The UK files on Indonesia show a range of remarkable UK policies by Conservative and Labour governments alike: support for the slaughter of up to 800,000 people in 1965, complicity in the invasion and occupation of East Timor in 1975, killing a further 100,000, and the covert operation to attempt to overthrow the Sukarno government in 1957-9.
Documents
Indonesia, 1945 (Mark Curtis files from the National Archives)
Indonesia, 1957-9 (Mark Curtis files from the National Archives)
Brief for the Chief of the Defence Staff, ‘Possible political developments in Indonesia within the next few months’, 1965 (click here)
‘Declassified British Documents Reveal U.K. Support for Indonesian Invasion and Occupation of East Timor, 1975-1976’ (31 documents, National Security Archive)
Articles
1957 covert operations
Mark Curtis, The covert war in Indonesia, 1957-59 (Extract from Unpeople, 2004)
1965 slaughters
Mark Curtis, The slaughters in Indonesia, 1965 (Extract from Web of Deceit, 2003)
Mark Curtis, Complicity in a million deaths (book chapter, 2004)
‘”Keep the Indonesian Pot Boiling”’: Western Covert Intervention in Indonesia, October 1965–March 1966’ (David Easter, Cold War History, 2005)
‘Indonesia, East Timor and the Western Powers’ (Nafeez Ahmed, Media Monitors Network, 12 December 2001)
‘How we destroyed Sukarno’ (Independent, 1 December 1998)
‘Britain’s role in ousting Sukarno’ (Independent, 5 October 1998)
Invasion/occupation of East Timor, 1975 on
Declassified British Documents Reveal U.K. Support for Indonesian Invasion and Occupation of East Timor, 1975-1976’ (Hugh Dowson, National Security Archive)
‘UK embassy lied over fate of Timor journalists’ (Guardian, 1 December 2005)
‘”Illegally and Beautifully”: The United States, the Indonesian Invasion of East Timor and the International Community, 1974–76’ (Cold War History, August 2005)
‘Britain covered up murders of 5 journalists in 1975 invasion of East Timor’ (Indahnesia.com, 1 December 2005)