Sunday, November 27, 2011

Podcast: Fatawa, 27/11/11 with English Interpreting

There is a lot of work to do for the new mufti. Parties, organizations and their leaders, Muslims and non Muslims all want to see what this shiny new position holder can do. Is he like the old ones ?  will he make a difference ?

One way Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad is trying to reach out to his community is by holding these programs called Fatawa (plural of Fatwa), and so far I can see, he's holding out his hand to whoever wants to benefit the community, no exclusive alliances, no old generation vs new generation politics etc..

We are trying to make Dr Ibrahim's knowledge available to as many Muslims in Australia as possible, hence this new push for Islamic Q&A sessions with English Interpretation.
We started out with 1 session a month in English, but Alhumdulillah since today we couldn't get through all the questions. We may increase that to twice a month, maybe even more if the need arises. Allahu A3lam.

Please provide your feedback, or questions, or contributions. Let us know what you think and what you would like.

A special thanks to Brother Ahmad Killani of Muslim Village for contributing an important question and for offering his skills and assistance to the Mufti.





Postcast download here

I would like to thank the brothers and sisters who have contributed, and apologize to those whose answers we were not able to answer. Inshallah next session we will leave an extra half hour as buffer to be able to answer all questions.

As always, there are a number of ways to submit a question to the mufti.

1- Comment here with your question
2- email the mufti dribrahim@muftiofaustralia.com.au
3- post on the fb group  
4- Call in on the day 02 9724 3355
5- you can also tweet me or message me on my fb account


Saturday, November 26, 2011

Friday Night Live: White Ribbon Day

Description
http://www.whiteribbon.org.au/
White Ribbon is an organisation that is working to prevent the most common and pervasive form of male violence – that towards women. All forms of violence are unacceptable. White Ribbon believes the prevention of violence against women will change society for the better.





I hosted two muslim professionals and community leaders to discuss the importance of this great initiative

We also discussed a local initiative called "Domestic Harmony" that aspires to gather a collection of community and religious leaders to raise awareness of Domestic abuse, and to establish a support network for those suffering domestic abuse. 


Guests: Maha Najjarine and Zainab Hawa as well as Danny Nikati from the Bankstown Police Command.






Or you can download the podcast file here 

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Stories Stranger than fiction

Ever hear a story so outlandish you don't believe it could be true? Something that often touches your heart and breaks your wall of indifference? Well I heard a story from my sister today which is just that, I was so touched by it I decided to blog about it so as not to forget it, and to give credit where it's due.

For many practicing muslim women in the west life is quite challenging. That simple piece of cloth over their heads has defined them and caused them trouble even more than other women who may choose to ONLY wear a small piece of cloth. There is a widely held belief that all non muslims hate muslim women and their hijabs. Especially since there are so many stories supporting this. Such stories build a divide and a misconception towards non muslims as being racist, xenophobic and lacking in humanity.

This story took part at Auckland University in New Zealand, about two or three years ago.

As part of a marketing campaign for a website relating to Arabs in New Zealand, a number of Arabs were congregating at the quad during the clubs and societies day. The girl who went to the podium to speak about this website also happened to wear a hijab, we'll call her Fatima. A man from the crowd started yelling at her to go back where she came from etc... She didn't pay much attention to him. And faced the crowd and was about to speak...

When all of a sudden this same man lunges at Fatima and starts to grab at her hijab and tries to take it off, and eventually succeeds at doing so.

Such actions, when seen AND when imaged, slow down time so that you are aware of every single emotion and thought in your head. To be assaulted in this way, in the middle of a crowded area, to have some strange demented man's hands over you. While others sit there watching, apathetic, smoking and looking on.

I mention this because the narrator spoke about this explicitly. The fact that during this horrible moment, she looked towards the only people she looked at for help. The Arabs. Her own kind looked on and did nothing. Writing about this fills me with pain at the state of those people.

This moment is still going on. Panic, struggle, embarrassment, anger. What happens ? Who rises to the occasion ? Well, I'm getting goose bumps even thinking about what happens next.

