(Another episode in THE UNQUIET AUSTRALIAN series about the action packed life of Darwin agronomist Robert Wesley-Smith- humanitarian, anti-war campaigner, true democrat, supporter of many causes , dogged campaigner, chorister who refused to be silenced . The series derives its name from the fact that Wesley-Smith and his wife, Jan-Marie, flew into Viet Nam during the war and stayed in Saigon’s Hotel Continental in which author Graham Greene wrote THE UNQUIET AMERICAN .)
Fearing that the Indonesians were hell-bent on invading East Timor ,Wesley Smith on November 25, 1975 sent a telegram to the interim Foreign Affairs Minister, Andrew Peacock : DEMAND EFFECTIVE ACTION TO PREVENT INDONESIAN INVASION EAST TIMOR. Receiving no reply, he fired off another telegram , below, on December 2.
Fearing that the Indonesians were hell-bent on invading East Timor ,Wesley Smith on November 25, 1975 sent a telegram to the interim Foreign Affairs Minister, Andrew Peacock : DEMAND EFFECTIVE ACTION TO PREVENT INDONESIAN INVASION EAST TIMOR. Receiving no reply, he fired off another telegram , below, on December 2.
The telegram was unearthed by former top Australian intelligence officer and author , Dr Clinton Fernandes, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Studies , School of Humantities, University of NSW Australian Defence Force Academy , and recently posted on the website run by one of Rob’s twin brothers , musician Martin Wesley-Smith, also an activist . It carried the caption: Indonesia invaded a few days later just after US President Gerald Ford and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had flown out of Indonesian air-space. Note the scribbled "No action required". If Australia had taken action, perhaps the disastrous - from most points of view - Indonesian invasion and occupation of East Timor could have been averted.
The telegrams are proof of Rob Wesley-Smith’s involvement in the struggle for freedom for the beleaguered country from early days, never waining over 24 years , his concern and help for the nation continuing to the present day.
Peacock’s approval for the flight is said to have been given against advice from Foreign Affairs and that of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta . That last flight from Dili to Darwin enabled Jose Ramos-Horta , Roger Lobato and Mari Alkatiri to escape and represent East Timor internationally. The importance of this gesture cannot be underestimated . If Ramos- Horta had not escaped to use his diplomatic skills in the UN the East Timor cause, incredibly , could have been lost and the country could still be under the jackboots of the Indonesians , Australia sharing in the plunder of the oil deposits .
Rob Wesley- Smith says Andrew Peacock must be be commended for enabling that flight to take place as the Indonesian forces were bearing down on Dili. Aptly named LAST FLIGHT OUT OF DILI-Memoirs of an Accidental Activist in the Triumph of East Timor, Pluto Press, Australia, 2005, author David Scott ,OA, humanitarian aid worker , detailed his dealings with Peacock during that tense invasion period . While Peacock has been derided over the years, that vital decision to allow the Fretilin leaders to fly from Dili to Darwin required guts , and lots of it .
The telegrams are proof of Rob Wesley-Smith’s involvement in the struggle for freedom for the beleaguered country from early days, never waining over 24 years , his concern and help for the nation continuing to the present day.
Peacock’s approval for the flight is said to have been given against advice from Foreign Affairs and that of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta . That last flight from Dili to Darwin enabled Jose Ramos-Horta , Roger Lobato and Mari Alkatiri to escape and represent East Timor internationally. The importance of this gesture cannot be underestimated . If Ramos- Horta had not escaped to use his diplomatic skills in the UN the East Timor cause, incredibly , could have been lost and the country could still be under the jackboots of the Indonesians , Australia sharing in the plunder of the oil deposits .
Rob Wesley- Smith says Andrew Peacock must be be commended for enabling that flight to take place as the Indonesian forces were bearing down on Dili. Aptly named LAST FLIGHT OUT OF DILI-Memoirs of an Accidental Activist in the Triumph of East Timor, Pluto Press, Australia, 2005, author David Scott ,OA, humanitarian aid worker , detailed his dealings with Peacock during that tense invasion period . While Peacock has been derided over the years, that vital decision to allow the Fretilin leaders to fly from Dili to Darwin required guts , and lots of it .
The Cold War mentality with its associated domino theory belief was in play at the time and giant western corporations had carved up Indonesia . A warning was projected by various sources that a tiny , independent, left- leaning republic next to Indonesia and Australia could result in a "communist" base from which unrest could be spread throughout the region.
[While in Darwin in connection with the film Balibo, based on Jill Jolliffe’s book, Cover-Up, Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia , who played the starring part of reporter Roger East , reflected on the fact that the invasion had been justified, in some quarters , as denying Chinese a foothold in the region. Now, he said, everybody was there - China, Russian , representatives of many other countries and companies. All, it seems, keen to share in the oil revenues.]
Once the invasion took place, Rob Wesley-Smith and others in Darwin, including the internationally known freelance photographer ,Penny Tweedie , voiced outrage, banded together and formed an action group.. On December 10,1975, in a publication, THE NEW DARWIN, edited by John Ball and Peter Hancock, they ran a page about the grim East Timor situation which included Roger's East's last dispatch . Tweedie had been to East Timor on assignment before the Balibo Five were killed .
Once the invasion took place, Rob Wesley-Smith and others in Darwin, including the internationally known freelance photographer ,Penny Tweedie , voiced outrage, banded together and formed an action group.. On December 10,1975, in a publication, THE NEW DARWIN, edited by John Ball and Peter Hancock, they ran a page about the grim East Timor situation which included Roger's East's last dispatch . Tweedie had been to East Timor on assignment before the Balibo Five were killed .
From a secret location in Darwin's rural area, Wesley-Smith speaks to East Timor on the clandestine Radio Maubere ; with him is Laurentino Pires , whose daughter recently contested the first round of the presidential elections in Timor- Leste . ( Photo by Brian Manning ) . NEXT : Taking on the Australian government and what was the sniper on the roof doing in Darwin ?
