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2. Aerial Bombardments |
Dr. Kees Lagerberg reported that an estimated 300,000 people had disappeared
without trace. This is an awful lot of people in anybody's language, but it is
more horrific if one considers that the estimated population of the territory
was about 700,000 in the early 1960, and about one million in the 1980's, when
Dr. Lagerberg made the claim. Thus 30% of the population has simply vanished
from the face of this earth. A small portion of this could be explained, the
aerial bombardment claimed 80,000 lives, exile and refugees at its highest [
1984-1985] totaled 13,000, known massacres 13,000, that totals roughly 106,000.
So, where did the remainder go? If one looks at the abysmal level of health care
system for the rural population, the disease statistics meagre though they are,
one could not help but conclude that this population is rapidly declining
directly or indirectly as the result of Indonesian government policies. As such
these are man-made policies designed to eliminate a whole race of indigenous
First Peoples. At the start of the accession to power in the territory, the
Indonesian government policy was to eliminate all politically literate and
educated West Papuan elite, because she feared that their presence will hamper
the process of Indonesianisation [see "isolated" murders, and
disappearances]. The government's Family Planning Programme which stresses the
policy of smaller family size also spells disaster for this Melanesian race.
Therefore there is an element of urgency to stem this decline lest this ethnic
Melanesian race not survive beyond the first two decades of the 21st century.
In this account we list as many accounts of killings and massacres as known
to us. This list is by no means complete. It is constructed from many and varied
sources: published works [books, newspapers, journals], verbal and written
accounts and reports from relatives and friends of the victims, witnesses and
general observers living on the spot, and reports from itinerant travelers
throughout the territory during the past 30 years.
We attempt as much as possible to verify information filtered to us from
these sources. Many informants do not wish their names to be quoted and we
respect that wish. Excluded from this list are those killed in armed conflict
with the Indonesian military, in other words a Papuan shot dead while holding an
'offensive' weapon be it a bow and arrow, spear, or firearm. This distinction is
important because no matter how cruel an Indonesian soldier is, he is entitled
to self defense, although it would be justifiable to argue that a bow and arrow
or spear is hardly what one would clarify as an 'offensive' weapon (it is a
Papuan cultural tradition, especially in the Highland areas in the interior
parts of West Papua, for tribesmen to carry their bows and arrows or spears with
them at all times).
Furthermore this list distinguishes those killed during aerial bombardments
and machine-gun attacks [the death toll of which are impossible to ascertain
with any accuracy), massacres by ground troops [in some massacres body count is
impossible to ascertain but where this is possible it is listed, including the
names of the victims. This list therefore provides a summary of names of
individuals killed, deaths in police/security custody, and untraceable
disappearances. These we report as accurately as possible.
The worst form of genocide for which no evidence has so far been produced
against Indonesia includes the gross neglect of health services leading to
increased deaths from preventable diseases.
The forced removal (translocation) of Papuans from their traditional tribal
land e.g. from the Highlands to coastal areas (where the Highlanders being
non-immune to malaria succumb en-masse to cerebral malaria - in particular the
case of the Amungme tribe of Akimuka in the Freeport mine site]. The removal of
Papuans from fertile arable land to poor soil areas with the resultant periods
of gross famine also contributed to the rapid demise of West Papuan numbers.
Some of the killings are described in its full and shocking gory details.
This further illustrates that Indonesia is far from the responsible and humane
government it purports to portray and details the depths of depravity to which
this brutal and oppressive colonial government will sink to in order to
deny the indigenous Papuans their God-given right to be masters on their own
land.
To keep this document as short as possible, only one or two reports are
quoted in full.
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2. Aerial Bombardments |