JANUARY 2002
-
Wednesday, 30th January,2002
GIRL FIGHT
Today was not a good day for the sport
Read more...
of boxing. World heavyweight contender
Mike Tyson was refused permission to
fight the champion Lennox Lewis in
Nevada. As a result, it looks unlikely
that any boxing panel, anywhere in the
United States, will allow him to
challenge. But there is another story
to be told about boxing on the other
side of the gender divide. Women`s
boxing is flourishing and not just in
the West. For many young African
women, boxing is a symbol of
emancipation. At the first African
Women`s Boxing Championship, Matthew
Carney discovered that for most of the
girls, the battle started long before
they stepped into the ring. -
Wednesday, 30th January,2002
DR ROHAN GUNARATNA INTERVIEW
The President of the United States
Read more...
today vowed to pursue tens of
thousands of what he called, "ticking
time bombs" around the world. George
W. Bush was referring to the
supporters of Osama bin Laden, who, it
is claimed, continue to plan terrorist
operations in support of his al-Qa’ida
organisation. But what do we really
know about al-Qa’ida’s activities
since September 11? Well, the string
of recent arrests in Singapore,
Malaysia and the Philippines suggests
the network may be redirecting its
sights to this part of the world.
Rohan Gunaratna is a terrorism
specialist at St Andrews University in
Scotland. He has been closely
monitoring the growth of al-Qa`ida for
a number of years. I spoke with him
from Scotland. -
Wednesday, 30th January,2002
SULAWESI CHRISTMAS
Singapore, the Philippines and
Read more...
Malaysia have all recently arrested
Muslim extremists they claim are
linked to al-Qa’ida. But the biggest
and most unwieldy nation in South-East
Asia is more of a problem. Indonesia
is home to several Islamist groups
which warrant close scrutiny, but the
government consistently denies they
are linked to al-Qa’ida. But there is
one thing that is certain - in the
eastern provinces, fundamentalist
groups are engaged in bloody sectarian
conflicts. The Maluku Islands and
Central Sulawesi have been the
battlegrounds over the last three
years. David O’Shea spent a not-so-
festive Christmas season in troubled
Central Sulawesi -
Wednesday, 30th January,2002
A SULAWESI CHRISTMAS
Just three years ago the Indonesian
district of Poso, on the island of
Sulawesi, was a vibrant community of
Muslims and Christians that was
renowned for its tolerance. Today the
region has been torn apart by violence
and is divided by hatred and mistrust.
The main coastal town of Poso, where
the fighting began, was once home to
40,000 people both Christian and
Muslim. Today it is an exclusively
Muslim town of 5,000.
On DATELINE on Wednesday, January 30,
reporter David O’Shea reports from
Central Sulawesi.
He speaks to Indonesia’s top political
and security minister, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, who defends the right of
the Islamic fundamentalist group
Laskar Jihad to stay in Poso. Laskar
Jihad arrived in Sulawesi in July,
2000. It has already inflamed
religious conflicts in the Indonesian
regions of Ambon and North Maluku.
In November last year Laskar Jihad led
a thousand fighters into the hills
behind Poso destroying five Christian
villages in their path. The orgy of
violence continued for several days.
Yudhoyono says Laskar Jihad "play a
role in defending truth and justice
expected by Muslims in Indonesia. For
me, as far as what they are doing is
legal and not violating law, then it
is OK.”
Laskar Jihad has high level
connections - including Indonesian
Vice President, Hamzah Haz. Now,
however, the Indonesian government
finds itself in an awkward position.
The Laskar Jihad leader, Jafar Umar
Thalib, who fought alongside Osama Bin
Laden in Afghanistan during the Soviet
occupation, has been linked to Al
Qaeda. Although no one has uncovered
any hard evidence of such a
connection, the Indonesian government
is under pressure to find one.
Read more...
That’s Dateline this Wednesday January
30 at 8.30 pm. -
Wednesday, 23rd January,2002
SAVE THE REEF
Around the world, environmentalists
Read more...
are fighting to save wilderness areas
for future generations. While in many
countries that battle is turning
militant, in Papua New Guinea children
are on the peaceful front-line. Papua
New Guinea is high priority - its
jungles are a green treasure and its
waters are considered to be the most
precious on the globe. Dateline`s John
Bennett looks at the fight to save
PNG`s coral reefs. -
Wednesday, 23rd January,2002
PHILIP REEKER INTERVIEW
The US may well need the help of the
Read more...
