Letters to the Editor
Readers write about the US military and humanitarian aid, Big Oil and funding for alternative energy, laws against low-rider pants, West Papua and Indonesian democracy, and the effects of free trade on Mexican farmers.
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I write in response to John Hughes's June 13 Opinion column, "Indonesia: an Islamic force for peace and progress."
Mr. Hughes writes that Indonesia's "people are enjoying a period of peace and relatively harmony" but doesn't mention the ongoing conflict in West Papua, the Indonesian colony on the Western half of the island of New Guinea that borders the nation of Papua New Guinea.
Indonesia's current president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, may have come to power in elections that were largely free and fair, but in West Papua the veneer of democracy is a sham.
West Papua was annexed by Indonesia during the 1969 Act of Free Choice. Many West Papuans call it the Act of No Choice. Indonesia is certainly no longer the authoritarian state that it was under Suharto, but implementation of democratic reforms has been uneven.
In West Papua the military remains outside civilian control, human rights violations remain widespread and systematic, and human rights defenders are routinely harassed and intimidated.
Certainly it is true that the emergence of human rights groups in West Papua is a sign that freedom is inexorably on the march, but the converse is equally true. The ongoing harassment of human rights defenders in West Papua and closure of the province to international humanitarian organizations and the foreign media by the current Indonesian government is a clear indication that political freedom is under threat.
Jason MacLeod
The Institute for Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights
Brisbane, Australia
Mexicans didn't agree to adverse effects of free-trade agreements
The June 21 article, "Mexican farmers replace tequila plant with corn," struck a chord with me. The agave-farming of Jalisco state is one of the most beautiful areas of Mexico, not to mention a cultural icon. I cannot fathom these fields being converted to corn farming just to meet US energy demands. Even though the article focuses on the energy debate, it also touches on a largely avoided element of the current immigration debate: the role of capital and multinational corporations. So-called free-trade agreements allow corporations and capital to move freely across international borders with minimal laws and VIP treatment for those involved with that movement. Yet people whose lives and cultures can be undermined by such "agreements" must adhere to strict governmental restrictions regarding their rights.
Since NAFTA was enacted, US-subsidized agribusiness has flooded Mexican markets, which has put large numbers of Mexican farmers out of business. With no viable work left on their fields, these farmers have had basically two choices: Look for work in the larger metropolises of the country, especially in overcrowded Mexico City; or migrate (illegally) to the US and gamble on the American Dream. I seriously doubt that many of these farmers "agreed" to that.
Steven Byrd
Biddeford, Maine
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