Burning the Australian Flag

[donnashuggy]

Is going a bit far isn't it?

Or is it fair enough do you think?

[red_wolfey]

Bad to burn the flag....okay to wear it as a cape while you punch random people while drunk and yelling 'bash W*gs'.....got it.

[i-need-a-martini]

I don't think that a couple of students halfheartedly burning 99c plastic flags outside the embassy in Australia in Indonesia is of any consequence really given that they have made no statement about why they are doing it. Sounds like a couple radicals who needed an excuse - Yogyakarta students tend to protest at anything given a slice of a chance.I suspect that this is the reason there are 400 police/miltary riot police on standby there at the moment.

What HAS gone on too far is the length of time it has taken to resolve this ridiculous situation that has caused it to become the drama it has turned into.

He can't even come up with a strategy after calling a special House of Reps meeting today to discuss the problem. Laughably, he comes out of that meeting today saying: "I want to assure the House that the government will respond swiftly, fully and courteously to the President," . Umm hello? Don't tell us, tell it to the country you are having issues with. Actually, you could have dealt with it swiftly and courteously days ago. Actually Mr Abbott!! You could have done it when speaking to the press today instead of nonsense statements with no substance.

Instead it's all the ABCs fault lol! 

What a shambles.

[izabsmiling]

some could think that we are sanctamonious ... see us as sitting here with the whole cake

and thumbing our nose at them 

Our PM and Julie Bishop telling their leader what he would  to do to meet what they want...even prior to the Election.

Lots of poverty? ....some might see what we have and how we 'appear'.

perhaps they've been reading comments inferring  mass corruption,racist,insulting remarks

The apology from our Prime Minister..

if any media release caused them any embarassment (seems to have added fuel to the fire)

...the porn star tweet wouldn't have helped.

I understand why a struggling powerless person may be angry enough to burn our flag.

[red_wolfey]

Twitter was full of racist comments directed at #OBY (their president)

[cherry*135]

Umm hello? Don't tell us, tell it to the country you are having issues with.

Exactly, it is not the public of Australia that he is supposed to be apologizing to.

Dr Yudhoyono said  he wanted a personal explanation, insisting comments directed at "Australia's domestic community" would not suffice.

[izabsmiling]

 I read that some feel that the 5eyes spying is part of prevention of an asian  world domination...that kind of thinking wouldn't/won't help either.

[cherry*135]

More than a couple of students protesting.

A large group of protesters in Yogyakarta, a hotbed of student activism, demanded an apology from the Australian Prime Minister, after yesterday burning an Australian flag. 

'Our people are furious, our country is insulted. Fight Australia,'' chanted dozens of students as they demonstrated at a university campus on Wednesday. 

Another large protest, organised by a group known as the People's Coalition for Defence and Security, is expected to take place outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta today. 

The Australian

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@nevillesdaughter wrote:

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@rabbitearbandicoot wrote:

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@polocross58 wrote:

Poddster, for what it's worth, I'm in agreement with what you've written

If it were up to me, I'd be telling the corrupt top teir that any more nonsense, demands or posturing from them and they could forget ever getting another cent from Australians

Next, I'd be putting Aussie spies in Indonesia to unmask ALL those behind the people-smuggling racket they have going there - regardless of rank or political position.  Then I'd be handing ALL the  names etc. to Wikileaks to ensure they're outed, worldwide

And then I'd be turning back the boats using Aussie navy gun-boats.  No negotiations, no apologies

If Indonesians believe we're good enough to hand them billions, they need to work out that he who pays the piper calls the tune.  And they'd better begin respecting Aussies right now and taking us seriously.  Labor governments appear to have convinced Indonesians (and plenty of others) that Aussies are a soft touch and can be walked all over.  Time we showed them they're wrong about that.  And that time starts now

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what was the Indonesian population again? 

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They have a reasonably substantial land army I believe.

Marina.

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[*mrgrizz*]

it's OK the USA will back us up

[cherry*135]

Good points in this story.

Those who exposed spying on Indonesia have got what they wanted

.....All this would have been anticipated by the people who lit this conflagration, the ABC and the English import The Guardian Australia. The Guardian had possession of the security leak for months. Nothing happened while Labor was in power.

ABC managing director Mark Scott had a clear choice. It was self-evident that revealing these phone taps would poison the relationship with Indonesia, damage Australia's intelligence-gathering, humiliate President Yudhoyono, compromise Australian security arrangements, and ripple out to Australia's education market in Indonesia.

He decided to go all-in with The Guardian. His decision was consistent with, on his watch, the ABC's institutional hostility to Coalition policies on asylum-seekers, and its decisions such as appointing Russell Skelton as chief fact-checker despite his public record of anti-Coalition partisanship. The ABC has got what it wanted. It will now pursue the story with zeal.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/those-who-exposed-spying-on-indonesia-have-got-what-they-wanted-201311...