WHAT YE SOW YE REAP

There’s nothing profound about the Biblical quote; variations are embedded in many religions and cultures.  

So it needs no prophet, seer or conman to make this prediction:  After a war like the current one in Gaza has cooled, the survivors will be bent on revenge.

The ancient tragedy is underway just next door in Papua, bleeding now and  for years to come as the hate goes on.

Canberra expresses its horror at the Middle East conflict 14,000 km distant and calls for peace, but looks away from what’s happening in the neighbourhood just 250 km to the  north.

Last year the late NZ journalist John McBeth reported that Papua independence leader Egianus Kogoya’s  determination to fight for freedom started after his father, Daniel Yudas Kagoya (correct) was killed by Indonesian troops.

Many in his group of armed partisans have become guerrillas for the same reasons.

They're now old enough to confront those they blame for the slaughter of their parents, relatives and friends and the destruction of their homes and livelihoods; so they've started killing and are getting killed.

The ore-rich province with the world’s fifth largest gold mine reserves has been a simmering low-level civil war zone since Jakarta took over the western part of New Guinea from the Dutch colonialists.  That was in 1969 following a staged ‘referendum’ using 1,025 hand-picked voters who unanimously supported integration.

One estimate has half a million indigenous Papuans dying in the past half-century through starvation and resisting Indonesian control.

No one knows if the figure is correct as journalists are banned.  Thousands of soldiers from across the archipelago are in Papua. How many is not publicised though last year it was reported that 'an additional 2,355 military members' had been deployed.

The conflict shows no signs of lessening.  In 2014 when President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo took office he told the Australian media he intended to give  Papua “special attention”.

It was benignly assumed that this meant peace talks because Jokowi was not a gung-ho militarist but a civilian, his wife Iriana had been named after the island’s old title and his visits were regular and friendly.

However his “special attention” was infrastructure, not independence: Roads, health services and education - all necessary, but secondary to the self-rule the rebels demanded.  Pacifying the insurgents and listening to their emotional concerns wasn’t on the agenda.

In 2022 Jokowi  started carving up the territory confusing locals and outsiders by amplifying bureaucracy and control. The four new provinces are Papua Selatan (South Papua), Papua Tengah (Central Papua), Papua Pegunungan (Mountain Papua) and Papua Barat Daya (South-West Papua).

For this story, we'll use ‘Papua’ to cover all.  The population of 4.4 million is largely Melanesian and Christian. However transmigration programmes bringing in poor farmers from Java who are mainly Muslim, has been diluting the indigenous population for decades.

Jokowi's predecessor, former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he’d  “take quick and appropriate steps to deal with Papua” after violent clashes.  His ‘solution’ was force.  More died but little changed.

At the time the SMH reported that “(SBY’s) money and good intentions were squandered by corruption, cronyism and bureaucratic dysfunction.”

After a decade in office, Jokowi's legacy is  "a better armed, better resourced, more coordinated pro-independence insurgency,"  according to a Jakarta research group the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict. 

“(There are) higher civilian casualties; and the failure after a year to secure the release of a New Zealand pilot held hostage by the guerrillas.”

 (Phillip Mehrtens, then 37,  was seized on 7 February last year and his Cessna used for ferrying construction workers and  owned by an Indonesian company was torched. It’s believed he’s still alive.)

The IPAC report said Jakarta’s approaches can be characterized as: “Get them to like us”, “Hit them without mercy”, “Divide and rule”, “Give them money”, “End their isolation” and very occasionally, “Talk to them”. 

It recommends that "(Jokowi's) successor needs to radically change course."  But that's Prabowo Subianto a general who served in Papua before being cashiered for insubordination in 1998 and fleeing to exile in Jordan.

In his new leadership role he's offered to send a peacekeeping force to Gaza if there’s a ceasefire.  

The idea is saturated in irony: Indonesia has no relationship with Israel. All remnants of Jewish life during the Dutch era - including cemeteries - have been trashed. Most troops are Muslims, and Prabowo has allegedly committed human rights abuses on the island last century.

Veteran Australian journalist Hamish McDonald, author of Demokrasi: Indonesia in the 21st Century has written that in 1984 Prabowo "led troops from Kopassus, the army's Special Forces Command, across the border into Papua New Guinea to search for fighters from the Free Papua Movement Organisasi Papua Merdeka - OPM.

"In 1996, he led a Kopassus operation to free World Wildlife Fund hostages taken by the OPM. The mission was controversial because soldiers travelled via a white helicopter previously used by Red Cross negotiators"

Indonesia is still far from winning the hearts and minds of its Papuan citizens or erasing its image as a ruthless neo-colonial power.  It’s treating the OPM much as the Dutch handled the Javanese partisans during three centuries of European rule - split, discredit, threaten, arrest, kill.

That didn’t work and Indonesia is now an independent republic, largely because the Western world - including Australia, turned against the colonials and demanded change.  Weapons and money were denied to a Netherlands weakened by World War II.

