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Afgelopen maandag verscheen in het landelijke dagblad Rakyat Merdeka een cartoon waarin afgebeeld werd de Australische Premier Howard met Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Downer die als dingo’s op de Indonesische provincie Papua ‘contact’ hebben.
Het Australische antwoord kwam vandaag naar voren in The Australian. Zie afbeelding hierboven President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono van Indonesie die een Papua hond ‘neemt’.
Australian newspaper cartoon lampoons Indonesian president
CANBERRA (Agencies): Australia’s biggest-selling national newspaper crudely lampooned Indonesia’s president Saturday over the sensitive issue of Papua province in a cartoon condemned by the Australian foreign minister as “tasteless and offensive.”
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer quickly distanced his government from The Weekend Australian cartoon which denigrates President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s treatment of the restive province where separatists are struggling forindependence.
The cartoon and government’s unusual response underlines the furor between the neighboring countries since Canberra accepted a group of Papuans as refugees last month.
“The Australian government does not condone in any way the publication of the … cartoon,” Downer said in a statement. “It disassociates itself from it.”
The cartoon depicts Yudhoyono as a male dog, who is accompanied by a Papuan who is also represented as a dog. The smiling Yudhoyono, his tail wagging, says: “Don’t take this the wrong way,” above a caption that reads: “No offense intended.”
Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal expressed concern about the publication of the cartoon, but calling it only as rubbish.
“We are concerned about the publication that is very offensive. But (we) view it as rubbish,” he was quoted by Antara as saying on Saturday.
The work of cartoonist Bill Leake replies to a cartoon that appeared in an Indonesian newspaper this week that portrayed Downer and Prime Minister John Howard as Australian wild dogs, known as dingoes.
Howard, depicted in the Rakyat Merdeka newspaper Wednesday as the male, tells Downer: “I want Papua.”
On Thursday, Downer condemned that drawing as “tasteless and grotesque,” while Howard said he never took offense at cartoons.
On Saturday, Downer said the press in both Australia and Indonesia were free to publish without government interference.
“In keeping with this right, I believe editors haveresponsibility to be mindful of the consequences of what they publish, particularly when they knowingly publish material that is likely to be found offensive in some quarters,” Downer’s statement said.
“From a personal perspective, I find the (Yudhoyono) cartoon tasteless and offensive and see no merit of any kind in its publication,” he added.
Indonesia has protested Australia’s move to grant asylum to 36 adults and seven children who arrived from Papua by boat in January and claimed they faced persecution if they returned. Jakarta withdrew its ambassador from Canberra last week over the controversy, which has rekindled memories of strained relations in 1999 when Australia supported East Timor’s ballot for independence.