By Jennifer Robinson (update)
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| Jennifer Robinson (photo Rt.com) |
AUCKLAND,
New Zealand (Pacific Scoop, June 25, 012) – As violence escalates in
West Papua, one cannot help but recall East Timor and wonder how much
worse it must get before Australia, New Zealand and the international
community will act.
Tensions are at
breaking point in the easternmost province of Indonesia after the
police shooting of independence activist Mako Tabuni.
Human
rights activists report Tabuni was unarmed when shot six times by the
Australian-trained Detachment 88 forces. Tabuni was deputy chairman of
the West Papua National Committee, an organization advocating
independence and the right to self-determination under international
law. Tabuni had also been campaigning for an investigation into a
recent spate of military killings.
The
shooting follows years of violence. At least 16 people have been killed
in the past month, according to human rights groups, and hundreds of
homes raided, with many burnt to the ground. Thousands are reported to
be evacuating, seeking refuge in the forest or heading for refugee
camps in Papua New Guinea. Credible reports of human rights violations
by Indonesian security forces have emerged, including torture,
excessive use of force and extrajudicial killings.
Yet Indonesia’s State
Intelligence Agency chief, Lieutenant-General Marciano Norman, placed
blame on the Free Papua Movement, "foreign agents" and local residents
for the violence.
The President,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, played down the events. As Indonesia
obfuscates and Australia remains silent, West Papua bleeds.
While
most Australians are proud of our role in ending 24 years of bloody
Indonesian occupation in East Timor, we should not forget it came after
a long history of accepting Indonesian assertions of sovereignty while
ignoring human rights abuse on our doorstep.
Wide-eyed innocence
After East Timor, we cannot claim any wide-eyed innocence regarding West Papua.
Australia
is now bidding for a place on the United Nations Security Council on
the basis of our alleged "human rights-based foreign policy,"
highlighting our role in East Timor while trying to keep a lid on our
history of inaction there.
The
federal Attorney-General has refused freedom of information requests
for the release of diplomatic cables dating to the 1970s – cables that
a University of NSW professor, Clinton Fernandes, says will show
Australian complicity in concealing the mass starvation of Timorese.
Are
we now making the same mistakes with West Papua? Few are aware of
Australian and UN involvement in West Papua 30 years before the
intervention in East Timor.
Like
East Timor, West Papua was annexed by Indonesia in circumstances that
violated international law. Comparisons are made, and with good reason.
Both
territories are made up of distinct minorities. Both are rich in
natural resources. Both have struggled for self-determination. Like
East Timor, West Papua had a UN vote for self-determination, only the
outcome could not have been more different.
Sham vote
In
1999, East Timor got a proper vote and won independence (not before an
estimated 200,000 Timorese had died). But in 1969, West Papua got a
sham vote and became part of Indonesia.
Last
month, East Timor celebrated 10 years of independence or, as the
Timorese say, 10 years since the international community recognized
their independence.
But an estimated 400,000 Papuans have now been killed after more than 40 years of Indonesian oppression and abuse.
This
year, Indonesia faced international condemnation for the imprisonment
of West Papuan leaders for peacefully calling for independence. When
asked if Australia had raised concerns with Indonesia, the Foreign
Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, responded by admitting that "before I could
raise the subject…
The Indonesian Foreign Minister nominated that they
have a clear responsibility to see that their sovereignty is upheld in
respect of human rights standards," and Carr "was impressed by that."
In
responses eerily similar to statements made by Gareth Evans about East
Timor during Indonesian rule, Carr warned members of Parliament
"against foolishly talking up" West Papuans’ right to
self-determination because it "threatens the territorial integrity of
Indonesia" and "would produce a reaction" towards Australia. It would
be a foolish foreign affairs minister who did not learn from our
mistakes in East Timor.
Australia
should, at a minimum, reconsider military aid to Indonesia and call for
them to allow media and international organizations access to West
Papua to investigate abuses and facilitate peaceful dialogue.
East
Timor should remind us of the hefty price of turning a blind eye to
repression in the mistaken belief that it serves stability in our
region. As a Deakin University academic, Scott Burchill, has long
argued, it is not only "a dereliction of our ethical duty, it is
politically short-sighted and usually results in blowback."
