John Martinkus is a print and television journalist renowned in his native Australia for his courageous reporting from conflict zones.

He began reporting from Indonesian occupied East Timor

East Timor

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...

 in 1995 and set up base there permanently in 1998. His reporting for Associated Press helped sway international opinion and send in a UN peacekeeping force in late 1999 after the Indonesian military reacted violently to a UN held referendum in which 87% of East Timorese voted for Independence.

He reported extensively from Papua and Aceh

Aceh

Aceh is a special region of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Daerah Istimewa Aceh , Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam and Aceh . Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin...

 in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, two provinces which have also had long running wars for separation from Indonesia.

He also reported from Afghanistan and Iraq. In October 2004, he was kidnapped outside his hotel in Baghdad by Sunni Insurgents who released him 24 hours later after using the internet to verify his status as a journalist.

Publications

• A Dirty Little War, East Timor 1997-2000 (Random House 2001)
• Paradise Betrayed: West Papua's Struggle for Independence (Black Inc 2002)
• Indonesia's Secret War in Aceh (Random House 2004)
• Travels in American Iraq (Black Inc 2004)