TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Top Australian newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, has accused Indonesia of"kidnapping" Papuan children and taking them to pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) in order to force them to be Muslim. "West Papua’s youth are being removed to Islamic religious schools in Java," wrote Michael Bachelard, a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald. Bachelard also stated that the majority of Papua residents are Christian.
The piece was entitled "They’re Taking Our Kids," and was published last Saturday, in the Good Weekend, the paper’s weekend magazine. However, the newspaper admitted that they were not able to obtain confirmation regarding the Indonesian government’s involvement in the operation funded by one of the government’s banks.
The media said the situation in West Papua was similar to the Australian government’s previous treatment of the Aborigines. Under the Australian government from 1910 to 1971, as many as 100,000 Aboriginal children were kidnapped from their families in order to educate them in the ways of the Western culture. The Australian Government apologized to the "lost generation" for their conduct during the reign of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
NATALIA SANTI
