VIVAnews - The Australian movie Balibo Five which had in the past aroused controversy will officially premiere in Jakarta today, Dec 1, without the approval of the country's censors.
Directed by Robert Connolly, the movie depicts about the killing of five Australian journalists by the Indonesian troops during a bloody conflict in East Timor (then Timor Leste) in 1975.
Organised by the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club, the screening will take place although Indonesia's censorship board, the LSF, has yet to decide whether to approve or ban the movie.
The film is also due to be shown in the coming weeks as part of the Jakarta International Film Festival, but those screenings will depend on LSF approval, as quoted from Big Pond webpage on December 1.
Despite minor publicity in the archipelago, Balibo Five issue emerged in Australia just weeks after the Australian Federal Police announced they would conduct a formal war crimes investigation into the killings on August 20, 2009.
Australia considered the Indonesian military had murdered Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie, Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart and Brian Peters in October 1975, aiming at preventing the newsmen from broadcasting Indonesia's invasion to East Timor in detail
Several high rank Indonesian military officials are targeted of being involved the death of the Australian journalists. Two of the officials are still alive.
The re-investigation of the Balibo case shocked the Indonesian government because it had been announced that no killings had taken place in the scene. The Australian journalists deceased during gun fights between the Indonesian troops and East Timor pro-independence force. For Indonesia, the Balibo case was closed.
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Translated by: Bonardo Maulana Wahono
