5 August 2010
By Maire Leadbeater
A leaked video clip from Indonesian controlled West Papua should be as
unsettling for Indonesia as the Wikileaks 2007 video showing a helicopter
strike in Baghdad was for the United States. It would serve as a good
introduction to the discussion on West Papua at this week’s Pacific Island
Forum.
The clip shows a Papuan man severely wounded in the stomach, surrounded by
armed paramilitary police who taunt him as lies dying from the injuries they
inflicted on him. Yawan Wayeni was an escaped political prisoner – in his
dying moments he raised an arm to call for freedom from Indonesia, as a
policeman asks “How are you going to get freedom when you are like this?”
Long minutes pass before someone calls for a stretcher and a sarong to bind
Yawan’s wound.
Yawan died a year ago on remote Serui Island, but it is only recently that
the 7 minute clip has gained international media attention – it was the
focus of an August 1 story in the Los Angeles Times. Gradually the conflict
in West Papua is coming out of the shadows.
Despite Indonesia’s restrictions on the entry of journalists and human
rights activists, a small stream of undercover reports has emerged in the
international media including the BBC, Al Jazeera and The Economist.
In June, the advisory Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) came out with set of
radical recommendations. The MRP called for the Regional Parliament to hand
back the ‘Special Autonomy’ law of 2001, for an independently mediated
dialogue with Jakarta and a referendum on Papua’s future political status.
To show their support for these resolutions, Papuans mobilised in
unprecedented numbers – up to 20,000 – and marched twice over a 17 kilometre
route from the MRP base to the Jayapura parliament buildings.
Special Autonomy’s package of financial and legislative measures might sound
good on paper but it has delivered neither wellbeing nor empowerment. The
people were promised a fairer share of the abundant wealth from their
mineral and timber resources, but living standards continue to fall. In
the highland areas schools and health clinics don’t function because they
have no staff. Due to the high level of migration from other parts of
Indonesia, the indigenous people are close to becoming a minority in their
own land.
The Papuan people have effectively been subjected to a dual colonisation. A
border was drawn down the middle of the island of New Guinea by European
colonialists at the turn of last century, with the Dutch assuming rights
over the western half. By the early 1960s the Dutch had begun to cede
political control to the Papuan people but Jakarta insisted that the
territory should join the other former Dutch territories as part of the
Republic of Indonesia. Under pressure from the United States, the
Netherlands backed out and in 1969 Indonesia ‘legitimated’ its rule by a
fraudulent Act of Self-Determination called the Act of Free Choice. At a
time when the population was around a million, 1,022 hand picked elders
unanimously voted for Indonesia in a process manipulated by the military.
The OPM or Free Papua Movement mounted a poorly armed guerrilla resistance
and over the years it is estimated that the David and Goliath conflict has
led to the deaths of up to a hundred thousand Papuans.
West Papua has had consistent support from only one of its Melanesian
neighbours: Vanuatu. In July, Vanuatu’s Parliament passed a unanimous
resolution which commits that country to concrete and practical measures to
promote freedom for West Papua. These include raising the issue at the
Pacific Islands Forum and calling on the UN General Assembly to ask the
International Court of Justice to arbitrate on the legitimacy of West
Papua’s incorporation into Indonesia.
The New Zealand Government has a well-practised approach called ‘quiet
diplomacy’ that equates to polite and ineffective representations on human
rights. Under the umbrella of ‘engagement’ New Zealand has resumed defence
ties consisting mainly of bilateral officer training exchanges. New Zealand
has also provided training in community policing to the West Papuan police.
We are also complicit in the resource exploitation of West Papua. The
tropical hardwood, kwila, most of it logged illegally or in dodgy
concessions backed by the military, finds its way here as outdoor furniture
and decking. Several New Zealand institutions such as the Super Fund and the
ACC Corporation have investments in West Papua’s Freeport mine, one of the
most environmentally destructive in the world.
It is not too late for New Zealand to take a fresh look at the tragedy on
our doorstep. The Papuans are calling for a peaceful dialogue with Jakarta
and they want international mediation. New Zealand has played regional
peacemaker once before for war torn Bougainville. We could do the same
again either on our own or in concert with Vanuatu and other Pacific Island
Forum nations.
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