Radio Australia: Talk of slow motion genocide in Indonesia's Papua province

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INFO PAPUA : West Papua News

Radio Australia: Talk of slow motion genocide in Indonesia's Papua province
By Radio Austrlia
Sep 24, 2009, 10:59

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Radio Australia: Talk of slow motion genocide in Indonesia's Papua provincefor independence in West Papua and there were some areas thatobviously the census was not conducted in properly.

Thosefigures are also disputed by many Papuans who tend not tobelieve anything coming from the Indonesian Government and the Papuan Provincial Administration uses its own figures which indicate a much higher percentage of the migrant population. But I'd say all figures from remote areas must be taken with a certain grain of salt, just because the country has some very remote areas that are hard to properly gauge.

LAM: Well, figures are often difficult to grasp. But Stuart
Upton, Papuans of course suffer the poorest health standards of
Indonesian citizens. Is there some deliberate neglect there do
you think, if not under the present government, certainly under
the New Order regime of Suharto, who had the backing of the
military in the 1980s and 90s?

UPTON: I think it is very hard to tell exactly. I mean I think
the health services in the remote areas are very poor, but in a
lot of these areas there is very little government control of
these areas, government presence at all in a lot of these areas
is very slight. I mean, the missions control a lot of the
flights, for example, around in the Highland areas and a lot of
the education in these areas is run by mission activity. And
outside some of the areas where there are military presence,
there are very limited government services whatsoever. I am not
sure that I see that as a deliberate policy. I think that
corruption plays a large role in that. If you look at schooling,
for example, a lot of the teachers who are supposed to be
teaching in these Highland schools are actually sitting in
Jayapura, while still getting paid for their work and I think
that's one of the issues that goes along with ... I think there
is a bit more.

LAM: But surely the fact that the Indonesian military, the TNI,
seize ownership of the region's natural resources, that in
itself is not a healthy thing?

UPTON: No, absolutely. And I think the military have a lot to
answer for in terms of how these situations ... I think that
local military activity has been very important in terms of
creating local problems. Military activity has done is the
relationship with the indigenous people, there has been
obviously there has been human rights abuses by the military,
people in different situations and this sort of thing has
prevented any trust by indigenous people in the government.
Well, I see it as a more local issue between particular interest
groups in the military and .. rather than a deliberate overall
plan.

LAM: Jim Elmslie, some may argue that forced cultural change
might be offensive to the locals, than politics. I take, for
instance, the Iban and the Kadazans in East Malaysia. Now they
seem, to have peacefully accepted federal rule from Kuala
Lumpur. Why not the Papuans, why do you think Jakarta has
difficulty winning the trust of the Papuans?

ELMSLIE: I think, this is obviously a huge question and it's
perhaps too simplistic to say that independence is at the bottom
of it all. But the response I have got from many people is that
the Indonesian Government and military have always treated the
Papuans as an enemy, as not to be trusted, because of the
historical fact that the rest of Indonesia became independent in
1949, there is a 12 year lag before Indonesia managed to gain
control over West Papua and the West Papuans were clearly
preparing themselves and wanting independence. And so, the
relationship if you like, between modern Indonesia and modern
Papua started as a military operation and to some extent it has
continued as such and the mentality from what I can gather
within the military and within the high echelons of the
Indonesian government is still to view Papua as a threat and
Papuans as potentially, enemies and traders who want to leave.
So that is a very negative way to have a foundation of the
relationship.

LAM: Stuart Upton, if I may give you the final word, just very
briefly. What do you think needs to be done for there to be a
peaceful solution?

UPTON: I think the military is part of the problem and I think
the more we can give take away reasons for the military to be
there, I think that is a very important thing. And the land and
peace issue has been an important issue in terms of not
providing any reason for a rational for the military to be
there. I think there need to be a programme to be set up in
terms of providing some sort of way forward for Papuans to turn
education and employment, so they have a future in this sense
and being able to live in the Papuan urban areas of Papua.

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