A Referendum To Recognise Indigenous Australians...

In a lot of ways it is pretty sad that Australia is about to embark on a process that might culminate in the long overdue recognition of our first peoples in the Constitution. Yet, perhaps it is a case of better late than never. Nevertheless, referendums are notoriously difficult to get done. In fact, since federation, Australia has only managed to pass eight out of forty-four.

The referendum reality is that to be successful there is a need for a majority of votes throughout the country and a majority of states to mark the YES box.

There is no doubt that our indigenous brothers and sisters hold a very unique place in our collective history as a nation. The Prime Minister does not really need to tell us that. In any event, it would seem that the governmental bureaucratic answer to formulating a referendum question needs an expert panel. This is a sure-fire way to either kill an idea altogether or produce a question that does not reach the outcome that started the process in the first place.

Hopefully, Ms. Gillard has her finger on the pulse and is right when she claims that there is bipartisan support for the move to get a referendum passed on recognising indigenous Australians.

It is expected that the 'expert' panel will do the consultation thing throughout 2011 and report back to parliament by the end of 2011. It will be interesting to see whether the government goes to a vote on the referendum as a stand-alone exercise or wait till the next federal election and provide an additional piece of paper for people to fill in when they are in the ballot box. On a personal note, a separate ballot would work for me as this would translate to an extra day's worth of income.

I am hopeful that if as a nation we can vote to give our indigenous brothers and sisters the right to vote as we did back in 1967, then we can surely get ourselves sufficiently organised to make it possible to recognise that the first peoples of our great nation were not the convicts and their masters that wended their way here in 1788.

MUI, Fatwas, and Kopi Luwak...

Each passing day further highlights the fact that the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has way too much time on its hands. Unfortunately, rather than doing something useful like marshalling their considerable resources and self-confessed moral authority to rid Indonesia of poverty, they instead focus their considerable energies on really useful world-changing matters such as the prohibition of drinking kopi luwak.

Kopi luwak is the world's most expensive coffee. What makes this coffee so unique, and apparently worth up to USD 600 a kilo is that the coffee beans are eaten by the civet and then passed through their intestinal tract and excreted in their feces. Then the feces are collected, the beans washed, and the coffee ground. All pretty simple really.

It is likely that there are many people who would turn up their nose at the prospect of paying top dollar for a recycled coffee bean, particularly so for a coffee bean recycled in this way. Yet, there are those who believe that kopi luwak is one of the world's great coffees, exquisite, and so worthy of the high price tag. Then there are others, probably not to be classed as connoisseurs of the little black beans, who think it to be just another cup of coffee, no better or no worse than you might get from a McDonalds McCafe.

Funnily enough, the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) decided that it was exquisite enough to give a bag to Kevin Rudd (former Australian Prime Minister) when Rudd visited Indonesia. That led to the inevitable, and somewhat lame jokes, of "crappacino" and "dung diplomacy".

However, when one thinks about it, it was pretty prophetic of the Indonesian president because it was not all that far into the future after that the then Australian PM found himself in a world of crap and was deposed as PM by his deputy.

The interest from the MUI (and according to the MUI, the NU) stems from concerns that kopi luwak is najis. Najis means ritually unclean, and unclean foods are forbidden in Islam. There is no doubting that najis exists in Islam and there are very specific provisions in place relating to things that are najis. It remains to be seen as to whether kopi luwak is one of those things.

However, no matter what the outcome, it remains a truism that there are so many far more important and pressing matters facing Indonesia and Indonesians that the MUI would be better served thinking about those and directing their collective energies to the successful resolution of those problems first before worrying about the najis or lack of najis-ness of kopi luwak.

Ho hum...

Ranga -- Derogatory and Offensive?

Barry O'Farrell is the New South Wales Opposition Leader, and he believes he is a shoe-in to be the next Premier of New South Wales.

It is pretty hard to see how the Labor Party can pull this one out of the fire as they are behind in all the polls and it would seem that there is some Labor fatigue in the electorate.

However, where there is a will there is a way and O'Farrell would not be the first NSW Opposition leader to shoot themselves in the foot on the way into a seemingly un-lose-able election!

