Tuesday, July 4, 2000

Opinion: A History of Contempt for Irian Jaya, By John Saltford International Herald Tribune

ITHACA, New York - Some 3,000 Papuan activists meeting in the easternmost Indonesian province of Irian Jaya recently passed a resolution declaring independence. President Abdurrahman Wahid rejected their demand, claiming that they spoke only for a minority. There were warnings that Jakarta would not tolerate any attempt to secede.

Both sides refer to an act of self-determination monitored by the United Nations in 1969 whereby 1,022 officially appointed ''representatives'' of the territory resolved to become part of Indonesia. Jakarta says this vote was internationally recognized and the matter is closed. But many Papuans dismiss the 1969 act as a sham.

They contend that they have yet to exercise a right to self-determination guaranteed by Indonesia, the Netherlands and the United Nations in 1962.

The current demands for independence coincide with the release of documents by the United Nations, the Netherlands and other countries that appear to support the Papuans' argument.

Under the 1962 terms, the Dutch agreed to hand Papua over to a temporary UN administration on condition that self-determination would take place, ''in accordance with international practice,'' within six years - but the United Nations could transfer power to Indonesia beforehand. The temporary administration pulled out after seven months, and Jakarta took over in May 1963.

When the United Nations returned in 1968 to prepare for the ''act,'' the Papuans had experienced five years of Indonesian rule. An American diplomat noted that the Indonesians had ''tried everything from bombing to shelling and mortaring, but a continuous state of semi-rebellion persists.''

From the start, Jakarta declared that a referendum was impractical because the people were ''primitive.'' Ortiz Sanz, head of the UN mission to Irian Jaya, agreed. He proposed a ''mixed'' system with direct voting in the towns and some form of ''collective consultation'' elsewhere. This, he told the authorities, was ''the minimum requirement to satisfy world public opinion.''

Jakarta disagreed and announced that ''collective consultation'' would be adopted throughout the territory. Publicly, the UN secretary-general, U Thant, refused to endorse the decision, but documents indicate that senior UN and Dutch officials had privately agreed to this as early as 1963.

There was little international sympathy for the Papuans. A British diplomat wrote in 1968 that he could not imagine the U.S., Japanese, Dutch or Australian governments ''putting at risk their economic and political relations with Indonesia on a matter of principle involving a relatively small number of very primitive people.''

In a letter to UN headquarters Mr. Sanz said that ''only a very insignificant percentage of the population is capable of or has interest in any political actions or even thoughts.''

In the UN secretary-general's official report on the so-called act of self-determination, the Secretariat said the majority of Papuan petitions sent to Mr. Sanz supported Indonesia. Declassified UN documents now show this to be untrue.

In July and August 1969, the Papuan representatives were gathered together to vote in front of officials, diplomats and a few foreign journalists. Entertainment was provided as Indonesian officials were paraded shoulder high by Papuans in a carefully rehearsed display of loyalty. Afterward the authorities announced that the result was a unanimous decision by the people to join Indonesia.

In November the UN secretary-general's report concluded that an act of free choice had taken place in accordance with ''Indonesian practice.'' The General Assembly then voted to ''take note'' of the outcome. With that the United Nations ended its responsibilities toward Papua.

The Dutch government recently agreed to carry out a ''historical re-examination'' of the self-determination act in Irian Jaya. It remains to be seen whether the United Nations will follow suit and review a discreditable chapter in its history.

The writer, who recently completed a doctoral thesis at Cornell University on the UN handover of Irian Jaya to Indonesia, contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.

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Paul Barber
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign,
25 Plovers Way, Alton Hampshire GU34 2JJ
Tel/Fax: 01420 80153
Email: plovers@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Defending victims of oppression in Indonesia and
East Timor, 1973-2000
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