In 1967, the democratically elected government of General Sukarno in Indonesia was overthrown by a military dictatorship under the leadership of General Suharto.

President Suharto, an army general who had risen to power after an anti-Communist purge in 1965, was one of the West's most reliable allies.

In 1974, 'Operation Komodo' was hatched to crush growing Timorese independence groups calling for democracy. This was spearheaded by the Indonesian General Murdani.

Meanwhile in East Timor, Fretilin and the UDC - two pro-democracy parties - formed a coalition. Operation Komodo successfully infiltrated this coalition and undermined it.

In September 1975, Indonesian troops landed in East Timor seeking to justify their actions by describing the popular Fretilin administration as Communist.

In reality, Fretilin was committed to Timorese independence and had a radical and detailed programme for social and economic transformation, but it was not Communist.

Its largely Catholic socialist leadership was a coalition of nationalists, social democrats and nationalist- Marxists.

In December 1975, 1000 Indonesian paratroopers landed in the East Timorese capital of Dili.

The full-scale Indonesian invasion had begun - with the silent blessing of the West.

Their intelligence knew in advance every move the Indonesians were making through a top secret monitoring base near Darwin.

On 17 September 1974, the CIA cabled the following statement to Washington:

"Jakarta is now sending guerrillas to provoke incidents that provide an excuse to invade."