This is evident in a recent Twitter post the leader of the opposition made, supposedly off the record, to a journalist, Latika Bourke. He referred to Australia's current Prime Minister as a "Ranga". Now ranga is derived from the word orangutan (in Indonesia this is an abbreviation of the words orang hutan, which means simply forest dweller). The word reflects the colour of one's hair, in this case, red. There is little doubting that the PM's hair has been a topic of discussion over the years as it moves between various shades of red.

However, the offense is not so much singling the PM out for the colour of her hair, but rather referring to her as a monkey. It was not all that long ago Australians were up in arms when one of our cricketers, Andrew Symonds, was called a monkey by a visiting Indian player, Harbajan Singh. When will people realise that calling other people monkeys is going to attract attention, most probably negative, despite the intent.

The 'tweet' was regarding the problems that the Liberal Party was having in selecting candidates in key seats leading into the 'soon' to be announced Federal Election. Verbatim the tweet reads like this:

"Deeply off the record - I think the timetable and struggle to get candidates reflects internal poll - pre and post the ranga."

My guess is he could have said the same thing in a different way and made the same point, even though Twitter restricts posters to 140 characters or less. This also reflects how much more difficult it is to have things off the record in the twitter-verse. O'Farrell realised the error of his ways pretty quickly and removed the offending tweet. However, this was not done soon enough and people had already re-tweeted it and as they say, the rest is history.

As an aside, on my most recent practicum placement, I had a red-headed student in one of my classes and he was regularly referred to as a ranga. This did not seem to bother him though, and was seemingly accepted as par for the course. I was only observing the class, but apparently the offensive nature of the word had been discussed. Yet, the young lad referred to himself as a ranga as well. So, it is perhaps an interesting debate as to whether the context and the usage of the word is exclusively offensive or are there times when it can be co-opted and used as a source of empowerment.

Australia, Asylum Seekers, and Offshore Processing...

Madam Prime Minister what is the time frame for this grand plan to develop and build an offshore processing center that is going to handle all these boat people flooding Australian shores? One would imagine considering the urgency with which the policy was announced that these facilities will be in place in the quickest possible time, yes?

Excuse the cynicism. But, for all the fanfare of the announcement of the regional processing center supposedly destined for Timor Leste, and then Papua New Guinea, and then Timor Leste again, and perhaps for any regional nation willing to take it on, this policy, if it is such a thing, is half-baked and destined to disappear into the great depths like many suspect that the leaky boats bringing asylum seekers to these shores do.

The Timor and Papuan solutions have both been rejected by the powers that be in both of those sovereign nations. Yet, despite these rejections the PM is still pushing the policy and hoping that courtesy meetings with the Timor Leste government will bear some fruit and perhaps a processing center. Maybe it will, but it will be on the terms of the East Timorese and not the Australian government who seemingly seriously miscalculated the good will that the East Timorese were going to show on this one.

The government is not setting a very explicit timetable for completion on this one. It is being described as important and ongoing. It is also being described as a problem without a "quick fix". This must surely be read as meaning that the timetable for a processing center is dependent more on our regional neighbours than it is on the ability of Ms. Gillard and her cabinet to foist this onto them no matter what.

This all brings the obvious comparisons to the fore. Of particular note is the speed with which John Howard and his band of merry asylum seeker movers were able to negotiate a "compromise" with Nauru and then get a processing center up and running there. The comparison does no favours to the current PM and her band of merry followers when the numbers are put forward. The current number seems to be 2013. In contrast, the Liberal government got their center in just on a month.

The ABC are reporting that the FM, Stephen Smith, is off to Jakarta this week for a meeting or two. It is also suggested that the regional processing facility is going to be on the agenda. Smith, himself, has stated that the Indonesians were informed of the PM's intention to make the big offshore processing center announcement before it was actually made. Now, if this is true, then it beggars belief that all the press to date suggests that the Australian government did not get around to telling Xanana Gusmao, the Timor Leste Prime Minister, that the big announcement was imminent. Further, judging by the reaction of a good number of Timor Leste politicians it would seem equally evident that the Australian government did not think them worthy of a heads up either.

It appears that the number crunchers at Labor party headquarters have determined that Australians want a hard-nosed approach to asylum seekers that includes making sure that they stay offshore and are processed offshore. Ostensibly this is supposed to be a deterrent to people smugglers. However, it is not the people smugglers that need deterring, it is the people seeking asylum and refugee status that need deterring. If you are fleeing violence and persecution or possible death, then an offshore processing facility is hardly a deterrent. At best it is an additional step to a better life, and at worst it is a temporary reprieve before being sent back to wherever it is that person came from.

