Australian Paper Says Indonesia Forces Islam on Papuan Kids
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Selasa, 7 Mei 2013 03:22 WIB
Children of Asmat Village, East Mimika Dostrict, Papua. ANTARA/Fanny Octavianus
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The largest newspaper in Australia, Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), accuses Indonesia of "kidnapping" Papuan children to be converted to Islam in Islamic (pesantren). "West Papua's youth are being removed to Islamic religious schools in Java for 're-education'," SMH journalist Michael Bachelard wrote. In his piece, Bachelard stressed that the majority of Papuans are Christians.
In an article titled 'They're taking our children' published Saturday last week, Bachelard said that his report was based on a six-month long investigation of an organization called Good Weekend. However, the article acknowledges that they "could not confirm if the government of Indonesia or its agencies were active in the movement of children" said to have been funded by one of Indonesia's state banks.
SMH is likely to be equating the fate of West Papuan children with the Australian government's treatment of the Aborigines. Under the policy of the Australian government in 1910-1971, some 100,000 Aborigine children were taken from their families to be educated in the West. The Australian government apologized to the "lost generation" during Prime Minister Kevin Rudd administrations, with Julia Gillard government following suit.
