In defense of Julian Assange

What is the truth behind the leaks?
Why does Julian Assange do what he does?
Who is responsible for the leaks and what will be the repercussions?
Is this manifestation of the Ego, self-destruction or colon cleansing of society?

I suppose history always decides this in hindsight but in the meantime let us speak in defense of Julian Assange, a knight out of Camelot, seeking the right to expose the truth thereby endangering his life for the sake of cyberspace freedom.

The publication of embassy cables, secret communication between politicians and government officials across the globe has come as a ray of hope for those who seek the truth in world affairs. Interestingly, it has impacted individual pride, exposed skewered government directives, and enlightened all to the prevalent political septicemia e.g. politicians appearing in the media saying one thing while missives to their respective governments reflecting the opposite. The mask is off. The pantomime has become a parody of puerile political shenanigans.

Julian Assange is not a criminal though he has been a wayward computer hacker in the past. This should not be held against him or used as an excuse to brand him a spy, traitor or a thief. For want of a better word he is the sorcerer of revelations – unfettered by social structures and conditioned perspectives of a modern society. Assange is the new age gladiator fighting against overwhelming odds; his sword being Wikileaks that delivers the message of truth in the macrocosm of the internet. He probably knows he is a dead man walking.

Those against this knight who cannot refute the damning evidence seek to discredit him by attempting to incarcerate this harbinger of truth on charges that have no bearing in the realm of exposures; And through his prosecution hope to enforce the laws of an alien land. Many hyper ventilating citizens of this alien land have shouted for his assassination and have suggested unspeakable retribution. This attempt at enforcing world domination is thinly disguised as concern for national security. Sadly, it emanates from a land that is often perceived as the personification of Freedom and the First Amendment.

Humanity has spoken in a devastating manner to deliver the message that a new world is dawning and it is for the people, by the people and with the people. We are witnessing a revolution in the ongoing evolution of cyberspace and individual freedom. The frontiers of Free Speech are pushing further towards a brave new world that could lead to a Village Earth i.e. humanity as one, living in peace, without the unnatural warped boundaries of countries and heady political concoctions.

But before this can happen, we are all on trial and the outcome depends on the acquittal of Julian Assange.

Please let truth prevail.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om

Burma, the bamboo curtain...troops firing on unarmed Buddhist monks and more...the world or at least the powers across the world don't find this country important because apparently there's it has no oil or strategic worth...until ofcourse China comes knocking...

Free Erwin Arnada !

To the Honourable Justices
Supreme Court of Indonesia

Your Honours,

I respectfully present my unsolicited objections to the conviction of Erwin Arnada, ex –editor in Chief of Playboy Indonesia. Your judgment – incarcerating him for two years for the crime of publishing photographs of ‘scantily’ clad women in the edition of Playboy Indonesia is an aberration of justice. Sadly the honourable court has succumbed to the power of warped religious hardliners and interpreted the Law of the Land selectively to appease those who seek to drag the modern state of Indonesia back to the medieval age.

Erwin Arnada did not commit a crime that many other ‘glossies’ haven’t done…depict women in little or nothing. Walk down some streets of Jakarta and you can buy publications that are smutty and blatantly sexual…one well known publication had even printed detailed illustrations of sexual positions. Further, if Erwin is guilty of printing ‘indecent’ photographs then you would have to jail most of the people in Bali. Why just those from Jakarta? Is it because the hardliners cannot influence the Balinese?

Your Honours, I present my defense of Erwin Arnada, a victim of blinkered justice.

There is evidence that the Pornography Law has been applied. If this is so then those associated with glossies, advertising, massage parlours and even tourists on the beaches of Bali could be jailed for indecency using your judgment as a yardstick.

The independent judiciary has been subject to influence by hardliners who have become the self appointed guardians of morality. They (hardliners) have subverted justice by claiming that the icon of American culture, Playboy, was harmful to the ‘morals’ of the Muslim population of Indonesia. This is pathetic and downright absurd. One has only to view the glossies in Bali, the TV programs and more to know that the hardliners objections have no Locus Standi.

Erwin’s version of Playboy was not immoral nor was it XXX.

Indonesia has struggled to shrug off its Dark and turbulent Past and has emerged as a vibrant, modern and progressive State – a Republic that has the largest Muslim population in the world under the dynamic leadership of President Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. This is a miracle. Unfortunately, your ruling has given the impression that Muslim hardliners control Indonesia and that their diktat rules supreme in Java but thankfully not in Bali!