The organizers from the beer and wine ALL jump to Fatima's help, they pull the man from Fatima and pin him to the ground (and according to some narrations, bash him).

While AT THE SAME TIME a group of Islander boys boys form a protective circle around Fatima so she can recompose herself and put her hijab back on.

If you're an Arab or a Muslim. I want you to think about this incident. This is a REAL incident that occurred three or so years ago. I've no doubt other incidents also took place in which non Muslims come to the aid of Muslims without need for shared ideology or faith. This is what happens in the modern secular democratic west. Shared values of humanity and doing good, and it doesn't mean that we Muslims undervalue or dilute our Islamic beliefs. Where in Islam does it say that we can't do good or help others or be friendly to our neighbors?

It makes no sense for either peoples to isolate themselves from each other. Isolation has always caused distrust, fear, xenophobia and hate.

This issue is important to me and should be to others as well. Please comment and let me know your thoughts, and if you've also encountered similar stories, tell me about them.











Monday, November 21, 2011

Friday Night Live: Islamic Education in Australia

Tonight's episode (Friday 18th November 2011) is going to cover the first Islamically driven accredited tertiary level Islamic Studied Course. ISRA (Islamic Science and Research Academy of Australia) is holding an information evening on the second year of its Islamic Studies program. Date: Sunday 27 November 2011 Time: 6 pm - 8 pm Venue: ISRA Academy, Level 3, 128-136 South Parade Auburn I met with sister Makiz Ansari (apologies if it's spelled wrong) and brother Ahmad Hasan. We discussed the importance of islamic education and especially in Australia.



You can also download the podcast here

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Burmese military's campaign and terror

What did you do when you woke this morning ? probably had breakfast, enjoyed the day, hung out with friends/family  etc...

In the Burmese Arkan state, the men and killed and the women are raped on a daily basis. R





Sayed Kasem is  a dear friend of mine who is a Burmese Muslim. He comes from a place in Burma called Arkan. He had to escape death and torture from his home town, he was in limbo for more than 10 years with his wife and kids until he was finally able to come to Australia.

I don't usually publish media releases (or whatever this is) but Sayed requested it so here it is.



___________________________________________________________________

BURMESE MILITARY CONTINUOUSLY RAPING AND KILLING THE ROHINGYA, By Sayed Kasim, contact no:             04-6930-3342    

Recently, on 1-11-2011 at 3:30 pm three Military (nasaka) entered to 2 Rohingya families, in Serakparang Village, Rathidaung township, Arakan state Burma, raped 2 women, shot death 1, brush fire a round 30 people and arrested more than 40 people, who are being tortured at Anguma custudy, while almost the entire male population have gone into hiding, leaving all the females.

The military routinely raping women, seizing the village for last 2 weeks. Injured people die with the lack of medication, the rest are starving, there is no information on those arrested

My 16 years old cousin was brutally injured in the head and taken into Anguma custudy, my elder niece husband 26 years old was killed, my 23 years old sister in law was inhumanly kicked on forehead and victimized, robbed of all her belongings.

 

Curently hiding people are hungry, feeling sick dying in the jungle. No one dares to return home to see family members. When the Military finds anyone, they arrest and brutally torture them.

 
Military are robbing, raping, torturing and commiting crimes against Rohingya villagers. I confirm this thorough information from the most reliable source who managed to scape from danger. Victims are appealing to the world to save their lives.

____________________________________________________________________________

Villawood November update: A three act play

My friend at Villawood had his birthday on Friday (11/11/11). I couldn't see him then because of work so I decided to drop by on Saturday.

It must be said that the visits I (and may others) make are just as much for our benefit as it is for the asylum seekers'. We end up feeling good about ourselves for just visiting someone. It doesn't actually offer or contribute to any solutions, but I digress.

I call this visit a three act play because of the way it unfolded with new experiences and new people to meet. I felt I should share it.

