Paradise Betrayed: West Papua's Struggle for Independence
By John Martinkus
Quarterly Essay, issue 7
Black Inc
Order at <http://www.blackincbooks.com>
REVIEW BY VANNESSA HEARMAN
The latest issue of Quarterly Essay features an essay by journalist John Martinkus on the struggle of the West Papuan people against Indonesian occupation, which has cost at least 100,000 lives since the 1960s. Martinkus is the author of A Dirty Little War, a book on the covert operations of the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) in East Timor.
Martinkus' essay describes his travels through West Papua in April and June this year, from the isolated forest camps of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) guerillas to the coastal capital Jayapura, a "very Indonesianised city". He spoke to a wide range of people involved in the independence struggle, including the interim leader of the Papuan Presidium Council, Thom Beanal. Beanal took over the leadership after the murder of PPC Theys Eluay. Seven officers of the TNI's notorious Kopassus unit have been charged over Eluay's death.
As a result of the repression by the TNI and the difficulties of reaching many parts of West Papua by road, open demonstrations for independence, and organising in general, are very difficult. There have been some courageous flag-raisings and protests which were all met with force.
Martinkus shows the various ways that the Indonesian regime tries to obliterate the Papuan people physically, culturally and historically. In some towns, Papuans are now only half the population, a result of long-term policies to move Indonesians to West Papua under the guise of relieving overpopulation on the islands of Indonesia.
The US-owned Freeport gold and copper mine in West Papua is Indonesia's largest tax payer, and it receives the royal treatment from Jakarta. It reciprocates, writes Martinkus, with donations to the security forces.
Martinkus' familiarity with Aceh, West Papua and East Timor enables him to draw useful comparisons between the struggles. Alarmingly, the same military personnel who ran the covert arming and training of the militias in East Timor are now running West Papua. Cancio Lopes de Carvalho, a militia leader in East Timor, named his gang in honour of the man who now heads military operations in West Papua, Major General Mahidin Simbolon.
Martinkus also describes how large numbers of reactionary Laskar Jihad operatives are being brought into West Papua by the military to create fear and intimidation, and to provoke conflict with the local population.
Martinkus notes that Jose Ramos Horta, East Timor's foreign minister, has been unequivocal in not supporting West Papua's claim to independence. Australia and the US also want West Papua to accept the autonomy deal offered by the Indonesian government.
Martinkus' essay, whether intended or not, throws down a challenge to solidarity activists to respond to the situation in West Papua. Having escaped international wrath over the East Timor killings in 1999, the Indonesian military is ready to utilise the same tactics to crush the movements in West Papua and Aceh.
From Green Left Weekly, October 2, 2002.
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