Kapan pemerintah Indonesia meminta maaf kepada
berbagai suku di Papua yang telah dan masih
diperlakukan secara semena-mena?
Dan kekayaan alam mereka dirampok?
Dan terhadap orang Sakai dan orang Kubu dan "suku-suku
terasing" lain yang hak mereka juga dirampas ?
-----
CNN.com
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Australia apologizes for Aborigines' pain
* Story Highlights
* NEW: PM Kevin Rudd apologizes to thousands of
Aborigines
* NEW: Rudd: "For the indignity and degradation on
a proud people we say sorry"
* NEW: Apology included plans to improve
education, healthcare for Aborgine children
* "I hope this will be a new start -- a new way,"
says Mike Williams, an Aborigine
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- The Australian government
apologized Wednesday for years of "mistreatment" that
inflicted "profound grief, suffering and loss" on the
country's Aboriginal people.
New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read the apology
Wednesday to Aborigines and the "Stolen Generations"
of children who were taken from their families.
"To the mothers and fathers, to the brothers and
sisters we say sorry. And for the indignity and
degradation on a proud people and a proud culture we
say sorry."
For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government
took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their
families and put them in dormitories or industrial
schools, claiming it was protecting them.
As a result of the policy, "stolen" children lost
contact with their families and heritage, received
poor education, lived in harsh conditions, and often
endured abuse.
"There is nothing I can say today that will take away
the pain... Words are not that powerful," Rudd said in
the Australian Parliament. VideoWatch Rudd apologize »
He said that the apology was the start of a new
approach towards Aborigines which included helping
them find their lost families, closing pay gaps and a
17-year difference in life expectancy between
Aborigines and white Australians.
He said new policies would be introduced to provide
better healthcare and education to Aborigines.
"The mood of the nation is for reconciliation now,"
Rudd said.
The policy was largely a secret until a decade ago,
when a government inquiry and high-profile movie
exposed it. That sparked a mass movement, supported by
many white Australians, demanding an apology.
Former Prime Minister John Howard refused to offer an
apology, saying the current generation should not be
held accountable for past misdeeds. He instead issued
a statement of regret.
Rudd, who defeated Howard last November, made an
apology part of his election campaign. Howard's
successor as leader of the Liberal Party, Brendan
Nelson, supported the apology Wednesday.
"The apology ... is ... very much just the first
step," said a spokeswoman for Jenny Macklin, the
minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and
Indigenous Affairs.
"We have serious inequalities between indigenous and
nonindigenous Australians. The apology is symbolic,
but there's a lot of hard work to be done to reverse
those inequalities."
Mary Farrell-Hooker counts herself among the Stolen
Generations and is now a spokeswoman for an Aboriginal
activist group. The Stolen Generation became
Australia's controversyVideo
She is of mixed race and was one of 12 children of
alcoholic parents. Her father was in jail for raping
her sister when her mother was hospitalized after a
suicide attempt.
"The police came to the school and told me they were
taking me to the hospital to see my mom,"
Farrell-Hooker told CNN. "We never went to the
hospital."
Instead, Mary, then 12, was taken to a series of
foster centers. At one of them, she said, she was
repeatedly raped by a white "house father."
"He would actually come into the room and force
himself onto me, rape me, molest me," she said. "If I
didn't do what he wanted, he would threaten to do the
same to my sister and (threaten to) split us up."
Her parents came to find her, she said, but were
repeatedly turned away. She tried to run away but said
the police always returned her to her tormentor.
Aboriginal people have been waiting decades for an
apology, and the Australian public appear to welcome
the government's move, according to CNN's Jacqueline
Head in Sydney.
Head said many Australians believe saying sorry is
long overdue, but some doubts remain over what it will
achieve in the long term -- whether it will help open
doors for Aboriginal people seeking rights and
compensation or whether it will fail to secure
indigenous people a better future.
Some white Australians don't believe the apology will
bring about reconciliation.
"I think Australians will be sorry for many
generations for offering this apology now," said Piers
Akerman, a conservative commentator.
He said Aboriginal compensation claims will now gain
new vigor.
To symbolize what the government hopes will be a fresh
approach to the future, a group of indigenous
Australians performed a traditional welcome ceremony
Tuesday of dancing and singing to mark the start of
parliament's new session. As the traditional owners of
the land which parliament sits on, the performers
"welcomed" the lawmakers onto it.
"For thousands of years, our peoples have observed
this protocol," said Matilda House, an Aboriginal
elder at the ceremony. "It is a good and honest and
decent and very human act to reach out to make sure
everyone has a place and is welcome."
CNN's Jacqueline Head and Hugh Riminton contributed to
this report
All AboutKevin Rudd John Howard
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Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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