ACT 1; The evangelists: 

Let me first begin with reciting the mandatory "some of my best friends are Christian" spiel just to clarify that it's not the the religion or the act of evangelizing that I abhor, but the dirty tricks done in their name.

Some of best friends are christian....
moving on..



So I see my friend, he actually looks happy because apparently since yesterday he's been getting lots of calls and visits from different people sending him good wishes. Also his friend had sent him some clothes from Iran, so he looked quite colorful. It was a nice couple of minutes we sat talking and catching up.
Then he tells me that some Egyptian Christians are coming to have a little birthday party for him. I  was a bit skeptical -Adult arab men don't usually celebrate birthdays- but didn't say anything- who was I to call into question the intentions of others.

They come in, they're pretty friendly and smiley and they're bearing food aplenty,  and a cake !
It's what happens afterwards that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
They're singing the birthday song to the birthday boy, happy birthday to you and all that, and then start singing it in Arabic.

In Arabic it should be سنة حلوة يا جميل  which roughly translates to "Have a great year, good looking" I don't know why but that's what's sung in Arabic during birthdays.

They however were singing سنة حلوة مع يسوع which translates to "Have a great year with Jesus"

WHAT THE !
 
But I continue sitting eating my cake because it would have been rude to to just get up and walk away.

Then they start asking us to repeat their prayers after them, asking "the Lord" for help and using all churchy songs about Jesus, giving out printed out lyrics to their songs so everyone can sing together.

I wouldn't usually care or even mention Christians congregating at Villawood, I'd seen them a couple of times before so this wasn't the first time.

I was just unhappy that firstly: They're blatantly Evangelizing under the guise of a birthday party, and secondly: That they're taking advantage of the fact that those asylum seekers are jailed, desperate and depressed. Selling them religion, ideology or even socks is very unethical and it's an almost unspoken rule by the other activists that these visits are for the sake of those inside.

Eventually when the singing got too much, we scurried away and pretended to smoke outside, well he smoked for real .

End..


ACT 2; The artists: 

The Refugee Arts project is an amazing initiative by Safdar and Anton, students from Sydney uni and UTS. Those guys (with other brilliant volunteers) visit Villawood on a regular basis with drawing pads, paper and painting and drawing instruments, thus giving the asylum seekers at Villawood an artistic outlet.

(you can hear some of their project details in my Friday Night Live podcast)

The resulting work is exhibited in different halls and galleries at different times. The work pieces range from simple crayon drawings of boats in water to amazing coffee bean illustrations of women (have a look here for some of the work).

So I saw Safdar yesterday with Miri (I think it's Miri, apologies if it's something else) another awesome volunteer in this project. They were there with 7 afghan asylum seekers drawing. Their doodlings were funny shapes and circles (one of them drew a duck looking thing with a massive belly, turns out it was me, lol)

For the time those guys are there visiting there is almost a halo of excitement and happiness around them because they themselves are such good people, and because of the therapeutic effects of art.
As always it was great seeing them and laughing and having a good time. Safdar told me there was a new gallery of the art in Parramatta. I'll post the information once he sends it to me.

End....


ACT 3; The theologians:

So while I was talking to the birthday boy, we met another of his friends (an iranian asylum seeker) and we were trying to hold a friendly conversation in arabic/farsi when all of a sudden the conversation turned serious and fast paced, as fast paced as a multilingual conversation can be. The man believed in a God but was unsure of whether Islam was the right religion for him or not. It was a lively debate with a lot of sensitive no go areas such as the fact that I didn't want to push religion on him- specially since my very recent pushing religion experience-, I didn't want to get into the shia/sunni thing -since I am Sunni and my friend was shia- and I had to leave in 20 minutes.

We all enjoyed ourselves because this discussion was more philosophical than theological and so it was more about the idea of God and the concept of worship and the master plan for the universe. I actually did not want to leave (also I was kicking myself for not speaking farsi).


