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.