Canberra, 25 February 1975
Portuguese Timor
Mr Anderson asked me to check with Mr Forrester about the draft letter on Portuguese Timor being drafted in Foreign Affairs, and asked if I would flag with Forrester the need for a Defence input and a sighting by ourselves of the draft which Foreign Affairs are to put before the Prime Minister, and, which Mr Woolcott would hand to President Soeharto this week.
I spoke to Forrester and also Lance Joseph. Joseph told me that the letter was out of his hands-it was now with Mr Rowland. The draft had been cleared by the Prime Minister. Some refinements were now being done to the letter and Mr Pritchett of Defence and Mr Jockel of no had been involved in its preparation.
Given the time factor of Mr Woolcott seeing the Prime Minister this afternoon and presumably presenting the letter for signature then, it was most unlikely we would see a copy of the letter until after the event.1
P. McELLIGOTT
[NAA: A1209, 74/7573]
- 1 A minute the previous day by J. D. Anderson reported his telling Joseph that ‘without knowing of [Foreign Affairs’] direct approach to the Prime Minister last Friday we had considered the possibility of the Prime Minister sending a Jetter to President Soeharto. The letter would as we saw it register the difficulties presented for us and for Indonesia by possible military action in Timor. However, this point could be made less direct by referring to discussions … in Yogjakarta last [September] and … the next meeting foreshadowed for the early part of April’.