, and one of the mission's major tasks is to conduct a comprehensive review of the security sector, training, mentoring and strengthening the East Timor national police.
The council directed Mr Ban to report no later than October 15 on how to reconfigure UNMIT's police component, and no later than next January 26 on possible adjustments in the mission's mandate and strength.
Earlier this week, UNMIT chief Ameerah Haq said the former Portuguese colony had made "remarkable progress" since an outburst of violence in 2006, but warned the long-term goals of recovery and development may prove even more challenging.
She noted that "long-term security and stability will depend on development of a national police force that is professional and impartial and operates with due respect for the rule of law and human rights."
East Timor achieved formal independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a 24-year occupation by its powerful neighbour.
UN extends Timor mission, cuts police ahead of possible pullout
Associated Press - February 26, 2010
Edith M. Lederer – The Security Council voted unanimously Friday to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor for a year and backed plans to reduce its police contingent ahead of a possible pullout.
The resolution adopted by the council endorsed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's intention to gradually reduce the number of international police from 1,608 to 1,280 by mid-2011, as East Timor's own police force assumes responsibility.
The council asked Ban to submit a report on plans for the UN police drawdown by Oct. 15 and another report by Jan. 26, 2011 with possible adjustments in the mission's mandate and strength.
East Timor's Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres told the council on Tuesday the government agrees with Ban that the mission should remain in the country until 2012. He indicated the government wants it to withdraw at that time.
Noting that civilians and police from many countries are serving in East Timor, Gutteres said, "we hope that by 2012 they may return back to their families, after a successful mission."
The former Portuguese colony broke from 24 years of Indonesian occupation in 1999, when 1,500 people were killed by militias and departing Indonesian troops. After three years of UN governance, East Timor declared independence in 2002.
The small half-island nation in the Pacific, with a population of 1 million, has faced political turmoil and is still impoverished with chronic unemployment, but it is benefiting from large offshore oil and gas resources.
In early 2006, just as the UN was finishing its withdrawal, fighting broke out between rival police and army factions, killing dozens and toppling the government. Then, in February 2008, President Jose Ramos-Horta was nearly killed by rebel gunmen in an ambush.
Ban said in a report to the council earlier this month that he welcomed the commitments of all parties to ensure peace and security in the country, but he cautioned that "institutions are still fragile, inluding those in the security and justice sectors."
"How well they could withstand another major crisis remains uncertain," the secretary-general said.
He said many underlying factors that contributed to the 2006 crisis remain, despite measures taken to address some of them, including "tensions among the political elite, difficulties within the security institutions, poverty and its associated deprivations" and high unemployment, especially among young people.
The council resolution takes note "of general stability through further improvements in the political and security situation." It reiterates the council's call on East Timor's leaders to continue to pursue peaceful dialogue and "avoid violent means to resolve differences."
The council backed the phased resumption of primary policing responsibilities by East Timor's force and said UN police should continue to ensure public security until the country's police force "is fully reconstituted."
It called for intensified efforts to assist the East Timor force with further training and mentoring in order to improve its effectiveness.
East Timor swears in new anti-graft boss
Agence France Presse - February 22, 2010
Dili – East Timor's first anti-corruption commissioner was sworn in Monday during a parliamentary ceremony that was broadcast live around the tiny nation.
But on his first day in the job former human rights lawyer Aderito Soares was obliged to play down concerns that Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's government is not fully behind him.
"There is great political will from the government and all parts of society," he told AFP after the ceremony. "I see today as a very important moment."
Gusmao and senior lawmakers welcomed Soares to his new position with handshakes and hugs before a champagne toast outside parliament.
Soares was confirmed as anti-corruption chief after winning 40 of 65 votes from lawmakers on February 1.
A founder and board member of East Timor's respected La'o Hamutuk civil society organisation, he has pledged to plough straight into cases already with the nation's prosecutors.
East Timor's government has faced multiple accusations of corruption, implicating senior officials including Justice Minister Lucia Lobato and Finance Minister Emilia Pires. The government denies any wrongdoing.
In October, Sebastiao Ximenes, then East Timor's Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice, said a lack of political will had hampered the work of his unit.
Opposition Freitlin lawmaker Arsenio Bano has questioned what chance the Anti-Corruption Commission has for success if it does not have the unconditional support of the government.
