P2BI
you certainly are the master of 'colorful' posts :) I enjoy your rants actually... because you give a very different flavor to this forum.
I think you tend to use 'mine is bigger than yours' kinds of words too much.. you will do better and be more accepted to just speak normally without the adjectives like 'Brilliant' decision of Pres Habibi.

On East Timur, I have explained some of the reasons we went there. I probably don't know them all, as often this kind of thing is kept in the inner circle of government. We don't really need to have a little adventure in East Timor to make us feel like hero's.. we have enough memories and traditions from the various wars we have been involved in. Be thankful for our involvement in the last world war, as it probably helped save Indonesia from Japanese domination, and then you would not have had the opportunity to fight the Dutch and form a nation.
I agree that there were many heroic things done by the Indonesian resistance during that time. Though I don't know in detail.

As for how 'we' are regarded in S.E. Asia.. well its not quite as you describe. In some cases or some circles its probably true, but the man in the street still calls me 'Tuan'.. not that I like it or need it.

The educated Malaysians are very approachable and they love interacting with someone from the place where many of them did their study. This includes Muslims also.

Anyway.. my son is bugging me to take him to soccer, so have to cut this short.. keep making contributions, I'm sure that after some more there will be a friendlier feeling at your end ok :)

Moga2 Tuhan memberkati, dan mengiringi P2BI senantiasa.

@antigone:

So it is your word against the conclusive result of joint FBI-Indonesian police investigation? And you expect people to believe you and take your words as truth, just bcoz you said it? While your clearly biased statements are long in fantastic accusations and short in evidence? LOL I hope you are not intending to becoming a lawyer.

For obvious reasons, I absolutely trust the FBI and Indonesian police instead of the words of some anonymous online character.

@BOAZ:

Actually for Indonesians, World War II was a meaningless clash between greedy imperialists, which was exploited successfully by Indonesian nationalists to gain our independence. If you want honesty, WWII indeed was just greedy imperialists fighting each other, although the European war became something else thanks to Hitler's Holocaust.

The Japanese army destroyed 300-year-old Dutch colonialism in three months and train Indonesian youths in military skills, creating embryo of Indonesian army that won the war of independence later on. By collaborating with the Japanese, Sukarno (who was released from decade-long Dutch imprisonment by the Japanese army) managed to spread Indonesian national conciousness to the masses. The American atomic bomb in turn destroyed Japanese domination.

When the British Allied forces tried to re-establish Dutch administration after the surrender, Indonesian army fought back, killing 1200 British and Indian soldiers in one year, while 500 more went missing or deserted. Indonesian fighters managed to kill two British and one Indian generals: Brigadier AWS Mallaby, Brigadier Robert Loden-Symonds (the jumpmaster of the Arnhem section of Operation Market-Garden), and Brigadier Sarbjit Singh Kalha. Due to this heavy losses, the British decided not to disturb Indonesian independence. The Dutch then sent 100,000 soldiers to Indonesia, launching the largest military ops in Dutch history to destroy Indonesian independence. But, after losing 3000 men (and the wasteful diversion of billions in Marshall Aid money originally meant to rebuilt devastated Holland) the Dutch ultimately failed and withdrew in failure in 1949. For this to happen, approximately 60,000 Indonesians gave up their lives!

Indonesian owes its independence to no-one but to itself!

US accused of Freeport cover-up
By Tim Johnston
BBC, Jakarta

The US government has been accused of involvement in covering up the real culprits behind a fatal attack in Indonesia's Papua province in 2002.
Two American teachers and an Indonesian were shot dead near the Freeport mine during an ambush.

An FBI investigation concluded in June that Papuan separatists were behind the murders.

But a group of Indonesian rights groups now say other evidence points towards the involvement of the Indonesian army.

The two teachers and an Indonesian colleague were killed when a group of gunmen ambushed their cars on the way back from a picnic.

In June, the US Justice Department said their investigation had concluded the three were killed by Papuan separatists, but critics believe the Indonesian army was behind the killings.

An initial investigation by the Indonesian police pointed to army involvement, but the army investigated the allegations and found itself innocent.

In a statement released on Wednesday, three Papua-based NGOs accused the US Justice Department of ignoring key pieces of evidence that pointed to the army's involvement.

They say the man accused of the killings, Anthonius Wamang, was co-operating with the military at the time of the killings, and admitted getting ammunition used in the attack from army personnel.

The US Congress has made resumption of assistance to the Indonesian army dependent on a satisfactory outcome from the investigation.

The Indonesian NGOs accused the US government of suppressing the evidence against the army in the interests of resuming co-operation in the war against terror.

The US Embassy in Jakarta declined to comment on the allegations, which threaten to re-open old differences between Washington and Jakarta

One question to PTBI,

Why not give independence to West Papua?

@antigone:

LOL trusting the wild and completely biased accusations of unknown NGOs that are completely without any evidence over the conclusive investigation of FBI, US Justice Department and Indonesian police is like investing all your money in Baghdad stock exchange instead of in a high-return superannuation fund. This just goes to show your immaturity and low level of intelligence.

Face the truth, boy : your beloved Papuan separatists are nothing but a small bunch of barbaric civilian-murdering ape-men who do not have any sense of appreciation for human life, clearly shown by their cold-blooded murder of two American and one Indonesian teacher in 2002.

In an interview with Indonesian journalists in the jungles near PNG border, one OPM separatist "chief" Kelly Kwalik boastingly admitted he ordered the 2002 shootings:

http://www.liputan6.com/view/1,118203,1,0,1140973461.html

What a barbaric pig this guy is. I strongly urge Indonesian law enforcement authorities to arrest or kill this individual to prevent this criminal from committing further violence against civilians.

For antigone, I suggest you start develop some feelings of empathy for the families of all the civilians that have been mercilessly murdered by the cruel Papuan separatist barbarians. Imagine if a member of your family is raped and murdered by one of these barbaric thugs. These uncivilised Papuan separatists deserve no sympathy.

@coyote:

Why should we give "independence" to a perpetually integral part of Indonesian Republic? We Indonesians will fight to the last drop of blood to maintain the integrity of our country. Nobody, especially a minor country of stooges like Australia, can ever bully or intimidate us to compromise the unity of our God-given sacred motherland that our forefathers shed their blood for.

The Indonesian Government has so far transmigrated about 400,000 Muslim citizens into the native lands of the West Papuan province with 18 major settlements. With 12 of these not far from the Papuan New Guinea Border. Their next agenda is??

Note PTBI attitude toward his use of 'pigs' in his last post. The staple protein diet of the native people is pork and this is considered unclean to Muslim minds. So you can imagine what is happening the pigs in West Papua as the Muslim population occupies the native peoples territory. Those that resist their occupation and the destruction of their pigs will be shot as resistance fighters.

Note his arrogance in this statement: "Nobody, especially a minor country of stooges like Australia, can ever bully or intimidate us to compromise the unity of our God-given sacred motherland that our forefathers shed their blood for."

Is he spoiling for a confrontation with Australia. Note how he removes the God given motherland of the native people from them and believes it is his motherland. Absolute lies and hypocrisy. Typical of Muslim brainwashed terrorists.