East Timor holds a special place in the heart of older Australians who served in WWII. However, when Portugal all but abandoned their colony in the 1970s, the Indonesians (perhaps reluctantly) took their place. One of the arguments is that they looked to Australia for approval, and when this was given, without a full knowledge of the facts and with lingering cold-war thoughts, the Indonesian army took over East Timor, often with terror and violence. Australia, mostly led by Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser and their diplomats, then continue to hold the line that all was above board, despite having evidence that this was not the case.
This book is essentially a thesis of this position - that Australia was at least negligent and deceptive in their handling of the situation. It is packed full of facts. It is a bit dry, despite the difficult/sad story that it tells. I think that this book has formed the PhD of the author Peter Job. It's well done.

The book ends just at the time the Bob Hawke formed government. I was hoping that the story since then would be included; it does end up with Australian being forced to face up to the facts, to push for the East Timorese to self-determine whether they wanted independence, more struggle, For Australian/Indonesian relations to sour, and some strong action by the Australian military in support of independence. Towards the end money played a role, with Australia using some sneaky tactics when negotiating mining rights in the ocean between Australia and East Timor. For that story the reader will have to go elsewhere. ( )