Sydney, September 10: Australia on Thursday admitted Indonesia was “surprised” at the sudden announcement of a war-crimes probe into the 1975 “Balibo Five” journalist killings but played down fears of a diplomatic row.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia and neighbouring Indonesia, which denies any wrongdoing by its troops, would deal with the development in a “calm and sensible way”.
“There’s no point beating about the bush, Indonesia is surprised by this decision,” Smith told public broadcaster ABC.
“We don’t regard these as issues that will disturb the fundamentals of the relationship,” he added.
Police on Wednesday announced the war-crimes investigation two years after a Sydney coroner found the Australia-based journalists were killed by Indonesian troops to cover up their invasion of East Timor, then a Portuguese colony.
Indonesia says the two Australians, two Britons and a New Zealander were killed accidentally during fighting with rebel groups in Balibo, a border town.
Jakarta on Wednesday called for clarification from Australia over the probe, insisting that Balibo was a “closed case”.
“We want clarification from the Australian government on what they call an investigation,” foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told AFP.
“The case is closed and should remain closed. We will not reopen the case,” he said.
The probe comes just weeks after the release of a hard-hitting film, “Balibo”, which shows the five being murdered by Indonesian troops.
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, a rebel leader at the time who investigated the deaths, said in July that at least one of the five was “brutally, brutally tortured”.
—Agencies