SILENCING THE OUTCAST

     What’s in a name?  Everything

Credit:  British Vogue

In the applause showered on Jacinda Ardern at the close of her term there’s one credit missing: The NZ PM swore to never mention the name of the 2019 Christchurch mass murderer.

After High Court Judge Cameron Mander’s sentencing to life imprisonment without parole she added the harshest of punishments: The Biblical curse of casting-out.

When Ardern struck the Islamophobe’s name off her register of humans the Australian killer was no longer a proud boy, oath-keeper or a bro to be worshipped by other twisted men. He became a castrate, a nothing, a nonentity.

Not an influencer but a loser, a number in a Paremoremo prison cell where he’ll die.

George Orwell understood the potency of erasure.  His hero in 1984 is reduced to ‘6079, Smith, W’.  Staff at the vile English public school I attended only used surnames and slurs. Forenames would diminish the boys’ manhood, make them softies.

They also taught teens to bayonet sacks of straw swinging from gibbets and twist the blade so the blood could run down its gutter, let air rush into the wound and speed death.  That was to make us upright citizens fit to civilise the colonies, though it turned some into brutes.

Ardern’s pledge has been maintained by her government and the serious media. That doesn’t stop commenting on the crime, but it sucks out the oxygen of notoriety that the vainglorious so clearly seek.

The paths to worthy fame and remembrance are hard and long, those to infamy short and easy. For the killer of 51 Muslims at prayer in the Al Noor mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre  craved attention.  He wanted his name to be etched on a granite plinth, a celebration of evil like the Marquis of Sade.

The loner imagined it set in dictionaries, an inspiration to other white supremacists desperate to make hate a virtue.

In another time and place he might have been dealt with by the device of two other names embedded in the language: Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, the French physician who ignored the Hippocratic oath to do no harm, and the 18^th century US judge Charles Lynch.

Either would have guaranteed his rapid departure.  Instead the terrorist escaped those fates by slaughtering in civilised Aotearoa led by a woman who preached kindness but recognised its limits.

His road not taken would have been a tougher test of Kipling masculinity than buying guns and plotting a massacre of women, men and kiddies on their knees.  That’s the work of cowards, the gutless.

Taking the other road in the yellow wood would have demanded years of study, hard work, determination, nurturing gifts and refining ideas.  It would have meant using failure to keep exploring in the quest to create something marvellous, to motivate others to make all lives better.  

The eponym models he might have copied and so be forever remembered with thanks include Louis Braille and Samuel Morse. Had he chosen science he could have read about Rudolf Diesel or James Watt or Andre-Marie Ampere, maybe Jean Nicot.

To be fair when the French diplomat presented tobacco to his king in 1560, the weed was thought to have curative powers. Like Alfred Nobel his discovery has killed millions, though that was not the intent.  

But there was no benign motive, no intellectual inquiry required in scrawling obscenities on gun butts in a scruffy flat ahead of a drive through green Otautahi on a mission to massacre.

In medicine we’ve long forgotten the full monikers of Alois Alzheime, Bernard Crohn and James Parkinson though we know the diseases they identified so they can be understood and treated.  We should call X rays (Marie) Curies, which is how radioactivity units are measured.

Thank you all. Peering down microscopes, not gunsights, is the work  of warriors fighting germs.  They are heroes.

The Bard asked: ‘What’s in a name?’  It can be everything or nothing. Ardern has ensured that while the monster’s crime will be remembered his name will not.

Even her most malicious detractors must concede that’s a legacy to be admired and an example to be followed.

First published in Pearls & Irritations, 30 January 2023: 

https://johnmenadue.com/whats-in-a-name-arderns-pledge/

MOTHER KNOWS BEST- SHE SAYS

 

King-maker queen could call our neighbour’s pres

Credit: PDIP

Indonesia is a republic, though that’s hard to believe when a queen will decide who’s likely to be the next President of the world’s third largest democracy. Megawati Soekarnoputri 76, the daughter of first President Soekarno is head of the nation’s leading political party, now celebrating its golden jubilee.