"Given that (Gusmao) has ignored and obstructed the opposition's efforts in parliament to investigate allegations of corruption against his government, which institution will provide the checks and balances in relation to his governance of Timor-Leste?" he said earlier this month.
East Timor anti-graft tsar sees long fight ahead
Reuters - February 5, 2010
Rob Taylor, Canberra – High-profile prosecutions will not end widespread corruption in East Timor and a long public re- education campaign will be needed to fight graft and nepotism, the country's new anti-corruption tsar said on Friday.
Aderito de Jesus, to be sworn in next week as Anti-Corruption Commission chief after winning unanimous parliamentary backing, said he would immediately start reviewing cases in the hands of prosecutors, but successful convictions would not end the graft malaise denting confidence inside and outside in the country.
"There are great expectations and it is a huge challenge to get the public trust. We need to handle it prudently," de Jesus told Reuters in an interview at his home in Canberra, where he has been studying for a doctorate before returning to Dili.
"My reading is that there is political will from the government to tackle corruption. But we have to think of East Timor in 20 years time and we have to teach the people, because getting one or two big fish now will not be enough," he said.
East Timor became the world's newest nation in 2002 after voting for independence from Indonesia in 1999, triggering a violent backlash from pro-Jakarta militia groups that destroyed almost 70 percent of buildings, including houses and schools.
But eight years on the tiny country remains fragile. Widespread public anger over corruption could trigger a repeat of the unrest of 2006, when different ethnic groups warred with one another in part over limited access to jobs and economic opportunities in one of the world's poorest nations.
Presidential and parliamentary elections in mid-2007 resulted in former Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta winning the presidency and former President, Xanana Gusmao, leading a four-party coalition called the Alliance of the Parliamentary Majority.
But Gusmao's government, which faces re-election in June 2012, has been mired in graft accusations, including accusations last year that the prime minister's daughter won a multi-million dollar food-import contract on the back of family connections.
Massive task
While de Jesus's appointment has been welcomed by rights groups, he faces a massive task to tackle corruption and mismanagement that Deputy Prime Minister Mario Carrascalao said last year was draining up to 20 percent from government coffers.
De Jesus said his body would have wide investigative powers under the law, but would not undertake prosecutions like former ruler Indonesia's special anti-corruption body, known as the KPK.
East Timor's ombudsman last year complained that while almost 30 cases of corruption involving past or present government members had been handed to the prosecutor, few had actually made it to the courts.
East Timor is of the world's top growing economies, with real GDP growth of 13.2 percent in 2008, according to the World Bank. But Australia, a major donor, warned in December that growth was sliding, estimating expansion of 7.2 percent in 2009, and with the forward trend being down.
Gusmao's government is hobbled by weak budget planning and management, including of petroleum reserves and a related sovereign wealth fund worth around $3 billion, with around $100 million in new revenues accruing each month.
As well, a failed assassination attempt on Ramos-Horta and Gusmao in February 2008 has unsettled overseas investors.
The softly-spoken de Jesus, who like Gusmao is married to an Australian, said his agency had been given wide powers to confiscate passports and pursue suspects.
"We also need to teach the people in the schools, coordinate with the education department about fighting corruption, from the basic school to university," he said.
"We are only 1 million people, small unlike Indonesia, and I believe we can teach the people that bribing a minister is something they should not do." (Editing by Alex Richardson)
East Timor's graftbuster appointed
Agence France Presse - February 3, 2010
Dili – An academic and human rights activist has been named East Timor's first anti-corruption commissioner.
Aderito de Jesus was confirmed as Anti-Corruption Commission chief after winning unanimous approval in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday, government spokesman Agio Pereira said yesterday.
He is expected to lead the process of selecting other members to the commission, which has yet to be established.
Corruption has become a burning issue in East Timor, and Mr Pereira congratulated lawmakers for their handling of "such a sensitive decision".
Mr de Jesus heads La'o Hamutuk, a respected non-governmental organisation that monitors the performance of the government and international institutions operating in the fledgling state.
He helped draft East Timor's constitution and is doing a doctorate in international human rights law in Australia.
Plot to vilify Timor rebel's lover cited
Melbourne Age - February 20, 2010
Lindsay Murdoch – Lawyers representing Angelita Pires, the lover of East Timor's slain rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, say she has been "viciously vilified" by people in positions of power.
The lawyers have also described the refusal of East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta to testify in person at her trial in Dili District Court as a "serious denial of justice".
