Geoffrey MG's Beyond Wallacia

Rahardjo Mustadjab, a former Indonesian Air Force pilot, contributed an interesting article to today's Jakarta Post on the origins of the Indonesian Air Force and its choice of 29 July as "Air Force Dedication Day". Following the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japanese forces throughout Asia in 1945, nationalists declared the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia over the territory of the Dutch East Indies on 17 August. Unfortunately, the Netherlands, itself just liberated from Nazi Germany occupation, fought a 'police action' to throttle the new republic until 1950.

The newly formed RI air force, Angkatan Udara Republik Indonesia (AURI), had commandeered Japanese aircraft and air bases and was reckoned a threat to the Dutch re-colonisation. On 21 July 1947, the Dutch military launched "Operation Pelikaan" and its coordinated attacks on AURI airfields destroyed much of Indonesia's air power.

However, in the early hours of 29 July, three AURI pilots, Muljono (flying a Mitsubishi KI-51 fighter), Sutarjo Sigit and Suharnoko Harbani (both flying Yokosuka K5Y1 training planes), launched an audacious counter-attack from Maguwo near Yogyakarta, bombing Dutch army positions in Semarang, Ambarawa and Salatiga, respectively.

The three young men were Air Force cadets, and they had learned to fly the Japanese aircraft they had at their disposal simply by reading the manuals written in Japanese. In the absence of bomb bays, the pilots lobbed the small bombs from the cockpits of their fighter planes by hand. Because of this, the Dutch did not suffer any reported loss of life or great damage, though it probably did give them a scare.

Of course, the ragtag Japanese aircraft the occupiers had left behind in Indonesia were no match for the Dutch, whose American P-40 Kitty Hawk fighter planes then roamed the skies above Java with a vengeance. To avoid being intercepted, the Indonesian pilots flew just above the treetops. After accomplishing their jobs, they returned to base safely and the ground crew hid the planes under the trees.

According to Rahardjo Mustadjab, "the Dutch punishment came swiftly and severely":

That same morning only a couple of hours later, two Kitty Hawks strafed Yogyakarta. Later that afternoon a Kitty Hawk gunned down an Indian transport plane, a Dakota C-47, carrying medicines donated by the Malaya Red Cross, which was about to land at Maguwo. The hapless plane went down in flames in a nearby village, killing all three Indonesian Air Force crew members: Agustinus Adisutjipto, Abdulrachman Saleh and Adisumarno ... Also killed were pilot Alexander Noel Constantine (an Australian), co-pilot Roy Hazelhurst (a Briton), flight engineer Bidha Ram (Indian), Zainal Arifin (the Indonesian consul in Malaya) and Mrs Noel Constantine. The only survivor was one passenger, Abdulgani Handokotjokro.

Jos Heyman's Indonesian aviation 1945 -1950 described the Indian-registered aircraft, VT-CLA, as being previously owned by the government of the Indian state of Orissa but subsequently purchased in support of the Indonesian republic by Bijayananda Patnaik "who hailed from a family of freedom fighters, ideologues and patriots in Orissa ... [and who] had earlier been involved in the Indian freedom struggle and eventually became a leading figure in the government of Orissa." However at the time it was shot down by Dutch P-40s, the plane was "on charter to the Indonesia government on a flight from Singapore to Maguwo."

Heyman noted both Indonesian references to the aircraft carrying Red Cross medicines and a Dutch report which claimed Dutch authorities had not been informed of the flight and that the aircraft carried no Red Cross markings:

The report continues to state that: 'Of course the MLKNIL has instructions to hinder republican air activities. Each aircraft that is over republican territory without clear markings and of which the pilot maneuvers in a manner that indicates he wants to avoid being spotted, in serious danger'. But nevertheless the orders were not to shoot an aircraft down but instead force it to land on the nearest airfield in Dutch control. The report further states that a warning shot was fired at the aircraft upon which the aircraft hit a tree and crashed. The passing of time make it impossible to conclude what actually happened.

Interestingly the aircraft's owner, Paitnak, demanded 10 million rupees from the Dutch government as compensation and eventually received a KLM DC-3.

