WHETHER the incident has been dramatized or exaggerated, the point is that at least 55 people have died of starvation in Yahukimo, Papua. This is a fact that may be unpleasant to hear, but one that cannot be erased by any statement. Another reality is that it took a month for news of the disaster to reach the center of government in Jakarta.

Then different comments began to appear, from officials in Jakarta as well as Papua itself. Some blamed the