Media blackout on Aceh. posted by Richard Seymour

Bewilderment. You haven't the slightest clue what I'm talking about. "Media blackout on Aceh?", you say. "There's been little but Aceh on the news for over a week!"

True, but there's been little talk of Aceh - you know, this Aceh . In fact, one of the few references to it in the British media that I have seen is in this splendid Pilger article in the New Statesman. There have been repeated attacks by the Indonesian military, ignoring a unilateral ceasefire offered by Acehnese rebels:

"Our security operations continue, the only difference is that it may be less in scale and intensity," Lieutenant-Colonel Nachrowi, of the military headquarters' general information department, said on Friday.

"The principle is that all our forces in Aceh are basically continuing their duty under the security operation. But they also have to accord a large portion of their time for the humanitarian relief efforts.

"We continue to launch raids into suspected GAM (Free Aceh Movement) areas and our vigilance remains high."

One possible reason that these attacks have not been covered is that journalists witnessing fighting have been cleared out by the Indonesian military and told to keep quiet . Indeed, the continued restrictions on media and human rights organisations have prompted a polite missive from Human Rights Watch to President Yudhoyono. But the BBC and ITV, for instance, have reported extensively from Aceh, and only one report has so far been produced on the atrocities by the BBC - which describes merely how "Tensions Flare in Quake Countries" . The same goes for the American media. So why has there been so little discussion of this repression being carried out during the worst humanitarian crisis for the region since the slaughter in East Timor?

Perhaps it is because, as the New York Times put it , "Aceh, an overwhelmingly Muslim province with rich oil and gas reserves, is far more important to Indonesia's future and that of Southeast Asia than East Timor ever was". It is also very important to ExxonMobil, which has been sued by the International Labour Rights Fund on behalf of Aceh residents who claim they have been subject to murder, torture and attacks by Indonesian military units guarding ExxonMobil's gas fields. It could also have something to do with BP's extensive involvement in the region. But then, as even the sub-literate - and usually the sub-literate - are aware, news corporations owe no fealty to private companies operating in other spheres. For shame! Those who evinced such courage over the lies about Iraq are not about to be cowed by pressure from industry, even if it was forthcoming.

Perhaps, then, it is because the United Kingdom is arming the Indonesian government to the teeth . It could also be because the Bush administration has been manouevring to get military aid restored to Indonesia, and has recently been trying to restore military training programmes to the junta (which is only partially less a junta for having an elected body manage its PR). But the British media that allowed itself to be judged by the state (and moreover accepted its verdict), is too vigilant to have government ministers, spinners and hacks tell them what is news.

Yet, the puzzle remains.

Even a cursory investigation into what the Indonesian military has been up to in Aceh of late puts the BBC's pusillanimous headline to shame. Torture, now a global commodity, is ubiquitous in Aceh. As indeed, are arbitrary arrests, extra-judicial killings, summary killings . An ITN viewer would have no idea that there was any tragedy in Aceh than the one created by the weather. A BBC viewer would know of 'skirmishes', 'unconfirmed reports' and 'back and forth accusations' - she would know nothing of the silent deaths taking place under martial law.

Like our sainted Prime Minister, I do not believe the British public suffer from 'compassion fatigue'. It is simply difficult to know what to do with compassion when information is so curiously scarce.