Feature story – East Timor (Keryn Reynolds)
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In June this year, it will be 15 years since 52 unarmed Australian Federal Police
(AFP) officers flew into East Timor to monitor an independence ballot. Three
months later they were evacuated from war-devastated country racked with
violence. Their story has never been told.
In a quiet kitchen in Surrey Hills, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton
APM is planning a complex and protracted operation. It’s not a traditional police
operation; no search warrants will be executed and no one will be arrested. In fact, no
crime has been committed.
But like all police operations, this one is complex, requiring detailed planning,
coordination, funding and perhaps, most of all, determination.
“What I want to do is make a documentary about the first AFP
officers that went to East Timor. They went there unarmed,
initially to help people register to vote for independence, in a
highly volatile and dangerous situation. When violence broke
out following the vote, the AFP officers stayed. I think people
would like to know this story,” Graham Ashton said.
Graham Ashton
In September 1999, Australian’s watched vivid TV images of Major-General Peter
Cosgrove (now Australia’s 26th Governor-General) lead 2000 Australian soldiers into a
small, devastated country to the north of Australia.
By the time the Australian-led, United Nations International Force for East Timor
(INTERFET) entered the country, thousands of people had been killed and 400,000 East
Timorese – more than half the population – had fled their homes in terror. In a ‘scorched
earth’ retreat to Indonesia, soldiers and militia also destroyed most of the country’s
infrastructure.
BBC News Asia East Timor profile
What many Australian’s may not know, is that well before INTERFET entered East
Timor, 52 AFP officers had already been there for almost three months. They personally
Feature story – East Timor (Keryn Reynolds)
witnessed the destruction of a country and many were threatened, attacked or shot at
while undertaking their mission. Most of them have never spoken about their
experiences.
Peter Donaldson, a retired AFP Commander is planning the documentary with Graham.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t tell you the full story at the moment. We simply don’t have
enough information. We will only know the full story after talking with the AFP officers.
What I can do is tell you some of the stories we’ve pieced together from various
sources,” Peter said.
21 June 1999. Australian UN Police advisers arrive in
Dili (Reuters Pictures)
The first 15 AFP officers entered East Timor
on 21 June 1999. Over the next weeks, a
further 37 AFP officers arrived and were
deployed to small towns across the small
country.
The civilian police mission seemed clear but
far from simple: advise Indonesian police in
East Timor; assist with setting up the general ballot; help people get to the polling booth
so they could cast their vote safely; escort the Ballot boxes after the vote so they could
be properly counted.
Most importantly: try and do this calmly and professionally while violence continues
around you and the Indonesian armed forces, responsible for maintaining order and
protecting the people, stand idly by and allow the pro-Indonesian militia to keep killing
people.
According to newspaper accounts at the time, the AFP officers did remain calm. When
the UN building in Maliana was attacked by 100 pro-Indonesian militia, two AFP
officers were “hailed as heroes” after “repeatedly running from cover to drag” seriously
injured civilians to safety.
When Indonesian police fired on a thousand Timorese refugees camped in a schoolyard
next to the UN compound in Dili, AFP officers helped people climb over the razor wire
Feature story – East Timor (Keryn Reynolds)
fence into the compound and caught children being thrown over the fence by their
terrified parents.
East Timor 1999 Video
Later when AFP officers left the besieged UN compound in Dili to try and get food and
medical supplies from a nearby warehouse, they were ambushed and shot at by militia.
To date only one retired AFP officer, David Savage, has spoken of his experiences in
East Timor. In his 2002 book, Dancing with the Devil: A personal account of policing
the East Timor Vote for Independence, Mr Savage recalls hearing a live radio
transmission of a militia attack on the UN office in Liquica where three AFP officers
were posted:
“We’re running for the cars… the whole place is being shot up… we’re in the cars…one
of the vehicles is blocked… they can’t get out… we’re driving out the back through the
fence… they’re coming after us… the rounds are hitting our cars… my cars got a blowout …oh shit another tyre’s gone but we’re still going … they’re shooting at us we’re
being shot at from all round, all of the vehicles are taking rounds… we’re still mobile…
hang on we’ve got one shot, one of the guys has been shot.”
