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Indonesia draws a line over West
Papua
By Alan Boyd
SYDNEY -
Indonesia may close its key border crossing into Papua
New Guinea (PNG) after renewed separatist tensions in
the rebellious province of West Papua (formerly Irian
Jaya) that aid workers claim are being partly inflamed
by Muslim extremists.
Hundreds of Indonesian
troops have been moved to the 800 kilometer frontier
after a series of attacks by Organisasi Papua Merdeka
(OPM) guerrillas that Jakarta says are being launched
from Papua New Guinean territory.
While the PNG
government has issued its own ultimatum to the OPM,
Indonesian authorities are pressing for the closure of a
border crossing near the village of Wutung that would
sever the main escape pipeline for victims of the
fighting.
"Our understanding is that [closure]
is Indonesia's fallback position in lieu of an implicit
undertaking by PNG to keep the OPM out. Clearly this is
not a practical proposition from either a security or
political perspective," said a diplomat.
As many
as 20,000 Papuans have fled to PNG from Indonesia's West
Papua province since Dutch-based academics launched the
OPM independence separatist movement in the mid-1960s.
The OPM uses the scattered shantytowns just
inside PNG as recruitment bases and for staging attacks
against the nearby Indonesian army and border police
garrisons. These have limited impact: Despite a claimed
strength of 65,000, the OPM has only a few hundred
committed fighters, most armed with little more than
spears and knives and with minimal training.
But
the attacks do serve a more potent political purpose in
attracting village support and keeping the flagging
movement alive in the eyes of the OPM's overseas
supporters.
PNG newspapers reported at the
weekend that Jakarta had reacted to the latest attacks
by mobilizing an unprecedented 1,500 troops, backed by
helicopter gunships and fixed-wing spotter planes.
Foreign diplomats believe it is more likely that
the permanent garrison of 150 troops was boosted to
400-500, but nonetheless view the buildup as a sign that
Indonesian patience is running out.
It is
equally apparent that attitudes are hardening toward
neighboring PNG, which publicly condemns the OPM but
takes little direct action out of a reluctance to offend
its own substantial Papuan population.
Most of
the border crossings are manned only by customs staff on
the PNG side. Port Moresby blames financial constraints,
but is more likely to be acceding to demands by local
politicians that it allow a free flow of border
crossers.
However, the rising tempo of recent
incidents has raised the security barometer to a level
where more resources are likely to be committed, if only
to protect PNG's territorial integrity.
Port
Moresby is particularly concerned that Indonesian land
forces have crossed into PNG on at least three instances
in the last two weeks in pursuit of OPM suspects, while
helicopters have repeatedly violated PNG airspace.
Weary of PNG's reluctance to hand over OPM
operatives that it believes are sheltering in the camps,
Indonesia has also apparently taken to handing out
summary justice.
The wife of West Papuan
human-rights leader Johannes Bonay was one of two women
injured when gunmen opened fire on a convoy of cars near
the border last week.
Several other villagers,
believed to be PNG nationals, were hurt in separate
shooting attacks by an unidentified group in the Wutung
area, several kilometers within PNG territory.
Indonesia blamed all of the incidents on the
OPM. However, diplomats are generally skeptical of
guerrilla involvement, noting that they lack the
firepower and motivation for targeting civilians.
"Militias were used by the TNI [Indonesian
military] with considerable success in Timor to weaken
the base of civilian support for guerrillas, and yes,
one would have to say this has a similar pattern," said
another diplomat. "What little we do know is that the
assailants were not wearing military insignia but were
far too well organized and equipped for a ragtag outfit
like the OPM. I think we can draw our own conclusions
from that."
TNI-backed militiamen first began to
appear in numbers in West Papua as part of a concerted
crackdown on dissent following the murder of nationalist
leader Theys Eluay in November 2001.
Seven
members of Indonesia's army special forces went on trial
last week for the killing, which is believed to have
been part of a deliberate TNI strategy to destabilize
West Papua and justify military intervention.
Aid workers believe that the tensions were
partly fueled by Laskar Jihad, a notorious Muslim
extremist group with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
terrorist network and the bombing of churches in the
Maluku islands.
Laskar Jihad has reputedly been
training Javanese settlers to resist the Christian OPM,
ahead of an expected new wave of resettlements from
Indonesia's crowded central provinces.
The
Javanization of West Papua has been inevitable since
North American and European mining firms began
uncovering the lucrative resource base that lies within
its sprawling rainforests.
Within the next five
years the province is expected to become one of the
biggest producers of natural gas in Asia, as well as a
significant source of gold and other precious metals.
PNG, conscious that it will day provide a
valuable supporting role, will undoubtedly do
Indonesia's bidding over the refugees issue. Since 1990
it has been quietly sending back new arrivals, in the
knowledge that many deportees face certain imprisonment
and possible execution.
For all of Port
Moresby's protestations, an informal understanding has
been in force for years that the Indonesians may pursue
suspected separatists across the border as much as they
please.
In effect this agreement, which is due
to be reaffirmed in talks next month, delegates
authority for security on both sides of the border to
Indonesian forces while PNG keeps a careful distance.
There is speculation that Port Moresby may even
bow to Jakarta's demands for a formal extradition treaty
that could be used to target individual OPM leaders who
seek sanctuary across the border.
Less direct
pressure is being felt from the United States and
Australia, PNG's biggest donor nations, which are keen
to protect their investments and normalize ties with the
discredited TNI.
These were downgraded after
militia atrocities in Timor in 1999 but have become
imperative since the terrorist attacks in the US and the
more recent Bali nightclub bombings. Ironically,
Washington and Canberra now need the TNI's support in
countering the same isolated pockets of Muslim extremism
that are reportedly being advanced by the Indonesian
armed forces in Irian Jaya.
Trapped between
these conflicting interests, the OPM has never enjoyed
support from foreign governments, and its standing has
fallen further as terrorism takes center stage.
In September the movement was blamed for the
shooting deaths of two Americans and an Indonesian
teacher who were on a sightseeing tour from the giant
US-owned Freeport gold mine in West Papua.
Despite independent evidence that suggested
Indonesian soldiers were responsible for the attack,
Jakarta blamed the OPM. Washington was not convinced,
and investigations continue.
(©2003 Asia Times
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