October 20th - John Rumbiak interview

Last Thursday I went to see the Pacific speakers at Knox Hall. John Rumbiak was the most interesting, because of the extreme nature of the Indonesian government's attempts to control West Papua. It's a very similar situation to that endured by East Timor for so many years. In fact, many of the same people as were managing East Timor's repression and terror are now stationed in West Papua. The international community refuses to do anything. When John spoke to our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Phil Goff told him that we don't want to interfere in the internal affairs of another country. Indonesia is regarded by the US and its sycophants as an "Emerging Democracy"; a polite term for a brutal military regime on which the United States looks favourably.

Earthwise (96.9 Plains FM @ 8:30pm Wednesday) interviews John Rumbiak, West Papuan activist on why his land should be independent.