The lady could hardly have been better named. Her Dad called his kids after elements of the weather with ‘mega’ meaning ‘cloud goddess’ in Sanskrit..  He didn’t imagine a megalomaniac.

She runs the poll-leader Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) with such authority she can name her party’s candidate for next year’s general election without getting members’ votes. She told celebrants at the party’s big bash this month: ‘People are waiting for (the candidate’s name) … but it’s my business’.  

Nine years ago she hand-picked the then Jakarta Governor Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo who won two five-year terms by beating authoritarian Prabowo Subianto.  Instead of ignoring his rival, Widodo made him Defence Minister, giving him a platform for another shot at the top job.

 ‘We have very different political systems,’ said Penny Wong.. ‘We have very different views about how our political system should operate. And we have different interests. But we need to seek to manage those differences.’

That’s Australia’s Foreign Minister  talking about far-away China.  No editing needed to use the same speech about the nation next door.

With the official allocation of parties’ positions complete and VOTE ME banners appearing, Indonesian electors are tucking their sarongs ready for a robust 12-month campaign climaxing early next year.

The last one in 2019 was a killer – literally.   Around 500 officials and helpers among the seven million recruits died of exhaustion during the world’s biggest one-day election.

The show then turned American with riots in major towns causing six deaths and 200 wounded.

The violence was launched by supporters of failed candidate Prabowo Subianto, 71, whose wacky speeches about a ‘Ghost Fleet’ invasion make Trump sound balanced.

The disgraced former general linked to human rights abuses says he’ll stand again hoping to lure uncaring voters wanting a tough-talk leader.  He’d be bad news for Australia.

The president is elected by direct vote.  No compulsion; last time the turnout was 81 per cent of the 187 million registered voters – minimum age 17.

Indonesia has  a bicameral parliament. The major authority is the 575-member People’s Representative Council (DPR) elected through proportional representation.  The PDI-P holds 128 seats but has put other parties under its brolly to gain control.

Much will bewilder outsiders as 17 parties claim they’re driven by care for the nation’s poor.  All assert piety to snare the Muslim vote. There’s no sharp left-right divide as in the US and Australia. Some researchers claim parties merge ‘to share the spoils of office, rather than by ideological or policy differentiation.’ 

Indonesia says it’s a secular democracy. That doesn’t mean it’s authentic.  The US Government-funded Freedom House scores it a ‘partly free’ 59.  Finland hits high with 100. Australia ranks 95.

Indonesia’s place will assuredly slip, shoved by fresh laws curbing freedom of speech; bad-mouth the president and ministers at your peril.  There’s no defence of truth.

Indonesia started dancing with democracy in 1945 when the anti-West Soekarno proclaimed independence from Dutch rule. The new Republic was a ‘liberal democracy.’  By 1959 the President, who had nine known wives and at least a dozen offspring, decided hubby knows best and squabbling legislators needed a firm hand.

‘Guided democracy’ ran till the 1965 coup launched the Orde Baru (New Order) US-backed despotic rule of General Soeharto, one of the world’s top kleptocrats..  

When forced out by student protests in 1998, The Guardian reported that Soeharto, ‘regarded as a bulwark against communism in Asia, stole as much as $35bn from his impoverished country during his three decades in power.’

This wealth was built on ‘ruthless repression, cronyism and manipulation of the world's rival superpowers.’ Much remains embedded in the culture. Last year Transparency International measured Indonesian corruption at 96/180.

A survey by the Indonesian think-tank CSIS showed voters’ contempt starts with the cops, then cascades to the legislature, judiciary, political parties and public officials.  

Soeharto’s Golkar Party won all elections till 1999 perhaps because public servants were compelled to support. In 2014 the presidency was captured by  Widodo, humble Mr Everyman with no links to the army or the elite.

