Antony Loewenstein

As Noam Chomsky prepares to arrive in Australia later in the year to receive the Sydney Peace Prize, haters routinely forget the tireless work by the American intellectual behind the scenes on behalf of those persecuted by governments. This campaigning is rarely acknowledged and it often comes at some personal cost. Below is one case in literally thousands. It was published in the Sunday Age in 1997. I’m told the man mentioned was eventually brought to safety:

An Indonesian embassy official has sought political asylum in South Africa, claiming to have classified documents detailing official corruption in his country and evidence of human rights violations in Indonesian-ruled East Timor.

The official, Stany Aji, said he had been assisting the pro-democracy movement in Indonesia and had been in contact with Guruh Sukarnoputra, former opposition parliamentarian and brother of pro-democracy leader Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Marco Boni, a spokesman for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry, confirmed yesterday that an application for asylum had been received from Aji, who had been working in the trade section of the Indonesian embassy. “Our Home Affairs Department is considering the case at the moment,” he told ‘The Sunday Age’.

Aji, who has been in hiding since his activities were discovered, appealed last week for urgent help via the Internet, sending a message to US academic Professor Noam Chomsky of Boston. Chomsky is known as a strong critic of the Indonesian regime and has intervened in previous bids for political asylum by East European and Latin American dissidents.

“(South Africa) has so far not given me any guarantee of granting asylum due to the fact that South Africa wants to hold on to good relations with Indonesia,” Aji said in his plea to Chomsky. “The information that I hold would most definitely break this illusory and temporary state of good relations with the Indonesian Government.”

Chomsky later sought help from a number of colleagues around the world, including Deakin University academic Scott Burchill. “He said the fellow seemed to be in a bit of trouble,” said Burchill, a lecturer in international relations. “The official also wanted to contact Jose Ramos Horta, who Chomsky thought was still in Australia.”

Ramos Horta, who lives in Sydney but spends much of the year travelling, is an exiled East Timorese resistance leader who shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with the territory’s Catholic bishop, Carlos Belo. He was in Australia until last week.

Jeremy Scahill:

Holbrooke backed Indonesian genocide in East Timor, killing of journos in Serbia and supported 2003 Iraq invasion.

Johann Hari:

I’m more inclined to grieve for victims of Indonesian genocide in East Timor than Richard Holbrooke, who armed & supported that genocide.

Read this.

Earlier this week we were reminded of the Australian Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan years ago dismissing the Burmese “dissident” Aung San Suu Kyi.

Sheridan is back at it today (thanks to Scott Burchill):

For nearly 20 years, good hearted Indonesians have been telling the Burmese to study the New Order regime that prevailed in Indonesia under Suharto, especially in the early years after he took power in the mid-60s. The Indonesian army, like the Burmese, believed it was the only institution that could possibly keep the country together. It developed the doctrine of dwifungsi or dual function, to allow the military a direct role in politics as well as security.

But at the same time, especially in the early years, Suharto was extremely consultative. He tried to co-opt as many social forces into the New Order as he could and he took expert economic advice from the famous Berkely mafia.

Burchill: This is precisely the period when Suharto’s slaughter of his political opponents, and anyone associated with them, reached its peak. Hundreds of thousands were murdered in one of Asia’s worst bloodbaths. Seems the Burmese junta did just that. Good hearted advice indeed.

Inspiration, provocations, discussions and politics all meld here at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

Take a look here, here and here.

Perhaps the most encouraging part of the events in Bali is the involvement of local writers and participants. If the West and East melded a little more, the world would be in a much better shape.

I’m honoured to be here.

This was filmed yesterday in Bali at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival:

For the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali. I’m invited again this year (after an amazing 2009 Indonesian book tour) and look forward to discussing politics, prose, passion and power.

More very soon.

Last year I visited the Indonesian province of Aceh and discovered a Muslim area though one with surprisingly liberal attitudes (in some parts, anyway).

