THE events in Canberra on November 11 1975 had implications for Australia’s foreign policy and international relations.

This was felt quite strongly in Jakarta, where Prime Minister Gough Whitlam had built a good relationship with Indonesia’s President Suharto and where the crisis over East Timor was rapidly escalating.

Australia’s ambassador to Indonesia at the time was the talented Richard Woolcott, who found himself in a bit of a bind when called upon to explain the shenanigans to a puzzled president.

“I was asked to go around to Suharto’s house and into his office, which I did, and try to explain it to him,” Mr Woolcott said.

“I went through all what had happened and tried to explain the appropriate parts of the constitution. I could see his eyes glazing over.

“But then he sat up and said to me ‘I can’t understand this. Why didn’t Mr Whitlam arrest the Governor?’

“I said ‘well, for a start under the constitution the Governor-General is the commander in chief of the armed forces’.

“That was just too much for him and he really couldn’t come to grips with it. He was sorry I think that this had happened because Whitlam had been the first prime minister to build up a good personal relationship with him.”

Mr Woolcott was subsequently asked by caretaker prime minister Malcolm Fraser to convey a message to President Suharto that he too attached great importance to relations with Indonesia and that he wanted an appropriate solution to the East Timor problem.

Non-use of force

“I was a bit reluctant to say that because this was a caretaker government, and there was no reference to the non-use of force such as Gough had insisted on,” Mr Woolcott said.

“So when I sought some elaboration I was called back a day or so later and told that Mr Fraser’s words stood by themselves — meaning no ambassadorial interpretation required.”

Mr Woolcott said all in the embassy understood the impact of what was happening in Canberra and how it affected relations with Jakarta.

“At a critical stage of the evolution of the East Timor issue we were getting no instructions,” he said.

“The Whitlam Government was preoccupied with trying to save itself and the whole constitutional crisis.

“Then in came the caretaker government that was not meant to get involved in policy issues.

“Fraser was really moving on with the same sort of policy as Whitlam, but I would have to say he was less explicit about the non-use of force.”

Interestingly, a subsequent Labor prime minister Paul Keating said only this week that if he had have been Gough he would have placed John Kerr under house arrest.

Perhaps Suharto was onto something after all.

Chris Johnson is a federal political reporter for The West Australian newspaper.