Thanks to the courage of eyewitness and a few intrepid investigative Journalists, these stories are not new, nor disbelieved.

Sadly the folks empowered to do something, anything, about these travesties, remain silent or indeed it would seem, complicit?

With trade deals and the mighty dollar shamefully taking first place.

Were this not so, this slow rolling massacre and abuse of the most basic of human rights,wouldn't be allowed to happen? Or the perpetrators held to account?
The case of rape as a weapon ought to result in the criminals being castrated as the only real justice?

And as evidenced in East Timor the perpetrators have form on the board, always providing the nation is small, friendless, and all but indefensible By the local population? with tanks, gunships and machine guns against primitive bows and arrows.

We've all seen some of the smuggled out video footage

I sincerely wish it could be otherwise!
Rhrosty.

A compelling article and inditement of the Indonesian Government.

Three problems:

1. Ethnic "mainly Javanese?" Indonesians might now make-up the majority of people in West Papua/Irian. Such transmigration is an intentional Indonesian policy. So West Papuan causes are becoming marginalised in that sense.

2. In terms of formally testifying the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands may be the logical venue and process to hear West Papuan evidence. BUT the legacy of Dutch atrocities during the Dutch colonial period in broader Indonesia and West Papua may make the ICC mysteriously reluctant to hear about Indonesian atrocities toward West Papuans.

The righteous Dutch dominated ICC may not want to risk dredging up past Dutch atrocities (including in the 1945-49 Indonesian Independence conflict). The Dutch tactic of cutting off a limb of one person per hut in Javanese villages (1945-49) etc.

The UN may be a better place.

3. Is West Papuan Independence a lost cause? What moral or international political help has PNG given? Would Australia want an independent West Papua to be a East Timor-like needy case (but on a larger scale?).

The appea$ers in Australia will continue to turn a blind eye toward$ the plight of the$e people.
Australia i$ not intere$ted in $aving the$e unfortunate$.

One wonder$ why?

Black people have never been able to create functioning, modern societies. My own personal explanation for this is that as a race, their intelligence levels are too low. That does not mean that there are no smart blacks, but they are too few in number, and intelligent blacks not posses the same moral principles which advanced western societies possess. Blacks are much better off being colonies of more advanced civilisations. West New Guinea is no exception. The only fly in the ointment is that they are the colony of a Muslim nation, but even backward Islam is preferable to outright barbarism.

The interesting thing about the critics of colonialism is that Indonesia was once one of them. But given the opportunity, colonialism denouncers like Indonesia don't mind indulging in a little colonialism themselves when they get the opportunity. This has been of great benefit to Australia. PNG has become a serious pain in the ass to Australia. It sucks up $500 million dollars in Aussie aid every year, and that is going to last into perpetuity. We can no longer afford to keep these people and their endless problems any more. It would be better for Australia to give permission to Indonesia to take over PNG.

This would have great benefit to the people of PNG who would like PNG to become prosperous, instead of the totally dysfunctional and corruption riddled society it has become. The Indonesians would enforce the law and would not tolerate the "rascal" activity which now makes the towns and cities of PNG into such dangerous places.

PNG is a rich country and it only takes a civilisation with some brains to make it into a profitable colony. While ever the black people rule themselves, most of the money, (and most of the aid money from Australia) is going to go into the pockets of the tribal rulers. The people in west New Guinea moaning about independence are just the Idi Amins, Julius Nyerere's and ATSIC's who only dream of becoming WNG's rulers so that they can become top dogs and plunder the place themselves.

I blame the British Empire.

G'day LEGO

You're so racist but so accurate.

Someone I know well was involved in organising highly technical international conferences some years back.

Numerous delegates from black Africa attended a particular conference. While the subject matter was beyond these African chaps, they had been flown in to stack the voting as ordered by a certain European country.

But these African delegates got bored. One of them spotted a particularly luscious blond Australian women working for the conference. On further inspecting her a couple of the African delegates formulated a plan.

They approached the Head Organiser of the conference (an Aussie bloke) and reasoned that his authority over the staff extended to renting them out for extra service. So they asked him quietly - the immortal question "How much for the Blond?"

This was also a conference at which a certain black American delegate (a senior political official) spent his time chasing two other Aussie brunettes around the conference secretariat room, a room even powerful black American delegates were not ment to be.

Goes to show the lusty need for white woman goes across color lines and can get messy.