Since its inception, ASIS had been involved in a number of projects designed to destabilise Indonesia’s pro-Communist president, Sukarno which, inarguably, resulted in the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Indonesians during the turmoil that followed. Now, undeniably supporting the recently-installed Suharto regime, ASIS continued with its clandestine operations across the archipelago, directed from the First Secretary Political Affairs office in the Australian Embassy on Jalan Thamrin, Jakarta.
* * * *
Andersen’s meeting with John Gorton had lasted just under an hour. The Prime Minister’s derogatory anti-comments during their discussion were not entirely in concert with the Director’s own position.
‘I don’t trust the bastards,’ the PM had reiterated, as Andersen recalled the somewhat undiplomatic statement being made by Gorton to the American Secretary of State, Dean Rusk on an earlier occasion. ‘And I am sick and tired of being reminded that we should be obligated to their so-called nuclear umbrella!’
The PM continued his diatribe. ‘It’s time we did something constructive about developing our own nuclear weaponry.’ Andersen remained silent, permitting the PM to vent. ‘We shouldn’t fall into the trap of believing that the Americans would keep their side of our treaty, the event of any nuclear threat.’ Andersen was aware of the heated exchange between Rusk and Gorton which had resulted in a searing recommendation by Rusk to Washington comparing the Australian PM to France’s Charles de Gaulle. The Americans were deeply annoyed with Gorton’s insistence that Australia should serious consider constructing its own nuclear arsenal at a time the USA was lobbying for a nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and pressing Canberra to sign.
John Gorton scratched at a phantom itch on the side of his cheek. ‘There’s no doubt about their intentions to remain the only player in our backyard,’ he continued. ‘This business of Washington urges us to crank up our efforts in establishing military cooperation with Jakarta. It’s just so bloody obvious. On one hand they don’t wish to be perceived as having any influence over the outcome of the Irian vote, yet they have all but guaranteed the Indonesians that not only the UN, but Australia as well, will support a pro-Jakarta outcome.’
‘We all know why Washington wants it that way,’ Andersen reminded him.
The PM continued to scratch as he considered the US Navy brief he had been privy to, even before assuming the leadership from the interim Prime Minister, Jack McEwen. ‘Well, providing the Americans with free passage through Indonesian waters for their nuclear submarines has certainly come at a price.’
Andersen sensed where the conversation was heading. Unbeknown to the general public there were two deep ocean passages that joined the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, both imperative for the undetected transit by nuclear submarines. The Lombok Strait was one such channel and the other, the lesser known trenches of Ombai and Wetar which touched the island of Timor, were more frequently traversed by US warships.
The ASIS Director was au fait with US submarines and the missiles they carried. He knew that currently, these boats were armed with the Polaris A3 which could strike any target within two thousand, five hundred nautical miles which placed most of SE Asia and China within range. Operating from the nearest submarine base located on Guam, nuclear-missile carrying submarines could choose between the Ombai-Wetar or Lombok passages to access targets in the Middle East, and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, saving some eight to ten days steaming time.
The Director was also aware, however, that the submerged passage of submarines through the Indonesian archipelago contravened the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, which provided that vessels passing through territorial waters were only entitled to the right of ‘innocent passage’ which obliged the crew to navigate on the surface and show their country’s flag.
The PM dry-washed his partially disfigured face with hardened hands. The scars were a reminder of a time when he piloted a Hawker Hurricane and had crash-landed during the war against Japan. Gorton’s face had slammed against the gun sight and windscreen mutilating his nose and breaking both cheekbones. He thumbed open the ‘OYSTER’ report Andersen had wished to discuss.
‘Are the Americans aware of our incursions?’
Andersen shook his head. ‘They don’t have any assets in New Guinea. Besides, even if it did become known that our Special Forces crossed into West Irian we would merely shrug it off as the delineation of the border is far from clear to either side.’ Andersen moved to reassure. ‘And we have a legitimate reason for our troops to be stationed in the New Guinea highlands. Apart from our UN responsibility to provide New Guinea with defence and security, it’s a perfect environment to train our men in jungle warfare, and preparation for their Vietnam deployment.’
‘And what about those engagements between our troops and the Indonesians?’ the PM wanted to know. Typically, Gorton was seeking confirmation of what he had been told by the Chief of Army.
‘Nothing that’s been relayed through our people in Jakarta,’ Andersen reassured. The SAS troopers operated under the strictest guidelines. Should Indonesian forces be caught crossing into New Guinea then they were dealt with expeditiously, their bodies buried deep in the jungle. In the event of any Australian casualties inside Indonesian territory, wounded or dead, bodies were never left behind to avoid the potential for political fallout.
* * * *
Having returned to his office, Director Andersen sat alone quietly chewing over the dramatic shift in Australia’s policy towards Indonesia since General Suharto had seized power, acknowledging that Canberra’s about face over West Irian to support Jakarta was in Australia’s long-term interests.
Andersen accepted the premise that whoever controlled New Guinea and West New Guinea had the capacity to greatly influence the security of shipping to Australian ports, this consideration soon to become paramount with New Guinea’s independence to be granted in five years. He had read his agents’ reports from Jakarta expressing the Indonesian military’s concerns that New Guinea would become a hotbed of rebel, if not communist activity, once independence had been achieved.
Andersen appreciated Indonesia’s tendency to suspect the West’s motives from a historical perspective. Jakarta secretly resented the United States and had done so dating back to when the Eisenhower Administration, obsessed with the eradication of the Indonesian Communist Party, had decided to attack and invade with the support of rebels in Sumatra and Sulawesi. The United States had provided funds, weapons, training and backed by the Seventh Fleet with air support out of the Philippines, had moved to overthrow the Sukarno regime. Incredibly, the plan failed. Then, in the following eight years, six US-sponsored assassination attempts made on President Sukarno left no doubt as to the Americans’ determination to expand their sphere of influence, displacing the British and French across SE Asia.
* * * *
Indonesia
HANKAM — Indonesian Defence Department — Jakarta
The Brigadier General signed the document then watched officiously as the order was sealed by a junior officer. ‘Ensure a copy is hand-delivered to Jalan Cendana,’ the Brigadier General ordered. ‘Inform the Palace Guards you are on the way.’
Alone with his thoughts the general remained at his desk contemplating the momentous increase in troop numbers across the restive territory known as Irian Barat. In preparation of the imminent Act of Free Choice vote his troops had engaged in widespread killing to annihilate Papuan resistance. At first, he had believed that last month’s aerial bombing of the Wissel Lake District had been successful, with more than fourteen thousand villagers fleeing into the jungle, only to learn that the event had hardened the Papuan resolve swelling the ranks of the resistance movement. He accepted that the three-thousand-strong Papuan Battalion formed by the Dutch in earlier times offered a serious threat to the outcome of the imminent vote to determine the territory’s future. These guerrilla units were collectively