All in all, yesterday's visit was... different. I was glad to see happiness on my friends' faces, albeit it was in a jail mixed with other stories of explosions, decapitated body parts and unknown futures.

End....



Friday, November 04, 2011

An explanation of the workings of neo-colonialism through the example of Indonesi


An amazing article that clearly shows the destructive ongoing effects of colonialism.

The reality of colonialism, its goals and its methods, is well-known by most people. During colonial times the European countries used brute military force to subjugate peoples in usually faraway lands, predominantly Asia and Africa, and then organized these lands for the purpose of exploitation. The role of the colonized land became to provide cheap raw materials to the industries of the colonial nation, and to serve as a market for the end products of these industries.
The era of colonialism ended during the 1960’s, as in the West the view that colonialism was morally unacceptable became public opinion and as in the colonized lands resistance against the foreign occupiers strengthened. Independence followed for most of the colonized nations.
Ever since, however, not much has changed for most people in the formerly colonized world. They have remained poor as the wealth of their lands has continued to flow towards the West, instead of towards them.
Therefore today most people in the formerly colonized world realize that “independence” has merely meant the substitution of colonialism for what is now known as neo-colonialism. Under colonialism they had been physically occupied for the purpose of exploitation. Independence had removed the physically occupation, but the exploitation remained – neo-colonialism.
So that neo-colonialism exists is clear to most people, because it can be seen and felt around the formerly colonized world. But how exactly neo-colonialism works, how the West can maintain exploitation of the formerly colonized world without a physical occupation remains a mystery to many. An analysis of the post-colonial history of Indonesia provides important insight into this matter.
“Independence” for Indonesia
Resource rich, the lands of South-East Asia became a target for the Europeans as soon as they realized their existence. Great-Britain ended up occupying what is today Malaysia and Singapore. The lands that make up the Philippines went from the Dutch to the British to the Spaniards before ending up in the hands of the Americans. And Indonesia consists of the lands that remained occupied by the Dutch throughout the era of colonialism.
World War II saw The Netherlands coming under the control of Germany (1940 – 1945) and its colony Indonesia coming under the control of the Japanese (1942 – 1945). This greatly helped the Indonesian nationalist movement headed by Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta, as the Japanese saw for Indonesia a future as a client-state in the then still to be formed Japanese Empire in South-East Asia. The Japanese therefore actively supported the nationalist movement on the main Indonesian island of Java, to the extent that they even provided military training to Indonesian youth in preparation of a national army for Indonesia.
The eventual Japanese surrender in World War II on, August 15 of 1945, caused a temporary power vacuum in Indonesia because at that time the Dutch, who had been liberated from German occupation on May 5 of 1945, had not yet reorganized their colonial occupation of Indonesia. Sukarno and Hatta set out to make use of this power vacuum. They quickly organized the preparation of a Declaration of Independence on the day following the Japanese surrender. And then had this read out loud on August 17, marking Indonesia’s claim to independence.
But the Dutch had different plans for Indonesia. The Dutch economy was thoroughly destroyed by the war and the plan was to exploit Indonesia as much as possible in order to pay for the recovery. So the Dutch organized an army and sent it to Indonesia to suppress the independence movement.
But the war between the Dutch and the Indonesian freedom fighters dragged on, without any side developing a clear advantage over the other. Until, one day, the Americans intervened. Under the Marshall plan the Dutch were receiving large loans from America to finance the post-war restoration of the country. America therefore threatened the Dutch that unless they halted their efforts to bring Indonesia back under their control, the Marshall aid would be stopped [1]. This left the Dutch with no choice but to accept Indonesian independence. And following long negotiations, in 1949 the Dutch finally recognized Indonesia’s independence.
Indonesia’s post-Independence economic history – the Sukarno era