29 July is Indonesian Airforce Dedication Day and three Indonesian victims of VT-CLA, Agustinus Adisutjipto, Abdulrachman Saleh and Adisumarno, have had airports named after them in Yogyakarta, Malang and Surakarta.

But who were the foreigners, Noel Constantine and his un-named wife, Roy Hazelhurst and Bidha Ram? I am also wondering where they are buried and how Indonesians commemorate their contribution to their independence struggle?

It appears that Iran and North Korea may soon be armed with nuclear weapons. One privateer gave them a head-start. James Button writes in today's The Age (Melbourne):

Just days before the bombs fell on Iraq in March, 2003, Britain's secret service got an unexpected phone call. It led two MI6 officers to private rooms in a Mayfair hotel. There, a nervous young man told them that "the leader" was ready to reconsider his weapons of mass destruction program. The agents were astonished. The leader was the young man's father, Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi.

From that meeting with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a tense and top-secret diplomatic operation began. Libya wanted to shed its pariah status - the United States had designated it a "state sponsor of terrorism" in 1979 - but it feared betrayal by the US and Britain. Over nine months in 2003 it tortuously revealed details of its program to acquire nuclear weapons.

After a tip-off in September, agents working on behalf of the CIA and MI6 boarded the BBC China, a container vessel berthed in Taranto, Italy. In five containers bound for Libya they found thousands of components for a centrifuge, a device that can enrich uranium for a bomb.

The game was up. Soon after, Libya allowed US and British agents to inspect its weapons production sites for the first time. On December 19, its foreign minister announced on television that his country was giving up its nuclear weapons ambitions in return for the lifting of sanctions. As arranged, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush immediately endorsed the deal. The war on terror, it seemed, had finally borne fruit. A grateful Gaddafi even sent Blair boxes of oranges and dates.

But when Libya came in from the cold, something even bigger and less cheering came in with it. The seizure of the centrifuge parts in Taranto was the last step in exposing a sophisticated global network that traded the materials and know-how to make nuclear arms.

The network was vital to Iran's march down the nuclear path. It seems to have helped North Korea in its attempt to build a bomb. It tried to sell to Iraq. It was constructing an entire nuclear weapons capability for Libya. It was dominated by shadowy European businessmen but at its head was a high-profile Pakistani scientist who had helped forge his country's atomic weapons program ...

Read on at Shopping for Bombs: Nuclear Proliferation, Global Insecurity and the Rise and Fall of the A. Q. Khan Network

Budget and low cost airlines in Indonesia are a mixed bunch. Over the past few months I've had good prices and comfortable flying on three of them: Value Air between Jakarta and Singapore (featuring online booking, seat allocation, free snack and coffee); Air Asia between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur (online booking) and Adam Air between Jakarta and Semarang (seat allocation, bottled water). The aircraft appeared well maintained and each arrived on time. However one mate has just had a bit of a problem with the condition of an aircraft provided by Lion Air for its Surabaya to Balikpapan route (pictured above). "We make people fly" -- But keep your seat-belts fastened at all times?

Indonesian cartoonist Tommy Thomdean is in the running for the prize for the world's "best" anti-Jewish-Holocaust cartoon being presented by Iran Cartoon and Iran's largest selling newspaper Hamshahri. Interest is mounting as an exhibition of the competition's 204 finalists from the more than 1,100 cartoons submitted by participants from 60 countries was opened in Tehran's Palestine contemporary art museum yesterday. The top three cartoons will be announced on 2 September with the winners being awarded prizes of 12,000, 8,000 and 5,000 dollars respectively.

Thomdean may have a good chance of finishing in the top three and proudly raising anti-Semitism in Indonesia to a new level of prominence as he previously won an Excellence Prize at the 2004 LM International Cartoon Competition held in Nanjing, China. and was also a prize winner at this year's Syrian International Cartoon Contest.

According to the Syria Cartoon website, Thomdean began his career as freelance cartoonist and illustrator in 1997 while working as an architect "for many local social projects and low income housing in Indonesia" and now works as a cartoonist and illustrator for Kompas morning daily, Indonesia's largest circulating and most prestigious newspaper.

