Timor man.
Chapter 6
Canberra — Australia
John W. Anderson briefed the Prime Minister with the Attorney General in attendance. As the special adviser liaising between ASIO, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, and the Prime Minister’s office, it was his responsibility, inter-alia, to ensure that the country’s political leadership remained current regarding security matters. The session had not proceeded well.
The Prime Minister had exploded when the Attorney-General had dropped the bomb shell. “Jesus bloody Christ!” the politician hissed menacingly. “Jesus bloody Christ!” he repeated.
“Prime Minister, we will have an update within a few days and hopefully the report will not be as grim.”
The most powerful politician in the country glared furiously at Anderson. He despised cloak and dagger operatives even more than the career bureaucrats who controlled the public service.
“Are you telling me Mr Anderson that we will not have an update regarding critical defence information for at least another forty- eight hours?”
The liaison officer responded affirmatively. TheAttorney-General folded his arms and looked disapprovingly across the room at the senior departmental head.
“It’s not good enough John. Not good enough,” he intoned.
Anderson was not to be intimidated. His position was more or less permanent. Politicians come and go. He just wished that this one would go sooner than later.
“We have been successful in intercepting communications from an extremely high-ranking officer in Indonesia. We anticipate further intelligence regarding this source imminently, Prime Minister,” Anderson offered. The response was a cold accusatory glare.
“Get the Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Staff here immediately,” the Prime Minister demanded.
Anderson smiled inwardly. Everything was always immediate when the shit hit the fan. He sat waiting for someone else to make the calls.
‘Damn!’he thought, if only the government was run by qualified people. He had never understood how the archaic Westminster System had survived so long.
‘Why weren’t these people required to have qualifications for their positions as other government employees?’he had often asked himself. It would be highly unlikely, he knew, that an executive would be appointed to head a major corporation anywhere in the developed world without having first demonstrated the necessary qualifications and experience applicable to the position. And yet government had no such established criteria! He felt contempt for these politicians, running around in their first pin-striped suits as if they were ordained, rather than simply being representatives elected by an ignorant public. Anderson remained seated.
The Attorney-General left the office and issued instructions via the Prime Minister’s personal secretary. Drawing a deep breath, John Anderson then followed as it wouldn’t do for him to be so obvious, so apparent, especially in the presence of the one politician who had the real power to create difficulties for his organization. He stood within earshot of the Attorney-General and clasped his hands in a submissive stance, as if now awaiting further instructions.
Less than thirty minutes had passed when all three senior officers summoned were sitting together with the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General, the Director of ASIO and Anderson. The Prime Minister listened while the Armed-Forces Chiefs discussed the information which had earlier been passed to him.
“In short, the armaments have been confirmed as having been shipped from Timor. We suspect that the consignments were received and rerouted via Dili,” informed the Chief-of-Air-Staff in a calm, matter-of-fact tone.
Anderson noted the four rows of campaign ribbons which, in the Commonwealth, reflected real time, unlike their non-Commonwealth counterparts.
“Who is responsible?” demanded the Admiral who felt that the navy should, as the senior service, control all activities relating to defence. It was an ongoing battle to maintain the Navy’s position as resources had been chipped away, little by little ever since the Australian aircraft carrier had sunk one of its own ships, the Voyager, with an incredible loss of Australian navy lives. Incredibly, the tragedy had later been duplicated and the carrier had sunk an American warship during a similar manoeuvre. As always, while lost in his own thoughts, he was answered.
“We have been unable to determine that at this point in time, however the ‘think-tank’lads in Defence have offered the following scenarios,” responded the Air Marshal, happy to retain the floor and assert his authority in the presence of the P.M.
“The first assumption is that the weapons have been financed to provide indigenous groups in West Irian the opportunity to prove they have the ability to resist the substantial influx of Indonesian troops prior to the United Nations controlled plebiscite, or Act of Free Choice as the general public refer to the vote. I believe that all present would agree that to give untrained villagers sophisticated weapons is, in itself, a seductive move. If the Irian people wished to become pro-active in their quest for independence it would be more beneficial to their cause not to resort to armed conflict against Indonesia’s superior forces. Should sufficient passive resistance occur perhaps world opinion will support a rethink by the United Nations to prevent the territory from continuing under Indonesian control. We should consider that there is considerable support for a free and independent West Irian. This has come about not just because ethnically they are not related to the Indonesians but also this support stems from the regional concern that Indonesia may eventually wish to swallow the rest of New Guinea, once they are firmly ensconced in the western half of the island.
“They have been more than a little expansionist over the years and we should remember that Konfrontasi, had Soekarno succeeded, would have resulted in all of East Malaysia, that is, northern Borneo, falling under their control. Next would have been Singapore and perhaps even an attempt against the southern islands of the Philippines which have always been in dispute.”
The Air-Force officer paused, taking a glass of water, before he continued.
“As we are all too painfully aware, should Indonesia, or any other foreign force attempt to enter Papua New Guinea, then the Australian people would be obliged to send troops in to protect the country.
“There is also a high probability factor that the Indonesians are testing our resolve by positioning armaments along our northern corridors and may even be willing, God forbid, to push into Papua New Guinea if we appear to be overly receptive to their move.
“These, gentlemen, are the questions that this meeting must address and,” he added, “ask ourselves, why the Indonesians are sending weapons into the area, and what is their strategy behind utilizing these newly sourced arms supplies which have shown up during our own reconnaissance checks.”
There was stunned silence. The soft hum of the air-conditioning became evident as those present were struck by the import of what had just been imparted to them.
‘No,’they all thought, refusing to accept the information, ‘it was just not possible!’
Although the Chiefs-of-Staff had been briefed, none had actually paid any real credence to the initial reports. All present now knew that it was time to re-evaluate their earlier appraisals.
Again, they had been caught by their own complacency! They had erred by basically arriving at the same conclusion as the first scenario had offered, that small groups of armed tribes people were being supported by external interests. This is what they preferred to believe as this option was more palatable. However they had not been convinced that there was any real threat just because the Indonesians were pouring significant numbers of troops and equipment into the area. The possibility that the Indonesians themselves were positioning armaments from non-traditional