Economically, Indonesia was in a poor state following independence. For one, during colonialism the Dutch had systematically under-invested in the Indonesian economy. Because the aim of the Dutch was never to develop Indonesia but to exploit it, so any Dutch investment in Indonesia was to make this exploitation more efficient and effective. By the start of World War II in 1940, Indonesia had still seen only very little industrialization. World War II took an additional toll on Indonesia’s economy, and as a consequence by 1945 average Indonesian income is estimated to have been not much more than 100 USD annualy [2].
The Americans then placed an additional burden on Indonesia when, as part of the terms of the Round Table agreement between Indonesia and Dutch which the Americans brokered, they forced it to pay the Dutch for independence – 4.3 billion guilders to be exact, and using the gold price as a base this is worth around 150 billion in today’s dollars [3].In addition, the terms of the Round Table agreement stipulated that the Dutch would maintain control over all “modern” sections of Indonesia’s economy, such as industry, mining, plantations, finance and banking, and large scale international trade [4]. This caused the establishment of a “dual economy” in Indonesia, in which the Dutch and Chinese Indonesians controlled the most important and profitable sectors of the economy, with little to no participation of other Indonesians. The new Indonesian government controlled only small scale farming and handcraft, which, due to the usage of outdated modes of production, was barely profitable [5]. Little to no change compared to the times of colonialism, therefore.
In the immediate aftermath of independence one of the main goals of the economic policy of the new Indonesian state was to address this issue and “Indonesianize” the nation’s economy. But because there was no clear understanding of how this was to be achieved, most attempts at it failed. Most of the time because proposed and executed plans turned out to be bad ideas. But very often also because of government incompetence and corruption – how a familiar story.
So by the late 1950’s, little to nothing of this Indonesianization was achieved. Indonesia had only became more indebted internationally, as foreigners doing business in Indonesia avoided paying taxes and the native Indonesians were too poor to pay tax. This caused the Indonesian economy to remain in shambles throughout the 1950’s, with inflation running as high as 30% annually. In the 1960’s things got even worse, as hyperinflation appeared destroying whatever was left of the national economy [6].
This failure to achieve any improvement in the economic situation of Indonesia in the first decade following colonialism had two important consequences. Firstly, it turned political attention away from a liberal, capitalist oriented economic development program to plans more inspired by communism / socialism. For instance, following the examples set by the Soviet Union and China, in 1955 Indonesia too presented a “five year plan”. Secondly, it motivated the Indonesian government to confiscate and nationalize foreign interests in Indonesia. Starting in 1957 Dutch interests in Indonesia were seized and nationalized. Starting in 1963 British firms were nationalized. And starting in 1964 American firms as well. Ultimately, in 1965 foreign investment in Indonesia was completely disallowed with the repeal of the Foreign Investment Law of 1958. The ultimate consequences of these steps remain with us today.
Indonesia’s post-Independence economic history – the Suharto era
This was too much to bear for the Americans. During the height of the Cold War Indonesia’s flirt with communism could not be accepted, and neither could the seizure of American firms. So they began organizing “change” in Indonesia.
Neville Maxwell, a Senior Research Officer of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Oxford University, had the following to say on what happened: “A few years ago I was researching in Pakistan into the diplomatic background of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan conflict, and in foreign ministry papers to which I had been given access came across a letter to the then foreign minister, Mr. Bhutto, from one of his ambassadors in Europe (I believe Mr. J.A. Rahim, in Paris) reporting a conversation with a Dutch intelligence officer with NATO. According to my note of that letter, the officer had remarked to the Pakistani diplomat that Indonesia was ‘ready to fall into the Western lap like a rotten apple’. Western intelligence agencies, he said, would organize a ‘premature communist coup … [which would be] foredoomed to fail, providing a legitimate and welcome opportunity to the army to crush the communists and make Sukarno a prisoner of the army’s goodwill’. The ambassador’s report was dated December 1964.” [7]
