Issues: `Canceling Papua documentary screening'

Issues: `Canceling Papua documentary screening'
Fri, 07/10/2009 2:54 PM | Reader's Forum

In what seems to be a last minute decision, Al-Jazeera English television news network decided not to premiere on Thursday a highly sensitive documentary highlighting the plight of Papuans. It also removed the film's synopsis from the list of feature films it will broadcast, which is published on its Website.

It remains unclear, however, whether the Qatar-based TV channel has postponed or completely called off the screening of the controversial documentary that will likely disturb the government in Jakarta. The Jakarta Post tried to reach Al-Jazeera's management on Thursday to confirm but to no avail.

The film's screening is extremely sensitive as Indonesia will hold its second presidential election on July 8.

Titled Pride of Warriors, the documentary was directed by Australian filmmaker Jono van Hest, who claims to have smuggled six video cameras into the troubled province of West Papua. He said the arrival of 43 Papuans seeking refugee status from the Australian government in 2006 inspired his film-making.

Your comments:
Why are you people so happy to slice and dice this poor big country? Do you want to have another East Timor? The 1963 referendum is just that, "disputed".

I doubt either side can win their argument. If a government screw up were used as a reason to break away, then we would have too many little countries here.

The East Timor story could be different if people waited a little bit until the welfare of the East Timorese improved. Indonesia needs time to fix its problems and slicing it up isn't going to work for anyone.

Kortsleting


Another stupid action from one of Australian.yes another stupid action. What are you trying to do with the Papua Province in Indonesia? You know what? You cannot even solve your internal problems with Aborigines whom you have been torturing for years. And suddenly you feel like being Santa by trying to "help" Papuans by screening this stupid media documentary?

Look at what you have been doing with people in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands? For me, you are just simply prolonging your colonializing by covering it with your development projects.

How shameful! You are no different to the British, Dutch, French and any of those who have colonialized us from the 17th to the 20th centuries. How shameful of you!

Gogur


So, the only way for a journalist to work properly in West Papua is to smuggle cameras. Jono van Hest had the courage to do it.

Foreign journalists in West Papua not only can be arrested, deported and banned from entering Indonesia again, they also risk their life. Let us remember the tragic deaths of the Balibo five and of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes.

Nobody can blame Indonesian journalists, though, because they risk perhaps even more than foreigners. Indonesian journalists have been arrested and tortured by security forces. A number have been shot by the TNI in Aceh, Timor Leste and elsewhere, while on assignment.

Borsa


Perhaps the film wasn't worth showing and Al-Jazeera realized that just in time. Anyway, what does Faizasyah know about the principles of that line of work, and whose to say smuggling cameras is a violation of journalism?

Blix


Excellent publicity for the documentary. It should now attract more viewers. However, what audience is the documentary targeting? Most of my countrymen and women are not much interested what is going on in Papua, even if they are aware of the goings-on; they are too busy making ends meet.

Don't be mistaken: Poverty is rife all over Indonesia, despite all the cell phones and motorbikes.

The Papuans are, of course, well aware of the awful situation. Aiming at the so-called political elite would be much better served after the elections.

If Yudhoyono wins, he may be open to some dialogue on Papua; given the backgrounds of most of the other candidates, they certainly will not!

However, in the end what counts is the TNI and money, and they have proven to make a most decisive mix in Indonesian politics.

Jose Dinoy


I think this is the right decision because this is not good to interfere in Indonesia's problems. The best thing to do for those who don't agree about this is to just to send your comments/complaints to the nearest Indonesian Embassy, etc.

Also, one thing that everyone must remember is that whether you like it or not, Papua is a part of Indonesia.

Imawan


One additional issue in this case is it shows Al-Jazeera clearly is not the flagship for free and unbiased journalism, which they like to portray themselves as. This is not the only example where Al-Jazeera has allowed themselves to be pressured by governments or powerful players.

Hopefully this case will open people's eyes, not only to the Papuan people's situation, but also to Al-Jazeera's sometimes biased journalism and unwillingness to criticize governments and powerful/popular organizations in their area.

Kim ludvig


The question that the commentators are not asking here is, was the documentary accurate? Given that the filmmaker spent months with the OPM and has said publicly that he made the film to sympathize with them, it is likely the film was pulled because it was propaganda rather than a documentary. I think the real reason this film was not screened was that Al-Jazeera realized it was not up to their usual standards of impartiality.

George P.


Strategy - what a way to get people enthusiastic about a movie, by pulling it and saying it is controversial. What will most likely happen is that it gets played at a later date, with a 1000 percent bigger audience than previously anticipated, due to the free publicity.

Keith Harding


One of the commonsense things is to be annoyed if someone dumbs the voice of freedom, but what is really maddening is that Al-Jazeera, which is a revealer of the truth, would dumb the voice of freedom and prevent it from being revealed. "I doubt it".

I hope this is only a kind of postponement for a technical fault, and after that it will be aired as soon as possible.

Ziad Faraj


Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah commented that filming in Papua "violated the principles of journalism". On the contrary, reporting events in Papua, despite official attempts to keep them from media attention, is showing journalistic integrity.

And why is it illegal for journalists to bring cameras to Papua? What is the Indonesian government trying to hide by banning filming in Papua? And what is Al-Jazeerah's motive for the last-minute withdrawal of this documentary? It's a strange decision for a television news network to suddenly withdraw a widely publicized, very topical documentary that would be guaranteed a large audience.

Esther Anderson

Comments (1) Saul francis (not verified) — Mon, 07/13/2009 - 11:42am

So SBY has been democratically re-elected, in a political landslide result..it looks like the right wing Golkar-backed political and economic elite are isolating themselves more and more each day..but they have friends in high places, and most notably they have close economic links with Saudi businessmen and Wahabi operatives, who may of may not have some influence on high level editorial decisions at Al-Jazeera(?) Golkar also do alot of business with Australia and other western counties, and they deal in commodities like endangered animals, timber and other illegal resources that the benefactors would prefer to keep away from the media.

The big question is why are most investigative journalists deterred or threatened if they try to cover issues from Papua, issues that are news worthy and important for the whole region..I suspect it has to do with the fact that Papua is part of the "Fourth World" - out of sight and out of mind, un-spoken about...a place where business is carried out between opposing sides of the worlds' stage..Australia, the West and the Chinese are buying tons of illegal logs from Rimbunan Hijau, which is owned and staffed by Golkar members. Most ironically, the region is much too controversial and has been edited out of both the Western media and Al-Jazeera due to the delicate nature of the business arrangements that go on there...Freeport is paying lump sums to the enemy, for a security contract that everyone wants the New Orleans based Freeport McMoran to discontinue. The Mass Media, the Collonialists, the Multi-nationals and the Military regimes of the region are all thick as thieves, when it comes to Papua. God Bless the human race..!

- why can't we work together to make Papua a "Zone of Peace" and Indigenous Knowledge and Education...? There is too much at stake and so much to learn from the region, that will benefit the standard of life and long term prosperity for the whole world..if the governments fail to see this potential, then we are all doomed*

Source:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/07/10/issues-canceling-papua-documentary-screening039.html