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The Forum > Article Comments > Book review: A serious report of a serious Indonesia > Comments

Book review: A serious report of a serious Indonesia : Comments

By Duncan Graham, published 23/3/2006

'Indonesia: An Introduction to Contemporary Traditions': Indonesia is a nation dancing with democracy on the lip of the caldera.

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@BOAZ-David:

I think you should moderate your hatred of Muslims. Did not Jesus teach love and tolerance instead of suspicion and hatred? As I said, by law, all Papuan governors and district chiefs MUST be native Papuans, discriminating against non-native Papuans. All Indonesian military and police chiefs in Papua are always Christians. Native culture is more preserved and protected in West Papua compared with PNG, where it has been destroyed by uncontrolled entry of drugs, alcohol, and guns. Not only that, it is Indonesian missionaries who are most responsible for spread of Christianity in Papua. For instance, the Catholic archbishops of Manokwari and Merauke are both Javanese Catholics.

If there are Muslim transmigrants to Papua such as Buginese, Javanese, or Makassarese, they never seek to convert people to Islam, but they were there to relieve overpopulation problems in their home provinces. Not only did these Muslim transmigrants successfully turn Papua into a rice-bowl area for Eastern Indonesia, they are also at the crux of local economic development, giving employment to many native Papuans.

Papuan separatism has got nothing to do with religion, but with some Papuans' primitive inability to accept people from different race/ethnicity living amongst them. Just like how the Nazis were unwilling to accept Jews living amongst Germans. If you think we Indonesian Christians sympathise with these primitive Papuan separatists, you are greatly mistaken, as we Indonesian Christians are extremely loyal to Indonesia and its founding ideology of Pancasila, where no one religion is put above others.

Indeed the 1965-66 anti-communist purge was done to defeat an attempt by Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) to turn Indonesian into a godless communist state. The ferocity of this "counter-revolution" is caused by strong memories of a previous abortive communist rebellion, the 1948 Madiun "Soviet Republic" rebellion, when the PKI murdered many nationalist soldiers and Islamic clerics while we were still fighting the war of independence.

A common misconception is that the 1965 violence was targetted at ethnic-Chinese community, while the fact is nearly all the victims of this counter-revolution were native Indonesians, since PKI almost exclusively consisted of native Indonesians.
Posted by Proud to be Indonesian, Wednesday, 29 March 2006 11:06:13 AM
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Thanks again Viking for underlining my point - you have a happy knack of saying exactly what I expect you to say.

>>So Pericles, because we, as Australians, have a somewhat tarnished record of past relations with Aboriginals in our portfolio ...we shouldn't comment?<<

Of course we should comment. And observe. And form opinions. And make those opinions known.

What we cannot do is lecture other countries from a position of moral rectitude.

Further, none of us has the full picture. Heck, we don't even have the full picture on what we do in this country on a daily basis.

Fact is, we receive our information from sources that might not be entirely unbiased. Or from sources that might not be too careful how they string those facts together (I'm thinking Channel Nine News here), and instead prefer to go for the simple sound-bite over detailed analysis. Or from random observations that pander to our particular prejudices.

So stop with the hectoring, and start with the listening.

Boaz, this is confusing:

>>I'll resist the temptation to explore the injustice done to the Irish by Anglican Land grabbers from England :) or.. is that comment also also 'cock-eyed' ?<<

Are you suggesting that I have at some stage defended these folk?
Posted by Pericles, Wednesday, 29 March 2006 4:34:57 PM
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