You know one guaranteed way to piss me off?

Sprout myths about Indonesia. I know I'm not an expert about Indonesia, but I think anyone who lives in Australia should know some basics about one of our closest and certainly most populous neighbours.

I was watching the West Wing last night the episode where the Indonesian President has dinner at the White House. I know it is just a show, but here is a basic. Yes, there are a wealth of different languages in Indonesia, but they do actually have a national language. It is called Bahasa Indonesia. It started out as the mother tongue of a small minority, however, it had been used by the Dutch and was officially adopted when Sukarno declared independence in 1945. It is used on the national TV channels  and radio stations. Most of the population can speak Bahasa Indonesia, because of these reasons, although there are slight variations depending on the region.

Also, JI and Al-Qaeda are not the same organisation. They have links, but slightly different aims. JI wants to establish a Islamic state emcomassing most of SE Asia and parts of Australia.

Oh, and Indonesia isn't a military dictatorship. Soeharto left office eight years ago. Do you really think Australia would have been allowed near East Timor if he was still in power?

Ok. I'm done. Just had to get that off my chest.