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Public forum:

Indonesia, the new Pacific solution? Refugee rights and social justice in the Asia Pacific

 Date: Tuesday, 08 December 2009 Time: 18:00 – 20:00

A discussion forum with Pamela Curr and Setyo Budi Presented by Indonesia Solidarity Forum and the University of Melbourne Indonesian program

Pamela Curr – Long term refugee rights activist and the Campaign Coordinator at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre will be speaking on “Australia: externalising borders and aping the Gaddafi/ Berlusconi agreement. Human rights trampled by political skulduggery. Has Australia lost the plot? What can we do?”

Setyo Budi – Indonesia solidarity activist and presenter on the Asia Pacific Currents show on Radio 3CR will speak on “Indonesian attitudes towards their government’s refugee policy. Read more…

Refugees and Rebels: Indonesian Exiles in Wartime Australia, by Jan Lingard (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2008)

Jan Lingard’s book, Refugees and Rebels – Indonesian Exiles in Wartime Australia is a humane, interesting, informative and readable book. Every person interested in the history of the Australian and/or Indonesian people should read this book. It should be on the reading lists of high school and university history of Australia courses. The book describes and analyses the experiences of  5000s Indonesians living, working and engaging in political struggle in both cities and country towns in Australia between 1942 and 1947, the period of Japanese occupation of their country and the beginning of the armed struggle for Indonesian independence which started soon after the proclamation of Independence on August 17, 1945.

 The book describes and analyses events which are precious to the collective memory of the Australian people, and in particular to the Australian working class.  The collective class memory, and even the national memory, of the events in this book has been mostly erased, and where that has proved awkward, domesticated. Read more…