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Two years ago, the Australian film “Balibo” was banned by Indonesia’s Film Censorship Board ahead of its scheduled showing at a local film festival.

So although it received limited screenings, including by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), and enjoyed healthy sales in the pirate DVD market, “Balibo” never officially made it to Indonesian theaters.

The censorship board, known as the LSF, argued that the film’s account of the October 1975 murder of five Australian-based journalists in the East Timor town of the same name by Indonesian troops was one-sided. The official Indonesian government version of the incident is that the Balibo Five were killed in the cross-fire during the battle to take the town.

Tony Maniaty, who served as a consultant on the film, is adamant that the death of Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart, Gary Cunningham, Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie was no accident. He should know — he was a war correspondent in Balibo and left the town just days before the others went there. He advised them against going there, but to no avail.

“I wasn’t at all surprised that the film was officially banned, that was entirely in line with the long-held view of the authorities that whatever happened of a negative nature in East Timor over the years should not become widely portrayed or discussed within Indonesia,” Maniaty tells the Jakarta Globe. “It had long been a taboo subject.”

What gave the ban particular emphasis, though, was the fact that in September 2009, shortly after the Australian release of the film and two months before it was scheduled to show here, the Australian Federal Police announced that they were launching a war crimes probe into the Balibo incident. That was the first time “war crime” had made it into the official Australian vernacular on the issue.

“With the release of the film, there was a big rise in hopes in 2009 that finally, after so long, the Australian government was taking seriously what the New South Wales Coroner’s Court found, namely that the five were not killed accidentally in cross-fire but were deliberately targeted and killed,” Maniaty says.

“In other words, murder — a most serious crime.”

Since then, however, there has been virtually no progress in the case. Maniaty says this was always expected, given the reluctance of the authorities to strain the all-important diplomatic relations between Australia and Indonesia.

“There is a lot to lose if Jakarta and Canberra get wrong-footed over a probe on the Balibo Five,” he says.

“On the other hand, the Australian government is still faced with the alleged murder of five Australian-based journalists, so it’s not something that can be entirely forgotten.

“I suspect the unspoken view is to let the investigation proceed but not at any great haste, and well under the radar of media attention and public opinion, in the hope and expectation that relations between our two countries will eventually become so close and strong that no issue of this order could jeopardize them.”

AJI chairman Eko Maryadi says his association has long pushed for local law enforcement institutions to bring closure to the killings.

“We want the case to be resolved, for those who were behind it to be brought out into the open. We reject the culture of impunity,” he says, adding the AJI backs calls for justice in all cases of violence against journalists.

Bambang Harymurti, the Press Council deputy chairman, argues that with the AFP probe still ongoing, an Indonesian investigation cannot begin.

“The thing is, the Australian [investigation] hasn’t concluded yet, so it’s a bit difficult for us to push for one here without it,” Bambang says.

However, he believes that with sufficient evidence, those responsible may eventually be brought to justice, even though the incident took place 36 years ago.

Maniaty acknowledges the greater openness in Indonesian society and the media to address the case.

“What perhaps was surprising was that, once the Indonesian censor had banned it, the film was nevertheless screened widely and very publicly and no severe action was taken,” he says.

“It was as though the censor had been allowed to express one harsh view, while the authorities could be seen to be loosening their tight grip on discussion about the events in East Timor.”

That idea was brought home to him when, as a guest at the Ubud Writers Festival in 2010, Maniaty was allowed to speak freely and openly about the events of 1975, and had his views widely reported in the local media.

“This all indicates a much healthier attitude to what is, I agree, a very painful topic among the Indonesian people,” he says.

Nevertheless, the need for justice for the Balibo Five cannot be snuffed out, even 36 years after the incident, he says.

“Memories are prone to fade and are not very reliable after such a long time, so for that reason it may well be impossible to successfully prosecute on that basis,” he says. “But that alone shouldn’t stop the effort.”