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Indonesia - Source: ONE News -
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Indonesia's censors have banned Balibo, an Australian-made film
about five foreign journalists who were killed by Indonesian troops
during the 1975 invasion of East Timor.
The killing of the so-called Balibo Five - two Australians, a New
Zealand national, and two Britons - has been a point of friction
between Jakarta and Canberra for years.
The men's families campaigned for the Indonesian officers alleged
to be responsible to face justice, with no success, even after East
Timor eventually won independence and Indonesia pulled out its
troops a decade ago.
Relations between the two countries soured in September when the
Australian Federal Police decided to launch a war crimes
investigation into the case, and Jakarta had already warned that it
would not welcome a showing of the film, directed by Robert
Connolly and starring Emmy-winner Anthony LaPaglia.
Indonesia's foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, sought to play down
tensions between the two neighbours.
He told parliament that the ministry would ensure the ban of
Balibo did not create further problems in relations with
Australia.
The head of the censorship board could not be reached for comment,
but his staff said a letter banning the film had been prepared. No
reason for the ban has been given yet.
Predominantly Muslim Indonesia has banned films in the past for
various reasons.
DVD piracy is also common in the country, however, and bootleg
copies of Balibo were already available in Jakarta.
The foreign ministry's spokesman, Teuku Faizasyah, said in
September that while Indonesia was open to foreign movies, it did
not want this particular film to be shown because of its rather
offensive content.
Lalu Roisamri, programme director for the Jakarta International
Film Festival (JIFF), said he had been told by the censors on
Tuesday that the film had been banned.
The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club, which had planned a
private screening in Jakarta on Tuesday, called it off.
Roisamri said in 2006 the censorship board also banned four movies
including Promised Paradise, a documentary about the bomb attacks
on the resort island of Bali in 2002, from the festival
screening.
An Australian coroner's inquest heard in 2007 said that Yunus
Yosfiah, a former Indonesian minister of information and still a
member of parliament, ordered the shootings, which took place in
the East Timorese village of Balibo, under instruction from senior
officers.
He denied the accusation.
Official Indonesian reports say the men died in a crossfire with
Timorese Fretilin fighters on October 16, 1975, as Indonesian
forces entered East Timor two months before the full invasion.