Tim Weiner in his Pulitzer price winning book “Legacy of Ashes: The history of the CIA” explains how this plan was organized: “(The CIA) had precisely one well-situated agent: Adam Malik, a fortyeight-year- old disillusioned ex-Marxist who had served as Sukarno’s ambassador to Moscow and his minister of trade. After a permanent falling-out with his president in 1964, Malik had met up with the CIA’s Clyde McAvoy at a Jakarta safe house. (…) ‘I recruited and ran Adam Malik’, McAvoy said in an interview in 2005. ‘He was the highest-ranking Indonesian we ever recruited’. (…) Then, in a few terrifying weeks in October 1965, the Indonesian state split in two. The CIA worked to consolidate a shadow government, a troika composed of Adam Malik, the ruling sultan of central Java, and an army major general named Suharto. Malik used his relationship with the CIA to set up a series of secret meetings with the new American ambassador in Indonesia , Marshall Green. The ambassador said he met Adam Malik ‘in a clandestine setting’ and obtained ‘a very clear idea of what Suharto thought and what Malik thought and what they were proposing to do’ to rid Indonesia of communism through the new political movement they led, the Kap-Gestapu. ‘I ordered that all 14 of the walkie-talkies we had in the Embassy for emergency communications be handed over to Suharto’, Ambassador Green said. ‘This provided additional internal security for him and his own top officers’ – and a way for the CIA to monitor what they were doing.”
General Suharto then sent his soldiers to arrest the leaders of the Indonesian Army, and had them killed. He blamed the killing on the communists in Indonesia, and used this as an excuse to eventually push aside president Suharto and take power for himself. He then proceeded with killing Indonesian communist leaders using a list of names provided by the American embassy [8], as well as hundreds of thousands of other suspected communists throughout Indonesia. Ambassador Green later told then American Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey that “300,000 to 400,000 people were slain” in “a blood bath”  [9]. And speaking in Australia in 1973 he said: “What we did we had to do, and you’d better be glad we did because if we hadn’t Asia would be a different place today”. [10]
One of the first acts of general Suharto following his grab of power was to send a team of economists to a conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, named “Indonesian Investment Conference: To aid in the rebuilding of a nation”. The conference was organized by Time Life Corporation of America and, in addition to the Indonesian economists, was attended by representatives of mostly American multinational corporations. Professor Jeffrey Winters of Northwestern University in Chicago studied the conference papers and described the proceedings at the conference in the following manner: “They divided up into five different sections: mining in one room, services in another, light industry in another, banking and finance in another. And what Chase Manhattan did was sit with a delegation and hammer out policies that were going to be acceptable to them and other investors. You had these big corporate people going round the table, saying ‘this is what we need: this, this and this’; and they basically designed the legal infrastructure for investment in Indonesia. I’ve never heard of a situation like this where global capital sits down with the representatives of a supposedly sovereign state and hammers out the conditions of their own entry into that country.” [11] In 1967 the demands of international business were translated into law by Suharto through the passing of the “Law regarding Foreign Investment”.
Indonesia’s post-Independence economic history – the “Reformasi” era
Suharto ruled Indonesia with an iron fist until in 1998 America decided it was time for “democratic change”.
Ever since the situation has only worsened for Indonesia. In 2007 the democratically elected government of Indonesia adjusted Suharto’s “Law regarding Foreign Investment” from 1967 by lowering income tax on earnings from Foreign Investment in Indonesia, exempting Foreign Investment in Indonesia from VAT, and extending the maximum term on land leases (very important in mining and oil & gas operations) from 70 to 95 years.
In 2010, eventually, the democratically elected government of Indonesia introduced a completely new legislation for Foreign Investment in Indonesia replacing the 1967 law, regarding which the American government had the following to say: “An updated Overseas Private Investment Corporation investment agreement that better serves the needs of U.S. businesses was signed [with Indonesia] in April 2010. This agreement replaced a 1967 agreement” [12].
Since1967, in other words, America has consistently been writing the Indonesian laws regarding Foreign Investment in Indonesia, ensuring it meets her interests perfectly.
The outcome – America’s benefit, Indonesia’s loss
Although it is well known that Indonesia is “resource rich”, the massiveness of the Indonesian mineral wealth is often underestimated. The country produces close to 1 million barrels of oil per day; around 72,000 million cubic meters of natural gas per year; around 360 million short tons of coal per year; around 65,000 kilos of gold per year; around 610,000 metric tons of copper per year; and around 200,000 metric tons of nickel per year.