Aljazeera newsagency reported that Thomdean's cartoon "shows the statue of liberty holding a book on the Holocaust in its left hand and giving a Nazi-style salute with the other". This accords with the objective of the competition to parody the documented murder of some six million European Jews by the German Nazi terror regime between 1933 and 1945, known as the Holocaust.

Thomdean's cartoon appears to be displayed on the gallery wall to the right in the photo above. Blogger View From a Height, who has reproduced many more scenes from the exhibition's oepning ceremony, makes the point that half the cartoons are in English, "which tells you a little something about the target audience." He also observed that while the exhibition wanted to deny the Holocaust happened, numerous cartoons portrayed Iraelis Jews as "latter-day" Nazis. "The genius of good propaganda is doublethink," he mused.

The contest was announced in February after caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad were first printed in Denmark in September 2005 and then, surprisingly six months later, were attacked by Muslims worldwide. The cartoons were then republished by other publications, mostly in democratic countries. Many Muslims considered the cartoons offensive and a violation of traditions prohibiting images of their prophets. In some Islamic countries Muslim demonstrators were killed in riots that got out of control.

Masoud Shojai, the competition organiser, said "we staged this fair to explore the limits of freedom Westerners believe in ... they can freely write anything they like about our prophet, but," he claimed, "if one raises doubts about the Holocaust he is either fined or sent to prison."

According to Aljazeera, "Iran's fiercely anti-Israeli regime is supportive of so-called Holocaust revisionists, who maintain that the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews and other groups during World War II was either invented or exaggerated. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, has also prompted international anger by dismissing the Holocaust as a 'myth' used to justify the creation of Israel."

Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders are increasingly calling for Muslims to join together to ensure the destruction of Israel (see Ahmadinejad very clear on Israel's "elimination").

Indonesian connections

In February, about 200 Muslims demonstrated outside the Danish Embassy in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to protest the publishing of the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper six months before. Danish Ambassador Neils Erik Andersen told CNN that about a dozen of the demonstrators, members of Defenders of Islam (FPI), broke through security and, once on the embassy grounds, demanded to meet with him. During the meeting, Andersen reiterated an apology made earlier by Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper.

Indonesia's foreign minister, Hassan Wirajuda, said at the time that radical groups around the world were exploiting public Islamic anger over the cartoons and protests were now "out of proportion."

Last month, however, an Indonesian journalist was arrested over his decision to publish the controversial cartoons in Rakyat Merdeka newspaper back in February. Teguh Santosa, online editor of the newspaper, was charged with inciting hatred towards a religious group. (namely the country's 80% Muslim majority).

He said he published the images to give readers the full story on the cartoons issue. "We just wanted to let people know about the cartoons, which were being strongly protested at that time," he told the Associated Press. Santosa faces up to five years imprisonment if found guilty.

Blogger Indonesia Matters reported that the Committee to Protect Journalists had denounced the arrest and charges, as an attack on the freedom of the press. The Alliance of Independent Journalists (Aliansi Jurnalis Independen) also voiced its concern, claiming that Santosa had not breached the journalists? code of ethics.

The AJI insisted that 30-year-old Santosa had no desire to provoke Muslims when he posted the cartoons and that his sole aim was to provide his readers with background to the controversy they had caused and noted that he was the second Indonesian journalist to suffer consequences for reproducing the cartoons. David Da Silva, the editor of the Christian magazine Gloria, was fired by his employers in February.

Emails may possibly be received by Tommy Thomdean at tom_thomdeanjunior@yahoo.com and via his editor at Kompas. Emails may possibly be received by Teguh Santosa via the Alliance of Independent Journalists.

UPDATE

Exhibition curator Masoud Shojai has since told an Iranian News Channel (IRINN) reporter that "Zionist circles" had "severely attacked" the exhibition website and he'd received "thousands of threatening e-mails" and "offers to money" to prevent the exhibition. Who would have thought Zionist violence or sinister cash transactions were possible in the centre of Islamic revolutionary Tehran?

In another suprise, there have no news reports yet of angry Jewish protests or riots against the exhibition anywhere in the world. No burning of embassies or public calls for the beheading of Iranian or Muslim leaders either.

