The Primate Genocide Happening Right Now That The World Needs To Know About

The genocide of thousands of primates, as well as the destruction of some of the world’s most diverse and vital habitats is currently – and quietly – occurring. Palm oil is something the majority of use will use every day. It is an ingredient found in everyday products such as breadsticks, shampoos, toothpaste and chocolate. Many of the household products we use utilize palm oil because it is cheap to source. However, it seems this cheap produce comes at a devastating cost.

In order to clear the way for palm oil plantations, vast expanses of untouched rainforests in countries like Borneo, Sumatra, Indonesia and Malasia, are being destroyed and levelled, at a scale and speed which is staggering. Like many cases before this one, it is those without a voice – the poor, vulnerable and native residents, as well as the wildlife – which is paying the price. It is evident that the large companies simply do not care about the destruction homes, displacement of people and endangering of wildlife.

Deforestation workers are instructed to dispose of any wildlife which stands in their way – no matter how inhumane the process. Tragically, this involved running over orangutans with logging trucks. In the past 20 years, 90% of the orangutan habitat has been destroyed. Just look at the pictures, it may not be nice to learn, but this destruction is something we all should be aware of.

More at The Unbounded Spirit

The Aceh War 1873-1914

The Aceh War, also known as the Dutch War or the Infidel War (1873-1914), was an armed military conflict between the Sultanate of Aceh and the Netherlands which was triggered by discussions between representatives of Aceh and the U.S. in Singapore during early 1873. The war was part of a series of conflicts in the late 19th century that consolidated Dutch rule over modern-day Indonesia, concurrent with the 1906 and the 1908 interventions in Bali.

Dutch Docu Channel

West Papua - The secret war in Asia

The forgotten land of West Papua is under brutal Indonesian military occupation. Its tribal people are being slaughtered, and their unique environment destroyed. But the world is doing nothing to stop it. In 1963, in violation of international law, Indonesia occupied and colonised the West Papuan homeland in the western part of New Guinea. Since that tragic event the West Papuans are asking for a fair referendum about their independence. At least 100.000 indigenous people lost their lives in this secret war.

Free West Papua

Operation Product

Pictures have emerged from executions by Dutch military in the then Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).

Operation Product, (1947/1948) was the first of two major Dutch military offensives against the Republic of Indonesia during the Indonesian National Revolution. It took place following Dutch assertions that Indonesia cooperated insufficiently in the implementation of the Linggadjati Agreement, which had been ratified on March 25, 1947 by the lower chamber of the Dutch parliament. This police action was also influenced by a Dutch perception that the Republic had failed to curb the influence of Indonesian Chinese, Indonesian Indians and the rising Indonesian Communist Party.

Operation Product, directed by General Simon Spoor, was intended to occupy economically important areas of West and East Java, leaving Yogyakarta, seat of the Republican government, alone because of the high costs that the fighting was expected to incur. On July 21, the Dutch deployed three divisions in Java and three brigades on the less-densely populated Sumatra. The operation resulted in the occupation of large parts of Java and Sumatra, with the Republican army (TNI) offering only weak resistance.

Wikipedia

Saudi Arabia to execute 25 Indonesian maids for alleged crimes

The Saudi Arabian regime has ruled to execute 25 Indonesian maids working in the kingdom over alleged crimes, a report says.

According to a report published by Lebanese Ad-Diyar Arabic daily on Sunday, 22 other Indonesian maids have been acquitted and deported from the kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian government plans to send a delegation to Riyadh for negotiations over the death sentences. Indonesian Embassy officials in Riyadh say six of the maids sentenced to death worked in the capital. About 1,700 Indonesian nationals are in prison in Saudi Arabia, the Indonesian Embassy says.

PressTV

Dutch state liable over Indonesia massacre

A Dutch court has ordered the government to compensate the widows of seven villagers who were summarily executed and a man shot and wounded in a notorious massacre during Indonesia's bloody battle for independence from colonial rule. The Hague Civil Court ruled on Wednesday it was "unreasonable" for the government to argue that the widows were not entitled to compensation because the statute of limitations had expired.

According to Indonesian researchers, Dutch troops wiped out almost the entire male population of Rawagede, a village in West Java, two years before the former colony declared independence in 1949.

"Justice has been done," said Liesbeth Zegveld, lawyer for the plaintiffs. "This means that the state can't just sit in silence for 60 years waiting for the case to go away of the plaintiffs to die and then appeal to the statute of limitations."

Al Jazeera English – The Jakarta Globe

Dutch state to answer for 1947 bloodbath

On 9 December 1947, Dutch troops on Java raided the village of Rawagede, around 100 kilometres east of the Indonesian capital Jakarta. The Dutch military campaign to put an end to the Indonesian independence struggle has always been referred to rather euphemistically as the “police actions”. Indonesian proclaimed its independence in August 1945, after the end of the Japanese occupation during World War II. It took The Hague until the end of 1949 to give in to international pressure and recognise the independence of its former colony.

Eye witnesses say the men of the village were lined up and shot dead. The Committee of Dutch Debts of Honour claims 431 people were killed, in a report written 1969 on the campaign’s excesses this figure is put at just 150 victims.

It was 20 years before the report was published, but the United Nations concluded in January 1948 that the military operation in Rawagede was deliberate and ruthless. However, there were no consequences for the Netherlands. This made it easier for the Dutch legal authorities to avoid prosecuting the Dutch officer responsible for ordering the bloodbath, Major Alphons Wijnen.

More on Radio Netherlands Worldwide and attorney statement here (pdf)

Australia halts cattle exports to Indonesia

The Australian government says it has suspended all cattle exports to neighbouring Indonesia after an outcry over alleged abusive treatment of livestock in the country.
Joe Ludwig, Australia's agriculture minister, said on Wednesday that the suspension would remain until Indonesia establishes new regulations to protect livestock from mistreatment.
"Last night I ordered the complete suspension of all livestock exports to Indonesia for the purposes of slaughter, until new safeguards are established for the trade," he said.

Al Jazeera English

Greenpeace says Barbie doll is forest vandal

Greenpeace on Wednesday accused Mattel, the US maker of Barbie dolls, of contributing to the wanton destruction of carbon-rich Indonesian forests and habitats of endangered species like Sumatran tigers.

The environmental group said packaging used in Barbie and Ken boxes contained timber products from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), which it described as a "notorious" destroyer of Indonesia's dwindling natural forests.

"Barbie destroys natural forests and pushes rare species such as tigers to the brink of extinction," Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said.

"Mattel, which makes Barbie, must stop wrapping the worlds most famous toy in rainforest destruction." He said APP was a "notorious rainforest destroyer which has been exposed many times for wrecking Indonesia's rainforests to make throw-away packaging".

Yahoo! News – Also see AlJazeera