I am astounded that there have been no comments to date on this posting by John Pilger. It is rather rare to hear anything regarding West Papua either in newspapers or the wider media. Yet, while we decry the lack of democracy, and actively and militarily involve ourselves with "justice issues" in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, Australia seemingly has abandoned the Papuans to a brutal enslaving regime without a murmur of protest.

It washed its hands of the massacre of journalists in Balabo, and over the past three decades Australia has feted the Indonesians in its own form of realpolitik that continues to turn a blind eye to the atrocities of Kopassus in its genocidal murder of West Papuans.

Yes, East Timor has won a difficult and bloody fight for its independence, and perhaps it is indicative of the suffering and bloodshed that will have to be experienced before global attention can be turned to the devastation of the inhabitants in West Papua. Surely, Australia should play an important political, mediating role in assisting genuine democracy to gain a foot-hold for those who struggle for a genuinely free West Papua.

John,as I'm sure you know,there is a long tradition in Australia for our fearless leaders to crawl up the backsides of Indonesians and other Asians.The current prime minister and foreign minister are no strangers to that place.

This attitude is a disgrace and is extremely dangerous for Australia in the future.

The history of West Papua under the Indonesians is an even greater disgrace and thank you for drawing attention to it yet again.

It is indeed strange that nothing is mentioned from our media.We also have our own oppression to deal with :ie of the New World Order of Kevin Rudd,Gordon Brown and Barack Obama.

Corporate facism is the new oppression of the planet and it is far more insidious and oppressive than any of us could imagine,since it is we the share holders,who give it both credibility and authority.

There is nothing new in the rape and pillage of developing countries by rapacious capitalist firms. Aided by bought and payed for local leaders tasked with oppressing the locals and ensuring "security" they have continually stolen these peoples assets and left them for dead in the filth and muck that results from their extremely profitable operations.

The bougainvilleans had the right idea. Makes one wonder if there is a reason Papua New Guinea has remained so poor for so long. There are plenty of vested interests who would be unhappy to see a united and forcefully sovereign PNG.

The Indonesians have only done what we allowed them to do. If there was real resistance from the west decades ago, who knows West Papua may have been a vibrant and successful democracy. At the very least its people woudnt be dying in poverty and hunger.