Personally, I think the number crunchers are over-estimating the emotions of the broader community on this one. Australians are about fairness and doing what is right. Ask them and they will tell you that they have serious reservations about putting children and women behind bars and razor wire while they are in detention, often for months and years.

Maybe it is time Labor took the high moral ground on this issue and stumped up a policy that is significantly different from that of the opposition. Come to think of it, anything that was even slightly humanitarian in nature would be a vast improvement over what is on offer from the opposition.

Asylum seekers are not our problem, politicians are.

Howard Snubbed for the Status Quo?

It would seem that being a cricket tragic and the former Prime Minister of Australia for 10 or so years are not qualifications enough to be rubber-stamped as a vice president of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The current format sees a rotational policy in operation where the vice-presidents rotate through the presidency of the ICC.

Unfortunately, for the former PM and self-declared cricket tragic, the powers that be aligned against him and have seemingly thwarted his attempt for a chair at the big table.

I am not sure that this should necessarily be seen as an insult to either John Howard or to Australia. The wash-up of this is likely to focus on a desire of some nations to keep the status quo, perhaps even some might want to discuss that the corrupting nature of power is at work here where vested interests are not going to allow the organisation to be cleaned up. There have been charges in the past that corruption is rampant in cricket and that the ICC does not have the desire or the power to clean it up.

There is one thing for sure, John Howard would be coming in all guns blazing. But, this is all hypothetical now as his nomination has hit the skids big time.

Too bad, but Ho Hum...

Sir Edmund Hillary -- Tops the List of Greatest Living New Zealanders...

There is probably only one thing wrong with these recent poll results, Sir Edmund Hillary died more than 18 months ago on 11 January 2008. Sir Edmund Hillary was a fine man, a wonderful ambassador for New Zealand, and a humanitarian, at least in my reckoning.

When I was little, or perhaps younger, I wanted to climb Mt. Everest and Sir Edmund was one of the people that inspired such grand visions.

Even though Sir Edmund is dead, it seems that New Zealanders still remember his feats and his contributions. Perhaps, Sir Edmund remains alive in the hearts of many New Zealanders.

Following Sir Edmund in the list are New Zealanders who are in fact still alive: Helen Clark, the former Prime Minister; Sir Colin Meads, an All Black; and Sir Peter Snell, triple Olympic gold medallist.

World Wide Chain Of Compassion...

Maybe it is time to spin off the posts that I have done on Schapelle Corby and her case into a blog of its own. I am intent on The RAB Experience remaining a blog on a wide and varied subject matter. However, I received this email earlier today. My visitor statistics are showing that there are lots of people passing through looking for information on Schapelle Corby and her plight.

If you feel strongly enough about wanting to help then perhaps you could start with copying and pasting the letter included on the previous post about letters to the PM of Australia, which you can find here. I have not heard of the World Wide Chain of Compassion before (but it turns up about 515 hits on a Google search).



From The World Wide Chain of Compassion

Regardless of how you, the reader of this email, currently feel about her
innocence or guilt, I ask you, please, to show compassion for Schapelle
Corby.

Jailed for 20 years, she has maintained her innocence to the crime and now,
after 5 years, has been reduced to a severe state of mental illness.

A report from eminent psychiatrist Dr Jonathon Phillips, who has just been
to Bali to assess Corby's mental condition, has been sent to the Australian
Government. It paints a shocking picture of Schapelle's state of mind. This
once fun loving, clean living young woman, has been reduced to a state of
mental illness with severe psychosis, hallucinations and suicidal
tendencies. She has already cut her arms with broken glass in an attempt to
end her life.

I believe this action was a desperate and final cry for help. Next time she
could go all the way and die in a pool of blood, somewhere in the squalor of
her prison hell.

In 2006, Schapelle wrote this:

"Right now I'm empty, lost and numb. I used to have a clear fresh sparkle
radiating within, showing through my laugh and my eyes. I never had a
problem looking in the mirror, I knew who I was, I didn't question myself.
Lately now, two years on from that fatal date and after repeated blows, I'm
finding a confusing, distant reflection in the mirror; it's dull, my eyes
don't seem to speak anymore, they're lifeless as though my soul is drying
up. Where have I gone, where am I going?"