In a final submission to judges hearing charges against her, the lawyers said yesterday the court's decision to allow Mr Ramos Horta to respond to questions in writing denied Pires the chance to test his evidence by cross-examination.
Prosecutors have sought up to 20 years' jail for 28 accused, including Pires, over the alleged attempted assassination of Mr Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in 2008.
Prosecutor Felismeno Cardoso said Angelita Pires was a key player in the plot. "In her conversation with Angelita's subordinate, Angelita said that the two men, the President and the Prime Minister, must be killed and the murders made to look like a coup," he said.
"Angelita had great influence on Alfredo Reinado and he trusted her more than anyone."
Pires' defence team, led by Darwin barrister Jon Tippett, QC, told the judges there had been "no evidence or even barely credible evidence" capable of supporting any of the criminal allegations against her. The lawyers said "wildly flawed allegations" had been "thrown about by the prosecution like rubbish in the wind".
They said ballistics and medical evidence had destroyed the prosecution case that Reinado went to Mr Ramos Horta's house to attack him. The submission referred to a conclusion by a director of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Stephen Cordner, that Reinado and one his men, Leopoldino Exposto, were shot at close range, contradicting the official version that they were shot during a firefight at a distance of 20 to 30 metres. It said Australian Federal Police ballistics tests disproved the official version that security guard Francisco Lino Marcal shot Reinado and Exposto.
The lawyers said the tests showed that Reinado and Exposto were shot dead by different weapons, neither of them of the type possessed by Marcal. The weapons have not been found.
The submission alleges deficiencies in the evidence and the investigation, including that the court did not call any crime scene examiners, key evidence was tampered with, including Reinado's mobile telephone, the crime scene was inadequately secured and important evidence not preserved.
It said evidence indicated that unknown killers probably had a warning that Reinado would be at Mr Ramos Horta's house the morning of the deaths. Mr Ramos Horta was shot and seriously wounded at the front of his house but recovered after spending weeks in Royal Darwin Hospital. Mr Xanana escaped unhurt in a separate attack.
Pires' lawyers said the contact that did take place between her and Reinado before the attacks "disclose nothing more than an amorous relationship".
The three judges have 30 days to deliver their verdict. Their finding could stir new unrest in East Timor. Reinado, who received military training in Australia, was a cult figure for many of East Timor's youth.
Prosecutors seek big jail terms for East Timor rebels
Agence France Presse - February 18, 2010
Dili – East Timorese prosecutors Thursday sought up to 20 years' jail for 28 people including an Australian citizen charged over the attempted assassination of the president and prime minister in 2008.
Rebel gunmen opened fire on President Jose Ramos-Horta outside his Dili home in the February 11 attack, leaving him critically wounded. Gunmen also shot at the car of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who escaped unhurt.
Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed in the attack on Ramos- Horta and his followers subsequently surrendered.
Prosecutor Felismeno Cardoso said Reinado's girlfriend, Angelita Pires, an East Timor-born Australian, was a key player in the plot.
"In her conversation with Alfredo's subordinate, Angelita said that the two men, the president and prime minister, must be killed and the murders made to look like a coup," he told the Dili court. "Angelita had great influence on Alfredo Reinado and he trusted her more than anyone."
He said Pires had made several trips to the northern Australian city of Darwin to raise funds for Reinado's group. "Based on the East Timorese criminal code, these defendants must be jailed for 10 to 20 years," he said.
Peres told reporters outside the court the allegations were "completely baseless from beginning to end". "None of it's true, too many lies," she said, adding: "I'm not guilty."
Her co-accused include ex-soldiers from a group of 600 who deserted in 2006, triggering fighting that killed some 40 people and forced 100,000 from their homes.
The death of the charismatic Reinado, coupled with public distress over Ramos-Horta's brush with death, helped bring an end to the rebellion. Nobel laureate Ramos-Horta spent weeks recovering in an Australian hospital before returning to East Timor to a hero's welcome.
Defence concerns in East Timor political attacks trial
Radio Australia - February 15, 2010
Lawyers for a Timorese-born Australian woman standing trial over an alleged plot to assassinate East Timor's President say new evidence has come to light that further undermines the prosecution's case.
Angelita Pires and 27 men are on trial for attacks on President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao two years ago. After seven months of hearings the trial is expected to come to an end this week and the defence is concerned crucial witnesses won't be heard.
