In Reply to: For Australians....not so local politics posted by Ketut David on Saturday, 1. April 2006 at 13:54 Bali Time:
Normally I would be happy to see Rupert Murdoch's The Australian mounting an attack on this government via any form of embarrassment the editors could muster, because they are usually so in bed with Howard et al. However, this time they have excelled themselves in a vain glorious attempt to impress nobody.
When our economy suffers again because of some idiot's desire to play with culture, perhaps an industry group will mount a class action against the person/organization that permitted their members' livelihoods to suffer. Oh Yeah, that's certain to happen. Pardon the culturally risky expression, ‘pigs might fly', because the industry councils are also so very intimate with the government and those who own The Australian.
On reflection, I wonder who does actually own The Real Australian - the plod who pays his taxes, the slugger who works his guts out running a business, the kids whose future can affected by cultural/religious tsunamis now. Now the answer to this might frighten, even offend, some people, so I won't give an answer. It might be a similar answer for Indonesia, and in the culturally separate Bali.
Of course Indonesia has been ro*ting West Papua for decades. The world, and especially nearest neighbour Australia, has stood back and allowed atrocity and subjugation without any thought for the ramifications for the future when hundred of the se poor basta*ds boat up onto our shores. Who cares anyway: they're mainly ugly black, primitive, fourth world natives. Hang on; they're sitting on minerals, oil, gold, forests. Damn. Indonesia got there first. Well, we'll just have to trade our way in.
In the meantime, please try not to offend the cartels that have done so well in improving the Indonesian economy and allowing us to trade our way in while trading away the rights of the Indonesian people to any real democratic involvement.
And can someone please take a leak on cartoonist Bapak Bill Leak from The Australian. From a great height!