In a letter to supporters she once said:

"Courage doesn't always roar, sometimes it's just a little voice at the end
of the day that says, 'I'll try again tomorrow'."

How many more tomorrows does Schapelle have? How much longer can she last
before she finally succumbs to the voices in her head saying, "enough is
enough?"

Is it now time for us all to say, "enough is enough?" She has suffered
enough! It's time for compassion.

Malaysia, Caning, and Beer -- Part IV

It would seem that being sentenced to a good ol' caning, wanting to get caned, and actually being caned are very different things.

It is interesting that the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, has entered the fray on this one. He has suggested that the Singaporean and Muslim model, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, not be quite as willing to accept her fate. According to Razak, although he does not want to interfere with the imposition of the sentence or the role of the Sharia Courts, he believes that not all avenues of appeal are yet closed.

The PM is of the opinion that the authorities are "sensitive" to her plight and the implications of the sentence. and therefore she should appeal. I guess there are a number of ways that can be interpreted, and the cynics among us might lean towards the PM interfering in the judicial / justice process. Then again, maybe the cynics would not see it this way.

Shukarno was granted a reprieve as the Sharia Courts and the authorities decided that the holy month of Ramadan was not the opportune time to be caning a young mother of two for drinking beer. Hey, seeing it is Ramadan and a month of forgiveness, how about just vacating the sentence and replace it with a warning that in essence is a slap on the wrist and some choice words about re-offending.

However, I am of the opinion that she wants to get caned. Whether she wants to get caned because it is publicity and any publicity is good publicity, I am not going to speculate. But, she is calling a good bluff on any front by challenging the authorities to get the deed done.

Most people would have appealed the sentence as a matter of course, Shukarno has not. Instead, she has argued that if it is to be done and the authorities are really doing it as a means of educating other Muslims of the ills of alcohol and drinking, then the caning must be done in public. This makes sense to me.

The waiting game continues.

The ISA in Malaysia -- Protests, Tear Gas, and Water Cannons

The Internal Security Act, or ISA, is a law that allows police in Malaysia to detain people without trial in certain circumstances. The primary concern for most is that the ISA does not recognize some basic human rights with respect to the idea of a right to a speedy and fair trial. The ISA is designed, according to its supporters, to ensure that Malaysia's domestic security is protected from all threats. In essence, the ISA gives the authorities the right to undertake pre-emptive or preventive detention.

As this as a backdrop, some 15,000 Malaysians seeking to have the ISA removed from the statute books took to the streets (photo courtesy of Reuters). If I was Malaysian, and perhaps even if I wasn't but just there, I would have taken to the streets too. Human rights are human rights. These basic human rights, no matter what the former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahatir, says, are not based on western or eastern / Asian values. Human rights are human values, simple.

In Kuala Lumpur the 5,000 police on hand were seemingly outnumbered by protesters. Nevertheless, police had at their disposal water cannons and tear gas, both of which they were prepared to use, and did so.

At least 175 people have been arrested in this heavy-handed assault on a peaceful demonstration. According to Anwar Ibrahim, the former Deputy Prime Minister and one-time jail inmate, the police action was not only unwarranted but unnecessarily brutal.

The current Prime Minister, Najib Razak, has called the protest unnecessary as he has already agreed to review the ISA. However, it would seem that at least 15,000 Malaysians do not believe him and are prepared to make their lack of faith in the PM known.

Israel and Hamas

It is interesting that when the focus or spotlight is on you in a bad way the easiest way to shift the spotlight is to demonize someone or something else. Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, has been doing it tough of late with corruption scandals swirling all around him and with allegations surfacing of his direct involvement. Hence, the warning issued by Olmert that this cease fire or truce that is scheduled to come into force on Thursday is Hamas' last chance. It seems that if Hamas does not play ball and behave then Israel is prepared to strike deep into the heart of the Gaza Strip.

In the Israeli PM's own words, the people of Gaza are "pissed off with Hamas".

Now I am not pro-Hamas. In fact I have no problem with it being labeled an extreme and fundamentalist organization. The problem as I see it is that Hamas is now a democratically elected entity. The "West", and primarily the US, severely misunderstood the social and political dynamics when there was agreement to the idea of Hamas participating in Palestinian elections.

