Proud Indonesian - you have nothing to be proud about if you think the standard of operation in the abattoirs shown in the 4Corners expose is acceptable.

As for the comment "This knee-jerk suspension of animal exports are typical Australian hubris resulting from exaggerated sense of racial superiority over Indonesians. Some Australians think they somehow has the "leverage" to command Indonesians on what to do with Indonesian internal affairs."

Playing the racist card over this incident, I immediately sense the desperation to somehow try to mitigate, in this instance, the barbaric, primitive, unprofessional actions of some of your countrymen.

I believe you have confused "race" and "culture". It's obviously a twisted psuedo-religious cultural mindset on the part of some Indonesians that allows the maltreatment of the very animals God created for our needs and expects man to respect his creatures. This means a fast, painless demise.

I agree that this had been a knee jerk reaction that could have been far better dealt with by a boycott on any abattoirs identified as below standard. This action has affected and is hurting both Australians and Indonesians involved in the Live Export industry. That is regrettable and hopefully the issue can be successfully negotiated to ensure resumption of trade under acceptable terms.

Meantime, I would like you to lobby your Government to cease seeking and accepting Australian Aid if you have such strong feelings of pride. If not - get over it!

@divine_msn:

WRT the abbatoir standards, I myself am an animal lover along with millions of Indonesia who kept dogs, cats, iguanas, or whathaveyou as pets. However, Indonesians (especially those of Muslim religion) almost always slaughter cattle by slitting their throat and bled them to death. This is daily view during the Idul Adha (Day of Sacrifice), where millions of cows and goats got slaughtered this way.

However, never will Indonesian animal lovers "command" Muslims to stop their way of slaughtering. This is asking for trouble and offends religious sensitivity unneccessarily. As such, I don't think the Muslims would want to change their traditions just because some Australians say they should. Would Australians be willing to stop binge-drinking if some Indonesians told them to?

In any case, domestic cattle made-up 70% of our beef supply, hence most Indonesians barely even notice this "boycott".

So, good luck with your attempt to destroy an entire Australian industry for nothing. The cattle that are supposed to be sent to Indonesia are most likely going to get shot dead. I guess getting shot dead is "better destiny" rather than being slit in the throat in your opinion.

WRT to aid, I do agree Indonesian govt need to stop accepting aid offered by Oz govt. We do not need foreign aid, in fact we are banned from receiving World Bank aid due to our middle-income status. Additionally, receiving just a tiny insignificant aid seems to give Australians a laughable delusion that they have "leverage" to command and interfere in our internal affairs. LOL.

proud to be Indonesian, yes it was a typical knee jerk reaction from a government that is lead around by the nose from parties that are only interested in self promotion and not much else.

But what we saw on TV was scary and not very pleasant.

The way the world is going some things need to change, we used to slaughter without thought, then we learnt that killing the animal so that it is under no duress makes the animals easier to handle it also has a benefit of better tasting meats. Its also shows that we do not have to be cruel to eat.

To slaughter an animal in Australia you need a license, so that we know it is done humanely.

Maybe some of the ideas and systems we can offer will be of use to all in your country, like stunners they do not kill the animal then it has its throat slit and bleeds to death as is custom to some faiths
This is being humanitarian, that is part of our beliefs.Better animal handling facilities and such.

Do you think your population can be maintained or grow without good trade relations, not only with the cattle industry but with other trade as well, we all have to work togeather to get over this.

If we all work hard as we are doing in fostering bad relations with each other these minority groups are going to become so unruly that no-one will be eating anything other than lettuce!

Aah, welcome back Proud to be Indonesian. I suspected that this recent event and stream of threads would provide another opportunity for you to return and project your racism onto us.

As for your statistics:

"Indonesia buy[s] 70% of [Australian farmers'] cattle".

http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/affaoverview.html
Interesting statistic. According to our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we only export 65% of our cattle. How do you acquire the other 5%?

Furthermore, according to this source:
http://www.abare.gov.au/publications_html/livestock/livestock_07/beef07.pdf
(I'll dig around for an updated version, but this will have to do for now)
Live cattle exports (including those to Indonesia, which have been suspended) account for 5% of the total value of cattle production. It would appear, then, that the suspension of this trade - a knee-jerk reaction and a poor one, I agree - will not destroy our industry as you hope.

The following also puts your claims in perspective:
http://www.abare.gov.au/publications_html/acs/acs_09/acs_09.pdf
The table on page 164 puts the size of the Indonesian market in perspective. It looks to me like you've made up a few statistics and assumed that we are all too stupid to check them out. Alas, we're not.

@MickC:

Well, electric shock system is not cheap. The abbatoirs in the TV program seems to be one of small-capital businesses, hence they cannot afford to invest in the expensive electric shock system.

It is true, Indonesia indeed has very good trading relationships with countries all over the world. We export a lot, and as our population grows, we import a lot as well. However, trade need to be done in win-win basis.

As far as this cattle thingy, Indonesia has been supporting the economies of West Australia and NT by purchasing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of their cattle. In part, Indonesia is the one keeping "The Outback" alive. Then, all the sudden Australia decide not to sell the cattle to Indonesia.

Hence, it is clear it is Australians who do not want good relationship with Indonesia. If this is the case, Indonesians will just find someone else who can trade on a goodwill basis, rather than being exposed to uncertainty and arbitrariness of trading with Australia.

@Otokonoko:

LOL, if Indonesian business is so small, why does Australian farmers demanding millions of dollars in compensation from Federal government? Why are the farmers called this "a devastating blow to their indurstry"?

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/10/cruelty-claims-put-hurt-on-australian-beef/
http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/06/10/168761_local-news.html

You do not care about Australian farmers, do you? You would rather see thousands of Australians getting bankrupt, rather than missing an opportunity to act like old-time colonial power intefering in other countries' internal affairs?

LOL, fact is Australia is not sole producer of cattle in the world. We Indonesians can fulfill most of our beef demand domestically, and for the shortfall we can buy from a lot of other suppliers. Australia need Indonesia more than we need Australia.

Hence, as I said before, good luck with your attempt to destroy one of your own industries for nothing. LOL.