Lebanese blogs seemingly have no nice words for Israel and share extreme anger about the force used by Israel in its powerful (yet underwhelming) counter-attack against Hizb'Allah (Lebanon's Party of God) military provocation. Even Vox's Den, who acknowledged that "punishing the Shias ...[to] make it hard from for Hezbollah to attack Israel anytime soon" was a good strategy from an Israeli point of view, declared the "cost of this war far outweighs the benefits - especially that, at the end of the day, Hezbollah might still be there. In this case, there won't be any benefits for me, only costs."

But regardless of their patriotism and concern for their dead and injured countrymen, Lebanese bloggers are now writing of the penalty incurred by all Lebanese as a result of Hizb'Allah's military adventurism, independence from the national government (in which it has ministers), religious fanaticism, non-State alliances with Syria and Iran and promises to destroy Israel.

Here's a recent sampling:

Hezbollah has another face, a bearded face. It is a party involved in act of terrorism against US marines and Jewish targets in South America. It is a party that send its thugs beat Christian dwellers after a TV show mocked its 'sayyed', God's representative on Earth. It is a party that opposed Syria's withdrawal last year, despite the fact that there are thousands of Lebanese prisoners in Syria being treated worse than Khiam's prisoners, despite the fact that they know what the Syrians did to the Lebanese during the last decades. It is a party that besiege Christian and Druze villages in the south, abuse their population, fire its Katiusha behind churches in an obvious attempt to improve the 'score' of civilian casualties. It is a party that wants to impose its fanatical religious system on others. It is a party that has been trying to stop the international inquiry and the international tribunal regarding Hariri's death. It is a party that hides its rockets in civilian buildings and then cry crocodile tears over the death of children. It is a party funded by Iran and Syria in order to block the Lebanese transition to democracy and that has done everything to block the reforms during the last 14 months. For all of these reasons, Hezbollah deserve to die one hundred times. - Vox's Den, 2 Aug 2006

The Syrian regime, which still has illusions that it rules Lebanon and that it is a "player," when it's little more than a client-proxy spoiler of the Iranians, is very clearly threatened by the UN draft resolution. So they're threatening left and right. This is on top of the repeated threats of unleashing al-Qaeda on Lebanon (just a reminder to all the "experts" who tell us that the "secular" Syrian regime cannot have ties to Islamists or al-Qaeda even as they are a client of Khomeinist Iran on top of it!). So while their venomous foreign minister was in Lebanon, he gave a reminder to all those who think that the Syrians have any interest other than boosting Hezbollah and undermining the central government, and essentially staging a classic coup d'etat. He volunteered to join Nasrallah's army, and put himself at Hezbollah's disposal, and offered every possible support for Hezbollah. And in the end, he issued a veiled threat that unless they get their way, they will try to provoke civil war in the country. - Across The Bay, 6 Aug 2006

The time is right for liberal forces in Lebanon to speak with force and belief. Before July 12, the debate between Hezbollah and the rest of the Lebanese had a classic pattern: When a Lebanese party reproaches Hezbollah for their weapons, they respond with a barrage of intimidation, bullying and self-righteousness. "How dare you question us?" "You sound exactly like the Israelis," "Who are you to judge us?" sweetened with an assurance that the weapons are only for deterrence and will only be used against the "Zionist enemy," followed by veiled (and not so veiled) threats: "we shall cut the limbs and heads of those who will try to disarm us and pull their souls out of their bodies." The problem was not Hezbollah?s responses per say. The problem was the fact that a lot of Lebanese (mainly the Sunnis) actually felt a hint of shame for criticizing a force that appeals so much to populist Arab public opinion. Especially if you watch Aljazeera and the way they insinuate that the Lebanese who don?t support Hezbollah serve the interests of Israel. At this junction, we need to be more righteous than Hezbollah, because our cause is, in fact, more just. - The Beirut Spring, 14 Aug 2006

