The West Papuan Tragedy
By Cameron Walker
In 1999 many New Zealanders felt disgusted as they watched news coverage of Indonesian soldiers and militia men brutally massacring East Timorese civilians as they attempted to vote in a referendum on independence.
The Colonial History of West Papua
Today a very similar situation is occurring in the Indonesian territory of West Papua. West Papua is the western half of the island of New Guinea. When the Dutch granted independence to Indonesia in 1949 they kept West Papua (as a colony to be granted independence at a later date) because the Papuan people were ethnically and linguistically different from the people of Indonesia. The Papuans are a Melanesian people, not Asian, and had expressed overwhelming opposition to becoming part of Indonesia. The Indonesian government wanted control of West Papua because it had an abundance of natural resources such as gold, copper, oil and timber.
West Papua’s Independence - and Invasion
On December 1, 1961 the Dutch formally ceded independence to West Papua. The Morning Star was to be the flag of the new nation. However, independence proved to be short lived as the following year Indonesia invaded West Papua. The United Nations intervened and promised Papuans a referendum on independence. This referendum, ironically termed the ‘Act of Free Choice’ by the Indonesians, was not fair or democratic. The Indonesian military hand picked 1025 Papuan leaders, at gun point, who voted unanimously to join Indonesia. At the same time the UN mission received 179 petitions from Papuans calling for their nation to be freed and complaining of military repression, detention of political prisoners and other abuses by the Indonesian military.
The Indonesian dictator Suharto then embarked on a campaign to ‘Indonesianise’ West Papua and wipe out the native people’s culture. West Papua was renamed Irian Jaya and the people were banned from raising their flag. Thousands of trans-migrants arrived from Indonesia, and Papua’s natural resources were sold off to multinational corporations such as Shell and Freeport Mining.
Impact of “Indonesianising” policies on West Papua
These policies were enforced with brutality by the Indonesian Military. Officially 100,000 Papuans have been killed by the Indonesian military since the start of the Indonesian occupation. Some believe the number may even be as high as 800,000.
The Indonesian occupation has left the majority of Papuans destitute. According to the Governor of Papua, 74% of Papuans live in poverty. UNICEF estimates that Papua’s infant mortality rate is 117 per 1000, among the worst in the world. Multinational corporations take $500 million out of West Papua every year and Papuans have been made second class citizens to Indonesian trans-migrants and Western contractors.
The Indonesian military continues to abuse the people of Papua. In November 2001 they killed the pro-independence community leader Theys Eluay. In 2003 Indonesia’s Special Forces, Kopassus, launched a widespread military operation in the Central Highland town of Wamena. Around 1000 people were forced to flee from their homes and then could not access food or shelter. At least 16 villagers were killed by either the Indonesian military, starvation or exposure. One man, Yapenas Murib, died while under military arrest after being chained to a truck, by his neck, and dragged along the road.
Involvement of Multinational Corporations in West Papua
For many years some of the Western based multinational corporations operating in Papua have paid the Indonesian military to protect their installations. In 2003 the chief of the Indonesian military, General Sutarto admitted that 600 troops stationed near Freeport’s mine received ‘direct allowances’ from the U.S. based company. In the late 1970’s a group of irate Papuans cut Freeport’s copper slurry pipe. In response, the Indonesian military cluster bombed villages, burned down churches, shot men, women and children and disemboweled their bodies. Pregnant women were pierced and torn open by soldier’s bayonets. Their unborn babies were then cut into halves.
Indonesian Militias in West Papua
In 2003 the infamous Indonesian militia leader, Eurico Guterres, set up a militia group in Papua. Guterres has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the 1999 militia campaign of terror in East Timor which left 1000 people dead. The Indonesian government has allowed Guterres to set up the militia as he awaits for his trial to be appealed. According to the human rights organization Elsham, Kopassus has built special training camps for the Muslim fundamentalist group Laskar Jihad. The Indonesian military used these exact same tactics in East Timor, where they trained and armed militias to terrorise the local people into submission.
Between August and November 2004, gunmen launched a series of attacks on villages in the Puncak Jaya regency which killed eight people, including a policeman and Church Minister. Fearing further attacks, 5000 people from 27 villages in the area then fled into the forests. As a result of this, another 15 people (mainly children) died of exposure.
New Zealand’s relationship to West Papua
For 24 long years New Zealand ignored the people of East Timor as they were being brutalized by the Indonesian military. New Zealand cannot ignore the human rights tragedy which is unfolding in West Papua, right on our doorstep in the Pacific.
References
- ‘74% of Papuans live in Isolation and Poverty’(19 August 2004), Jakarta Post
- ‘Papua human rights probe mooted’ Australian Associated Press -November 23, 2004 Australian Associated Press
- ‘Militias Active in West Papua’ (March 2004) New Internationalist, volume 365, p8
- Kingsnorth, Paul (2003) One No Many Yeses, A Journey to The Heart Of the Global Resistance Movement, London, Free Press
- Osborne, Robin (1985) Indonesia’s Secret War, The Guerilla Struggle in Irian Jaya, Sydney, Allen and Uwin Australia
- ‘Ongoing Repression’, (Autumn 2003), Suara Demokrasi, p3
- ‘Justice Elusive’, (Autumn 2003), Suara Demokrasi, p4
- Brundige, Elizabeth; King, Winter; Vahali, Priyneha; Vladeck, Stephen & Yuan, Xiang, (November 2003), Indonesian Human Rightds Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control, Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic Yale Law School
