Vaudine England, Jakarta – The indigenous Papuans of Irian Jaya celebrated their claimed independence day yesterday with prayers, peaceful ceremonies and a welcoming speech from the police chief.
"It was eerily quiet this morning," said a resident of Jayapura, capital of the separatist-inclined eastern province. "It was absolutely still and spooky, but it all took place peacefully ... by mid-morning, the taxis were running again."
Police later lowered a separatist Morning Star flag in the capital to comply with a government mandated deadline, witnesses said. There was no immediate resistance from a stunned crowd of about 700 who had earlier vowed to defend the flying of the flag with their lives. At least four Papuans were arrested during the celebrations. In Jakarta, police fired tear-gas to disperse about 300 students from Irian Jaya who staged a rally outside the US Embassy.
The true test of pledges of restraint from government and separatist forces in the province will come overnight or today as police try to enforce an eviction order on the pro-independence Satgas Papua militia. Police plan to prevent all flying of the Morning Star flag, except for one flag at the home of imprisoned Papua Presidium leader Theys Eluay.
The 39th independence anniversary saw up to 10,000 Papuans gathering for prayers and ceremonies under the gaze of hundreds of police and riot troops, who had been told to use force to protect the nation's integrity if necessary.
"We are limited in what we can do and say," said Willy Mandowen, a leading member of the Presidium. "[But] it is proceeding as planned and as agreed upon with the authorities. We prayed to the Almighty and we thanked Him. The police chief also came up on the stage and he thanked the Irian people who had co-operated with the security forces."
The Papuans first gathered at sunrise on the main street of Jayapura, where a cultural centre office has been taken over by Satgas Papua. Many of them wore traditional outfits of feathers, shells, bones and penis gourds, and heckled the more moderate Presidium leaders when they refused to read out the 1961 unilateral claim of independence for the former Dutch colony.
In what most observers see as a provocative act by the Government, Mr Eluay and two colleagues were detained on Wednesday on possible charges of treason. Police say anyone who tries to raise the flag from now on faces similar treatment.
Presidium spokesman Clemens Runaweri claimed an extra 21,000 Indonesian troops, police and special branch officers were in Irian Jaya, although officials admit to only an extra four battalions of regular troops.