West Papua: A Silence Gone On Too Long

There is a forgotten part of the world that is facing serious environmental damage, human rights abuses and even genocide. That place is West Papua.

We all know about Tibet, we have all heard about Dafur, we even know there is something dodgy doing on in Zimbabwe, but it appears- in the media at least- that we have ignored the problems in West Papua.

From the mid-nineteenth century, New Guinea was under the control of the Dutch. This changed in the 1950’s and early 1960’s due to pressure put upon the Netherlands by the UN to end their colonisation of the territory. In 1961 New Guinea was to be given independence, however, there was a problem; the western provinces of New Guinea was discovered to have huge gold and copper reserves.

Due to the huge financial exploitation potential of the area, the US was reluctant to allow New Guinea to become independent. The reason for this is that John F Kennedy was fearful of the Soviet influence within Indonesia. He did not want Indonesia to become part of the Soviet Empire. The primary reason why Indonesia was likely to turn Soviet was the temptation of financial aid offered by the USSR. The copper and gold reserves in western New Guinea offered a chance to pull Indonesia out of the shadow of the Soviet Union by allowing it to support itself, it meant America did not have to help Indonesia financially and also meant that America could import cheap gold and copper from a Western leaning Indonesia.

The UN was opposed to the American idea, so when control of New Guinea was passed to the UN by the Dutch in 1963 those in New Guinea were given a choice via the “Act of Free Choice” between independence and Indonesian control (Indonesia had invaded New Guinea in the early 1960’s and would not move).

The “Act of Free Choice” is considered a farce by West Papuans, human rights activists and international observers such as Amnesty International. West Papua tribe leaders have described it as the “Act of No Choice”. Rumours of Indonesian vote rigging are widespread- out of a population of 1 million, only 1026 West Papuan ‘representatives’ were chosen by the Indonesian army to vote in the act. These representatives were threatened with torture and death if they did not vote for Indonesian control. When finally passed in 1969, the vote was unanimous; West Papua would be under Indonesian control.

Since this decision, West Papuans have experienced rape and genocide by the Indonesian army:

“In May 1970, a unit of the Indonesian Armed Forces (“ABRI”) Udayana Division shot dead Maria Bonsapia, a pregnant villager, before a crowd of 80 women and children. The soldiers cut the foetus out of her body and dissected the baby. A group of soldiers also raped and killed her sister. The soldiers then informed the gathered crowd that their military colleagues had recently massacred 500 West Papuans in the Lereh district.” as cited in ‘Indonesian Human Rights Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control’

Recently, several groups of West Papuans have been arrested purely for raising the flag of independence, the Morning Star. Some of these have been given sentences of around 20 years. Just for raising a flag! http://westpapuafree.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/six-arrested-for-raising-rebellious-flag-in-indonesian-province/ http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0809/S00555.htm http://intercontinentalcry.org/46-arrested-for-raising-west-papua-independance-flag/

Added to this, we see massive environmental destruction of West Papua caused mainly by gas, copper and gold mining. One such mine is the Grasberg mine, the largest gold mine and third largest copper mine in the world. It is owned by an American company, Freeport. The mine has caused damage to mountain glaciers, caused landslides, and is causing copper contamination of local rivers; its overall environmental performance has meant that Freeport is excluded by the second largest pension fund company in the world, resulting in the loss of $870 million in pension stocks.

Along with America, Britain also has a vested interest in West Papua. BP has the ‘rights’ to West Papua’s gas reserves. With this, they invested £3.5 billion into building plants and offering local communities chances of employment and improvement in local facilities. However, according to a Guardian report earlier this year, BP “has blocked off their fishing grounds, attracted a flood of migrants to the villages, provided very few jobs for local people and is now siding with the Indonesian authorities against native Papuans who are engaged in a long struggle for independence.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/19/fossilfuels.indonesia)

Finally, the rainforests of West Papua are being subjected to immense deforestation due to mining and the timber industry. Second to the Amazon, the rainforest in New Guinea is one of the biggest in the world, the forest in West Papua alone amounts to 34.6 million hectares. There is no need to mention the effect on the global climate when we start chopping away a forest of this size, but what should be said is that deforestation is leading to tribes and villages being uprooted and moved, their habitats destroyed, and their culture and social structures are now in collapse.

We need to help end this. Please can everyone message their local MP to get the issue of West Papua discussed nationally, and even force Britain to re-examine its support of the “Act of Free Choice” and do as the Dutch and query the result. Please check out this link and do what you can http://www.freewestpapua.org/index.php?Itemid=5&id=602&option=com_content&task=view.

As Britain, we should be leading the world in attempting to stamp out human rights abuses and environmental destruction, let us change Britain’s position in the world from America’s poodle to a moral and just force for all humanity. Then we will be a proper super power.

There is so much more I could write about the atrocities happening in West Papua. If you wish to read a bit more though, please visit these sites:
http://www.freewestpapua.org/
http://www.koteka.net/
http://www.westpapuaaction.buz.org/

Let our voice help end this silence.