Reluctant Saviour: Australia, Indonesia and the Independence of East Timor

Exposing the role of the so-called Jakarta Lobby--Australian officials whose policies supported the Indonesian military regime and public commentators who defend these policies in the public sphere--this inquiry contends that under their influence, the government of Prime Minister John Howard worked assiduously to support Indonesia's occupation of East Timor, trying hard to prevent a ballot of independence. That it was only pressure from activists and the broader public that forced the Howard government to send a peacekeeping force and reluctantly help East Timor to achieve independence is also revealed.