And in the end, what exactly has Hizbullah won for its efforts? Since it is too soon to judge Hizbullah's "balance of terror" strategy as a successful deterrent to the Israeli threat, we can look at how this all began. Nasrallah began this war for all intents and purposes back in January when he announced that he would engage Israel in the south and seek hostages with which to exchange for the final few Lebanese prisoners still residing in Israel. In all the fighting and furor, with all the opportunity that waves of Israeli soldiers assaulting Hizbullah positions would provide, has Hizbullah taken a single additional prisoner? We would certainly know if they had, considering Hizbullah's own media initiatives. Also, Hizbullah has not succeeded in downing a single Israeli combat aircraft. Considering that Syria, Jordan, and Egypt all managed to take Israeli prisoners and shoot down Israeli aircraft in wars they clearly lost, where does this leave Hizbullah's war effort? Where are the true symptoms of victory aside from the postmodern assertion that it's somehow in the eye of the beholder? - Bliss Street Journal, 8 Aug 2006

Don't misunderstand me. I believe PM Siniora is a decent man in a very tight spot. I believe PM Siniora is well intentioned and that his tears were heart-felt for the plight of his fellow citizens. However, that can be said of most Lebanese and is not enough to make one a historic leader. What is needed from a leader in times of war, is bold action, strong words, and vision. None of which appear forthcoming. The government is now talking about sending the army to the south, a welcome move but a move that is a year too late. When the Iranian and/or Syrian Foreign Ministers contradicts, from Lebanese soil, the Lebanese government's view on a cease-fire resolution, I don't want to hear it's "over the limit". I want my PM to kick their butts out (sorta like Rice). Siniora, at least, ought to have had the Iranian ambassador recalled. What could happen? Iran might stop shipping us rockets? Nasrallah is going to howl? Even better! Embarrass the crap out of him by looking strong, and taking the initiative. That is how people rally around you. Siniora has yet to be clear on his government's position on crucial matters, including Hezbollah. I understand the need to be cautious with Hezbollah, but Lebanon got in this mess by having an incoherent policy, and won't get out of the mess by remaining incoherent. - Lebonesque, 8 Aug 2006

I didn't believe Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah when he said Hezbollah has more than 15,000 missiles. I didn't believe any of the Hezbollah cheerleaders who claimed that Hezbollah soldiers are as good or better than most of the premier special forces units outside of the Western world. I took it as a given that they are the best fighting troops amongst the Arab countries, which is not saying much, but better than Iran, Pakistan, India? I knew firsthand the professionalism of Hezbollah's soldiers. I knew through a close associate about how quickly out of line Hezbollah members were put in their place. And I knew firsthand the professionalism and capabilities of al Manar staff. Former UNIFIL spokesman Timur Goksel regularly spoke and speaks about the professionalism of Hezbollah. He notes that they plan, strategize, re-plan, re-strategize, and then do that all over again before they make any decision. They think through the consequences of any military activity from multiple different angles: how it will effect Hezbollah militarily, how it will effect Hezbollah politically, how it will effect Hezbollah members, how Shia Lebanese will respond, how Lebanese public opinion will respond, how Israel will respond, how the West will respond, how Iran and Syria will respond. I always doubted him. I believed him to a degree, but I thought he was exaggerating, even when we spoke just after the 12 July conflict began. I was wrong ... Hezbollah is much more powerful than I ever imagined. - Lebanese Political Journal, 13 Aug 2006

The Lebanese Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, in a televised broadcast, accused Iran and Syria to be behind the initiative of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah in kidnapping the two Israeli soldiers, thereby providing Israel with an alibi to destroy Lebanon, once again, if only to avenge its earlier defeat and evacuation of Lebanon, at the hands of Hezbollah combatants. We know that Walid Jumblatt has no love for the Syrians, who had assassinated his father, Kamal, because of his adamant refusal to submit to a Syrian dictate. As for Iran, the meeting which took place between the French and Iranian Foreign Ministers at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut is but one indication of the complicity of Iran in the war on Lebanon. The objective of Iran is to divert the attention of the world away from its uranium enrichment programme. Syria, on the other hand would like nothing better than to see Lebanon destroyed over the heads of its inhabitants, as the head of the Regime, Bashar el Assad had vowed to do. Undoubtedly, Walid Jumblatt is courting assassination; and thus all the greater merit for his statements. - The Wizard of Beirut, 5 Aug 2006

"Syria says that she supports the Lebanese Government acceptance of the UN resolution 1701" ? Exactly who asked you your opinion? When will Syria understand that they can't interfere in Lebanon anymore? Whether you supported it or not, let me get this clear for you...IT'S NOT YOUR DAMN BUSINESS! If you really want to be helpful, write an official document stating that Shebaa farms are not yours, and you can bet the Lebanese Government will NOT only support your decision, but it will be thankful as well! Syria, please start listening to what PM Seniora is saying: "Syrian should start accepting that Lebanon is an independent state, and they don't have any right interfering with our national affairs". Go and worry about your own issues, like Goulan Heights, the Syrian land still occupied by Israel till now! - Failasoof, 13 Aug 2006

More Lebanese bloggers and viewpoints are aggregated at Open Lebanon and www.lebweb.com/. Read about the Background and objectives of Hizb'Allah.

