The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club (JFCC) decided to “err on the side of caution” in canceling a private screening Tuesday of Balibo, a movie about the death of five Australian journalists in the then East Timor in 1975, said president Jason Tedjasukmana JFCC.
With the movie scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., Tedjasukmana told about 150 people assembled at the Blitz Megaplex at the Grand Indonesia shopping mall, Central Jakarta, that the club was informed late in the afternoon by Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest) organizers that the movie was banned.
“I haven’t received anything official but after consulting with our legal advisers, we decided it would be too risky because, while this is a private screening, it would be in a public place thus violating the law,” he said.
Tedjasukmana said producers John Maynard and Rebecca Williamson and director Robert Conolly decided they would not travel to Indonesia for the screenings.
The JFCC refunded the Rp 150,000 (US$15) ticket price, Rp 100,000 of which was earmarked for the Sander Thoenes Fund in memory of the Dutch journalist slain in East Timor in 1999.
The JIFFest organizers still have Balibo listed on their website, scheduled to be screened on Dec. 6 at 6.30 p.m. and on Dec. 10 at 3.30 p.m. at Grand Indonesia’s Blitz Megaplex.
Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman Rear Marshal Sagom Tamboen recommended Balibo not be screened in Indonesia.
“It will only hurt many Indonesians. The movie will only do irreparable damage to the [diplomatic] ties between Indonesia, Timor Leste [formerly East Timor] and Australia.
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