The Age [Australia], September 30 2002
Flag raising angers Jakarta
By Farah Farouque
[Photo: Jacob Rumbiak, who was jailed for 10 years in Indonesia, is a political
refugee. He lives in St Kilda. CRAIG SILLITOE]
Flag raising is common at public events. But when RMIT raised the Morning Star - the
flag of those seeking independence for the Indonesian province of West Papua - the
impact went as far as Jakarta.
RMIT has apologised to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra "for any offence that
may have been unintentionally caused" after the embassy lodged strong protests with
the university and the Federal Government.
RMIT's diplomatic problems began last month when it gave an academic honour to
Jacob Rumbiak, a leader of the Free West Papua Movement and advocate of
non-violent resistance. Mr Rumbiak has been living for two years in Melbourne as a
political refugee.
The function at RMIT's Storey Hall conferring the honour was a colourful affair. There
were costumed warriors from the Solomon Islands and young girls decked out in
frocks featuring the Morning Star.
A number of other Pacific regional flags were raised, as well as the flag of the
independence movement of the South Moluccas in another Indonesian province. A
trade union choir sang Pacific Island anthems, including the unofficial West Papuan
Papua is My Homeland. Speakers included RMIT vice-chancellor Ruth Dunkin and
Catholic bishop Hilton Deakin, who has campaigned for social justice and the East
Timorese.
"What we were doing was simply involving ourselves in an expression of cultural
difference," said Professor Paul James, director of RMIT's Globalism Institute.
"We were politically critical of some of the things the Indonesian military were doing in
West Papua, but we were certainly casting no aspersions on the Indonesian nation
state or the Indonesian people."
In Canberra, Indonesia's acting ambassador Imron Cotan disagreed. When he saw an
account of the event in the media, he fired off letters to two cabinet ministers and
RMIT.
"We consider the raising of flags and also the singing of the anthem not part of
academic activities," Mr Cotan told The Age. "It is a political action . . . it should not
happen in any institution funded by the (Australian) government because the
government endorses our territorial integrity."
Mr Coton said he had sent briefings to relevant institutions in Jakarta and the office of
President Megawati Sukarnoputri detailing the incident. There are high stakes in this
diplomatic imbroglio for RMIT. It has about 2000 Indonesian fee-paying students,
almost a quarter of the university's international student population.
RMIT was worried enough to send a diplomatic delegation of its own - senior
academics Professor Neil Furlong and Dr Madeleine Reeve, director of the university's
commercial arm, RMIT International - to the Indonesian embassy.
Mr Cotan, in turn, flew to Melbourne for talks on Friday at the invitation of RMIT. He
said he was satisfied with the university's bridge-building. "It has been resolved - at
least from my perspective - but again I cannot speak on behalf of the President of the
Republic of Indonesia."
From his home in St Kilda, Mr Rumbiak, who spent 10 years in Indonesian jails,
continues to fly his flag proudly and ponders: "Why is the Indonesian ambassador
going back to the undemocratic and repressive era of Suharto?"
Copyright © 2002 The Age Company Ltd
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