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UN Indonesia Press Bans Prabowo Visiting
US Despite Record In West Papua Condemned
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Thread Photo
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- CJR -
PFT
UN GATE, Oct 14 –
In the United Nations from
which SG Antonio Guterres has
banned Inner City Press 834
days for asking about his
complicity in the killing of
civilians in Cameroon and
their mass imprisonment by
China in Xinjiang, on August 3
Inner City Press wrote to the
Indonesia Mission, as incoming
UN Security Council president,
with questions about Cameroon,
Somalia and UNsexploitation.
There was no
answer from IndonesiaUNNY. As
the month went on, the
Indonesia Mission blocked
Inner City Press on Twitter,
amid attacks in Indonesia
itself on media criticizing
the government for its
COVID-19 response, see below.
This now, in mid
October: condemnation of the
visit the United States of
serial human rights violator
Prabowo Subianto.
ETAN urged that any visa be
withdrawn and no weapons or
training be promised to
Indonesia. Prabowo is
currently the Minister of
Defense of Indonesia and
reportedly will be visiting
the U.S. from October 15-19.
In 2001, Prabowo asked a
reporter rhetorically "Do I
have the guts. Am I ready to
be called a fascist
dictator?"
Apparently yes.
For the past 20
years Prabowo has been banned
from travel to the U.S. under
laws that bar visas for
serious violators of human
rights. He is the
ex-son-in-law of Indonesia’s
former dictator Suharto.
Prabowo has been accused of
involvement in countless
rights violations in
Timor-Leste as well as West
Papua, Jakarta and elsewhere
in Indonesia.
During the
chaos of the political and
economic crisis of 1997-1998,
soldier’s under Prabowo’s
command were responsible for
kidnappings and murders of
pro-democracy activists.
Prabowo admitted to his role
in these crimes, and he was
discharged from the military.
He has repeatedly
supported anti-democratic
reforms in Indonesia such as
controlling the media -- see
the Indonesia Mission to the
UN ham-handed refusal to
answer Press questions and
blocking of it on the Press,
totally undiplomatic -- and
has expressed hostility and
suspicion towards Indonesia’s
religious minorities. His
appointment as Defense
Minister, and his statements
since taking office, show that
he is interested in
militarizing politics similar
to under Suharto’s
dictatorship during the New
Order.
The
Indonesian military still
asserts considerable power and
influence, which has been
enhanced under the presidency
of Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
Prabowo is one of a number of
former military officers in
the Jokowi government.
Indonesia's security forces
continue to violate human
rights, especially in West
Papua.
Prabowo has
twice run for president of
Indonesia, in 2014 and 2019,
losing both times to the
current president. He is
reportedly interested in
running again in 2024 and is
widely considered the front
runner. We'll have more on
this - the UN's censorship for
corruption, by the Indonesian
mission, calls for it.
Djani on August 31 did a stakeout
with a dwindling group of
sycophant correspondents, who
repackaged his bragging about
Iran and spin of loss on his
one resolution like
propaganda. We will continue
to report on West Papua going
forward.
In early
August Inner City Press
tweeted the questions, and
re-submitted them the comment
box on the Mission's website.
Nothing. This as Indonesia's
foreign minister Retno Marsudi
bragged online, "Under the
theme “Advancing Sustainable
Peace, Indonesia assumes
Presidency of the UN Security
Council for the month of
August 2020."
Apparently
Indonesia PR Dian Triansyah
Djani could only handle
questions from pre-screened
in-house correspondents, one
of whose media has no
story by her since
2017, another with
no stories at all, at
least one - actually, more --
a repeated #MeToo violator.
He took
only six questioners, none on
sub Saharan Africa. One of the
six was a long retired
photographer of UN bribers,
who asked about tourism in
Bali. As Inner City Press live
tweeted, questions came
to it about West Papua, on
which we'll have more. Djani
told a correspondent in a
leafy backyard that he, too,
lives in New Rochelle, and
pitched Batik face masks. It
was pathetic. He gave a bonus
round for a Maki plant to ask
him to trash Armenia about
Nogorno Karabakh. We'll have
more on this.
Indonesia
has not said a word about the
slaughter in Cameroon, nor
about the Tel Aviv UN
sexploitation exposed by Inner
City Press.
The
Program belatedly went up -
with countries on which
Indonesia ignored and censored
questions: Somalia, where
UNMAS sent local staff to be
killed, and Yemen. There will
be COVID (which the UN helped
spread in South Sudan) on
August 12; closed on Lebanon
on August 11, closed on Syria
August 5, closed on North
Korea August 27, Middle East
August 25 and on other days.
Nothing on Cameroon or DRC.
After
Inner City Press again on
August 4 covered and live
tweeted Indonesia's and
Djani's session with tame UN
NGOs, including one which
after lobbying to oust Inner
City Press praised Indonesia's
human rights record without
mentioned West Papua - as
Inner City Press immediately
did - the Indonesian Mission
blocked @InnerCityPress on
Twitter. Photo here
Now in
October, with Inner City Press
still blocked and banned, the
Indonesia mission is bragging
about gagging softball UN
correspondents in Batik:
"Happy to see our colleagues
wearing Flag of Indonesia
colorful batik masks Smiling
face with sunglasses
Stay safe & stay healthy
everyone! #IniDiplomasi
#IndonesianWay #BatikDay."
Those
depicted are from Turkish
state media, Pass Blue, and
even -- totally
inappropriately - Melissa
Fleming's Media Accreditation
and Liaison Unit which bans
Inner City Press without even
explaining why. Get down with
oppression. Today's UN is
corrupt.
This is a
pattern: Media organisations
in Indonesia have reported a
spate of digital attacks
directed at critical coverage
of the Covid-19 pandemic. The
International Federation of
Journalists (IFJ) and its
affiliate the Alliance of
Independent Journalists (AJI)
Indonesia are deeply concerned
that the hacking attacks are
aimed at restricting critical
reporting and suppressing
media freedom. At least
four media organisations have
been targeted in an
unprecedented series of
digital attacks. On August 21,
the Tempo news website was
replaced with a black screen
with the word ‘hoax’, in bold
red font splashed across it.
The same day articles,
including two articles
critical of the Indonesian
intelligence agency’s role in
the pandemic response, were
removed from the website of
tirto.id. The Director
of the Legal Aid Institute for
the Press (LBH Pers), Ade
Wahyudin, on August 21 said
the hacking is a legal
violation. Wahyudin said there
are mechanisms to deal with
news reports deemed to be
false, which involve
submitting the right of reply
or filing a complaint to the
Press Council.
Indonesia has
been president of the UN
Security Council. This is the
cesspool of censorship into
which Guterres has turned the
UN.
When Guterres'
spokes- / hatchetman Stephane
Dujarric holds his noon
briefings this month while
refusing all questions from
Inner City Press despite an on
camera promise.
And Indonesia? We'll report.
Watch this site.
***
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