Presenter: Sara Everingham
Speaker: Jon Tippett QC, lawyer for Angelita Pires
Everingham: On the 11th of February in 2008 Jose Ramos-Horta was shot near his compound in Dili. It's alleged the rebel leader Alfredo Reinado led the attack. The President was seriously wounded and Reinado and fellow rebel Leopoldino Exposto were shot dead. Angelita Pires had been in a relationship with Reinado and is accused of being an indirect author of the attack. But her lawyers have consistently raised doubts about the prosecution's version of events. One of her Australian lawyers Jon Tippett QC says new evidence adds weight to a different theory.
Tippett: It simply smashes the prosecution case to pieces really. The fact is these two men were murdered.
Everingham: The prosecution's case is that both men were shot by one of the guards at the President's compound. But the defence has obtained a ballistics report by the Australian Federal Police which concludes that different weapons were used to shoot Alfredo Reinado and Leopoldino Exposto.
Tippett: Further, the man who is alleged to have killed them using one weapon could not have killed on the ballistics evidence. His weapon simply did not kill them.
Everingham: And now the defence has a report by the leading Australian forensic pathologist Professor Stephen Cordner. Jon Tippett says that report backs autopsies which found the men were shot at close range.
Tippett: We have autopsy evidence that the deceased were killed at between contact and 10 centimetres from the body which means that they were certainly not killed over 20 to 30 metres which has been the Government and prosecution position up to date.
Everingham: The defence argues the reports support the theory the men were lured to Dili to be killed. But Jon Tippett QC says the court hasn't accepted the pathology report and won't hear evidence from Professor Stephen Cordner. The defence is also still demanding the prosecution release autopsy photos, which have been published in East Timor's media.
Tippett: We're concerned that the fact that this case is concluding without important witnesses being heard. I'm speaking of eyewitnesses, forensic pathologists, crime scene examiners – these are the sort of witnesses who are missing.
Everingham: The trial has heard from about 130 witnesses over the past seven months. It's expected to conclude this week. The panel of three judges will have 30 days to deliver a verdict.
QC slams Ramos-Horta assassination case
ABC News - February 15, 2010
Sara Everingham – Lawyers for a Timorese-born Australian woman standing trial over an alleged plot to assassinate East Timor's President say new evidence has come to light that further undermines the prosecution's case.
Angelita Pires and 27 men are on trial for attacks on President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao two years ago.
After seven months of hearings, the trial is expected to come to an end this week and the defence is concerned crucial witnesses will not be heard.
On February 11, 2008 Jose Ramos-Horta was shot near his compound in Dili. It is alleged the rebel leader Alfredo Reinado led the attack. The President was seriously wounded and Reinado and fellow rebel Leopoldino Exposto were shot dead.
Ms Pires had been in a relationship with Reinado and is accused of being an indirect author of the attack. But her lawyers have consistently raised doubts about the prosecution's version of events.
One of her Australian lawyers, Jon Tippett, QC, says new evidence adds weight to a different theory. "It simply smashes the prosecution case to pieces really. The fact is these two men [Reinado and Exposto] were murdered," Mr Tippett said.
The prosecution's case is that both men were shot by one of the guards at the President's compound. But the defence has obtained a ballistics report by the Australian Federal Police which concludes that different weapons were used to shoot Mr Reinado and Mr Exposto.
"Further, the man who is alleged to have killed them using one weapon could not have killed on the ballistic evidence. His weapon simply did not kill," Mr Tippett said.
Shot at close range
Now the defence has a report by leading Australian forensic pathologist Professor Stephen Cordner. Mr Tippett says that report backs autopsies which found that the men were shot at close range.
"We have autopsy evidence that the deceased were killed from contact to 10 centimetres of the body, which means that they were certainly not killed over 20 to 30 metres which has been the government and prosecution position up to date," he said.
The defence argues the reports support the theory the men were lured to Dili to be killed. But Mr Tippett says the court has not accepted the pathology report and will not hear evidence from Professor Stephen Cordner.
The defence is also still demanding the prosecution release autopsy photos, which have been published in East Timor's media.
"We're concerned that the fact that this case is concluding without important witnesses being heard. I'm speaking of eyewitnesses, forensic pathologists, crime scene examiners – these are the witnesses who are missing," Mr Tippett said.