He was reluctantly endorsed by the nation’s slightly left, totally nationalist PDI-P. Megawati should be seeking the most meritorious replacement for Widodo, constitutionally barred from restanding. But her ambition is to keep the family in power by putting her daughter Puan Maharani, 49 on the Palace stage.  

The election will be on Valentine’s Day next year.  That’s not an omen for love twixt the public and imperious Puan. No-one dare tell Mamma Mega, and fifth president (2001-04), that the times they are a-changin’. A third of the 274 million population was born this century and probably assumes Orde Baru is a new gaming app.

Parties shop around for crowd-pulling candidates, who in turn seek parties with the most cash.  That’s the PDI-P. Hot tip: Should Puan retreat watch for Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo who’s into domestic issues.                                                                               Credit: DPR

Then comes the former Governor of Jakarta Dr Anies Baswedan. Another possible is the West Java Governor and architect Ridwan Kamil.

Both are US-educated cosmopolitans who know Australia.  In past interviews with this correspondent they’ve applied the ‘warm relationships’ template. Unless there’s a crisis don’t expect specific policies beyond increasing trade.  

The last real Ozophile was sixth president (2004 -14) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. We liked the man and his wife Ani so much we bugged their phones and got caught.  

Former Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau once said living alongside the US is like sleeping with an elephant. In our case it’s a big-horned buffalo, normally tranquil but can speedily turn cranky. Best learn its moods, or as FM Wong suggests, ‘manage differences’.

The campaign will be robust and raucous.  Bank on vile slurs involving faiths and wild claims about Australia’s US links and villainous plans. A favourite at the moment are war predictions over ownership of Australia’s Ashmore Reef, an uninhabited sand spit and nature reserve used by traditional fishers.

To Indonesians we’re a granary and stock-yard, distrusted, insignificant,  unwelcoming  and weird.  Every new Australian PM dashes to Jakarta with a clutch of clichés about importance.  

Don’t expect the next president to reciprocate, or our mainstream media to keep you informed. The ABC has regular  programmes on China, India and the US, but not next door.

Copy from Washington doesn’t need translating.

First published in Michael West Media 29 January 2023: https://michaelwest.com.au/indonesia-to-elect-a-new-president-but-a-queen-will-decide-the-leading-candidate/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IF ONLY THE VICTIMS COULD HEAR

   Sorry business should be sooner and sincere

When is a purge a genocide? When a young Australian researcher finds solid   evidence that’s long eluded international scholars, proving the minds of millions     have been poisoned with lies..

Dr Jess Melvin is an award-winning academic at Sydney Uni.  In 2018 she published The Army and the Indonesian Genocide using official Indonesian documents.

Her book - since released in Indonesian - conclusively showed that the mass slaughter across Indonesia of real or imagined Communists in 1965 and 66 was not an impulsive uprising of angry peasants,but government-organised mass murder.

Almost six decades after the mutilated bodies of at least half-a-million were thrown in rivers and shallow graves, relatives and friends of the victims have often been too frightened to speak.  That’s because the official version has become embedded as the one truth ensuring all other accounts are heretical.

Now the deceived may find the courage to condemn as President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has spoken: ‘With a clear mind and earnest heart, I as Indonesia’s head of state admit that gross human rights violations did happen in many occurrences. I have sympathy and empathy for the victims and their families.’

 

The apology follows recommendations made by a team he set up to look into severe cases of human rights violations and suggest non-judicial resolutions. There are 11 others, but the post-coup killings are the worst.  Significantly he included West Papua where a prolonged and poorly reported insurgency continues.

 

In Indonesia the President’s statement has been getting applause, but the clappers forget that 23 years earlier the late fourth president Abdurrahman (Gus Dur) Wahid had already publicly apologized to victims and survivors of the massacres and detentions. 