Despite heart-rending visual imagery of war in Lebanon and the Palestinian districts, public attacks on Lebanon's Party of God (Hizb'Allah) and its militia, as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran's strategic goals, have become commonplace in the Sunni Arab world since the start of Israel's powerful (yet underwhelming) counter-attack against Hizb'Allah provocation from southern Lebanon.

Amir Taheri, for instance, the Iranian-born senior columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat, the thirty-year-old pan-Arab daily newspaper printed in 12 cities, wrote today that Hizb'Alah was fighting "not for prisoners, the Shabaa farms or even 'Arab causes', whatever they may be at any given time, but for Iran in its broader struggle."

In his article, When Elephants Fight, Taheri recalled that one week ago Iran's Foreign Minister Manuchehr Motakki shocked an audience in Beirut and drew flak from Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Sinioraby by identifying the current border war as about reshaping the Middle East.

"However, the most frank analyses of the situation on the Iranian side of the conflict have come from two close aides of [Iran's Supreme Guide Ali Khamenehi] Khamenehi," he wrote.

The first was by Ali Akbar Velayati, Iran's Foreign Minister for 16 years. In a speech in Tehran last week, Velayati said that, by destroying the Pakistan- and Saudi Arabian-backed Sunni Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and the Arab Baathist dictatorship in Iraq, the United States had freed Shia-Persian Iran from devoting "much of its energies protecting its borders" and had "created an historic opportunity" for taking leadership of the region.

The second analysis came from Hussein Shariatmadari, also a top aide to Khamenehi and director of Iran's main daily newspaper Kayhan (Universe). According to Taheri, Shariatmadari believes that with the fall of communism, the task of challenging the US-lead, "Infidel" West has devolved to the Islamic Republic and its Khomeinist ideology:

"In an editorial bearing the title of This Is Our War, Shariatmadari made it clear that Hezbollah was fighting not for prisoners, the Shabaa farms or even 'Arab causes', whatever they may be at any given time, but for Iran in its broader struggle to prevent the US from creating 'an American Middle East.'

"The consensus in Tehran is that American power is peaking out and that the West as a whole is entering a period of historic decline. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is convinced that it is the turn of rising new powers, brimming with energy and ambition, sustained by strong demographic trends, and ready for endless sacrifice and suffering, to provide humanity with leadership."

"Seen in that context, Taheri commented, the ultimate control of the current war may not be in the hands of either Israel or Hezbollah."

Earlier, Ahmed Al-Jarallah, Editor-in-Chief of Kuwait's Arab Times newspaper, opined in his editorial, No to Syria, Iran agents, that "people of Arab countries, especially the Lebanese and Palestinians, have been held hostage for a long time in the name of 'resisting Israel.'"

"Arab governments have been caught between political obligations and public opinion leading to more corruption in politics and economics. Forgetting the interests of their own countries the Hamas Movement and Hezbollah have gone to the extent of representing the interests of Iran and Syrian in their countries. These organizations have become the representatives of Syria and Iran without worrying about the consequences of their action."

Al-Jarallah pointed out that, without mentioning Hizb'Allah by name, Saudi Arabia blamed certain "elements" inside Lebanon for the violence with Israel and said "it is necessary to make a distinction between legitimate resistance and uncalculated adventures adopted by certain elements within Lebanon without the knowledge of legal Lebanese authorities."

The strict Sunni-Muslim Arab kingdom said it was against irresponsible adventures undertaken by certain elements in the region without consulting the legal authorities putting all Arab nations at risk, adding that "these elements must take responsibility for their irresponsible actions and they alone should end the crisis created by them."