The trial has heard from 130 witnesses over the past seven months and is expected to conclude this week. The panel of three judges will have 30 days to deliver a verdict.
The ABC's AM program contacted the prosecutor in the case and East Timor's prosecutor-general but both declined to comment saying the case is still before the court.
Aussie expert adds to Timor case doubts
Australian Associated Press - February 12, 2010
Adam Gartrell – One of Australia's top forensic pathologists has added to doubts about the official account of the alleged attempt to assassinate East Timor's top political leaders.
Twenty-seven men and one woman – Australian Angelita Pires – are on trial in Dili charged with conspiring or attempting to assassinate President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in February 2008.
Prosecutors allege rebel leader Alfredo Reinado – Pires' then lover – led the conspiracy and an early morning attack on Ramos Horta's Dili compound.
Reinado and fellow rebel Leopoldino Exposto were shot dead during the ensuing confrontation. Ramos Horta was seriously wounded.
But the prosecution's case has been undermined by autopsy reports that contradict their claims that Reinado and Exposto were shot during a firefight at a distance of 20 to 30 metres.
Citing "burning and blackening" around the men's wounds, forensic pathologist Muhammad Nurul Islam concluded they were actually shot at close range. The defence have used the reports to argue the rebels were in fact lured to Dili to be executed.
Now Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine Director Stephen Cordner, a forensic pathologist of world renown, has thrown his support behind Dr Islam's reports.
"'Burning', sometimes referred to as 'searing' in forensic literature, is effectively a marker of contact or near contact gunshot wounds," Professor Cordner has written in a new report prepared for Pires' Australian lawyers and obtained by AAP.
"By using the word 'burning' and also the phrase 'close range', Dr Islam must be of the view that the shots... were not inflicted from a distance... and were inflicted from a range extending from possible contact to a distance of perhaps 10cm".
Professor Cordner says he could not make an independent evaluation of the rebels' wounds because the court has refused to release Dr Islam's autopsy photos.
"It seems to me that Dr Islam has done all that could reasonably be done (taking the photographs to enable independent evaluation of his observations) to discharge his obligations as a forensic pathologist in this case," Professor Cordner writes.
"That independent evaluation by another forensic pathologist cannot be undertaken is clearly not his responsibility."
After hearing from more than 120 witnesses, the Dili trial is due to conclude next week. The panel of three judges will then have 30 days to deliver its verdict.
Ramos Horta has refused to testify at the trial. Defence lawyers are still waiting for him to respond to a series of written questions submitted more than five months ago.
East Timor says yet to award Sunrise downstream contract
Reuters - February 11, 2010
Sunanda Creagh, Jakarta – The East Timor government said on Thursday that it still has not awarded a contract to any company to develop a pipeline or LNG facility from its lucrative Greater Sunrise gas field.
Australian energy firm Woodside Petroleum holds the exploration and exploitation rights of the Greater Sunrise field but the government said in January that it would not approve Woodside's development plan unless it also built an onshore plant to liquefy gas.
An official at the natural resources ministry told Reuters in January the government was considering approaching Malaysian state oil firm Petronas instead.
However, Dili said in a statement on Thursday that it had not entered into a contract with Petronas to replace Woodside as the upstream developer of the site.
The statement also said that neither Petronas nor Woodside nor any other company had been selected as the downstream developer.
"It is also important to note that the Government of Timor-Leste has not given any downstream contracts for the Greater Sunrise project to any company including Woodside. The downstream segment will include the contract for transportation," it said.
A Petronas official said in January that the firm had been advising the East Timor government on how the development of its gas resources should take place.
Video spotlights East Timor police abuse
Agence France Presse - February 1, 2010
Dili – The brutal beating of a demonstrator by East Timorese police in front of UN officers raises serious questions about the world body's training of the local force, an opposition lawmaker said Monday.
Opposition Fretilin lawmaker Jose Teixeira said a video of the assault that had appeared on the Internet showed such abuse was "happening with an unprecedented frequency and on an unprecedented scale".
The video shows a Timorese man being punched, kicked, stamped and struck with a rifle butt by police officers after President Jose Ramos-Horta had opened an international fishing competition on Atauro island in November.
The victim, Llhew Comacoshe, 27, is shown in the video holding up a placard related to a Timorese fishing group before he is knocked down by several men who appear to be uniformed and plain-clothes police officers.
