1975

The birth of a new independence
for a land finally unbound
The chance to build their nation
strong with pride on sovereign ground
Free of the yoke after centuries
of rule by a foreign hand
A time of excitement and celebration,
unaware of horror’s planned
From the west the darkness came
silencing the truth in Balibo
An illegal occupation
and we were fully in the know
We stood aside and watched it all,
our neighbourhood holocaust
In fact we backed this shameful act,
from our morals we divorced
Do memories really run so short
from our privileged point of view ?
Did we forget the Battle of Timor
that we fought in World War Two ?
Of Sparrow Force and guerilla war
we fought on Timorese land
There we stood and died together,
united in our stand
Tens of thousands lost their lives
to ensure our troops were saved
Their sacrifice protecting us
makes our betrayal the more depraved
So when Suharto’s troops rolled in
did we act in the face of aggression ?
Did we come to the aid of those that fought
and died for us without question ?
Did we respond when the Balibo five
and Roger East were executed ?
No, because politics means the rich shake hands
whilst the poor get persecuted
Politics means never doing a thing
less there’s benefit in it for you
Forget decency and humanity
Power and greed win through and through
Not only did they choose to ignore
the Timorese’s human rights
But they didn’t even care
when their own citizens were in the sights
That sniveling breed we call politicians
just stood back and did not a thing
Not one word of condemnation
Not one challenge did they sling
While a third of the population died
Suharto was wined and dined
To ensure that we got our fair share
of robbing the country blind
We were the first country in the world
to recognise Indonesia’s claim
upon a stolen land and people
and so we too wear the blame
Genocide and Australians dead
Yet no official interest will you find
As long as we could guarantee
the Gap Treaty would be signed
They sell the Aussie culture
talk of battlers and our mates
But their hypocritical word play
is just a big fucking disgrace
They take our reputation
and they drag it through the mud
Playing games of war with living pawns
getting rich off others blood
Trading morals in for cash
Turning our backs on friends in need
And they’ve shown they will not fight for us
for all they care about is greed
And then we send in peace keepers
to save the Timorese from themselves
But their just furthering Aussie interests
and putting our products on the shelves
Are these the sort of leaders
that we choose to be our voice ?
Are the actions they’re committing
those that we would do by choice ?
Would you leave others to massacre
because they’re in a foreign land ?
Why let devils decide for us
when the powers in our hands ?