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West Papua -- A Backgrounderhttp://www.interlog.com/~cafiet/background/papback.html West Papua -- known in Indonesia as Irian Jaya -- is the western half of Papua, the second-largest island in the world; the eastern half is the country called Papua New Guinea. A great mountain range, reaching beyond the snow line, runs from east to west. To the south, there are hot, humid coastal planes and swamps which grow the sago plant, the staple food for many Papuans. Some areas of volcanic activity have very fertile soil, but in much of the island the high slopes and heavy rainfall limit the soil's fertility. There are several varieties of rich forests -- mangrove forests and lowland forests in the marshy areas, and hill and mountain forests containing over a thousand species of trees. The people of West Papua are Melanesian, and lived in many diverse tribal groups, speaking different languages, practicing agriculture that was appropriate to their area. But West Papua is also very rich in minerals, oil and timber. Since this became known, in the early years of this century, there has been a struggle for control of the island's resources. Though West Papua, like the many islands that would make up Indonesia, was part of the Dutch colonial empire, it was not included in the independence settlement which Indonesia negotiated with the Dutch in 1949. Mohammad Hatta, who later became Indonesia's vice-president, said, "I recognize that the Papuans have the right to be an independent nation." But President Sukarno was unconvinced of that right, and the United States, in the Cold War period, wanted to win Indonesia over as its ally. So in 1962, with active US involvement, the Dutch agreed to hand West Papua over to Indonesia, only asking that some sort of "act of free choice" on the part of the Papuans take place. The Papuans were never involved in the negotiations. Indonesian troops immediately took control of the territory, and the "act of free choice", which took place August 2, 1969, was never more than a farce. After extensive military operations aimed at terrorizing the population and smashing resistance, a grand total of 1,025 Papuan men, all selected by the Indonesian authorities, were permitted to vote -- with virtually no UN monitoring -- on the future of West Papua's 800,000 inhabitants. Not too surprisingly, they unanimously voted to "remain in Indonesia". "Developing" West PapuaSince then, Indonesia has thrown the island open to "development" by mining and logging companies, and has instituted a vigorous policy of "transmigration" -- settling Indonesians from the more heavily populated islands on West Papua, as well as relocating the native villagers and trying to teach them "proper" agricultural techniques. Neither the indigenous people -- shoved off their land and deprived of their culture -- nor the transmigrants, who are given inadequate supports and left to fend for themselves in an unfamiliar environment they do not know how to farm, have benefitted from this policy. In the words of one West Papuan woman, "How can you take someone whose ancestors have always lived on the beach and move them way off into the bush? They won't stay there. They'll be running back to the beach and catch something to eat, and by the time they get back to the bush, grass will have grown all over their house. You can look at a hut and see a native person lives there because there's nothing. And over there, they're from Java, they have everything planted, all kinds of things. "We are always told, 'your culture is no good'. We realize that if you compare ti to more developed parts of that big Indonesia, it's different, it's different altogether. but why is it that since they're proud of their diversity of races and cultures, the question for us is, why do they want to destroy this specific culture? Why is it?" Mining and Logging"Development" policies have created widespread and increasing environmental devastation. The giant Freeport-McMoRan gold and copper mine at Tembagapura has torn up the land, and polluted rivers with its tailings. The Ajikwa river is now rated undrinkable even by the Indonesian authorities. An Indonesian newspaper reported in 1997 that an entire village had been submerged in mud and mine tailings -- 80 families had to be relocated to make room for Freeport's garbage. And the lowland mangrove and eucalyptus forests are being devastated by the development of pulp and paper operations and shrimp farms. Two mining companies are even operating in Lorentz National Park, an incomparably diverse ecosystem which is home to seven Papuan tribes, as well as 350 species of birds and 123 species of animals. Canada is deeply involved in this plundering of resources. Iriana Resources Corp. of Vancouver is devoted to exploration in West Papua, and is already involved in six mining concessions there. And in 1997, the environmental organization Down to Earth reported that Canadian-owned Ingold (an Inco subsidiary) was carrying out gold exploration activities in West Papua, on land traditionally belonging to the Ngalum people. Resistance and RepressionThe people of West Papua have continued to resist both their forcible incorporation into Indonesia, and the encroachment of transnational companies on their land and lives. As in East Timor, there is an armed resistance -- the OPM, Free Papua Movement -- and a widespread civilian resistance, which uses tactics like raising the West Papuan flag at public demonstrations. Dr. Tom Wanggai, a university lecturer, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raising a flag, and later died in jail under mysterious circumstances. The Indonesian government resorted to its usual tactics. Though the area is closed to most outsiders, and information is hard to get out -- much harder than even from East Timor, in recent years -- there have been many reports of mass killings, extrajudicial execution, arbitrary arrests, rapes, torture and disappearance, a routine pattern of human rights violations. Even more disturbingly, the corporations operating in West Papua are complicit in some of the worst abuses. In 1995, a senior Catholic bishop, Msgr H.F.M. Munninghoff, reported not only instances of massacres of civilians and torture of innocent people, but also the direct involvement of Freeport. Civilians were held and sometimes tortured in Freeport facilities. An armed forces spokesman told the press that "troops chased the ... rebels together with Freeport which supplied the vehicles." In 1996, one group in the OPM took a number of Indonesian and European hostages. The Europeans were held for several months but eventually released unharmed; the two Indonesians were killed, though the circumstances surrounding their deaths are far from clear. For years after that, the Indonesian army engaged in an all-out mission to capture Kelly Kwalik, who led the hostage-taking. Though we do not endorse the taking of hostages, it is clear that the army's unsuccesful campaign to capture Kwalik resulted in many deaths of innocent civilians, including the destruction of entire villages. This campaign has also contributed to a terrible famine, as villagers fled their homes -- or were forced to relocate -- and were too afraid to go into the forests to search for food. The Red Cross reported in early 1998 that up to 20% of the population had died of famine in some areas, and that the worst-hit areas were strictly controlled by the military, who are uninterested in distributing relief supplies. Flying the Morning StarIn recent years, East Timor has -- rightly -- attracted international attention. But West Papua has not, and the Indonesian government feels no pressure to change their ways. Even the fall of Suharto, which led to a lessening of tensions in many areas, had almost no impact on West Papua, though the National Human Rights Commission did visit in June 1998, and issued a report calling for greater autonomy in the area, and President Habibie did attempt to convene a "dialogue" with Papuan leaders, though it led nowhere. Even under President Wahid, arrests and trials for peaceful political dissent have continued, and little has been done to address West Papua's grievances or their deep desire for a real say in their future. The West Papuans have a deep belief that if West Papua's morning star flag is raised, and stays up for 24 hours, powerful forces will be released that will bring freedom for the land and the people. This is one reason why flag-raisings have been so persistent, and why the Indonesian authorities have clamped down on them so rapidly. In early July 1998, demonstrations took place in several cities in West Papua. Police responded by firing rubber bullets, killing at least one person. But in the town of Biak, on July 2, the morning star flag was raised over a water tower, and, before hundreds of troops opened fire on July 6, flew for more than three days. Have forces been released that will bring freedom to West Papua? Perhaps this depends on whether the world pays attention. |
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