Liquica was over-run by pro-Indonesian militiamen and all UN staff and AFP officers
were evacuated to Dili. The civilian police officer shot that day was an American who
was soon evacuated to Darwin for medical treatment. Fortunately he survived.
These are just some of the untold stories of AFP officers in East Timor.
Breakout Box (see below)
On 9 March 2001, an Australian Group Bravery citation was awarded to the 52 AFP
officers who had served in East Timor. At the ceremony, AFP Commissioner Mick
Keelty said: “There were many instances of quite outstanding courage and bravery which
I am personally aware of. Many others, I am sure, are known only to the members
themselves.”
Feature story – East Timor (Keryn Reynolds)
Although Graham is a retired AFP Assistant Commissioner, he had no direct
involvement in East Timor in 1999. He has however spent a number of years in
Indonesia, first in 1995 as an AFP liaison officer and later in 2002, leading the
international team of police and forensic experts investigating the terrorist bombings in
Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australian’s. His determination to make this
documentary is driven by a keen interest in history and policing.
“The story of what these AFP officers did, how they did it and the extraordinary
resilience and bravery displayed by some of them, is a story not known to many
Australians,” Graham said.
“This is the story we want to tell. The story of 52 Australian police officers doing
something truly remarkable,” Graham said.
Keryn Reynolds is a former AFP officer who served as a UN civilian police officer in East Timor from
November 2001- June 2002 (kerynreynolds@gmail.com)
Breakout Box:
Newspaper reports
29 June
June – September 1999
AFP officers are hailed as heroes after rescuing seriously
injured civilians when the Maliana UN post is attacked by
100-militia.
5 July
A relief convoy, escorted by AFP officers from Liquica, is
attacked by armed militia.
6 August
An AFP officer is injured in Ainaro when 20 armed men
attack a UN staff member at a voter registration center.
30 August
When a local UN worker stabbed to death in Atsabe, two AFP
officers try to resuscitate him and later face ongoing gunfire
into their residence.
31 August
UN staff and AFP officers are trapped by militia at a
roadblock. UNCIVPOL Commissioner travels by helicopter to
Gleno to negotiate safe passage for the group.
1 September
AFP officers herd people to safety when hundreds of militia
armed with homemade guns and machetes clash with rock-
Feature story – East Timor (Keryn Reynolds)
throwing separatists outside the UN compound in Dili.
2 September
When a UN office near Dili is stormed and a militiaman
stands at the back fence with a “molotov cocktail and a
cigarette lighter,” an AFP officer calls for help.
5 September
When hundreds of women and children panic and try to enter
the UN compound in Dili, AFP officers help pass children
over the razor wire fence to safety.
6 September
AFP officers being evacuated from Dili are shot at while
travelling in convoy to the airport.
7 September
Indonesia declares martial law in East Timor. UN staff and
AFP officers are “trapped like rats” in the UN compound in
Dili with 1300 refugees.
8 September
AFP officers secure the UN compound in Dili. “It will be the
holocaust here if UN workers leave…they will simply kill all
of us as soon as you leave,” said a student leader sheltering in
the compound.
9 September
Water, telephone and power supplies are cut to the UN
compound by militia. AFP officers are ambushed and shot at
by 50-militia as they try to load food and medical supplies at a
waterfront warehouse in Dili.
10 September
UN staff and most AFP officers are evacuated from the UN
compound to Darwin. AFP officers are “exhausted, hungry
and traumatised,” with many having contracted malaria.
12 September
Five AFP officers remain in Dili as part of a 50 strong-UN
team. In Darwin, Justice Minister Amanda Vanstone says “the
stories being told by the police would literally take your
breathe away.”
14 September
After a 10-day siege of the UN compound in Dili, 1300 East
Timorese refugees are evacuated to Darwin. The compound is
burnt to the ground and UN workers, mostly unarmed police,
move to the fortified office of Australian consul in Dili.
20 September
INTERFET lands in East Timor to restore law and order.