Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Indonesian embassy in Wellington asked to drop opposition to a musical item called Papua Merdeka

Posted at 07:28 on 13 February, 2007 UTC

The New Zealand Indonesia human rights committee has condemned what it calls the deplorable censorship that led to an Australian composer, Dr Martin Wesley Smith, being stopped from playing a piece called Papua Merdeka at a festival in Wellington at the weekend.

The committee says embassy officials advised the organisers of their opposition to the item and it was then withdrawn.

Dr Wesley Smith, who includes a strong political theme in much of his music, had written the piece in support of the self determination movement in the Indonesian province.

The human rights committee says it is especially disturbing that a composition has been banned because the word ’freedom’ or ’merdeka’is part of its title.

The committee says it hopes the embassy and the festival organisers will reconsider the ban.