And indeed during Indonesia’s genocide of East Timor the UK became a significant supplier of weaponry to Indonesia, selling fighter jets, frigates, surface-to-air missile systems, armoured vehicles and military communications equipment. Australia was also unique among western states in officially recognising Indonesia’s annexation of East Timor in 1979, a position it hoped would help it score lucrative oil contracts from the vast reserves off the coast of East Timor in the Timor Sea. When East Timor finally achieved independence, contemporary news reporting attributed it to the humanitarian spirit of empire, lavishing praise on Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, John Howard and others for helping install UN peacekeepers in East Timor.