In early 2006, a furore erupted in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
over the Australian government's decision to grant
temporary protection visa
A Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) is an Australian visa category issued to persons who had been recognised as refugees fleeing persecution. TPVs are issued to persons who apply for refugee status after making an unauthorised arrival in Australia, ...
s to 42 Indonesian
asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
seekers from
West Papua region. The controversy caused diplomatic tension as well as a "war of cartoons", with newspapers in Indonesia and Australia trading hits over a decision that the Indonesians say questions the sovereignty that they officially have over West Papua.
The issue was caused by the Australian Government's decision through the immigration department to allow visas to 42 refugees that arrived in January. Part of the Indonesian concern is based on the speed at which these asylum seekers were processed – forty-two were processed in just two months, with the remaining asylum seeker having been approved in mid-April. The Indonesian government took the move as a direct challenge, inferring that the approval of the temporary protection visas indicated that the Australian Government agreed with the West Papuans that they face persecution if they returned home.
Cartoons
On 27 March 2006, Indonesian newspaper ''
Rakyat Merdeka'' published a front-page
editorial cartoon
A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine a ...
depicting the then
Australian Prime Minister
The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the federal government of Australia and is also accountable to federal parliament under the principl ...
John Howard
John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...
and
Australian Foreign Minister
The Minister for Foreign Affairs (commonly shortened to Foreign Minister) is the minister in the Government of Australia who is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Senato ...
Alexander Downer
Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United King ...
as dingoes. The cartoon was intended to protest the acceptance of the Papuan refugees by the Australian Government.
The ''
Weekend Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' published a retaliatory cartoon by
Bill Leak
Desmond Robert "Bill" Leak (9 January 1956 – 10 March 2017) was an Australian editorial cartoonist, caricaturist and portraitist.
Raised in Condobolin and Beacon Hill, Sydney, Leak attended Julian Ashton Art School during the 1970s. His cart ...
on 1 April 2006, apparently depicting Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a dog,
copulating with a
Papuan native.
Alexander Downer labelled both cartoons "tasteless and grotesque", while
Andi Mallarangeng
Andi Alfian Mallarangeng (born March 14, 1963 in Makassar, South Sulawesi) is an Indonesian politician who served as Minister of Youth and Sports at Second United Indonesia Cabinet. He also served as presidential spokesman for President Susilo ...
, the spokesperson for President Yudhoyono said the cartoon was "in poor taste".
In response to ''The Australian'' cartoon, Indonesian activists in
Makassar, South Sulawesi, demanded that Australian guests be evicted from their hotels and searched hotels across the city for tourists from the country.
References
Notes and citations
Resources
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See also
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Herman Wainggai – The leader of the West Papuan Asylum seekers
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Papua conflict
The Papua conflict is an ongoing conflict in Western New Guinea between Indonesia and the Free Papua Movement ( id , Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM). Subsequent to the withdrawal of the Dutch administration from the Netherlands New Guinea in ...
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Foreign relations of Indonesia
Since independence, Indonesian foreign relations have adhered to a "free and active" foreign policy, seeking to play a role in regional affairs commensurate with its size and location but avoiding involvement in conflicts among major powe ...
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Foreign relations of Australia
Foreign relations of Australia are influenced by its position as a leading trading nation and as a significant donor of humanitarian aid. Australia's foreign policy is guided by a commitment to multilateralism and regionalism, as well as to ...
{{Australia–Indonesia relations
2006 in Indonesia
2006 in Australia
2006 in international relations
Australia–Indonesia relations
Migrant crises
Refugee dispute