Mateship

One of the world's best BASE jumpers, Australian Dwain Weston, died on Sunday, 5 October 2003, when a stunt parachute jump in the United States went awry and he hit a bridge before falling onto rocks

A.B.A. 2003 Nationals Competitors

http://www.basejump.org/

In Our Own Backyard

"INDEPENDENCE DAY" - 4 CORNERS MONDAY 1 SEPTEMBER

The Marriott hotel blast in downtown Jakarta sent the world a deadly

reminder of the terrorist threat that lurks in Indonesia.

But there is another crisis in Indonesia where the Marriott death toll is

repeated almost daily... a crisis that unfolds on Australia's doorstep yet

continues to escape our attention.

Three months ago Indonesia brought down the curtain on south-east Asia's

most brutal and unrelenting conflict - the clash with separatist rebels in

resource-rich Aceh province.

Martial law was declared and foreign media severely restricted. In those

three months about 700 people have been killed in a fierce military

crackdown. That's more than the number of people killed by terrorist bombs

around the world this year.

In 27 years some 12,000 people - civilians, separatist guerillas and

soldiers - have died in Aceh.

As Indonesia celebrates 58 years of independence, Four Corners looks at the

fight many Acehnese are waging to win their own independence, and at

Jakarta's response.

Reporter Chris Masters explores the origins of the Aceh conflict and the

dangers it presents to Indonesian unity and to Indonesians' human rights.

Aceh's self-proclaimed leaders-in-exile sit out the strife from the comfort

of faraway Sweden, monitoring casualties from text messages on their

mobiles. They proclaim their confidence that independence will come to Aceh

and that the Indonesian state will eventually disintegrate.

The Indonesian military (TNI) and president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who

faces an election next year, use the Aceh crackdown to display their

nationalist credentials. But they have no exit strategy from a conflict

that shows no sign of ending.

TNI faces continuing allegations of systemic brutality - murder, rape,

torture, destruction of property. Acehnese who have fled atrocities tell

Four Corners their stories from their new bases of exile in Jakarta and

neighbouring Malaysia (But nowhere are they completely safe... in front of

the UN building in Kuala Lumpur Four Corners filmed more than 200 Acehnese

being rounded up by Malaysian police. Forced repatriation is thought to

await most of them. Many who have previously been sent home remain

unaccounted for).

TNI has long been seen as the uniting force that holds Indonesia together.

But the evidence in Aceh begs the question whether TNI is now stoking the

fires of separatism, rather than quelling them.

"Independence Day" - Four Corners, 8.30 pm Monday (repeated 1 pm Tuesday)

ABC TV

------

Join reporter Chris Masters and special guests for a live online discussion

of the issues raised in the program, 9.30pm AEST Monday 1 September.

Anti-Muslim Website toned down

The Examiner, 29 August 2003

Sydney NSW — One Nation MP David Oldfield agreed yesterday to change on a controversial anti-Muslim Web site — www.muslimterrorists.com

The Web site statement "Not all Muslims are terrorists, but nearly all terrorists are Muslims" will now read "Most Muslims are not terrorists, but many people who profess to be Muslims are terrorists."

The statement "The biggest mistake a person can make is to think Muslims are people just like us — they are nothing like us" is more substantially changed.

It now reads:""There are those who believe there are many differences between Muslims and non-Muslims."

Lawyer Hisam Sidaoui argued that the site breached Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.

===========

Fredrick Töben comments:

This precedent-setting case will be important for us when the first complaint about Adelaide Institute breaching the court order of 17 September 2002 reaches the FCA registrar's office.

Australian History Fabricated?

AUSTRALIA FOR SALE?

... and if you object to being hurt by the system, Like Ian Kay, you get locked up

But don't come to Australia if you are, like German Udo Voigt of the NPD, not liked by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's Zionist advisers]

And from Polish academic Dr Dariusz Ratajczak: Dear Fredric, I have been refused entry to Australia, too. Poles from Australia (among other things journalists from 'Tygodnik Polski"- Polish Weekly") invited me to Australia (15.05-15.06. 2003) for series of lectures. Australian Embassy in Warsaw rejected decisively my application, greetings, Darek

The Fabrication of Aboriginal History Keith Windschuttle

Australian Politics on the move ...

enslaved by the fraudulent concept Free Trade = a hoax!

ALP leadership spill: Challenger Kim Beazley vs Incumbent Simon Crean

PM Howard says he'll not hand over to Costello ...

... is Abbott waiting in the wings?

Top of Page | Home Page