Leading Australian journalist Sally Neighbour investigates the presumed mastermind behind last week’s hotel bombings in Jakarta, Noordin Mohammed Top: Top is known not only as a master of disguise and skilled escape artist who has eluded an Indonesian police dragnet for seven years. He is also a logistical and technical mastermind and, even more troubling,…
Showing all posts tagged Indonesia
East Timor should not be thanking Australia
The forthcoming Australian film, Balibo, may finally force the general public to acknowledge successive government’s complicity in the attempted genocide of the East Timorese from 1975 onwards: BALIBO Official Film Trailer from Footprint Films on Vimeo.
Resistance in Indonesia
A few months ago I spoke in Ubud, Bali about the Middle East crisis and Jewish responsibility for the chaos. I’ll be returning in October as a guest of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. Here’s the latest news about the wonderfully diverse guest list, a unique opportunity to share stories and be inspired: The…
Please Uncle Sam, love us
Being in Indonesia it’s been interesting to read the Jakarta Post every day. This week’s visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has resulted in column after column about her trip and its meaning (example one.) Like so many nations around the world, the Indonesian political and media elite crave Washington’s embrace and acceptance…
In Indonesia
I’ve just arrived in Indonesia for a combination of work and play. More info about this soon, but posting may be a little light over the coming 12 days. Some interesting reading in the meantime here, here, here, here, here and here. This story from today’s Jakarta Post signals the optimism felt by Indonesia towards…
Dirty work comes cheap
The OpenNet Initative recently reported the following disturbing development in relation to Google: YouTomb, a project of the MIT Free Culture group that studies takedown notices by the video-sharing website YouTube, has identified a mechanism used by Google to restrict video content in specific countries. This appears to be the method YouTube is using to…
What will the future bring?
John Aglionby, Financial Times, January 30: But there is a deeper problem, says Mr Fajrul [Rahman]. “Last year the [Indonesian] government ordered that tens of thousands of schoolbooks be burnt because they dared to suggest that the official version of events surrounding Suharto’s rise to power in 1965 [that he defeated a communist-led coup] should…
The friends he keeps
Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating describes Indonesia’s deceased dictator Soeharto, one of the most brutal of the last century, after his funeral yesterday: Personally, he was a friend…It took a while to get him to come out of his shell, but when he did, he was utterly decisive. He was able to take quick…
Why we love mass murderers
Indonesian dictator Soeharto died yesterday. He was one of the 20th centuries most brutal dictators, killing over one million people in the name of strengthening his rule. The Australian newspaper, however, decides to praise the man and primarily discusses his economic “reforms”. Of course, if Cambodia’s Pol Pot had left his country in better financial…