{"id":1197392,"date":"2023-09-01T10:31:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T10:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=92567"},"modified":"2023-09-01T10:31:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T10:31:13","slug":"the-silent-war-australia-and-indonesia-mum-on-papuan-human-right-abuses-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/09\/01\/the-silent-war-australia-and-indonesia-mum-on-papuan-human-right-abuses-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The silent war \u2013 Australia and Indonesia mum on Papuan human right abuses"},"content":{"rendered":"
An Australian academic has lit the fuse of diplomatic fury by publicly criticising Indonesia\u2019s brutal response to the Papuan independence movement, a sensitive topic for governments of both countries. Duncan Graham reports from Indonesia on the silent war to the north.<\/em><\/p>\n ANALYSIS:<\/strong> By Duncan Graham<\/em><\/p>\n An Australian academic is risking an eruption of diplomatic fury by publicly criticising Indonesia\u2019s brutal response to the Papuan independence movement, a hypersensitive topic for the governments of both countries.<\/p>\n Queensland historian Dr Greg Poulgrain last month told a Jakarta seminar that the Indonesian government\u2019s approach “has long been top-heavy, bureaucratic, clumsy and self-serving.<\/p>\n “The military arrived in 1962 and 60 years later they\u2019re still there in strength . . . more troops there now than ever before.<\/p>\n “The NGO Kontras<\/a> declared that 734 Papuans were killed in 2022. That\u2019s two-and-a-half times the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army last year. And from (the Highland province) Nduga there were 60,000 refugees.”<\/p>\n His comments were made just as the West Papua independence movement failed to get Pacific Islands\u2019 backing at a stormy meeting of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG)<\/a> in Vanuatu with an Indonesian delegation walk-out.<\/p>\n The bid was thwarted by an alleged “corrupt alliance” of member states apparently after pressure from Indonesia which is funding Vanuatu airport repairs (including the VIP lounge) worth A$1.47 million. More of this later.<\/p>\n A report of the Jakarta seminar, organised by the government research agency Baden Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN), was published in Indonesia\u2019s leading newspaper Kompas<\/em>. It ran to 830 words but never mentioned Dr Poulgrain or his comments, although he was the invited international guest speaker.<\/p>\n Australian government stays hush<\/strong> Before she became Foreign Minister, Senator Penny Wong, wrote\u2002that Labor was distressed by “human rights violations” in West Papua. However, there is a “don\u2019t touch” clause in a two-nation pact signed 17 years ago “to address security challenges”.<\/p>\n The\u2002Lombok Treaty\u2002binds Australia and Indonesia<\/a> to mutually respect the “sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity and political independence of each other”.<\/p>\n New England University academics Dr Xiang Gao and Professor Guy Charlton claim “non-interference” limits Australian responses “despite the domestic sympathy much of the Australian public has given to the West Papuan population”.<\/p>\n They quote a 2019 website post from Wong saying the treaty “remains the bedrock of security cooperation” between Australia and Indonesia.<\/p>\n Dr Poulgrain told his Jakarta audience that the military\u2019s presence in Papua “has led to amazing problems.<\/p>\n “In the first 40 years, the Papuan death toll was horrendous. In 1983 the London-based Anti-Slavery Society sent me to check a report that Papuan under-fives in the Asmat district (South Papua) were dying like flies — six out of ten were dying. The report was correct.<\/p>\n Hardly any benefit at all<\/strong> The Indonesian government says it has allocated more\u2002than Rp 1,036 trillion (A$106 million) in the past eight years for development (mainly roads) in a bid to appease self-government demands. That\u2019s a tiny sum against the income.<\/p>\n The Grasberg mine in Central Papua has “proven and probable reserves<\/a> of 15.1 million ounces of gold”. If correct that makes it the world\u2019s biggest gold deposit.<\/p>\n It is run by PT Freeport Indonesia, a joint venture between the Indonesian government and the US company Freeport-McMoRan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dr Poulgrain claims gross revenue from the mine last year was about A$13 billion:<\/p>\n “We can be sure that the immense wealth of gold was a crucial influence on the sovereignty dispute in the 1950s and still influences the politics of Papua and Indonesia today.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Despite the riches, Papua is reportedly\u2002one of the least developed regions in Indonesia, with poverty and inequality levels up to three times above the national average of 9.5 percent, as calculated by the Asian Development Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1962 control of the Western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly part of the Dutch East Indies, was temporarily run by the UN. In 1969 it was ceded to Indonesia after a referendum when 1025 “leaders” hand-picked by the Indonesian military voted unanimously to join Jakarta.<\/p>\n ‘Act of No Choice’<\/strong> Historian Dr Emma Kluge wrote: “West Papuans were denied independence also because the UN system failed to heed their calls and instead placed appeasing Indonesia above its commitment to decolonisation and human rights.”<\/p>\n Pro-independence groups have since been fighting with words at the UN and at first with spears and arrows in the Highland jungles. Some now carry captured modern weapons and have been ambushing and killing Indonesian soldiers and road workers, and suffering casualties.<\/p>\n In February the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed section of the umbrella Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM, Papua Freedom Organisation<\/a>), kidnapped NZ pilot Philip Mehrtens and demanded independence talks for his release.<\/p>\n After searching for six months the Indonesian military (TNI) has so far failed to free the Kiwi.<\/p>\n The OPM started gaining traction\u2002in the 1970s. Indonesia has designated it a “terrorist group” giving the armed forces greater arrest and interrogation powers.<\/p>\n Amnesty International\u2002claimed this showed Indonesia\u2019s “lack of willingness to engage with the real roots of the ongoing conflict”, although it failed to pick apart the “roots” or offer practical solutions.<\/p>\n Journalists are banned<\/strong> The only news comes from Christian pastors smuggling out notes, and statements from different West Papua freedom movement factions like the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).<\/p>\n This is chaired by Benny Wenda who lives in exile<\/a> in the UK. In 2003, he was granted political asylum<\/a> by the British government after fleeing Indonesia while on trial for leading an independence procession.<\/p>\n He has not backed the kidnapping of Mehrtens. The pro-independence movement’s failure to speak with one voice exposes their weakness.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Wenda was in Fiji where Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka pledged support and more recently Vanuatu has been seeking support for Papua independence through the Melanesian Spearhead Group<\/a> formed in 1998.<\/p>\n The lobbying is angering Jakarta, a major donor to the region. Papuans identify as Melanesians and are mainly Christian. The Indonesian delegation walked out in Port Vila when Wenda got up to speak.<\/p>\n Indonesia\u2019s deputy Foreign Minister Pahala Mansury was quoted as saying: “Indonesia cannot accept that someone who should be responsible for acts of armed violence in Papua, including kidnappings, is given the opportunity to speak at this honourable forum.”<\/p>\n\n
\nAn estimated 500,000 indigenous Papuans are alleged to have died\u2002in the past 50 years through Indonesian military action. But the Australian government stays hush.<\/p>\n
\n“We\u2019re dealing with a people about whom very little effort to understand has been made. It has been claimed that the indigenous inhabitants of Papua should be grateful that so much money is spent . . . but the benefit they receive (as a percentage of the intended amount) is hardly any benefit at all.”<\/p>\n
\nIt was labelled an Act of Free Choice<\/a>; cynics called it an “Act Free of Choice”, of “Act of No Choice”.<\/p>\n
\nCommunications in the mountains are tough and not just because of the terrain. Cellphone signals could lead to discovery. Journalists are banned. Requests for entry by this correspondent were given verbal OKs but are now ignored.<\/p>\n