Balibo

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Description

Balibo provides a unique account of the deaths of the five young television reporters who were killed by the Indonesian military as they filmed the advance of Indonesian infantry troops into the East Timor border town of Balibo in October 1975. This book tells their personal stories, and of their families' heart-breaking struggle for the truth. Jill Jolliffe argues that the Australian government was always aware of the circumstances of the killings, and that its cover-up was a key factor in Indonesia's decision to invade and occupy East Timor, and its subsequent long reign of terror. The author's quest to identify and indict the Balibo killers is intertwined with East Timor's recent tragic history. In following their trail, she uncovers evidence of another massacre in which hundreds of innocent villagers were machine-gunned years later. Part memoir, part history, this book is as much an investigation of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor as it is a case study of the Balibo killings.

Author Bio

Jill Jolliffe has been following the Balibo Five story for 34 years. She witnessed the first incursions of Indonesian regular troops into East Timor in September 1975, reported on the death of her five colleagues at Balibo in October, and was evacuated from Dili by the International Red Cross four days before Indonesian paratroopers attacked the capital on 7 December 1975. In 1978 Jolliffe moved to Portugal, where she continued to follow the East Timor story and to work as a correspondent for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, and the BBC, among others. She now lives in Darwin and reports regularly from East Timor.