So this news, under the headline, “Tight Pants Ban Takes Effect in Indonesia’s Aceh“, is a little sad:

Authorities in a devoutly Islamic district of Indonesia’s Aceh province have distributed 20,000 long skirts and prohibited shops from selling tight dresses as a regulation banning Muslim women from wearing revealing clothing took effect Thursday.

The long skirts are to be given to Muslim women caught violating the dress code during a two-month campaign to enforce the regulation, said Ramli Mansur, head of West Aceh district.

Islamic police will determine whether a woman’s clothing violates the dress code, he said.

During raids Thursday, Islamic police caught 18 women traveling on motorbikes who were wearing traditional headscarves but were also dressed in jeans. Each woman was given a long skirt and her pants were confiscated. They were released from police custody after giving their identities and receiving advice from Islamic preachers.

”I am not wearing sexy outfits, but they caught me like a terrorist only because of my jeans,” said Imma, a 40-year-old housewife who uses only one name. She argued that wearing jeans is more comfortable when she travels by motorbike.

Motorbikes are commonly used by both men and women in Indonesia.

”The rule applies only to Muslim residents in West Aceh,” Mansur told The Associated Press. ”We don’t enforce it for non-Muslims, but are asking them to respect us.”

He said any shopkeepers caught violating restrictions on selling short skirts and jeans would face a revocation of their business licenses.

No merchants have been seen displaying jeans or tight clothing in stores in West Aceh district in recent weeks.

The regulation is the latest effort to promote strict moral values in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, where most of the roughly 200 million Muslims practice a moderate form of the faith.

It does not set out a specific punishment for violators, but says ”moral sanctions” will be imposed by local leaders.

Mansur said women caught violating the ban more than three times could face two weeks in detention.

Rights groups say the regulation violates international treaties and the Indonesian constitution.

The following statement was released today by refugee activists from Australia, Canada and Indonesia:

“The Merak refugees and the Indonesian Solution, not people smuggling, should be at the top of the agenda for discussions between the Australian government and Indonesian  President Yudhoyono,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

“The Australian government is trying to implicate the Indonesian government in its violation of the Refugee Convention. That is not the action of a friend. The Indonesian solution is actually making things worse for refugees in Indonesia and actually forcing more people onto boats. Resettlement must be on the agenda.”

“Kevin Rudd uses people smuggling to criminalise the refugees themselves to justify detention in Australia and Indonesia. But the problem is not people smuggling. The problem is that there is secure future for refugees in Indonesia.

“Until the Australian government is willing to process and resettle refugees out of Indonesia, the boats will keep coming. Heavier penalties and stiffer sentences will not stop people fleeing persecution,” said Rintoul.

March 10, the day the Indonesian President addresses the Australian parliament will also mark the 150th day that the refugee boat has been stranded at Merak.

There is an urgent need for the Australian and Indonesian governments to resolve the situation at Merak. Kevin Rudd made the call to president Yudhoyono to stop the Jaya Lestari in October last year. One of the Tamil asylum seekers died on 23 December 2009 waiting for proper medical attention. Medical attention at the boat have improved in the last few days, but the asylum seekers are still refusing to leave the boat until there is a guarantee of resettlement.

“The asylum seekers on the boat are ultimately Australia’s responsibility. Until there is an enduring outcome for refugees in Australia, they will, sooner or later, make their way to Australia. Some people have already left the boat to do that,” said Ian Rintoul.

“The Australian and Indonesian governments must use President Yudhoyono’s state visit to put an end to the suffering and uncertainty of the refugees at Merak and the others in detention in Indonesia.

Refugee advocates in Australia, Canada and Indonesia have issued a joint statement (attached) calling for the Indonesian government to begin immigration verification and UNHCR processing and for the Australian government to commit to resettling those at Merak found to be refugees.

I recently visited Indonesia’s Aceh province, a devoutly Muslim territory.

What is the situation five years after the devastating tsunami?