There seems little doubt that Hamas is anti-Israel and this means, in my mind at least, that any kind of truce will be short-lived. I just do not believe that Hamas has the sort of governance control it needs to reign in the militants and stop the rocket attacks. I hope I am wrong. I would love to see genuine peace in that part of the world in my life time. Yep, the eternal optimist!

The Israeli PM has close links to Australia and has family members living in Australia. In fact his cousin is married to the Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and an aunt in Sydney.

The PM has grand plans of making peace with Lebanon and Syria. The plan even includes opening an Israeli Embassy in Damascus. Now this kind of peace would significantly change the geo-political dynamic of the region for the better. However, before any of these grand plans are likely to come to fruition the PM needs to survive the corruption allegations that by all accounts have two possible outcomes; resignation or new elections.

In any event there seems to be an open invitation to the Australian PM, Kevin Rudd, to visit Israel. This comes on the heals of the Australian Federal Parliament passing a resolution that commemorated Israel's first 60 years of existence in March of 2008.

Maybe I will write more on this Middle East stuff in the future because I am an opinionated bugger on this issue!

Good Interpreters and Translators

Have you ever wondered about the value of a good interpreter or translator? Well, here is your answer!

The normal point man for the President of Indonesia is Dino Patti Djalal, particularly when it comes to foreign affairs and press conferences related to foreign affairs issues. However, unfortunately for the President, Dino is down and out with Dengue Fever. Nevertheless, life goes on and with the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, in town a press conference needed to be conducted with or without Dino present.

So, one of Dino's staff members stepped in and seems to have made a bit of an error in translating the President's response to a question regarding Australia's reluctance to lift its travel warning to Indonesia. The US have already lifted theirs and many think that Australia should do the same. Although, Australia is not one of those thinking that whatever the US does is good for Australia.

Well, it seems that the President speaking in Bahasa said something along the lines of, "Indonesia understood the Australian policy and the desire to protect its citizens from threats". The President also added that the security situation in Indonesia had already returned to normal and Australians were welcome to return to Indonesia. He then further added that the conditions in Bali had returned to normal as evidenced in the 37% increase in tourist arrivals during 2007.

Unfortunately for the interpreter this was translated as Indonesia requesting (perhaps demanding) that the travel warning be revoked!

The mistake is not one that is going to be fatal to the Indonesian and Australian relationship going forward. However, when it was pointed out that the translation had been a little different in the English version to that of the Indonesian version then the President felt the need to send in another of his spokespersons, Andi Mallarangeng, to provide a clarification to the earlier statements.

If there is a need for an Interpreter and Translator, then I am more than happy to offer my services for a mutually agreeable fee!

Russia -- A Free Press

Russia has not been known for its free press under the previous President, Vladimir Putin, and many have assumed that his anointed successor, Dmitry Medvedev, would be nothing more than a figure head as the real power would now move to the Prime Minister, a position now held by Putin. However, maybe this is not the case as Medvedev has essentially quashed amendments to the libel law which would have made the press in Russia a much less open place than it is now.

It is being reported that the Kremlin is keen to highlight the much more liberal views on matters such as press freedom. Perhaps this is to soften a particularly hard line approach adopted under Putin's Presidency. However, the proof of this will evolve over time as it remains to be seen how influential the former President will be as Prime Minister.

The Russian system of governance is an interesting one in that a "critical" note on a piece of legislation in effect sinks it. I guess this is some kind of veto power (note: I need to learn more about governance in Russia).

Apparently, this issue came about because Mr. Putin wants to dump his wife and run off and marry a 24-year old gymnast (I am guessing for her increased flexibility). Look, Putin would not be the first European leader to dump the wife for a younger, sexy, more flexible new wife. Putin only needs to look as far as France for an example of this, as Nicolas Sarkozy dumped his wife for the former model Carla Bruni.

Currently, the media in Russia can only be shut down for trading in the following news worthy items: state secrets, extremist statements, calls to carry out terrorist acts or statements justifying terrorism.

It would seem though that this is a no win situation for Medvedev as even those likely to benefit from this are sure to be vocal critics that this is nothing more than an exercise in propaganda.