1) The Silent War – Australia and Indonesia mum on Papuan human right abuses
2) Letter in Vanuatu Daily Post
3) West Papuan supporters ‘let down’ by MSG leaders, says advocate
------------------------------------
1) The Silent War – Australia and Indonesia mum on Papuan human right abuses
Image courtesy Jakarta Post
by Duncan Graham | Sep 1, 2023 | Comment & Analysis, Latest Posts
An Australian academic has lit the fuse of diplomatic fury by publicly criticising Indonesia’s 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 our north.
Queensland historian Dr Greg Poulgrain last week told a Jakarta seminar that the Indonesian government’s approach in Papua has long been top-heavy, bureaucratic, clumsy and self-serving.
“The military arrived in 1962 and 60 years later they’re still there in strength … more troops there now than ever before,” Poulgrain said.
“The NGO
Kontras declared that 734 Papuans were killed in 2022. That’s 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.”
However, a report of the Jakarta seminar, organised by the government research agency Baden Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN), was published in Indonesia’s leading newspaper, Kompas. It ran to 830 words but didn’t mention Poulgrain or his comments, though he was the invited international guest speaker.
An estimated half-million indigenous Papuans are alleged to have died in the past fifty years through Indonesian military action.
But the Australian Government still stays hush.
Before she became Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong wrote that Labor was distressed by “human rights violations” in West Papua. In a 2019 website post, she says the Lombok Treaty “remains the bedrock of security cooperation” between Australia and Indonesia. Wong has had little to say about West Papua since becoming Foreign Minister.
The
Lombok Treaty binds Australia and Indonesia to mutually respect the “sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity and political independence of each other.” In short, don’t mention the bad stuff.
It’s about the mining riches
The Grasberg mine in Central Papua has
proven and probable reserves of 15.1 million ounces of gold, making it the world’s fifth biggest gold deposit.
It’s run by PT Freeport Indonesia, a joint venture between the Indonesian Government and the US company
Freeport-McMoRan.
Poulgrain claims gross revenue from the mine last year was about $13 billion:
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.
Extreme poverty
Despite the riches, Papua is reportedly one 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.
Poulgrain told his Jakarta audience that in 1983 the London-based Anti-Slavery Society sent him to check a report that Papuan under-fives in South Papua were dying like flies – six out of ten were dying: ‘The report was correct.’
The Indonesian government says it has allocated more than Rp 1,036 trillion (AUD 106 million) in the past eight years for development (mainly roads) in a bid to appease self-government demands. That’s a tiny sum against the income.
Independence denied
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 1,025 ‘leaders’ hand-picked by the Indonesian military voted unanimously to join Jakarta.
It was
labelled an Act of Free Choice; cynics called it an Act Free of Choice. 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.”
The Organisasi Papua Merdeka (freedom) –
OPM – started gaining traction in the 1970s. Indonesia has designated it a ’terrorist group, giving the armed forces greater arrest and interrogation powers.
Journalists are banned. Requests for entry by this correspondent were given verbal OKs but are now ignored.Freedom fighters in exile
The only news coming from the remote areas are Christian pastors smuggling out notes and statements from different OPM factions, like the United Liberation Movement for West Papua. (ULMWP).
The lobbying is angering Jakarta, a
major donor to the region. Papuans identify as Melanesians and are mainly Christian. The Indonesian delegation walked out when Wenda got up to speak.
The
ABC reported that the leaders couldn’t reach a consensus, but Wenda told
Radio NZ he was confident the ULMWP will eventually get full membership:
The whole world is watching, and this is a test for the leadership to see whether they’ll save West Papua.
Curiously, Indonesia is an associate member of the MSG, though the Republic is dominated and led by Javanese. Around two million (0.7 per cent) Papuans are Indonesian citizens.
Wenda is not the only emigre: Prize-winning Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman is
wanted by the Indonesian police for allegedly speaking out on violence in Papua. Like Wenda, she says she does not support hostage-taking.
Koman lives in Australia, works with Amnesty International and says she gets death threats. Her parents’ house in Jakarta has reportedly been stoned.
The separatists’ cause gets little sympathy from Indonesians in other provinces. Papuan students in Java have been attacked and suffered racial abuse. Anyone caught flying OPM’s Morning Star flag risks 25 years in jail.
A long history of inaction
Poulgrain is a specialist in Indonesian history and an adjunct fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast and Malang State University in East Java. His interest in Papua goes back to his student years as a backpacker exploring the archipelago.
Poulgrain told MWM that his involvement in the debate was as an independent historian seeking a peaceful settlement.
