By Rex Rumakiek
Suharto's military dictatorship may have ended in Java but in West Papua (Irian Jaya) it is business as usual. Human rights violations that became synonymous with Suharto have continued since he stepped down in May.
In June, while Suharto's successor B.J. Habibie and defence forces commander General Wiranto pledged to investigate army killings in Jakarta and elsewhere, demonstrators were shot and killed in West Papua.
While this may surprise overseas observers, for West Papuans, being shot at can happen at any time and is routine. Since West Papua was transferred from Dutch to Indonesian rule in 1963, no Papuan has felt safe.
The military dictatorship has not tolerated criticism and disobedience. Those who have dared to protest have been shot, or arrested and never seen alive again.
There are instances of unrecognisable bodies, often with no limbs or head, left in public places as examples of what the Indonesian forces do to those who resist their authority.
'Ethnic cleansing'
Annihilation and subjugation by terror — called "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia — were already being implemented in the early 1960s, when Suharto was the military commander of Trikora (Tri Komando Rakyat — Triple Commands of the People).
Trikora's aim was to prevent the Dutch government from decolonising West Papua, which the Dutch recognised as being ethnically distinct from Indonesia.
Ethnic cleansing was reinforced more systematically when Suharto became president in 1965. Papuans who claimed their right to self-determination and independence were individually or collectively eliminated.
Through 1965 and 1966, hundreds of Arfak and Kebar people of the Manokwari region were killed when villages were bombed because of their resistance. When Papuan member of parliament and staunch supporter of Indonesia, Silas Papare, protested bitterly, quoting a figure of 1010 people killed, he was reprimanded and put under house arrest. Papare became a critic of the Indonesian government until his mysterious death in 1979.
In 1969, the fraudulent "Act of Free Choice" took place. What should have been a poll of all West Papuans became a vote involving only 1000 people under duress. To vote against West Papua's integration with Indonesia would have been viewed as an act of treason.
At the time of the vote, the Moni and the Ekari villages in the Western Highlands were bombed as punishment for demanding their right to vote and calling for the withdrawal of the army.
In 1977, the neighbouring Amungme and Komoro tribes, landowners of the southern highlands area where the giant US-owned Freeport copper and gold mine is situated, were strafed and bombed because the villagers were accused of collaboration with the Free West Papua Movement (OPM). OPM fighters had cut the pipes taking the copper slurry down to the coast. Hundred were killed.
In the north, on the island of Biak, 30 people in the village of Adadikam were killed when they were forced into a house into which hand grenades were thrown. Whatever remained was set on fire. This was done after the girls and women were pack-raped while the rest of the villages were forced to watch.
One of the young women, Angelina Bonsapia, was eight months pregnant. Her stomach was slashed, killing her. This was done because her uncle, Peter Bonsapia, a former soldier with the Dutch army, had joined the OPM.
In 1979, collective punishment by bombing was inflicted on the Dani in the Central Highlands, causing 3000 deaths. The Dani had refused to exchange wearing penis gourds for pants — part of Suharto's project to eradicate tribal affiliations.
In 1996, 22 Amungme and Komoro people were massacred around the Freeport mine area. The Amungme were again punished that year after the OPM took a group of Europeans and Indonesians hostage. Many villagers were hunted down and killed, or made to flee their villages and hide in the jungle, where many starved to death or died from malaria.
The $10 million dollar AusAid/Australian Defence Force relief operation, supposedly meant to alleviate the drought earlier this year, has been used by Indonesia to escalate its military terrorism.
In one operation, 16 people were killed and 179 houses and 13 churches were burnt down. This was documented in a report produced by West Papuan church groups in April.
Demanding independence
Spontaneous pro-independence demonstrations rocked major towns throughout West Papua in July, actions not seen since December 1987.
On July 1, 100 demonstrators gathered in front of the regional parliament in Jayapura, the capital, asking to meet with the governor and parliamentarians.
After their request was refused, the protesters returned the next day, determined to continue until their demands were heard. The clashes that followed resulted in two deaths.
On July 2, in the oil producing town of Sorong, to the west of Biak, 1000 people demanded independence and called for the repatriation of troops, and Indonesian transmigrants. A huge transmigration program has been in process since the 1970s in an attempt to swamp the indigenous population.
On July 2, 60 kilometres to the west of Jayapura, 700 people raised the West Papuan flag and demanded independence in Biak town. They guarded the flag for several days. In the early hours of July 6, special troops flown in from Ambon stormed the rally. Five people were killed and 150 people were injured, many seriously. The crack-down and arrests continued for several days.
In the following weeks, dead bodies were found on isolated beaches or were caught in fishing nets off shore. By August 10, the body count was 70.
In Wamena, in the Central Highlands, thousands of people raised the West Papuan flag and demanded independence on July 7. Similar rallies occurred in Nabire town, Paniai District, on the north coast.
Life in West Papua is comparable to Bosnia during the war with Serbia. People fear a knock at the door at night. You could be taken away and never seen again. People don't trust their neighbours. In public you must always look around to check if its safe before you talk to foreigners.
At rallies in Jakarta, the demands of West Papuans have been more subdued, compared with those in West Papua. They have called for a system of full autonomy, similar to the "one nation-two systems" arrangement between China and Hong Kong. Protesters have warned that they will call for full independence if human rights violations in West Papua continue, or if democracy in Indonesia continues to be suppressed.
Although the roots of the occupation of West Papua by Indonesia go back to the New York agreement at the UN in 1962, when West Papuan independence was sacrificed to suit the needs of major powers, the majority of those taking part in recent actions were not born when Indonesia occupied West Papua in 1963.
Habibie has spoken about democratisation and reform. After 35 years of terror, nobody in West Papua can believe that this regime, put in power with Suharto's blessing, can be trusted to implement genuine reforms.
[Rex Rumakiek is a West Papuan exile living in Australia. He is a member of the Australia West Papua Association, chairperson of West Papua Benevolent, Cultural and Self-help Association (NSW) and a member of the Indigenous Rights Working Group of the Pacific Islands Association of Non-Government Organisations.]