 

Some background:

During his 1945-1965 rule, founding president Soekarno ran an anti-imperialist ‘Jakarta, Beijing, Pyongyang axis’ policy terrifying the West. When he started Konfrontasi with Malaya as the former British colony moved towards independence, Western strategists feared a second front would weaken the war in Vietnam.

 Not all were on Soekarno’s side.  The military imagined a peasants’ revolt as the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI) cracked its knuckles, so aroused the West. General Soeharto ousted Soekarno after the coup, consolidating his position by declaring martial law, banning free media and launched saturation promotion of only one narrative.

A crude film Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI (Treachery of G30S/PKI) was regularly telecast on the state channel TVRI.  Viewing was compulsory at schools every October, though the graphic scenes would rate it R in the West. 

Hundreds of thousands of intellectuals, artists and writers were exiled on remote Buru island for years.  None faced court.

Although the coup is still officially labeled Communist, it was long suspected the military was involved, covertly aided by UK MI5 and US CIA operatives. 

Following the putsch, a massive slaughter of real and imagined reds began.  The army said the killings were spontaneous, driven by the people’s anger at the generals’ deaths.  In reality soldiers were handing lists of suspects to civilian militias, and supplying machetes and guns to the vengeful.

A  secret CIA report claimed the massacres ‘rank as one of the worst  mass murders of the 20th century, along with the Soviet purges of the 1930s and  the Nazi mass murders during the Second World War.

That didn’t concern Australian PM Harold Holt who told the New York Times:  ‘With 500,000 to 1 million Communist sympathizers knocked off, I think it’s safe to assume a reorientation has taken place.’

In 2017 a US National Security Archive release of Jakarta Embassy papers showed diplomats ‘were documenting tens of thousands of killings by the military, paramilitary groups, and Muslim militias’.

 Most visitors don’t know Bali’s sands are blood-soaked. The death squads were brutally active on the so-called isle of peace and harmony where Australians love to frolic.  Few of the 80,000 victims, including women and children, were active PKI members but targeted in revenge killings often involving land and community disputes.

On the island of Flores, Catholic priests stood back while their parishioners were chopped and shot.

Overseas historians reckoned – but couldn’t prove - the slaughter was engineered by the military. That assumption is now concrete, thanks to  Melvin collecting 3,000 pages of original army documents during a field trip to Aceh.

During the 2014 presidential campaign Widodo promised an investigation into the genocide.  That was wiped from his agenda.  Instead he’s been photographed watching and approving the ghastly film.

In 2012 a Komnas HAM ( the National Commission on Human Rights) report to the Attorney General recommended a full legal investigation to bring the perpetrators to account.  The Attorney General refused, claiming ‘not enough evidence’.

‘This is simply a lie,’  Melvin told this column.  ‘I think it's hard to see the President’s announcement as anything other than a cynical attempt to salvage his legacy ahead of next year's general election.

 

‘He came to power with the promise of resolving Indonesia's past human rights abuses and yet he has done very little in this regard. This latest announcement is further evidence of just how hollow these attempts have been.

 

‘My greatest concern is that the latest charade may actually make the situation more difficult for survivors. Similar promises were made in 2020 to provide ‘urgent assistance’ to civilian conflict victims in the province of Aceh (North Sumatra) but not a single rupiah has been received.  (An  intermittent independence campaign between 1976 and 2005 took an estimated 15,000 lives and displaced thousands.  In 2006 the World Bank gave US $ 20 million to 1,724 ‘conflict affected villages.’)

 

  ‘If Jokowi is serious about salvaging his legacy, he should begin by accepting Komnas HAM's recommendations and launch a judicial investigation into the events of 1965-66. At the same time, he should concentrate of ensuring that promised assistance is actually delivered to human rights victims and their families.’

 

(Some background info first appeared in Pearls & Irritations in 2020).

 First published in Pearls & Irritations, 20 January 2023: https://johnmenadue.com/killing-times-indonesia-grapples-with-legacy-of-government-organised-mass-murder/