For The Sake Of A Flag

A small group of Aucklanders assembled on December 1st to raise the flag of West Papua. The blue and white stripes and white ‘morning star’ on red background flew aloft in Queen St, while most passing pedestrians looked bemused. Although West Papua is just across the artificial border from Papua New Guinea and its people like their neighbours are Melanesian few New Zealanders know much of its history or culture.

Meanwhile in West Papua’s capital Jayapura, where the flag is banned as a dangerous representation of ‘separatism’, Indonesian armed police quickly aborted December 1 attempts to display the flag. An anonymous Youtube video (see Footage on Scoop.co.nz), taken from a discreet distance, shows the scene as the young people were bundled into a police vehicle, their banners dragging in the dust behind them. On the soundtrack are two gunshots but as far as I have heard no-one was injured or killed – this time.

An innocent participant in an Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration last year was not so lucky – he was shot and killed because he was in a part of the crowd where an impromptu flag-raising took place. In the criminal law the ‘crime’ of raising a flag is defined as ‘makar’ or rebellion and West Papuans convicted have been given very long jail sentences. Yusak Pakage and Filep Karma were sentenced to 10 and 15 years respectively for their part in December 1 actions in 2004.

Although they are blessed (or cursed?) by rich mineral and timber resources, conservative World Bank estimates say 40 % of people in West Papua live below the poverty line. The indigenous people are close to becoming a minority in their own land because of large-scale migration combined with horrific health problems. The rate of HIV/Aids infection, at least 2.5 % of the population, is many times the average rate for Indonesia as a whole and predictions are that the rate will climb to 7% by 2025.

As we mark International Human Rights Day (December 10) it is a good time to ask: how did it get this way and when will West Papua see positive change?

December 1 2009 marks the 48th anniversary of the date when West Papuan people, then living under Dutch rule, first raised their ‘morning star’ flag and sang the national anthem they had chosen for their nation-in-waiting. At the time Indonesia’s increasingly belligerent claims to the Melanesian territory were firmly rejected by western nations including New Zealand. In April of 1961 a ‘New Guinea Council’ made up of a majority of elected Papuans held its inaugural meeting. New Zealand honoured the occasion by sending Hon F.L.A Gotz, the then Minister of Island Affairs.

Sadly, in the cold war dynamics of the time, the imperative of keeping Indonesia in the western sphere of influence won out over niceties of Papuan rights. In 1962, the reluctant Dutch were persuaded to sign the US brokered New York agreement and agreed to transfer control of the territory to Indonesia, after a transition period of UN administration.

Indonesia was pledged to hold an act of self-determination but in 1969, at the beginning of Suharto’s long reign the regime managed to get away with a cynical travesty dubbed the ‘Act of Free Choice’, better known ever after as the ‘Act of No Choice’. 1022 hand-picked male ‘representatives’ of the 800,000 population were coerced into a unanimous ‘vote’ for integration. The New Zealand media at the time followed the events with a critical eye. The Auckland Star editorialised: ‘a tormented and impoverished little country is being subjected to the farce of what must be the most contrived ‘free election’ outside the communist bloc.’

Unfortunately, our Government was not deterred from voting at the UN with 83 other nations to ‘take note’ of the Act of Free Choice.

In the wake of Suharto’s fall there were some chinks of light for West Papua – President Wahid allowed a broad Congress to be held in 2000 where representatives talked freely about independence. In the spirit of these times Phil Goff as Foreign Minister even made a cautious offer of help with mediation. But at the end of 2001 special forces officers killed charismatic Papuan leader Theys Eluay, ending what is sometimes described as the ‘Papuan spring’

In many ways West Papua’s story is similar to that of East Timor – as in Timor no-one really knows the cost in lives of the conflict but usual estimates suggest it is at least 100,000. A largely bows and arrows guerrilla resistance has gradually given way to diplomacy: a determined effort to engage the international community in a resolution to the problem it helped to create.

As the UN Committee on Torture and institutions such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch continue to document human rights violations, there is growing concern among reform-minded Indonesians. The respected LIPI (Indonesian Institute of Sciences) is promoting a ‘road map’ to peace, a stepped process of dialogue that enjoins the resistance to abandon armed struggle and Indonesia to accept demilitarisation. Papuan leaders have welcomed this very moderate initiative.

Unfortunately, the Indonesian military is still impregnable against all criticism. Far from being held accountable for human rights violations on their watch, the commanders of the military and police in West Papua have been rewarded with promotion. Former West Papua Police Chief Sutanto now heads the State Intelligence Agency in Jakarta. The acclaimed Australian movie “Balibo” which depicts the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor was shut down just before it was to have its Jakarta premiere.

However, Indonesia, with its majority Muslim population, trades on its image as a model of democracy and has made commitments to international law including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. At the very least New Zealand should insist that the people be free to hold a demonstration and raise their beloved flag.

Maire Leadbeater: Spokesperson, Indonesia Human Rights Committee,

ENDS

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