United Nations police officers look on a short distance away but do not intervene to stop the assault. One of them appears to try to talk to his East Timorese counterparts but the beating continues.
"We will be proposing a parliamentary commission of inquiry in addition to any current investigations to review guidelines, regulations and policies for police use of force, including armed response," Teixeira told AFP.
"The use of force in the manner we have seen and heard of in recent cases indicates a certain consent from upper echelons, and some suspect at political level also. This must be investigated."
Complaints against the local police in East Timor occur on an almost-daily basis, the opposition lawmaker said, casting a shadow over the effectiveness of the UN training process.
"It makes us wonder what sort of training they have been getting, but it certainly is not a police service that is respectful of our citizens' constitutional and human rights," he said.
"Certainly the command and leadership of the police is brought into grave question after these events."
Gyorgy Kakuk, the UN's spokesman in East Timor, said a joint UN- East Timorese investigation had been opened into the alleged assault. "We are taking this matter very seriously," he told The Australian newspaper last week.
Are we really East Timor's heroes?
Real Matilda - February 24, 2010
Clinton Fernandes – Australia conducted two military interventions in East Timor during the 20th century and both have been falsely reconstructed into myths that vary sharply from the historical record. Our intervention in September 1999 against a rampaging Indonesian military has since been painted as a remarkable example of the Australian government exercising its so-called "responsibility to protect" the people of East Timor. In truth, the Howard government worked assiduously to prevent international intervention in East Timor until the bitter end.
But an earlier intervention by Australian forces has also gone down in history as a gallant effort when in fact it was anything but. When Australian forces landed in what was then known as Portuguese Timor in December 1941 it is widely assumed to have been in order to expel Japanese forces from the territory. In fact, Japan had no forces in Portuguese Timor, as Australian policy-makers knew at the time.
What is more, Japan had no intention of deploying forces to Portuguese Timor, which was a colony of Portugal – a neutral power during World War II. In its march through Asia, Japan had refrained from violating this neutrality in the other Portuguese colony of Macau. It was only after Australian, Dutch and British troops had deployed to Portuguese Timor, and violated Portuguese neutrality, that Japan decided to send its own forces there.
Australia had not shown any serious interest in Portuguese Timor before World War II. Very few successful Australian businesses had been established there, and trade links were almost non- existent. There had been a suggestion during World War I that Australia should take possession of the colony as a summer holiday location for northern Australians but in the decades that followed, Portuguese Timor did not feature much in the consciousness of Australian policy-makers – except on those occasions when rumours circulated that one foreign power or another was contemplating buying it from the Portuguese.
After the outbreak of World War II, Australian authorities became concerned that some Japanese businesses had been established in Portuguese Timor, which might well be used as a pretext for military intervention in the territory. However, although Japan had framed its rhetoric in anti-colonial terms, it had no intention of deploying forces to the territory.
The Australian Government, on the other hand, was interested in establishing a presence there. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, British authorities requested that Australia send troops to Portuguese Timor, claiming that Portugal had agreed to the plan.
The Australian government had very limited resources at the time but nonetheless agreed to Britain's request, while emphasising the importance of the Portuguese government publicly approving the mission. Once assured by Britain that all arrangements were in place, Australia ordered forces to land in Portuguese Timor, despite the fact that the Portuguese authorities had not given their approval.
While Australian forces were in the process of deploying, the Portuguese government expressed its public hostility to the operation. Suddenly concerned about the diplomatic blowback of the mission, British officials requested that the Australians not mention that Britain was in any way associated with the operation – even though the plan was primarily a British one. Although annoyed at being placed in this difficult position, the Australians complied.
The British government then proceeded to express its regret to Portugal about the action of "Allied military authorities on the spot", implying that it was not involved and that the entire operation was the result of decisions made by lower-level tactical commanders from Australia and the Netherlands.
On 12 December 1941, the Australian prime minister, John Curtin, received a cable from Lord Cranborne, Britain's secretary of state for dominion affairs. Cranborne advised Curtin that the Dutch had agreed to participate in an attack on Japanese forces in Portuguese Timor. He stated that the governor of the territory was being advised by his government in Portugal to "facilitate the task of the Dutch and Australian forces" that would be landing in Portuguese Timor.
The next day, Cranborne informed Curtin that the Portuguese government had agreed to accept assistance "in the event of a Japanese attack" against Portuguese Timor. He advised that the British had informed the Portuguese that Allied forces in the region "should be given wide latitude" because "the Japanese might act at any moment".