If Erwin had been Balinese and had published Playboy from Bali, I wonder what the hardliners would have done.

In Bali, old black and white photographs of topless Balinese women are sold. One can purchase coffee table art books with these pictures taken many decades ago; Beautiful, haunting and indicative of a vibrant ethos. My question is – Do we convict the photographers, sellers, publishers and seize all this material? Why not? If we can convict Erwin Arnada for the crime of showing scantily clad females then the aforementioned ‘offenders’ should be given life sentences as per the views of the lobotomized hardliners.

For me and many other friends of Indonesia this is truly a sad day when we have to witness justice dispensed selectively. It is a message to the world that the Republic of Indonesia is under threat from hardliners where free speech is subject to their interpretation and that freethinkers in Indonesia now live under this Sword of Damocles.

On the eve of the visit of The President of the United States of America, His Excellency Barack Hussein Obama II, to Indonesia, this judgment will most likely give the world the impression that the country is slipping back into the Dark Ages.

And who do we blame for this?

On behalf of the freethinkers in Indonesia and elsewhere I appeal to your true sense of justice - FREE Erwin Arnada ex-Editor in Chief of Playboy, Indonesia – And show the world that Indonesia has an independent and liberal judiciary.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om

Free Erwin Arnada !

To the Honourable Justices
Supreme Court of Indonesia

Your Honours,

I respectfully present my unsolicited objections to the conviction of Erwin Arnada, ex –editor in Chief of Playboy Indonesia. Your judgment – incarcerating him for two years for the crime of publishing photographs of ‘scantily’ clad women in the edition of Playboy Indonesia is an aberration of justice. Sadly the honourable court has succumbed to the power of warped religious hardliners and interpreted the Law of the Land selectively to appease those who seek to drag the modern state of Indonesia back to the medieval age.

Erwin Arnada did not commit a crime that many other ‘glossies’ haven’t done…depict women in little or nothing. Walk down some streets of Jakarta and you can buy publications that are smutty and blatantly sexual…one well known publication had even printed detailed illustrations of sexual positions. Further, if Erwin is guilty of printing ‘indecent’ photographs then you would have to jail most of the people in Bali. Why just those from Jakarta? Is it because the hardliners cannot influence the Balinese?

Your Honours, I present my defense of Erwin Arnada, a victim of blinkered justice.

There is evidence that the Pornography Law has been applied. If this is so then those associated with glossies, advertising, massage parlours and even tourists on the beaches of Bali could be jailed for indecency using your judgment as a yardstick.

The independent judiciary has been subject to influence by hardliners who have become the self appointed guardians of morality. They (hardliners) have subverted justice by claiming that the icon of American culture, Playboy, was harmful to the ‘morals’ of the Muslim population of Indonesia. This is pathetic and downright absurd. One has only to view the glossies in Bali, the TV programs and more to know that the hardliners objections have no Locus Standi.

Erwin’s version of Playboy was not immoral nor was it XXX.

Indonesia has struggled to shrug off its Dark and turbulent Past and has emerged as a vibrant, modern and progressive State – a Republic that has the largest Muslim population in the world under the dynamic leadership of President Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. This is a miracle. Unfortunately, your ruling has given the impression that Muslim hardliners control Indonesia and that their diktat rules supreme in Java but thankfully not in Bali!

If Erwin had been Balinese and had published Playboy from Bali, I wonder what the hardliners would have done.

In Bali, old black and white photographs of topless Balinese women are sold. One can purchase coffee table art books with these pictures taken many decades ago; Beautiful, haunting and indicative of a vibrant ethos. My question is – Do we convict the photographers, sellers, publishers and seize all this material? Why not? If we can convict Erwin Arnada for the crime of showing scantily clad females then the aforementioned ‘offenders’ should be given life sentences as per the views of the lobotomized hardliners.

For me and many other friends of Indonesia this is truly a sad day when we have to witness justice dispensed selectively. It is a message to the world that the Republic of Indonesia is under threat from hardliners where free speech is subject to their interpretation and that freethinkers in Indonesia now live under this Sword of Damocles.

On the eve of the visit of The President of the United States of America, His Excellency Barack Hussein Obama II, to Indonesia, this judgment will most likely give the world the impression that the country is slipping back into the Dark Ages.

And who do we blame for this?

On behalf of the freethinkers in Indonesia and elsewhere I appeal to your true sense of justice - FREE Erwin Arnada ex-Editor in Chief of Playboy, Indonesia – And show the world that Indonesia has an independent and liberal judiciary.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om