He said the "battle between supporters and opponents of these adventurers has begun, starting from Palestine to Tehran passing through Syria and Lebanon" and that war was inevitable as the "Lebanese government couldn't bring Hezbollah within its authority" and make it work for the interests of Lebanon.

"Unfortunately, he concluded, "we must admit that in such a war the only way to get rid of 'these irregular phenomena' is what Israel is doing. The operations of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon are in the interest of people of Arab countries and the international community."

A Hizb'Allah rocket attack on an UNIFIL monitoring base in southern Lebanon today, injured three Chinese members of the interim peace keeping force, just hours after China called on the United Nations to ensure the security of UNIFIL forces, China's official Xinhua News Agency announced.

"The rocket landed near our post at 11:55 a.m. (0855 GMT) as an Israeli military unit passed by a village close to the post," Luo Fuqiang, a Chinese officer who heads a sapper battalion, was quoted as saying.

Earlier Sunday, China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a telephone conversation that the UN should take tangible measures to ensure the security of UN peacekeepers, Xinhua said.

The silence from the United Nations secretariat and world media about this attack contrasts dramatically to the reaction to an Israeli attack on a UNIFIL observer post in July which killed four UN monitors.

At that time, Kofi Annan claimed the action was "apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces of a United Nations observer post".

Kofi's widely publicised allegation was immediately challenged by the release of an email sent earlier by one of the fallen UN observers, Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener, of Canada, in which he claimed that the UNIFIL post "was taking fire within, in one case, three meters of his position for tactical necessity, not being targeted."

The email reciprient, retired Canadian Major General Lewis Mackenzie, said Kruedener "was telling us was Hezbollah soldiers were all over his position and the IDF were targeting them. And that's a favorite trick by people who don't have representation in the UN. They use the UN as shields knowing that they can't be punished for it."

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper also stated that the Israeli attack was a "terrible tragedy" but not likely deliberate. At the same time, he questioned why the UN had manned the outpost in Lebanon near the Israeli border as bombs exploded all around.

"We want to find out why this United Nations post was attacked and also why it remained manned during what is now, more or less, a war during obvious danger to these individuals," he told media. Asked about UN head Kofi Annan's statement suggesting Israel had targeted the outpost, Harper said: "I certainly doubt that to be the case."

Since its withdrawal from its military buffer zone in southern Lebanon in 2000, Israel consistetly lobbied "for UNIFIL to either take a more active role vis-a-vis Hezbollah (for example, preventing Hezbollah from setting up military posts adjacent to UNIFIL's in the hope this will deter Israel from attacking them), or to step out of the region (thereby voiding the Lebanese government's excuse for not deploying its army along the border)."

Prior to Hizb'Allah's 12 July attack on Israel, visitors to UNIFIL posts in southern Lebanon noted that they were still often within a few hundred metres of Hizb'Allah posts (the latter flying their yellow party flag not the Lebanese national flag) and UNIFIL troops took no action against their cross-border provocations.

The Indonesian-based Asian Muslim Youth Movement claims it has sent hundreds of South East Asian suicide bombers around the world with a mission to attack Jewish interests in countries that support Israel such as Britain, the US and possibly Australia. Its leader, Islamist author Suaib Bidu, warned The Australian that thousands more jihadis were preparing to join the resistance against Israel and die as"martyrs". Bidu said a "passing-out" ceremony for more than 3000 jihadis will be held tomorrow in the Indonesian city of Pontianak, West Kalimantan. But only about 200 would be sent immediately to targets aboard, with the remainder being active supporters.

"We have a lot of support, including in Australia, from people who don't believe Israel's attack (on Hizb'Allah) is just," he said. The group claims to have already sent 217 suicide bombers, including 72 Indonesians as well as citizens of six other Southeast Asian nations, to Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. They include seasoned mujaheddin fighters, some of whom had fought the Soviets in Afghanistan and then the Northern Alliance in the same country.

According to The Australian, about 40 percent of the AMYM recruits have military experience in countries including Afghanistan, Thailand, The Philippines, Palestine and Iraq. Those with field experience have learned how to make suicide bombs. However Bidu said the fighters from his movement will not travel to Lebanon "because we don't want to face Israel from the front; we prefer to do it from behind".

