Posted on 03/29/2006 6:12:20 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
A CARTOON depicting Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as fornicating dingoes was a grotesque stunt by a tacky publication, Mr Downer said today.
But the minister said the Indonesian paper which published the lurid cartoon had every right to do in a free society.
The Islamic-leaning Rakyat Merdeka (People's Freedom) newspaper has run the cartoon on its front page amid Indonesia's continuing anger over Australia's giving visas to 42 West Papuan asylum seekers.
The cartoon depicts the two dingoes having sex under a palm tree on an otherwise barren island signposted "Papua".
Headlined "The adventure of two dingo" (sic), the drawing shows the prime minister as the dominant dog, shaking as he tells the foreign minister: "I want Papua!! Alex! Try to make it happen!"
Mr Downer said the cartoon would fail any measure of tastefulness in Australia, but newspapers were free to publish such things.
"You can publish cartoons which are tasteless and grotesque, but you are free to do so, and Indonesia is a free and pluralistic society," he said.
"Obviously, there are standards of public taste which publications are measured against.
"I would have thought those cartoons, in our society, fell way below the standards of public taste. I think a lot of Australians would regard those kind of publications as very offensive.
"But they're free to be offensive in a magazine in Indonesia if they wish to be."
Australia's decision to grant visas to 42 of 43 West Papuan asylum seekers has sparked outrage in Indonesia, with nationalists accusing Canberra of secretly plotting the province's breakaway from Jakarta's grasp.
They have likened the situation to the 1999 independence crisis in East Timor.
Mr Downer said the newspaper, one of Indonesia's biggest sellers, was hardly a quality publication.
"This is a magazine which is a sort of low rent magazine, this is a very poor quality magazine," Mr Downer said.
"It's not, in that sense, a mainstream publication. It's a pretty tacky sort of publication and of course in tacky publications you get these sorts of things."
The minister said the cartoon did not mean Indonesians generally held Australia in low esteem.
"I would have thought the vast majority of Indonesians would agree with me, that's not a publication worth buying if it descends to that sort of depth," he said.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said the publishing of the cartoon was a "tragic" development but Mr Howard was indirectly to blame.
Mr Beazley said things had gone awry after Australia's decision to grant visas to the West Papuan asylum seekers because Mr Howard had let the Indonesians think Australia would send refugees away because of its strict border control policies.
"I actually think it's tragic that things have come to this pass," Mr Beazley said.
"One of the problems for The Prime Minister is that he's been hoist on his own petard.
"The Prime Minister convinced the Indonesians he was serious about keeping refugees away from Australian shores and invited them to participate in our own schemes, and all of the rest of it.
"What the Indonesians did not understand is that the Prime Minister didn't mean it.
"In fact, all those refugees are in Australia now or in New Zealand.
"They took the Prime Minister at face value."
Mr Beazley said the decision to grant visas was not an insult.
"There is no agenda here," he said.
"We are not trying to dissolve the Indonesian federation."
The interesting thing is that both regard the others response as a sign of weakness.
Maybe Australian Muslims can stage some token sympathy riots?
If the moozies riot, we're going to have to go out and smack them around a bit...and the footy starts tonight. It's just not worth the trouble!
Who's on tonight? What's the best-selling lager in Australia? (Not the best, but best-selling).
West Coast Eagles play St. Kilda at Subiaco Oval in Perth. The Saints could do anything, but I reckon the Eagles will take the points.
Our biggest seller is Victoria Bitter. EVERYONE drinks it!
Is that why they keep burning down churches?
I am rioting in my heart. Does that make me a sinner in Jimmuh Carter's eyes?
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