http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/07/02/aljazeera-cancels-papua-documentary-screening.html?page=1
Al-Jazeera cancels Papua documentary screening Ary Hermawan , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 07/02/2009 11:12 PM | World In what seems to be a last minute decision, television news network Al-Jazeera English 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 had 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 officials for confirmation Thursday 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 claimed to have smuggled six video cameras into the troubled West Papua province. He said the filmmaking was inspired by the arrival of 43 Papuans seeking refugee status from the Australian government in 2006. Van Hest has not replied to emails from the Post for comments. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said the government had not made any contact with Al-Jazeera to protest the TV channel's decision to air the documentary and to request it cancel the screening. "I do not know if they have called it off or postponed it. I waited for the film but it was not aired," he said, adding the government had been disturbed by the documentary. "It is a sensational film that is very one-sided. If it is true that the filmmaker had smuggled the cameras then he has violated Indonesian law and also the principles of journalism." Comments (25) | Post Amy Huon (not verified) - Fri, 07/03/2009 - 10:00pm I hope that Al-Jazeera reschedule this documentary. I would really like to see it. More importantly I would like to see a world where the media is not censored by vested interests. WPAN (not verified) - Fri, 07/03/2009 - 9:36pm In response to Mr. Ali's comment ... all Papuan's would like to improve their economic and social status ... especially in what they consider to be their own homeland - Papua! The Indonesian government has been present in Papua for over 40-years ... PT Freeport has been a major fiscal contributor to the Indonesian Government, yet in Papua there is a disproportional bias against ethnic Papuans in all areas: education, healthcare, and employment. Papuans feel that they are treated as second-class immigrants, more like stray dogs, in their own homeland, and if and when they speak out about their frustrations over their situation they are treated as political criminals. West Papua Action Network (USA) We are approaching the first-year anniversary of the death of Opinus Tabuni. (A Message To The UN From The Family Of Opinus Tabuni: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtvbQjFiztU ) Opinus was just one Papuan from an unknown number of Papuans that have suffered injustice in Papua, it is therefore not hard to understand why many Papuans are no longer scared to talk about their experiences and the injustices that frequently occur in Papua. "Pride of Warriors" may not be the Red and White that the Indonesian Government would like to see, but we are no longer in the Suharto era! Jules Cooper (not verified) - Fri, 07/03/2009 - 5:38pm we are outraged of this censorship by Indonesia. It is clear that the foreign ministry pressure has prohibited this documentary from going out to a worldwide audience. If there is peace and freedom in West Papua, why must they stop people from reporting this? In fact their desperate censorship only shows the truth that Indonesia continues to perpetrate against human rights in West Papua. Instead of covering this up, why not they do something to stop it? All journalists must double their effort to reveal this truth which Indonesia wants to hide from us! Please make this a big issue so that they may not vanish the news about human rights along with the people of West Papua. Write to Al Jazeera to request that they play the film and stand up for freedom of speech and human rights for all the oppressed peoples! Ziad Faraj (not verified) - Fri, 07/03/2009 - 3:58pm One of the common sense things is to be annoyed if someone dumbs the voice of freedom, but what is really maddening is that AlJazeera which is a revealer of the truth would dump the voice of freedom and prevent it from being revealed ........."I doubt it". I hope this would be only a kind of postponing for a technical fault, and after that it would be aired as soon as possible. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
