Air crash victims honoured today

Mark Forbes Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
SMH, March 7, 2008
FRIENDS, family and colleagues will place flowers and light candles in Australia and Jakarta this morning in memory of the five Australians who died in the Garuda plane crash a year ago.
Small ceremonies will be held at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra and Australia's Jakarta embassy at 7am Indonesian time, when candles will be lit about the same time the Boeing 737 overshot the Yogyakarta runway.
There will be no speeches, just an opportunity for the close-knit communities of diplomats, police and journalists who were rocked by tragedy to remember the five popular, respected victims. All were on the flight for a visit to Yogyakarta by the then foreign affairs minister, Alexander Downer.
At the embassy's entrance, guests will pay their respects before a plaque honouring the five. A similar gathering will be held in the foyer of the department's Canberra headquarters
Jakarta-based international correspondents will also gather this evening to remember Morgan Mellish, a journalist with The Australian Financial Review who perished in the crash. Plans to establish a scholarship for reporters will be announced.
It is just one of several ways in which the memory of their five - and their passion for public service and international work - will continue.
Friends and family have established the Morgan Mellish Foundation in Australia raising funds for international and local charities. The Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award has been instituted in the name of the diplomat, allowing young Indonesian and Australian journalists to explore and understand each other's nations.
Leading Indonesian students have also been the recipients of study grants named after AusAid's Indonesia head, Allison Sudradjat.
Twenty-one people died in the crash and the Herald journalist Cynthia Banham was severely injured. The other Australian victims were senior Australian Federal Police agents Brice Steele and Mark Scott.
Indonesian police want the pilot, Martowo Komar, to face criminal negligence charges.