- published: 19 Jan 2015
- views: 13723
Balibo is a town in East Timor situated approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the Indonesian border. It is located in the subdistrict of Balibo, Bobonaro District.
It was estimated by Human Rights Watch that 70% of the town was destroyed during the militia violence that preceded the vote on East Timorese independence.[citation needed]
Balibo achieved notoriety as the site of the killing of five Australian-based journalists now known as the Balibo Five, by Indonesian forces on October 16, 1975 during an incursion by Indonesia into what was then Portuguese Timor.
The town is home to a 400-year old fort, which was the scene of several battles during the Indonesian invasion in 1975. The Balibo Five were also filming from the fort when Indonesian forces landed in Balibo on the day they died.
The Balibo Declaration, which criticised the declaration of independence and was later used by the Indonesian government as partial justification for its invasion, was said to have been signed here but was actually drafted by Indonesian intelligence and signed in Bali, Indonesia.[citation needed]
As Indonesia prepares to invade the tiny nation of East Timor, five Australian based journalists go missing. Four weeks later, veteran foreign correspondent Roger East is lured to East Timor by the young and charismatic José Ramos-Horta to tell the story of his country and investigate the fate of the missing men. As East's determination to uncover the truth grows, the threat of invasion intensifies and an unlikely friendship develops between the last foreign correspondent in East Timor and the man who will become President. BALIBO is a political thriller that tells the true story of crimes that have been covered up for over thirty years.
Keywords: apathy, arms-trade, asthma, bandaging-a-wound, based-on-true-story, bearing-witness, brutality, church-bells, collusion, complicity