The Age [Australia], February 27 2003
Ambush survivor fights to uncover the truth
By Marian Wilkinson, Washington
Despite the 70 pieces of shrapnel lodged in her back, Patsy Spier is summoning the
courage to campaign for answers about the military-style assault that almost took her
life. But her strength fails her when she is asked about the terrible day last August on
the road to the Freeport mine near Timika in the Indonesian province of Papua.
Tears fill her eyes as she remembers gunmen firing over and over into her vehicle as
she cowered inside. It was a 45-minute shooting episode that left her wounded and
bleeding on the back seat and her colleague dead on top of her. Just ahead on the
road, in a separate vehicle, her husband and a fellow teacher also lay dead, both
killed by bullets to the head.
Nearly six months after the Timika attacks that killed three people and injured 11 -
most of them Americans - the White House, the State Department and the FBI have
not been able to give Ms Spier and the other victims a good explanation for what
happened.
The first Indonesian police report on the incident, written in September, points to the
involvement of the local Indonesian military, the TNI. Privately, State Department
sources confirm this. But the TNI is still denying culpability.
Now Ms Spier wants the Howard Government to hand over any intelligence Australia
has on the incident, hoping it may help uncover the truth. The US media have reported
that Australia intercepted conversations between Indonesian military commanders
after the attack that implicated the TNI.
But this week The Washington Post was forced to apologise for one controversial
report it carried claiming Western intelligence agencies had information that
Indonesia's top general, Endriartono Sutarto, discussed the ambush before it
occurred.
Ms Spier went to the Australian embassy in Washington this week to try to clarify
these murky and conflicting claims about this intelligence information. Australian
sources familiar with the case say there is no conclusive intelligence about the attack
and any intercepted intelligence would automatically be given to the US.
But there are serious indications that the local TNI was involved and its superiors in
Jakarta must know that.
Ms Spier pushes no theories on the attack that took her husband's life. She avoids
requests for media interviews and public comments, for fear of undermining the
delicate FBI investigation that is continuing. But sitting in her no-frills hotel near
Capitol Hill, Ms Spier did want to record her deep gratitude to the doctors and nurses
at the Townsville hospital who treated her and the other Freeport victims when they
were first flown out of Papua.
"I would not be doing as well as I am without them," she says. "I can't tell you how
great they were. The nurses would even come in their days off to see how we were all
going."
The victims were all attached to the international school contracted to the American
Freeport mining company in Papua. The school's principal, Ted Burgon, died next to
Ms Spier's husband, Rick. The other survivors of the attack, some badly disabled, do
not have the psychological or emotional strength to press their cases in the corridors
of power. Despite deep scars on her body and her psyche, Ms Spier is reaching into
the reserves of her courage to lobby in Washington. "I can't let this happen to
someone else," she says.
And her efforts, helped by Mr Burgon's two sons, are causing major ructions in the
capital. The case has become the biggest impediment to any resumption of military
aid between Indonesia and the US, including counter-terrorism aid. Given Australia's
desire to see that aid reinstated, the Timika attacks are a problem for the Howard
Government as well.
To the surprise of the State Department, the three relatives managed to persuade
several prominent US senators to try to legally block training funds for the Indonesian
military. The limited funds were approved by the White House in the wake of
September 11.
In January, Senator Russ Feingold introduced an amendment to withhold some of the
funds until there was real progress on the Freeport investigation. Although he failed in
this bid, several senators made it clear they wanted much more done in the Freeport
investigation.
Republican senator Wayne Allard, from Ms Spier's home state of Colorado, wrote to
President George Bush urging tougher action. "If the Indonesian Government fails to
act, severe diplomatic actions, including the suspension of IMET (International Military
Education and Training) funding for Indonesia should be considered," he wrote.
The White House has said no training funds would be spent until there is a credible
result in the Timika investigation. After renewed US pressure, FBI agents made
another visit to Indonesia in late January. They are now writing a new report, but
whether they have enough evidence to charge individual TNI officers is still unclear.
There are several theories about why the attack took place, but one of the most
credible points to an extortion attempt against the US Freeport mining company by
local TNI officers, possibly from Kostrad, the Army Strategic Reserve Command. The
local military commanders initially tried to blame the Papuan rebel group, the OPM,
for the attack and even offered the corpse of an alleged OPM assailant as proof. But
the Indonesian police investigation dismissed this.
Indeed, the initial police report on the attack concluded: "There is a strong possibility
that the (Timika) case was perpetrated by the members of the Indonesian National
Army Force, however, it still needs to be investigated further."
The police report, obtained by The Age, also shows that Indonesian police
investigators were threatened, evidence appeared to be planted and the crime scene
was interfered with. Also, the report noted that members of the Indonesian army unit
at Freeport had their "perks" reduced over stealing from the mine and were upset with
the company.
But the investigation was then handed over to the military who did their own inquiries.
And in January, army chief General Sutarto was quoted in the Jakarta Post saying,
"we have found no evidence of military involvement" in the shootings.
The Freeport-McMoRan mining company has said nothing about several reports that
the company was attempting to cut back on the generosity of its security contract
with the local TNI who, by law, protect the mine.
There is little doubt that the attack was not aimed specifically at the teachers, who
were in Freeport vehicles. Indeed, not long after the attack, the company
vice-president and his wife drove past the scene of carnage. They, just as easily,
could have been the victims.
Copyright © 2002 The Age Company Ltd
|
