Former Australia PM says not told of Timor attack

SYDNEY, May 8 (Reuters) Former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam told a court today he never saw intelligence that Indonesia would invade East Timor in 1975 or that Jakarta ordered the killing of five journalists at the time.

Whitlam, prime minister at the time of the attack, was giving evidence at a coronial inquest into the death of Brian Peters, one of five Australian-based journalists killed when Indonesian troops attacked Balibo in East Timor in 1975.

Secret Australian government documents released in 2000 showed the government knew in advance of the incursion and stood by for three days while Jakarta troops readied for the event.

A follow-up full-scale invasion in December 1975 led to 24 years of brutal Indonesian rule in East Timor.

Human rights groups said up to 200,000 people died during the takeover and subsequent decades of fighting and famine in East Timor, which followed Portugal's withdrawal from its former colony.

East Timor has since become an independent country, voting overwhelmingly in 1999 for freedom from Indonesia.

Giving evidence for the first time about the initial incursion and the Balibo killings, Whitlam, 90, said he had no prior knowledge of the attack or how the journalists were killed.

Asked by the coroner whether he had seen an intelligence cable to the Australian embassy in Jakarta dated October 13 which indicated an attack would begin on October 15, Whitlam said ''I do not recall reading that''.

Whitlam also said he did not recollect a cable from the Australian ambassador to Indonesia, Richard Woolcott, on October 15 indicating 4,000 Indonesian troops dressed as anti-Fretilin forces would be used in the operation.

Fretilin was an East Timorese nationalist group.

''I don't remember any passage about Indonesian troops disguised,'' Whitlam told the Glebe Corner's Court in Sydney.

Indonesian troops initially entered East Timor on October 16, 1975. Whitlam said he was not aware of any Indonesian military activity before the full invasion in December.

Whitlam said he had met Indonesia's then-president Suharto several times in 1975 and discussed the future of East Timor.

He said he stressed that while the best outcome would be for East Timor to be included in Indonesia, this could only be achieved through a vote by East Timorese.

Five journalists -- two Australians, two Britons and one New Zealander -- were killed when Indonesian troops attacked the Timorese town of Balibo on 16 October 1975. Indonesia says the journalists were killed in cross fire.

Asked whether he had seen an intelligence cable saying Indonesia ordered the killings, Whitlam said ''No''.

Whitlam said the first he knew of the killings was five days after the deaths on October 21 when he was told of an Indonesian military radio message.

''Indonesian military traffic that had been intercepted... was of a voice communication in Timor which said there were four white bodies in Balibo,'' Whitlam told the court.

Whitlam said the message was intercepted because an Indonesian officer had panicked and had broken radio silence.

He said he had twice warned Australian journalist, Greg Shackleton, not to go to East Timor.

''I told him that the Australian government had no way of protecting him or his colleagues,'' Whitlam said.

Reuters AGL RS1246