The Age [Australia], February 27 2003
The exile who fights for the rights of all Papuans
By Martin Flanagan
Human rights advocate John Rumbiak fled Papua a year ago. Local police had warned
him that his investigation into the assassination of Papuan independence leader
Theys Eluay in November 2001 had put his life in danger.
After he was alerted to this, a group of armed men Rumbiak believes belonged to
Kopassus, the Indonesian paramilitary group, took up residence in a house near his
own and began monitoring his movements.
Since he left the troubled Indonesian province, Rumbiak says one of the directors of
Els-ham, the human rights organisation for which he works, had been attacked and
shot along with a member of her family.
Rumbiak, who comes from the island of Biak off the north-west coast of Papua and is
now a visiting scholar at the University of Columbia in New York, is in Melbourne for
tomorrow night's Morning Star Concert at the Victorian Arts Centre. Rumbiak says the
concert, organised by musician David Bridie, is an opportunity for Australians "to be
really educated about what's going on in West Papua. They're going to learn about
Papuans as people, that they have a culture, and the problems they're facing."
Rumbiak says the Papuan people will cease to exist as an independent identity within
10 to 20 years if the present rate of assimilation in the province continues. "Their
culture will be extinct," he says. As such, he believes Indonesian Government policies
in the area come within the definition of genocide.
Els-ham estimates that there have been 100,000 extrajudicial killings in Papua since
the province was taken over by Indonesia in the 1960s. "That number doesn't include
rapes and people who have disappeared. These are only confirmed deaths."
Rumbiak says Papuan culture is also threatened by transmigration, which has
brought a million people to the province from other parts of Indonesia, the degradation
of indigenous culture, and the accelerating rate of HIV-AIDS. A recent addition to the
Papuan scene has been an Islamic militia called Laskar Jihad which, Rumbiak says,
has connections with the Indonesian military. "The Muslim community is being
manipulated to create conflict."
Rumbiak says his inspiration is Tuarek Narkime, chief of the Amungme people who
were the original owners of the land now occupied by the giant Freeport gold and
copper mine.
The impact of the mine and the local activities of the military led an outraged Narkime
to paint his body with mud, don his penis gourd and walk from his village to Freeport's
company town, Tembagapura, and make a statement of protest.
Rumbiak quotes him as having said: "Gentleman, I am angry with God! Why has He
created such beautiful mountains, valleys and rivers, rich with minerals and placed us
- the indigenous peoples - here in this plaace that attracts so many people from around
the world to come, exploit our resources and kill us? You had better kill me now, kill
all of my people, all our livestock, dig a big grave and bury us all, and then you can do
whatever you want on our grave!"
Rumbiak says Chief Narkime once told him that, as great as the provocation to the
Papuan people has been, "our minds and hearts have to be as clean and white as
Nemankawiarat (the glacier-capped Carstenz mountain peak) when you fight for truth
and justice for your people and your land".
Rumbiak says for this reason the Papuan struggle has been built around integrity,
non-violent direct action and compassion.
Greens senator Bob Brown refers to the Papuans as "our invisible neighbours".
Rumbiak agrees. He says the world simply doesn't know about Papua.
"To begin with, Papua is isolated. The only way to get there is a six-hour flight from
Jakarta. Diplomats say it is too hard to visit. If you're a journalist, you can't get there
without a permit from the Information Department in Jakarta and when you arrive you
have to go to the police for a pass permit."
Rumbiak says the international perception of the Papuans is of a primitive Stone Age
people. Laskar Jihad calls Papua "the Land of No Religion".
At the same time, multinational corporations have been given access to the region's
forestry and mineral riches. Rumbiak says these industries have brought with them
prostitution, which has inflamed the region's AIDS epidemic.
Rumbiak says Australians have a moral responsibility for what is happening in Papua.
"Australia is one of the countries that has benefited politically and economically from
what is going on in West Papua," he says.
Rumbiak believes this is not the struggle of Papuans alone. "This is the struggle of
anyone, no matter where they are in the world, who believes in respect for other
human beings and their cultures, and for the beautiful natural planet upon which we all
depend for life."
Copyright © 2002 The Age Company Ltd
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