The obvious problem, of course, was that there had not been any Japanese attack against Portuguese Timor, nor was there any evidence of Japan's intention to mount any such attack. It was hardly likely that the governor of Portuguese Timor, M. de A. Ferreira de Carvalho, would be agreeable to the intrusion of Allied troops when the Japanese had thus far been so scrupulous in respecting Portuguese neutrality.
Despite this, the Australian government advised Cranborne that there was to be a "consultation" with Ferreira de Carvalho at 7.00am on 17 December, two hours after which "a combined force of Dutch and Australians" travelling by sea would land in Dili.
This "consultation" was, of course, merely to provide the fagade of having obtained Portuguese consent.
Conscious that such a meeting would no doubt be recognised as no more than a perfunctory gesture, Cranborne replied that "if possible a rather longer interval should be allowed to elapse between the time when the Conference at Dili begins and the time when the combined force arrives". The Australian government agreed and informed the relevant parties.
Immediately after, however, Cranborne informed Curtin that the reaction of Portugal's secretary-general to the operation had been "violently unfavourable". Cranborne urgently requested Curtin to ensure that Australian forces made every effort to reach agreement with Portuguese Timor before any landing was attempted. However, when the Dutch and Australian commanders met the governor of Portuguese Timor, he advised them in writing of his opposition to any landing of foreign troops:
"In reply to the communiqui which you gentlemen handed me at 9.20 am today, requesting me to accept the help of the Australian and Dutch forces, which will be directed immediately to the territory of this colony, I have the honour to inform you that, in accordance with the instructions from my Government in Portugal, I cannot accept this help, because the position with regard to the conflict is one of strict neutrality, and because no aggression of any sort has taken place in our territory, the last-mentioned being the sole condition under which the Government of Portugal could accept the help of Australian and Dutch forces for the Defence of the Colony. ...Under these circumstances every disembarkation of forces will be considered as a breach of the neutrality of our territory."
The landing, however, went ahead. Ferreira de Carvalho cabled Curtin in similarly unambiguous terms:
"The Governor of the colony of Portuguese Timor protests vigorously against the aggression, absolutely contrary to the principles of law, being carried out against this part of Portuguese territory, by Dutch and Australian forces."
The Australian government attempted to portray its intervention as being necessary to defend Portuguese Timor against "Japanese aggression" and to convince the governor that Australia was only trying to help. But an embarrassed Cranborne had to inform Curtin that the Portuguese government "would in no circumstance consent to Allied troops entering the territory unless and until the enemy attack had actually been made". Cranborne apologised to the Portuguese for the Allies' actions, implying that commanders from Australia and the Netherlands had acted hastily. The Dutch too provided Portugal with an official statement of regret, arguing that the landings were necessary "in view of the Japanese submarine activity off Portuguese Timor".
An angry John Curtin agreed with the standing British request to maintain silence as far as British involvement in the affair was concerned, but laid out the entire sequence of events in a detailed cable to Lord Cranborne in order to ensure that the historical record was preserved.
On the ground, a combined force of 155 Australian and 260 Dutch troops had landed near Dili on 17 December 1941 but, as Curtin informed Cranborne, "the position is most unsatisfactory" because the Governor of Portuguese Timor, far from going along with the charade, was in fact "organising troops to harass our troops and will certainly assist in any Japanese landing".
Australia's view, as expressed by Curtin, was that "Portugal should have been frankly informed at the beginning that in your opinion the occupation was based upon military necessity and that Japanese infiltration or invasion could not otherwise be prevented".
The facts of history are clear – even though the myth persists that Australia sent troops to Portuguese Timor in order to expel Japanese forces. The persistence of this myth may be attributed to a combination of ignorance, innocence, a benevolent national self-image, and subsequent portrayals of Australian troops fighting heroically alongside the people of East Timor against the Japanese when they did, in fact, eventually land on 19 February 1942. For the people of East Timor, the costs of this ensuing conflict were severe, with 40,000 to 60,000 people dying as a result.
The people of East Timor never received war reparations for their suffering in this conflict from either Japan, whose forces caused such devastation, or from the Allies, whose actions drew the Japanese to Timor in the first place.
[This is an edited extract from Zombie Myths of Australian Military History: 10 Myths That Will Not Die, edited by Craig Stockings (New South Books: 2010).]