In 1999 when Megawati was vice-president (she’s now the chair of BRIN), he was invited to a meeting on Papua with ten of her advisors:
They said to me, quite frankly, Papua was a problem they did not know how to solve.
“I suggested vocational training schools. We started – but the whole educational project stopped when the East Timor referendum established independence. Times haven’t changed.’
In 2018 activists delivered a petition to the UN with 1.8 million signatures demanding an independence referendum. That’s gone nowhere. Instead, Jakarta has split West Papua into six provinces supposedly to give locals more say, but to no real effect.
An
analysis by the Washington-based
Centre for Strategic and International Studies concludes:
As the US and Australia continue to support Indonesia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in Papua, both administrations are unlikely to take bolder stances.
“International action in the situation is likely to remain limited to the Pacific Islands… Separatist violence, having shown its resiliency to Indonesia’s attempts to control the region, is thus likely to continue.”
Duncan Graham has been a journalist for more than 40 years in print, radio and TV. He is the author of People Next Door (UWA Press) and winner of the Walkley Award and Human Rights awards. He lives in East Java and is now writing for the English language media in Indonesia on a permanent resident visa with work rights. This took five years to get using sponsorship through his Indonesian wife.
--------------------------------------------
2) Letter in Vanuatu Daily Post
----------------
MSG has failed West Papua: Regenvanu
9 hrs ago
Dear Editor,
It’s not just Minister Regenvanu, who believes that the MSG failed West Papua at their summit. It’s every West Papuan and their supporters who also feel let down by the MSG Leaders. Over the past few months in West Papua, the grassroots took to the streets showing support for the ULPWP’s application and calling on the MSG to grant full membership to West Papua. Many were arrested, and beaten as they rallied peaceful.
It’s tragic that the MSG Leaders did not respond to their call. Do the MSG leaders not read the reports of the ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua?
If the MSG Leaders failed West Papua, the people of the Pacific and Vanuatu in particular do not. In the few days I spent in Port Vila, I saw support for West Papua everywhere. The West Papuan Flag flying free and Free West Papuan stickers on walls. I was impressed with the support and kindness of the Vanuatu people and the Vanuatu Free West Papua Association who help keep the struggle alive.
The West Papuan representatives , who had their own summit showed a determined people committed to their freedom. Something the leaders of the region should note. The issue of West Papua is not going away.
Joe Collins
Australia West Papua Association
Sydney
----------------------
---------------------------------------
3) West Papuan supporters ‘let down’ by MSG leaders, says advocate
By APR editor - August 31, 2023
Asia Pacific Report
An Australian advocacy group in support of West Papuan self-determination has criticised the Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders for failing to grant West Papua full membership in the organisation at last week’s summit in Port Vila.
While praising Vanuatu Minister for Climate Change Adaptation Ralph Regenvanu for his public stance in support of the West Papuans, Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) spokesperson Joe Collins said that “every West Papuan and their supporters also feel let down by the MSG leaders”.
Collins, who was in Port Vila for the coinciding second West Papuan leaders summit, said in a statement: ”Over the last few months in West Papua, the grassroots have taken to the streets calling on the MSG to grant full membership to the ULMWP (United Liberation Movement for West Papua) at the MSG.
“Many were arrested, beaten, tortured and jailed as they rallied peaceful in calling on the MSG to support them.
“It is tragic that the MSG did not respond to their call. Do the MSG leaders not read the reports of the ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua?”
Collins cited a video and human rights report about attacks on villages around Kiwirok in West Papua and the aftermath exposing Indonesian military brutality as recent examples.
“Surely with all the aid flowing to the Pacific countries it’s not simply a case of ‘follow the Money?’, Collins said.
Humanitarian aid
He referred to an article in the Vanuatu Daily Post which reported: “A top Vanuatu government official allegedly travelled to Jakarta to negotiate a reported VT300 million to fund the VIP Lounge of Port Vila International Airport and fund humanitarian aid.
“The ground breaking ceremony happened recently.”
Collins said that when the Indonesian delegation walked out of the MSG summit as ULMWP leader Benny Wenda prepared to speak, “it was not only an insult to West Papua but to the MSG leaders as well.”
“The leaders should have granted full membership to the ULMWP [in response to] that outrageous act alone,” Collins added.
“If the MSG leaders failed West Papua, the people of the Pacific, and Vanuatu in particular, do not.
“Just spending a few days in Port Vila, one can see the support for West Papua everywhere. The West Papuan flag flying free, and stickers, in taxis and on walls.”
The West Papuan representatives at their own summit also “showed a determined people committed to their freedom”.
The West Papuan summit was addressed by Regenvanu and a former Vanuatu prime minister, Barak Sope.
------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.