Unedifying Exchange

Australia And Indonesia Fail At The Emotional Maturity Stakes
I guess the first thing that comes to mind is "you started it" and the second one is, "if you can't handle the heat, don't be starting fires." Which is to say, the sentiment tops out at a sixth grade primary level of discourse. You know, the age where you wonder if Superman can take on Mighty Mouse.

The first pickie is the Indonesian Cartoon portraying John Howard and Alexander Downer as a pair of rutting Dingos on the front page of their newspaper.


Let's face it, it's kind of sad.
Yet, I'm not really put out by it because well, I do think of our PM that way too, so it's not nearly so funny as sad because well, it's true - he IS that unappealing.
Besides, they have a free press, which they didn't used to have. It's good.

The second pic is Bill Leak's response.

Obviously, neither of these cartoons are particularly edifying or worthy of comment in of themselves except that maybe Bill Leak's layer of irony in including his caption 'No Offence Intended' is pretty witty but in a 10-year old way - with which there's nothing wrong I might add, because a cartoonist ought to exercise that kind of wit lest we all become doddering wowser morons. :)
Besides, we allegedly have a free press.

Now the news reports there are fears this exchange might heighten tenstions between Canberra and Jakarta.

AUSTRALIA is bracing for renewed tensions with Indonesia — already inflamed by the decision to grant protection to Papuan asylum seekers — after the publication of a cartoon showing a character resembling the Indonesian President as a copulating dog.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer yesterday sought to pre-empt a wider rift by distancing the Government from the cartoon, published in The Weekend Australian.

He conceded the cartoon was likely to cause "significant offence" in Indonesia, but said it was not up to the Government to apologise, as the newspaper was entitled to publish offensive and distasteful material.

Bill Leak's cartoon responds to one published in a Jakarta daily last week, which parodied Prime Minister John Howard and Mr Downer as copulating dingoes, with the Prime Minister telling the Foreign Minister: "I want Papua!! Alex! Try to make it happen!"

That cartoon reflected widespread suspicion in Indonesia that Australia's decision to grant protection visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers reflects a secret plan to engineer West Papua's separation from Indonesia.

While Mr Howard has shrugged off the Indonesian cartoon, Leak's cartoon is likely to test Jakarta's tolerance. Leak depicts a character resembling Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a dog mounting a Papuan while saying: "Don't take this the wrong way …" The caption reads: "No Offence Intended."

Mr Downer yesterday dissociated the Government from Leak's cartoon. "I don't want to see Australia and Indonesia's relationship, which is going through a difficult period as a result of the application of Australian law by the Department of Immigration, descend into an exchange of offensive cartoons," Mr Downer said.

"The Government is aware this cartoon is likely to cause significant offence to people in Indonesia and we wish to dissociate the Government completely."

He said the Australian embassy in Jakarta was concerned at the likely negative reaction within the country because of the cartoon's offensive, crude and potentially racist nature.

Cartoonist Leak last night denied the character in his cartoon was President Yudhoyono, saying it was meant to be a generic Indonesian.

He said he was astonished by Mr Downer's response and that Mr Downer should have followed Mr Howard's example in brushing aside any controversy over the original Indonesian cartoon.

"I think that if Mr Downer had taken his Prime Minister's example and done likewise, then he would have defused this thing in an instant."

An Indonesian presidential spokesman told the ABC that President Yudhoyono had not seen the cartoon but had laughed when told of it. "It's in poor taste. Sometimes the media … resort to poor taste, which actually demonstrates the level of their quality," the spokesman said.

Seems to me from the last paragraph the Indonesians are pretty mature about all this rot.
Anyway, it has nothing on the furore over the Mohammed cartoon of 2 months ago and really, there won't be flag burning over this as far as I can tell. Some days I wish I had shares in flag companies and pray cartoonists lampoon everybody as often as possible.