Indonesia executes six drug convicts, five of them foreigners

Indonesia executes six drug convicts, five of them foreigners
Widodo has pledged to bring reform to Indonesia

Ban appeals to Indonesia to stop death row executions

Ban appeals to Indonesia to stop death row executions
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has pleaded to Indonesia to stop the execution of prisoners on death row for drug crimes. AFP PHOTO

Pope: 'Death penalty represents failure' – no 'humane' way to kill a person

Pope: 'Death penalty represents failure' – no 'humane' way to kill a person
The pope wrote that the principle of legitimate personal defense isn’t adequate justification to execute someone. Photograph: Zuma/Rex

Obama becomes first president to visit US prison (US Justice Systems / Human Rights)

Obama becomes first president to visit US prison   (US Justice Systems / Human Rights)
US President Barack Obama speaks as he tours the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, July 16, 2015 (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)

US Death Penalty (Justice Systems / Human Rights)

US Death Penalty (Justice Systems / Human Rights)
Woman who spent 23 years on US death row cleared (Photo: dpa)



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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Monday, January 16, 2012

Indonesian Village Riven by Dutch Massacre Compensation

Jakarta Globe, Niniek Karmini, January 16, 2012

Wanti binti Sariman wipes away her tears during a commemoration
 in Rawagede, West Java, on Dec. 9, 2011. After six decades of waiting,
 relatives of men killed in a notorious massacre during Indonesia's bitter
 struggle for independence were awarded compensation, but villagers say
the money has torn apart the community. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
  
            
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Rawagede, West Java. Relatives of men executed by Dutch troops in this tiny Indonesian village fought for six decades to get compensation that was supposed to heal wounds. Now that they have the money, it has ripped Rawagede apart once again.

Only a few of the residents — most of them widows in their 80s and 90s — brought the case to court.

But with hundreds killed, many more suffered. Claiming part of the $270,000 was rightfully theirs, old friends and neighbors cajoled, bullied and intimidated the plaintiffs and their families until local officials jumped in, forcing them to part with half their cash.

“It’s not fair,” said Muskar Warjo, who lost his father and grandfather in the massacre that wiped out nearly the entire male population of Rawagede. “Our lawyers said the money belonged to us, that we could use it as we saw fit.”

Soldiers clinging to their retreating colonial empire arrived just before dawn on Dec. 9, 1947, in search of a well-known resistance leader and — after getting no help — led up to 430 boys and young men to a rice field and shot them one by one.

It took 64 years, but in September a Dutch court ordered its government to apologize for the killings and to give each of the 10 plaintiffs $27,000. Three died during the course of the trial and the money went to their families instead.

Muskar, representing his mother after her death in 2009, said almost immediately after the verdict was handed down, mobs surrounded his home, the faces of people he’d known all his life, twisted with hatred and anger.

“There were hundreds of them, screaming, threatening to burn down my house if I didn’t give them some of my money,” said the 75-year-old, his eyes brimming with tears. “In the end, I didn’t have any choice.”

The court ruling has paved the way for similar allegations of war crimes during the Netherlands’ centuries-long rule in Indonesia — and raised the possibility of further compensation.

But good intentions went awry in this small farming village of 3,000 where — as in other parts of this sprawling, developing nation of 240 million — quick turns of fortune are rarely celebrated by those left behind, trying to eke out a living on as little as $2 a day.

In Rawagede, the jealousy even set siblings against each other.

Muskar escaped the mob outside his house on Dec. 27 and — after a community decision to divvy up the cash — was escorted by local authorities to a neighboring village for his own safety until tensions eased.

Still afraid, he decided to go instead to a relative’s house just outside the capital, Jakarta. Before long, however, Rawagede officials showed up in a van to bring him home. They said they could guarantee his safety, but in turn wanted him to sign a letter agreeing to part with his money, Muskar said.

In the end, his mother’s dream to replace their rickety, wooden shack with a new brick house remains just that, he said: a dream.

Additional compensation in the works would benefit the community as a whole: the Dutch government promised three years ago to provide $1.2 million in “development aid” to build a school, hospital and market in Rawagede. But even that money has been caught up in a dispute. It remains stuck in The Hague because of a disagreement between two Indonesian foundations — both claiming to represent the villagers’ interests.

Officials at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not immediately be reached for comment about any of the compensation disputes.

The executions still loom large in Rawagede.

A hero’s cemetery, with row after row of simple white grave stones, has been built on the outskirts. The anniversary is marked by the whole town every year.

Old women and men, their faces heavily grooved and backs curved by scoliosis, tremble when talking about the morning Dutch troops arrived in their village by the hundreds and opened fire, sending sleepy residents scattering from their homes in panic.

Some hid under beds with their children. Others concealed themselves in bushes or jumped into rivers, helpless as they watched the soldiers round up all the boys and men they could find.

Forced to squat in rows, with both hands placed on the backs of their heads, they were shot, the survivors say.

Kadun bin Siot was among those who protested the court award.

“What about me?” he said, his lips quivering as he struggled to contain his emotion. “Why don’t I deserve to be compensated. I suffered as much as they did.”

He was 12, peering through the slats of a wooden barn as soldiers flushed his father out of his hiding place in a trash heap, stabbing it with bayonets until he emerged, blood pouring from his face.

“They dragged him away,” said the 76 year-old farmer. “I never saw him again.”

“I’m very angry at the Dutch. First the killings and now this. The way they are handing out money,” he said. “It’s just created jealously, anger.”

It was after hearing many such complaints that Mamat, the village chief, decided to call a meeting. He invited plaintiffs and their families — as well as police and other top local officials — to reach an agreement. The widows and their families should share. People like Kadun ended up getting $500, a lot in Rawagede, but not nearly enough to fully appease anyone.

“It’s an extremely sensitive situation,” said Mamat, who goes by only one name. “The Dutch government can’t be expected to understand that money, distributed unfairly, causes new problems. We all know it’s impossible to make everyone happy, but we had to try.”

The plaintiffs say in the end the money may have caused more problems than good.

The family of 92-year-old Wanti Dodo was ripped apart.

What the widow wanted was a few gold bracelets and rings — a dream she had since childhood. The rest she divided between her seven sons and daughter. Two of her children protested — those from Wanti’s first husband, Enap, who was killed in the massacre.

They felt they deserved more, said Iwa Kartiwa, Wanti’s son.

The hassling by villagers started as soon as the court handed down its verdict, he said. Every time the phone rang, neighbors would flock to the house and pepper them with questions.

Was it news about the compensation, the would ask. How much was it? When would it arrive?

The tone quickly grew hostile.

Soon their house, too, was surrounded by a mob.

“We didn’t ‘agree’ to give away the money. We had to,” said Cawi, his sister.

“What else could we do?”

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