Indonesia; Give us (me) more; it’s not enough; wah, wah.

Indonesia; Give us (me) more; it’s not enough; wah, wah.
By Gordon Brown
Oct 11, 2007, 06:00

On top of tsunami relief fund news which confirms foreign aid and grants to Indonesia get stolen wholesale from the top down, haven't we all had enough of the illegitimate murderous yobs in Jakarta giving a cursory “OK, yeh, thanks!” to the last hand out and then seconds later screaming they want more? Actually, it seems Jakarta gets donated western dollars for one thing or another and then bawls out it needs money for the very same thing again; no surprises why!

Indonesian State Flag (honest version - look close)

Indonesia after China and the USA (of course) are regularly the world's third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases because of vast forest fires used to unlawfully clear the land for commercial purposes. That is on top of the damage done to the environment and natural habitat of Indonesia by wholesale illegal logging. All of this is a by-product of corruption where the authorities are either involved or paid off to look the other way, where many of the companies that unlawfully clear or even torch woodland are owned by senior Indonesian political figures. But of course, this is somehow the west’s problem and they need to pay Indonesia, again and again for the same thing, to prevent it from happening, when really the grants and aid pays for smoke, as the culprits will continue to rape the land and destroy the environment anyway.

The poor old Australian tax payer, with the World’s most aggressive and efficient domestic tax service, pays the majority of this money for old smoke. And isn’t it amazing at how precise the Australian tax man is at making sure every Australian resident pays every penny they owe while the Australian Government dishes it out to Jakarta knowing the money they pay will get whittled away to virtually nothing by the time it gets to where it is meant to be going! Truly the Australian people should be given free holidays in Bali as they have already each paid enough to the smirking Javanese and Sumatran rulers for around two weeks a year in a 5 star Nusa Dua hotel at industry rates (see: John Howard, Indonesian Citizen). No wonder the Balinese hoteliers, often owned by the very same people who bleed money out of foreign aid, smile so much at western tourists; Ah welcome Mr. Smith, we are glad you have decided to stay once and pay twice!

In early September we first heard that Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed an agreement giving $A30,000,000 to Jakarta, the next thing we hear is Indonesia's Environment Minister, Rachmat Witoelar, whining what they get is not enough and he would like Australia to contribute more; then we hear the agreement has somehow become worth $A100,000,0000. We wonder if they call John Howard “Kitty” or more likely “Kitty Kitty” in Jakarta! But the Aussie premier and his government buddies have not finished rolling over and purring just yet, oh no.

Professor Emil Salim who advises President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is now telling Australia to stop talking about $A200,000,000 as it is not enough. Wait a minute, we thought John Howard had first pledged $A30 million, then we hear it is A$100 million, but now it is A$200 million according to Jakarta, but even that is not sufficient! OK Australian tax payers you thought that was bad enough? So here comes the really bad news; the $A200 million Jakarta has divulged the Australian Government is paying out in its Initiative on Forests and Climate is apparently in addition to the $A100 million Howard signed away separately to Yudhoyono. OK, ok, we lied; the really bad news has not yet come. This is still not enough! Indonesia now say they want approximately $A2,000,000,000 to stop the unlawful and illegal forest logging and land clearance.

Don’t forget, Jakarta is talking about western tax payers paying to stop their own unlawful acts. In our last Bali BS Update we reported on how the Jakarta thugs were grabbing vast swathes of land from the Dayak people in Kalimantan on the basis the Dayaks do not have a land registry / documentation system and therefore have no bureaucratic evidence to support their claims to land title! Of course the Dayaks have used a word of mouth honesty system that worked perfectly well for years until the rapists from Jakarta came along. So western and especially Australian tax payers are to pay the Indonesian environmental terrorists not to destroy land that does not even belong to them?

OK, Australia makes a lot of money out of Indonesia, mostly thanks to the nepotistic and corrupt system that favours certain country’s corporations, but that money ends up primarily in the bank accounts of the major shareholders. Isn’t it a fact that the average Australian gets robbed in this process and that if Indonesia’s natural resources were managed and licensed / contracted out legally and transparently, Australia being so close in proximity would get massive economic benefit anyway? Maybe even that the extra competitiveness, aside from benefiting the everyday Indonesians who get raped a lot more than western tax payers, would actually generate more jobs and wealth in Australia, just less corporate profit?

When it comes to voting time at home, will you see and vote according to the greater honest picture, or will you be bought with the same old rhetoric about immigration? Australians especially; OK if you are happy with all of this and paying to holiday in Bali on top, more for you. If you are fed up with seeing your tax dollars go in foreign aid, where so much is whittled away in corruption but yet nothing is done (for the benefit of major western corporation shareholders), then vote with your brain and your holiday dollars; stay away from Bali until the nonsense stops. First Indonesia has to live up to its legal responsibilities over land ownership (to stop stealing land and giving it to businessmen for a bung), then it has to apply the rule of law over illegal deforestation, then it has to ensure and guarantee that all foreign aid will end up where it is intended, then and only then can the west meaningfully donate aid to Jakarta. In the meantime, it is nothing but a sick joke. Do not go to Indonesia; do not pay for your holidays twice.