On October 11th last year, the Dutch newspaper 'De Telegraaf' ran the first of a series of articles on what looks like becoming Asia's latest war of independence. The author, Henk de Mari, was reporting direct from Baik, one of the remotest islands of Indonesia. His first report carried an account of a grim jungle incident four years earlier, on the west of the island:

'Members of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) fired on Indonesian soldiers in the jungle, and ten soldiers were killed. An Indonesian patrol of 50 red-beret and green-beret soldiers then went on a punitive expedition.

'The kampongs of Wusdori and Kridori, built on piles along the beach, were visited by the patrol. The villagers knew that the patrol was coming and they fled, not because they had in any way been involved in the OPM, but Because they were, as is usually the case, afraid of Indonesian soldiers. It often happens, even to this day, that troops misbehave: they rape women, kill pigs, and demand food and drink without payment.

'When the patrol reached the two kampongs, all they found were deserted huts ... The patrol moved on without destroying anything. The next day the villagers moved back...

'After the villagers had been back for two days, the soldiers returned and encircled the villages. All the inhabitants were driven to an open space between the two kampongs, and the men, 25 from Wusdori and 30 from Kridori, were forced to dig a large hole ... That hole became their grave, for they were all shot to death. The women and children were forced to look on ...

'The day after the mass murder, the soldiers came back with some 30 Papuans, presumably from neighbouring villages. They were not known to the villagers of Wusdori and Kridori. The soldiers took the boats of the villagers they killed the day before and forced the 30 Papuans into the boats. Stones had been tied to their necks, and not far from the shore the Papuans were thrown overboard and drowned.'

The 'Act of Free Choice'

Baik lies of Irian Jaya—the western half of the island of New Guinea. Although this kind of armed resistance to Indonesian rule, and the inevitable retaliations, have only come to light in the last two years, the problem is as old as the Republic of Indonesia itself. When agreement was reached between the newly founded Indonesian Republic and the Dutch Government in 1949 for the formal transfer of sovereignty to the Republic in December 1949, West New Guinea was excluded from the agreement and made subject to a special settlement.

But the Dutch Government dragged its feet, and the issue quickly became a major plank in Indonesia's anti-colonialist struggle. A number of campaigns, both economic and military, followed. A naval encounter occurred at the beginning of 1962 and this led to renewed diplomatic efforts within the United Nations (strongly encouraged by the United States) to bring about a settlement. When agreement came it involved concessions by both sides. After a brief interregnum under the UN, Indonesia would take control of the region from May 1, 1963. An 'act of free choice' would then be held, not more than eight years later.

But although some circles in West Irian welcomed the chance of incorporation within Indonesia, a 'Free Papua' movement soon began to emerge, stressing the differences—ethnic and cultural, between the Papuan people and people in the rest of the Indonesian archipelago.

Corruption and Plunder

Indonesian Administration, when it moved into the area, brought with it officials who were inspired with a great sense of of idealism. But it also brought officials who quickly began to abuse their privileges, resorting to corruption and outright plundering of the local wealth. This was compounded by a general lack of understanding of a people, many of whom were still living in the stone age, and it inevitably had the effect of widening the feeling of mistrust.

In 1969, the 'act of free choice' took place—as prescribed by the 1962 New York Agreement. The UN resolution had specified that the referendum should take place in accordance with 'accepted international practice'. But Indonesia employed the method of mushawarah— literally a 'reaching of consensus', but put differently a method that requires unanimity.

The principle of 'one man, one vote' was rejected and voting rights were conferred upon the tribal chieftains who would be regarded as 'representing' their tribes. They were actively wooed and cajoled into saying 'yes' and given to understand in no uncertain terms that any opposition would be seen as an act of 'Communist subversion'.

The result of the referendum was a foregone conclusion—a 100% vote in favour of the Republic. When the result came before the UN General Assembly for approval in 1969, a group of African countries, spearheaded by Ghana, opposed the resolution of approval and demanded that the Papuan people be given another opportunity to exercise their right to self-determination. Fifteen African states supported this move, but the majority voted with the resolution.

Since 1969, the situation in the territory has further deteriorated. Some of the facts were brought to light by an American anthropologist, Mrs. Wyn Sargent, who lived for many months with a Papuan tribe and saw for herself numerous times cases of mal-treatment and theft by Indonesian officials. As soon as the Indonesian authorities got wind of her activities (which included an extraordinary marriage with a tribal chieftain) she was ordered to leave the country. But several months after she had left and the commotion surrounding her expulsion had died down, a Jakarta weekly (Tempo) sent a reporter to check on her findings. They were found to be substantially true.

The Free Papua Movement favours the merging of the two halves of the island of New Guinea into a single state, on the grounds of cultural affinity and affinity between the people of the whole island. And of course it had also vigorously challenged the 'act of free choice'.

Its military arm, the OPM, claims (despite being proscribed) to have set up a provisional Government in the central region of the territory which borders on Papua New Guinea. The OPM also asserts that it controls an area equivalent in size to 2½ times the size of the Netherlands.

Indonesian troops wage continual campaigns against the OPM, and have been responsible for many alleged acts of brutality. According to the OPM, no fewer than 30,000 people have been massacred since 1962 when Indonesia first took over the territory. The vast majority of these killings have occurred since the military took control in Indonesia in 1965

Far too little is know internationally about the behaviour of Indonesian troops in West Irian. Quite apart from the Baik massacres, Henk de Mari's articles in De Telegraaf provide much startling information about extreme intimidation and fear pervading the country. A local parliamentarian, he reports, who had made an appointment with him for an interview on the local economic and social situation was arrested by the Army the day before the interview was to take place.

Why is the Indonesian Government so determined to pursue this debilitating campaign in the jungles of Irian? According to reports the entire province has now been closed to foreign observers and journalists. But it has certainly been opened up to the foreign investor. West Irian accounts for about 22% of the total land area of Indonesia and probably includes a larger share of its mineral wealth (much of which still awaits prospecting).

Indonesia's Foreign Investment Law of 1967 heralded a new era of multinational plunder of Indonesia's resources, and soon brought the prospector and investor to West Irian. As well as oil, deposits of nickel, copper, cobalt and other minerals have been found. As an example of the investment plans in preparation now, the P.T. Pacific Nickel (which incorporates the US Steel Corporation and Newmont Mining Corporation from the States, K.N.H. & S., and Internatio-Muller from the Netherlands, and Sherritt Gordon Mines from Canada) have announced plans for the investment of $692 million over the next few years. The conglomerate has discovered nickel deposits on Gong—an island which US Congressman Otto Passmore recently described picturesquely as 'almost sinking with nickel... the largest nickel deposit the world has ever known.' This investment envisages the construction of a smelting plant, and in all probability the emergence of an entirely new town to provide the plant with more than two thousand workers.

There can be little doubt that current Indonesian policies on West Irian are based on exploitation and oppression. Nor can there be any doubt that they will provoke increasing resistance.