Kurds if it opts to make a strike on
Iraq in its war against terrorism. But
the people of Iraqi Kurdistan might
not be so willing to help. While they
currently enjoy the protection of the
Americans and their English allies, US
policy has let them down before. I
spoke with the State Department`s
Philip Reeker about his country`s
relationship with the Kurds. -
Wednesday, 23rd January,2002
THE NEW KURDISTAN
We take an exclusive look inside
Read more...
northern Iraq, where ethnic Kurds are
building a nation of their own. Ten
years ago they were refugees, fleeing
the tyranny of Saddam Hussein`s armed
forces. Today, they have a flourishing
democracy, albeit unrecognised by the
outside world. Fuelled by the UN Oil
for Food program, the de facto state
is thriving. But the long shadow of
Saddam Hussein and the real politic of
international diplomacy suggest that
Iraqi Kurdistan is unlikely to ever
become a separate state. -
Wednesday, 23rd January,2002
THE NEW KURDISTAN
DATELINE on Wednesday features a
report on Iraqi Kurdistan by Middle
East correspondent, Matthew Carney.
One of the few journalists to enter
the region in the last five years,
Carney had to be smuggled through two
countries to gain access to the
region.Kurds are the fourth
largest ethnic group in the Middle
East, between 20 million to 25 million
strong. The most numerous stateless
people in the world, they are spread
throughout Syria, Turkey, Iran and
Iraq.In the 1980s Saddam Hussein
pursued an official policy to
exterminate the Kurds. 4000 villages
were bombed and bulldozed, and Kurdish
men were removed to concentration
camps. 180,000 people were killed.
Read more...
In 1988 Hussein used chemical weapons
to murder 5000 Kurds. The legacy for
those who survived exposure is a rate
of congenital abnormalities 4 to 5
times higher than in post-atomic
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
Wednesday, 16th January,2002
HOLY LAND
Now a story from Jerusalem. But this is a Jerusalem without any strife at all - perhaps because it’s not even close to the Middle East.
Read more...
Olivia Rousset travelled to the new Jerusalem in Orlando, Florida, right next to Interstate 4. -
Wednesday, 16th January,2002
GREENPEACE
Two Australian men received good news last week when charges that could have sent them to a US jail for six years
Read more...
were dropped. They were among a group of Greenpeace activists arrested over a protest in the US last year.
However, their freedom came at a steep price for Greenpeace USA. It now stands accused of selling out, making it tougher for other protesters.
Bronwyn Adcock first caught up with the Australian activists here at home before their American trial. -
Wednesday, 16th January,2002
ABDULLAH ABDULLAH INTERVIEW
Next week at an International Aid Donors` conference in Tokyo, Afghanistan`s new interim government will have to convince the world that it is capable of pulling Afghanistan
Read more...
from the ruins. Brought to power with the help of the US-led coalition`s firepower, the government faces the task of uniting a fractured country of disparate allegiances. A massive challenge, vividly illustrated two weeks ago, when one of the most notorious members of the former Taliban government, Justice Minister Nooruddin Turabi was allowed to go free by the regional governor of Kandahar.
I spoke with Afghanistan`s Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah
about some of the obstacles facing this government. -
Wednesday, 16th January,2002
MARTYRDOM OF THEYS ELUAY
For many west Papuans, the murder of the Province`s independence leader late last year was a blow, but not an
Read more...
entirely unexpected. Countless lives have been lost in the struggle for independence. Theys Eluay`s death was simply the latest in decades of struggle. Two months on, the finger of
blame points at Indonesia`s military, but no-one has been brought to account, and Indonesia`s police, who are charged with carrying out the investigation, have come up against a
barrier they cannot cross. Ginny Stein travelled to West Papua to find out why Theys Eluay was murdered. -
Wednesday, 16th January,2002
THE MARTYRDOM OF THEYS ELUAY
“I’m ready, I’m even prepared to go to
my death. But the flag will fly.
That’s God’s will, not that we be
under the Indonesians.” Theys Eluay, a
week before his murder.
The murder of West Papuan independence
leader, Theys Eluay, has been blamed
on the Indonesian elite special forces
(Kopassus) as part of a policy aimed
at crushing the independence movement.
Instead, in reporter Ginny Stein’s
debut story for the first DATELINE of
2002, Eluay’s death has given the
movement a powerful political weapon –
its first martyr. Stein also suggests
that Theys Eluay’s pledge that the
movement would only pursue
independence by non-violent means may
have died with him.
Eluay was abducted from his car as he
was returning from a meeting at
Kopassus headquarters. His body was
later found with signs of
strangulation, although authorities
initially suggested he had died from
heart failure.
Despite threats and intimidation from
Kopassus, witnesses to the abduction
have defiantly insisted on giving
testimony. But the most important
witness, Eluay’s driver, has
disappeared. He hasn’t been seen since
returning to Kopassus headquarters on
foot shortly after Eluay’s kidnapping.
Among those interviewed by Ginny Stein
for this report are the secretary-
general of the Papuan Presidium
Council, the coordinator of West
Papua’s leading human rights
organisation, and the former
Indonesian President, Abdurrachman
Wahid.
Read more...
That’s Dateline, Wednesday January 16
at 8.30 pm.