Mineral
Unit of Measure
Quantity
Price
Value
Oil
barrels per day
946,090
$80
$27,625,828,000
Gas
cubic meter
72,406,000,000
$0.50
$36,203,000,000
Coal
short ton
332,372,000
$60
$19,942,320,000
Gold
kilogram
65,000
$39,000
$2,535,000,000
Copper
metric ton
610,000
$7,700
$4,697,000,000
Nickel
metric ton
202,800
$20,900
$4,238,520,000
Total



$95,241,668,000

Using 2010 average prices, on international markets this is worth no less than $95 billion. The oil production is worth around $27 billion per year; the natural gas production is worth around $36 billion per year; the coal production is worth around $20 billion per year; the gold production is worth around $2.6 billion per year; the copper production is worth around $5 billion per year; and the nickel production is worth around $4 billion per year.

A review of the Indonesian State Budget for 2010 makes clear that only a small part of this massive amount of wealth ends up at the disposal of the Indonesian government. In the 2010 budget taxes on oil & gas industry, levies on oil & gas, levies on mining and the income from state owned enterprises totals just Rp171 trillion, namely, or $19 billion. This is less than 20% of the mineral wealth produced.

2010 Indonesian State Budget
Taxes on oil & gas industry
Rp39,883
$4,532,125,000
Levies on oil
Rp75,646
$8,596,113,636
Levies on gas
Rp25,614
$2,910,625,000
Levies on mining
Rp7,116
$808,590,909
Income from state owned companies
Rp23,005
$2,614,204,545
Total
Rp171,263
$19,461,659,091

The remaining $76 billion is pocketed by foreign companies, most of whom American. This is roughly 8% of 2010 Indonesian GDP. Repatriation of profits resulting from Foreign Investment in Indonesia is also tax free, it must be noted.

Industry
Main players
Oil
Texaco (US), Chevron (US), Total (France), CNOOC (China)
Gas
ExxonMobil (US), HUFFCO Group (US), Total (France)
Coal
Bakrie Group (Indonesia)
Gold
Freeport (US), Newmont (US), Aurora Gold (Australia)
Copper
Freeport (US), Newmont (US)
Nickel
Inco (Canada), Sumitomo Metal Mining (Japan)

Contemporary economic research into colonialism indicates that during the height of British rule over India, the British “drained” around 1% of Indian GDP and repatriated it back home. The Dutch drained between 8 – 10% of Indonesian GDP [13]. These figures make clear that from an economic perspective at least, independence has failed to achieve any meaningful improvement to the situation of Indonesia. Economically, Indonesia is as if colonized still.
Idries De Vries is an international management consultant, and an international speaker and author of several publications on geopolitical, economic and Islamic affairs. He is also  a guest contributor for New Civilisation.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect New Civilisation’s editorial policy.


[1] “Background Note: Indonesia”, U.S. Bureau of State – Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2748.htm.
[2] “Sukarno’s Guided Democracy and the Takeovers of Foreign Companies in Indonesia in the 1960s”, William A. Redfern, http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/77846.
[3] See: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch%E2%80%93Indonesian_Round_Table_Conference. In 1949 a troy ounce of gold was worth 31.69 USD. Today it is worth around 1,600 USD, a difference of a factor 50.
[4] Ibidem note 2.
[5] Ibidem note 2.
[6] Ibidem note 2.
[7] “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA interventions since World War II”, William Blum.
[8] “Legacy of Ashes: The history of the CIA”, Tim Weiner.
[9] Ibidem note 8.
[10] Ibidem note 7.
[11] “The New Rulers of the World”, John Pilger.
[13] “Angus Maddison and Development Economics”, Adam Szirmai, www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2011/wp2011-035.pdf.