Radio Singapore International, December 1, 2003
West Papua's aspirations for independence
The Indonesian province of Irian Jaya borders Papua New Guinea and forms the
western half of the world's second largest island.
Resistance to Indonesian rule began in 1962 after a UN-sponsored transfer of official
administration from the Netherlands, the colonial power, to Indonesia.
Reports show that a sizeable portion of indigenous people of Irian Jaya reject
Indonesian rule and call the province West Papua instead.
In a recent move, the Indonesian police have warned the West Papuans against flying
flags not recognized by Indonesia, to mark the December 1st anniversary of an
independence proclamation.
For more on the West Papuan conflict, Yvonne Gomez spoke to Professor Peter King
from the University of Sydney in Australia.
She first asked him for an overview of the conflict.
PK: There's been conflict in Papua eversince the Indonesian takeover in 1962 under
the UN's auspices. Papuans feel they were cheated at a chance for
self-determination, especially in 1961, when the Dutch moved to recognise various
symbols of a Papuan state, including the flag, which they're so keen to raise these
days, And when independence was being promised to Papua within a ten-year span
by the Dutch, since 1962 the Papuans have been under either UN or Indonesian
occupation, and have been, most of them, struggling against it eversince.
What can or will happen if the Papuans raise flags and things like that?
PK: Well, nothing much, because, in fact, Gus Dur, who was President when flag
raisings were tolerated, has criticised the government, for taking this action on the
grounds that Papuan flag-raising has become almost a traditional activity and should
be tolerated as a cultural manifestation, rather than repressed.
The Indonesian elections are coming up next year, and the Aceh conflict has already
dominated the Indonesian political scene this year. How much of this warning by the
Indonesian police is an election issue?
PK: Yes, I think the nationalist party, or in fact, all the parties, will strongly push the
anti-secessionist line in this election, and both the Acehnese and the Papuans ca
expect more trouble on tha score. The Papuans themselves expect that even if the
Acehnese campaign stabilises, or is wound back, there's prbably more trouble in
store for them, because that's certainly been promised by the military from the
highest level. And militias have also been building up, both nationalist militias and
Muslim militias. The nationalist parties in the elections, that's Megawati
Sukarnoputri's party and Golkar, will both be pushing a straight nationalist line. But
the religious parties are always tempted to push the line of defensive Islam.
Australia has mainly been supportive of West Papuan independence but there have
also been reports of exploitation of minerals there by Australian companies for
Indonesia's benefit. What can you say about that?
PK: For a long time, in fact, since the Americans decided that West Papua should
pass to Indonesia, the Australian government has been opposing West Papuan
independence, or any kind of serious self-determination act. But before that, Australia
did't support self-determination, did support the Dutch in bringing the Papuans
towards self-determination. There was a historic Australian change of line in 1962 on
that. Despite the government's position, there's string opinion in Australia that th
Papuans were cheated, back in the sixties, and do deserve another chance or say,
like the Timorese had in 1999. Basically, I think opinion in Australia is in conflict with
the government on the question of Papua. And on the mining, Australia is not there
mining West Papua yet. Rio Tinto, which has big Australia interests and in some
ways, is a partnership between Britain and Australia, has got an interest in the
Freeport mine. But it's quite nervous about the future of that mine, which has caused
a lot of trouble, with the Papuan people, and the Indonesian army. There's a great deal
of conflict going on. Australia doesn't have any interests in the big, new resource
project, which is the BP natural gas project.
How do you see the West Papuan pursuit of independence ending?
PK: There are various scenarios. One is that a President like Gus Dur, in the end,
might be prepared to be more politically effective, to negotiate, either some kind of
extreme decentralisation arrangement with the Papuans, presumably with the
Acehnese as well, or veen let them have a chance at a referendum, as happened in
Timor. But other scenarios would suggest that the central government and the army,
may at some future point, become very ineffective partly from lack of resources and
partly from the problems of sustaining conflicts for a very long time, where the soldiers
are poorly motivated. So I think the future is rather open.
Copyright © 2003, Radio Singapore International
|