That's unlikely to happen in Papua in the lifetimes of our readers.  The mines are too rich and involve influential international players. Indonesia is the world's fourth-largest nation with more Muslims than any other country.

Australia speaks strongly about human rights but does little; there’s a deep reluctance to advocate a break in the circle of violence in Papua and infuriate Jakarta.

Much like the situation with Jerusalem and the Gaza war.

##.

First published in Pearls & Irritations, 21 June 2024:   https://johnmenadue.com/what-ye-sow-ye-reap/

 

 

 

 

 

PAPUA'S MINKES DISCOVER HISTORY REPEATS

Flagging racism

The ironies were stark and troubling.  On 17 August most Indonesians joyfully celebrated their nation’s proclamation of independence from the Netherlands 74 years ago.

A few weren’t having fun. Next afternoon young Papuans studying in East Java and who are suspected of wanting self rule, were brutally bashed and teargassed on the pretext they’d ‘slandered’ the Republic’s flag.

The bloody clash came three days after the national release of a much trumpeted film recounting the struggles of Javanese against colonial oppression.

Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind), is based on the novel of the same title by the once-banned writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1925 – 2006).  In the film the fictional indigenous student hero Minke is regularly taunted by the dominant Dutch as a ‘monkey’.

This was the same smear allegedly hurled by provocateurs and police who raided the students’ dormitory in Surabaya, where a flagpole is supposed to have been bent letting the cloth touch the ground.

Possibly a furphy, as circulation of the insult was made by ultra-nationalist vigilantes who’d besieged the building, cut power and flung stones.  Either way the response seems to have been over the top.

Also in Surabaya, the nation’s second biggest city after Jakarta, is the fine old Majapahit Hotel named after a pre-colonial Javanese empire.  

A painting in the foyer shows a youth climbing on the roof in late 1945 and ripping away the bottom blue strip of the Dutch tricolor.  This left the flag red and white, now the national symbol. 

The incident, which may be apocryphal, is embedded in Indonesia’s history of achieving freedom, and the lad who did the deed a hero.

Today Papuans who raise their own Morning Star flag risk 20 years behind bars.

After the raid local newspapers frontpaged photos showing gore-streaked faces and limbs of students who swore they were unarmed when clobbered by the cops.  At least six were injured and 43 arrested.  The prisoners were questioned for nine hours, then let go without charge.

Videos circulating on social media appear to have right-wing demonstrators shouting ‘get rid of the Papuans’ and ‘monkeys, get out’.

There are around 300 ethnic groups in the Archipelago. The Javanese dominate and some are prone to think themselves superior.

The violence, and in particular the ‘monkey’ slur, infuriated crowds in Manokwari, the capital of West Papua province, 2,800 kilometers to the northeast.   They torched tyres in the streets and a local government building.

Another protest of about 10,000 took place in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Indonesia’s easternmost province.

Posts implying Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has ordered an investigation into the Surabaya incident have not been confirmed.  The East Java Governor  Khofifah Indar Parawansa did apologise, telling journalists the incident didn’t reflect the views of most residents.

The ABC had East Java police spokesperson Frans Barung, saying the dorm was stormed to stabilize the situation because of the students' ‘provocative actions on allegedly committing slander on the national flag’.

This year is the 50^th anniversary of the ‘referendum’ to decide who would run the former Dutch territory of Nieuw Guinea.  This involved 1,025 ‘leaders’ hand-picked by Indonesia.  Unsurprisingly they decided against independence.

Indonesia called it an ‘Act of Free Choice’; Western observers labeled it an ‘Act Free of Choice.’
Earlier this year a 1.8 million signature petition demanding an independence referendum was handed to UN Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet.  Jakarta labeled the event a stunt.

There’s little chance of a referendum or any serious investigation of the human rights abuses frequently recounted by separatists.  A slight majority of the 3.6 million residents are indigenous Melanesians and nominal Christians.  That ration won’t last as increasing numbers of settlers from Muslim Java will tip the balance. 

Like the First Australians, the indigenes will then be a minority in their own resource-rich land.
Grasberg – also known as Freeport - in the Papua highlands is the world’s largest gold mine and the second biggest copper mine, its royalties essential for the national economy.  In 2017  the government earned US $756 million.

The Indonesian military has a heavy presence in Papua where there are irregular skirmishes with the lightly-armed West Papua Liberation Army guerillas.

Last December road workers were reportedly ambushed and shot  The facts can’t be verified as foreign journalists are banned, but 19 may have died.
Bobby Anderson, a research associate at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, has been studying violence in the province.  He concluded:

‘Despite the wealth Indonesia earns through Papua’s abundant natural resources, a dearth of government services results in ordinary Papuans having the lowest incomes, the lowest educational levels, and the highest mortality rates in the country.

‘Papua’s deaths, both spectacular and mundane, hint that, while Indonesia has coherent policies toward Papua’s natural resources, it has no coherent policy toward Papuans.’

Some delegates at this month’s Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu attended by PM Scott Morrison raised concerns about the situation in Papua, only to be told by Indonesia to butt out.