Indonesia's Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) has announced it has 200,000 members ready to join the battlefield in southern Lebanon. "When we apply for passports we say we are going to Singapore or to Mecca, so that we can fulfil our true aims'" FPI spokesman Habib Hasan al-Jufrie said. He said the FPI held military training courses "at secret locations" every two weeks.

Last night, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said there were fears a "new wave" of terrorists could be generated by the Israeli offensive in Lebanon. "Muslims are angry even in moderate Muslim countries," said Mr Abdullah, who hosted and chaired an emergency meeting of the 57 nations of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Kuala Lumpur.

The leader of the violent anti-globalisation S11 protest against the 2000 World Economic Forum held in Melbourne, Australia, has been made the public voice of the city's RMIT University. And the controversial new media and communication adviser, David Glanz, took the opportunity this weekend to declare his support for the Arab Islamist organisations Hamas and Hizb'Allah currently attacking Israel. He said both groups had the right to resist and the Australian Federal Government was wrong to outlaw Hizb'Allah as a terrorist organisation.

Glanz is an activist of the International Socialist Organisation, which has reportedly advocated assassinations, blowing up military targets and tearing up the roots of the capitalist system. When asked by Craig Binnie of the Herald Sun if he still supported this Mr Glanz replied: "Individual acts of terrorism do not advance the campaign for a world free of injustice, poverty and war."

In May, the Indonesian government banned its education institutions from associating with RMIT University. A spokeswoman for the Indonesian Ministry of National Education, Nur Samsiah, said the West Papuan separatist flag was flown on RMIT's campus after the recent granting of protection visas to 42 West Papuan asylum seekers. "Their academics, their lecturers and their campuses are used for supporting separatists," Ms Samsiah said.

She said all co-operation between the ministry and the two universities was "on hold" and a proposal was being considered to suspend the accreditation of Indonesian students taking courses at either university, which would effectively stop them studying there.

A spokeswoman for RMIT said the university was perplexed by the charges from Jakarta "as it did not support any political agendas".

Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dropped all opacity regarding the fate of Israel (see Subtle Ahmadinejad. What does he really mean?) and finally got to the point. He told delegates to the emergency summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that Muslims should support an immediate ceasefire in southern Lebanon as a stage in the destruction of Israel.

"Though elimination of the Zionist regime is the main solution to the current crisis, at this stage a cease-fire should be immediately established," he said, as quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency.

Israel is fighting to clear Iran-backed Party of God (Hizb'Allah) fighters from southern Lebanon after they crossed the international border, abducted and killed Israeli soldiers and fired weapons into civilian areas of northern Israel.

The objectives of Hizb'Allah, a member of the Lebanese Government, includes "the destruction of Israel ... It is the hated enemy that must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve ... Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated."

Wikiquote has published a number of statements by the reclusive Hizb'Allah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. They include:

"Peace settlements will not change reality, which is that Israel is the enemy and that it will never be a neighbor or a nation ... And on this last day of the century, I promise Israel that it will see more suicide attacks, for we will write our history with blood" (Hezbollah rally in Beirut. December 31, 1999); and

"If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli" (Quoted in Saad-Ghorayeb, Amal 2001, Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion, Pluto Press, ISBN 0745317928).

Malaysian blogger Husin Tapa is impressed with the chutzpa of investment banker Khairy Jamaluddin, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and leader of the governing party's UMNO Youth League, who led the recent anti-Israeli and anti-US demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur during which he attempted to barge into the convention centre to rebuke US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"Khairy?s action reminds us of those days when Anwar Ibrahim or Ibrahim Ali and some others led demonstrations against the government, which eventually facilitated them into high political office," Tapa wrote in his Malaysia Kini blog.

"I am also impressed with Khairy who demanded that all Islamic countries quit the United Nations to show their anger at the world body for doing nothing to stop the Israeli atrocities in Lebanon. UMNO Youth, he said, would also make a list of Jewish companies whose products Malaysians should boycott ...

"But as a graduate of Oxford, Khairy may not have the heart to protest against the country that gave him political education and the best period of his formative years," he wrote, addding, "Will Khairy abandon Manchester United?