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Guest notes

Indonesian notes

5 November 2016

9:00 AM

5 November 2016

9:00 AM

The criminalisation of separatism

When Indonesian President Joko Widodo visits Australia this coming week, he may be surprised to find that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are designated official flags of Australia and are frequently flown at official occasions. I’m guessing this will be surprising to him because in Indonesia, flying the flag of the indigenous people of West Papua (the Morning Star flag), or flying the Moluccan flag, carries a heavy jail sentence with torture or beatings thrown in in as an extra deterrent.

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