From Reuters, March 30: CANBERRA – An Indonesian cartoon depicting Australia’s prime minister and foreign minister as fornicating dingoes was “grotesque”, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Thursday as bilateral tension flared with Jakarta. Prime Minister John Howard acknowledged that… Read moreAustralia-Indonesia cartoon wars
As we observed in the recent case in Nazareth, the choice of religious targets by the “mentally ill” is not so apolitical as it seems. If nothing else, it reflects a zeitgeist. From Reuters, March 25: Thai Muslim killed after… Read moreReligious violence in Thailand
Another escalation in the ongoing struggle in West Papua. From AP, March 20: Calm returned to Papua Province yesterday after three days of tension following a deadly protest against a massive US-owned gold mine in the eastern Indonesian province. Police… Read moreDeadly protests and sweeps in West Papua
A rather ironic way to note the 20th anniversary of the “People Power” revolution that ousted longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. Those who marched in Manila to commemorate the revolution over the weekend did so in defiance of… Read moreState of emergency in Philippines
The latest escalation of the secret war in West Papua is even more eclipsed from the news than usual by the current hideous escalation in Iraq. But, as we witnessed in India last month, tribal peoples armed with bows and… Read moreProtests halt West Papua mine operations
Indonesia’s Environment Ministry is evidently caught between ecologists and nationalists demanding a tougher line on foreign corporate polluters and a judiciary that seems beholden to the corporate shadow government. The New York Times noted Feb. 17 that under the terms… Read moreIndonesians see “slap in face” in corporate pollution settlement
Multiple ethnic struggles in Indonesia made headlines over the New Year’s weekend. On Jan. 2, local police announced they have detained at least one man in connection with the New Year’s Eve bombing at a Christian market in Palu, Central… Read moreIndonesia: corporate-military terror in West Papua revealed
Well, more than 40 years after the damage is done, the government comes clean on the lies that got the US into the Vietnam War. We guess it must be official now that its in the New York Times. But… Read moreTonkin Gulf truth revealed —40 years too late
The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) is calling for support for a congressional letter to Indonesian President Yudhoyono now circulating in the US House of Representatives. The letter asks Yudhoyono to end ongoing military operations in West Papua… Read moreInvisible terror in West Papua
The Indonesian government and the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a peace deal in Finland Aug. 15 aimed at ending the local war which has claimed 15,000 lives in over 29 years. “This is the beginning of a new… Read morePeace for Aceh —and West Papua?
The Indonesian government has charged a local unit of Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s largest gold miner, with damaging the environment at its mine near Manado in eastern North Sulawesi province. The government also charged Newmont of Indonesia’s president,… Read moreNewmont Mining sued over Indonesia contamination
Another forgotten war is heating up: the Islamic separatist insurgency in southern Thailand. Thousands of Buddhists are fleeing the region, and teachers seem to be especially targeted for assassination, according to this chilling account from Qatar’s Gulf Times, July 6:… Read moreBuddhists flee southern Thailand
