Indonesia vs Papua?

[AussieTerry84]

**BLAME ALL WROND WORDS ON MY IPHONE** haha

I guess this thread is aimed mostly at winmar with his knowledge of the country but will also make for a good discussion....

I saw on SBS world news the other night that footage had leaked out of West Papua of Indonesian troops torturing some native Papuans I.e had one older looking fellow on the ground burning hid genitals, the news segment also mentioned that the Papuans have been fighting for their independence since Indonesia annexed them in the 60's I think? My question is....


...what do you think will happen if West Papua goes for the UN independence vote like East Timor did? It's also worth noting that Indonesia BANS all journalist from West Papua and normally sets them up e.g about 7-10 years ago a group of native "Papuans" opened fire on a 4wd with foreign workers killing one American yet it's well documented they are incredibly native and won't touch guns!

Reckon when it eventually happens it'll be one of the biggest shit storms to hit the region?

 

[AussieTerry84]

This link should have a link to the torture footage http://www.freewestpapua.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1335&Itemid=2


Can't tell on iphone

 

[Winmar]

Good question. I'm not really sure how it will eventually go down. Depends on how it's instigated and how much regional support e.g. from NZ and Australia there is. During their period of nationalism Indonesia did like to annex places and claim them as their own, to the detriment of all those affected. It takes a long while for liberated countries to function effectively independently though, for central control does nothing to foster local economies and capacities. Most of Indonesia's economy is centred on Java, though they are trying to boost the skills base in other islands by giving scholarships to students from places like Sulawesi. Anyway, Indonesia has an appalling human rights record in places like East Timor and West Papua1

 

[Shannow]

I once saw a map that Indonesia was (allegedly) teaching at their schools that showed Australia north of the Tropic of Capricorn was actually Indonesian Territory.

Was ages ago (pre net), and I haven't dug it up since.

 

[Winmar]

Hah I'd like to see that map for a laugh!

 

[Southy]

That'd be cool to see

 

[FerretallicA]

Given that I'm going to see Australia v PNG today, when I read the thread title the first thing I thought was that it was about Indonesia fielding an NRL team.

Time for more sleep.

 

[Goreripper]

That'd be cool to see

Only if it wasn't real. One of Suharto's ideas, I assume?

 

[Bucko]

Given that I'm going to see Australia v PNG today, when I read the thread title the first thing I thought was that it was about Indonesia fielding an NRL team.

Time for more sleep.

So did I a couple of days ago ... I thought it was a warm up game