Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Kopassus blocks Nairn from appearing on Indonesian TV

Indonesia's TV One cancelled an appearance after pressure from Kopassus by Allan Nairn to talk about his story about last year's killings by the Indonesian army in Aceh today. The Indonesian military has threatened to bring Nairn to court for his reporting, saying it is defamatory.

Nairn wrote:
As I was making my way to their studio for our agreed live interview on Indonesian armed forces (TNI) assassinations, I received a call with the news that TV One, the Indonesian national news channel, had canceled my appearance due to pressure from Kopassus....

Even though TV One had agreed to interview me alone for 15 to 30 minutes, they decided unilaterally -- without telling me -- that they would only let me on air if the Kopassus commander, Gen. Lodewijk was there to rebut me. 

I would have been glad to face and question the General, but the catch was that the General refused to face me. 
A week ago, METRO TV ended a scheduled half hour interview:
Within a couple of minutes I was pulled off the air. A producer came on the phone and acknowledged that I had just been "censored."
Sign ETAN's petition opposing U.S. training of Kopassus.

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