Volumes of laws are supposed to protect Indonesians’ civil rights but the only ones jolting action  concern blasphemy rather than racism.  

The government has set up Inter-Religious Harmony Forums to counter extremism.  These usually get involved only after conflict erupts.

The new generation of Papuans is now more aware of their land’s history and like Minke in Bumi Manusia, starting to kick against what they see as injustices and subjection.  Minke’s goal was freedom from Amsterdam’s authority; Papuans want release from Jakarta’s grip.

##      

 First published in Pearls and Irritations, 23 August 2019: 
https://johnmenadue.com/duncan-graham-raising-the-racist-flag/

AUSTRALIA-INDONESIA TREATY

WHAT’S NOT SAID IN THE LOMBOK TREATY
© Duncan Graham 2006

There’s a critical five-letter word absent from the Framework for Security Cooperation agreement signed Monday 13 November in Lombok between Indonesia and Australia.

The missing word is ‘Papua’.

Despite its invisibility this is at the heart of the seven-page document dubbed the Lombok Treaty by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda.

Discussions leading to the pact have been running for two years. But the decision by Australia to give asylum to 43 Papuan refugees who sailed to Australia last January put fuel in the negotiators’ tanks.

The document is full of motherhood terms and rubbery words – diplomatic delights like ‘reaffirming’, ‘recognising’ and ‘emphasising.’ If these help establish trust then quibbling is out of place.

Inevitably the Lombok Treaty is short on what will actually be done in real terms, although Article 6 includes an ‘implementing mechanism’. This commits the two countries to ‘take necessary steps’ and ‘meet on a regular basis’.

When there’s a dispute – which is certain given the great gulf between the two countries’ values and cultures – this shall be ‘settled amicably by mutual consultation or negotiation.’ There are no sanctions.

One issue has already been determined: If there’s any strife about interpreting the bi-lingual document then the English text will prevail.

Although the emphasis is on security this isn’t a military alliance. Such a treaty is prohibited under Indonesian law. The issue here is terrorism and just seems to reinforce already existing arrangements with the police and the military.

Nor is the treaty a law. Ahead lies ratification by both governments. In the wash-up only mutual goodwill will make this agreement work.

As anticipated there’s a clause on drug trafficking. Watch out if death penalties are enforced against Australian drug runners and the talkback radio vitriolic shock jocks start slandering Indonesia again, demanding Canberra intervenes. Then the lines on ‘good neighbourliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of one another’ will get a real acid test.

There’s no doubt the Australian government and opposition fear the ‘Balkanisation’ of the Republic and want a unified and stable Indonesia.

Canberra, the region’s perceived deputy sheriff, is facing multiple crises among the alleged ‘failed states’ of the Pacific, along with problems in Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea. It certainly doesn’t want more regional hassles.

The key point on Papua is Article 2, Item 3 – a black-letter lawyer’s gem:

“The Parties, consistent with their respective domestic laws and international obligations, shall not in any manner support or participate in activities by any person or entity which constitutes a threat to the stability, sovereignty or territorial integrity of the other Party, including by those who seek to use its territory for encouraging or committing such activities, including separatism, in the territory of the other Party.” (‘Party’ means nation.)

Does this mean that any future boat people who dig their toes into Australian sand won’t have claims for refugee status recognised?

The answer will come when and if that happens. But any careful reading of the words above – particularly the phrase about ‘domestic laws and international obligations’ - doesn’t score out a repeat of this year’s successful bids for asylum.

At that time the Australian government said it was powerless to act under law once an administrative decision had been made. It also knew the electorate was backing the Papuans.

When the government tried to buttress immigration law this was interpreted as an attempt to appease an inflamed Indonesia. The bid failed in August when Prime Minister John Howard withdrew the Migration Amendment Bill once he foresaw defeat. Even a few members of his own coalition were barracking for the Papuans.

If that same Papuan refugee scenario is rerun in the months ahead, the Indonesian outrage that led to ambassador Hamzah Thayeb being recalled for three months could erupt again.

Indonesians who recall with pleasure the Suharto New Order administration still find it difficult to understand that in a democracy governments are not all powerful.

The shrill lobby groups in Australia seeking a free Papua (which they call West Papua) are unlikely to be muzzled by this treaty. They won’t get any taxpayers’ money. Their demands will be ridiculed and rejected by the government - and probably the Labor Party opposition that has so far given the treaty its cautious blessing.

Yet none of this is likely to quench the determination of the NGOs, church groups and minority party politicians. In fact it could help their cause. In the court of Australian public opinion where ‘getting a fair go’ rules debate, being the underdog is always the favored position.

So the more the Papua separatists are rubbished and their statements undermined, the more their allegations of human rights abuses will get an airing and an audience. These claims will infuriate the Indonesian government and people, and ensure Papua remains the new pebble in the shoe of relations between the neighbors.

Unless serious political and administrative reforms are made to the satisfaction of the locals, effectively neutering the Australian agitators.

It happened in the most western province of the Republic – so why not in the most eastern part?

(First published in The Jakarta Post 17 November 06)

##

">Link