The Jakarta Post, March 27, 2006
An appeal to Indonesia concerning Papua
Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, Washington
In an article entitled A Lost World in Indonesia Yields Riches for Scientists, The
Washington Post recently found this discovery to be worthy of front page news. Yet
the debilitating and gut-wrenching plight of the indigenous people of West Papua New
Guinea has not received a note of attention from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand,
other Pacific and European democratic nations, or the Dutch, West Papua's former
colonial ruler.
Only a few weeks ago, on Jan. 17, 2006, 43 West Papuans, seven of whom were
children, arrived on the shores of Australia seeking asylum. They left their homes in
West Papua New Guinea and sailed some 2200 miles during the monsoon season in
a small, open boat.
The 43 Papuans fled a rapidly deteriorating human rights environment where the
indigenous Papuans have suffered extensive human rights abuses, natural resource
exploitation, environmental degradation, and commercial dominance by immigrant
communities.
In its 2004 Human Rights report, the U.S. Department of State acknowledged
Indonesia's brutal record by stating Indonesia "security force members murdered,
tortured, raped, beat and arbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist
movements in Papua."
While the Indonesian parliament passed a Specia! l Autonomy Law for West Papua in
October 2001 that was intended to allocate greater revenue and decision making
authority to the Papuan provincial government, the promise of special autonomy has
not been effectively realized and has been undermined in its implementation, such as
by conflicting legal directives further subdividing the province in apparent contravention
of the law and without the consent of appropriate provincial authorities.
Indonesia has reportedly continued to send thousands of additional troops to West
Papua, and military operations in the central highlands since the fall of 2004 have
displaced thousands of civilians into very vulnerable circumstances, contributing
further to mistrust of the central government by the people of West Papua.
On the night of Nov. 10, 2001, Chief The! ys Hiyo Eluay, Chairman of the Papuan
Presidium and outspoken advocate for an independent West Papua through peaceful
means, was abducted, tortured and murdered near Jayapura, West Papua.
And this is only an accounting of recent developments. In 1969, 1,025 West Papuan
elders were coerced and manipulated into voting unanimously on behalf of 800,000
West Papuans for inclusion in Indonesia. This Act of No Choice is generally regarded
in the international community as a fraudulent tactic that was used by former
President Soeharto to claim control of the colonial province of West Papua and its
renowned mineral wealth which includes vast reserves of gold, copper, nickel, oil and
gas. The Act of No Choice also raises concerns about racism.
I believe the time has come to end discrimination in West Papua. In 20! 02, the
people of East Timor achieved their independence from Indonesia through a
referendum sanctioned by the United Nations and I believe the time has come to end
discrimination and allow the people of West Papua to determine for themselves their
own political destiny.
The issue of West Papua is not an internal matter. Neither is it a question of territorial
integrity. West Papua was a former Dutch colony just as East Timor was a former
Portuguese colony just as Indonesia was a former colony of the Netherlands. The
historical evidence is clear on this matter.
It is also clear that the Indonesian government has failed to implement the provisions
of the Special Autonomy Law that passed five years ago which leads me to believe
that Special Autonomy was simply an effort to divide an conquer and, therefore! ,
must be an unacceptable recourse for people of conscience.
This is why I am making an appeal to the conscience of the people of Indonesia. After
the brutal dictatorial regimes of President Sukarno and Soeharto and the 1965-1966
massacre when some half a million to a million unarmed Indonesians were killed
under the guise of alleged communist sympathies, the people of Indonesia have come
a long way in their 350 year history in demanding a more pluralistic and democratic
form of government. Now, the time has come for the people of Indonesia to demand
the same for the people of West Papua.
I am pleased that as a result of these efforts U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice has acknowledge that West Papua is now on the radar screen and, in the spirit
of America's great mission of diplomacy to end tyra! nny in our world, I am also
hopeful that the issues surrounding West Papua will be a primary focus of her
discussions with the leaders of Indonesia.
Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (D-AS) is a Member of the U.S. Congress and serves as the
Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, U.S. House
Committee on International Relations
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