Marni Cordell – It's cold on the first morning of the Yumi Wantaim gathering, and we – an eclectic mix of faces, ages and colours – are huddled under a large white marquee in Pipemaker's Park in outer Melbourne. Outside, under a drizzle of rain, a fire pit is being prepared to cook sweet potato and a pig, killed for the occasion. The West Papuan flag stands motionless as backdrop while longtime West Papua activist Bishop Hilton Deakin welcomes the crowd.
Yumi Wantaim was held on the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of August and was a gathering of people wanting to learn, discuss and share knowledge and understanding about the current political and cultural situation in West Papua. It was a small event, but the audience was diverse, and included many people from the Pacific region who had come in support and welcoming of their West Papuan sisters and brothers. Despite the fact that it's only 250 kilometres from our coastline, West Papua is not an area of the world that many Australians know much about.
Formerly known as Irian Jaya, and sharing a landmass with the independent country of Papua New Guinea, history books will tell you that West Papua is the 26th province of the Republic of Indonesia. The people of West Papua however, tell a different story about their land.
West Papua was colonised by the Netherlands in the nineteenth century as part of the Dutch East Indies. Its sovereignty was not relinquished at the same time as the rest of the archipelago, however, which gained independence as the Republic of Indonesia in 1949. The reasons for this were complex, and can probably be attributed to the Netherlands' desire to retain some control in the region. However, it was also noted by the Dutch Minister for Overseas Territories at the time that the territory was "separate from Indonesia geographically, ethnographically and politically". The West Papuan land and people were not a part of South East Asia; they were more obviously Melanesian.
West Papuans have tightly curled hair and dark skin. They eat sweet potato and sago. They are a predominantly Christian people who are ethnically, culturally and physically very different to the mostly Muslim population of Java, Lombok, Sumatra and the other islands that make up the Republic of Indonesia. They identify themselves as Papuans, not as Indonesians, and have their own unique history, stories and traditions.
The Netherlands continued to administer West Papua until 1962, when, amidst increasing international pressure and in dispute with Indonesia over control of the territory, the sovereignty of West Papua was officially taken from them and transferred to a United Nations transitional government, under a UN-backed agreement known as the New York Agreement.
Under this same agreement, administration of West Papua was officially handed to Indonesia the year after, with the provision that Indonesia would hold a referendum after a period of six years in which the people of West Papua would decide on the fate of their country. The referendum, known as the Act of Free Choice but dubbed as the Act of No Choice, was held in 1969, under spurious conditions. Only 1,022 of the 800,000-strong population were permitted to vote, and it is now widely understood that the selected voters were coerced, threatened and closely scrutinised by armed Indonesian security personnel to unanimously vote for integration with Indonesia.
In truth, the indigenous people of West Papua overwhelmingly do not support Indonesian "integration", and have since been demanding independence; for the right to live by their own customs and for their traditional culture to be respected and incorporated into the policy that governs their land.
According to Dr Jacob Rumbiak, a respected West Papuan activist living in Melbourne, Indonesian policy governing West Papua is based on a slash-and-burn philosophy, with no thought to human or ecological sustainability. Among other things, the people of West Papua are demanding the right to manage their own resources. In a recent discussion paper Rumbiak comments: "After independence ... the capitalist formula would be much more oriented towards community development and environmental protection, rather than to foreign-profit as it is now."
West Papua is a land rich with natural resources. Beneath the dense and forested landscape can be found an abundance of copper, gold, nickel, oil and natural gas. It is no secret that Indonesia would stand to lose a huge amount with the independence of the territory, including a share in the profits of the world's largest gold and copper mine, which is situated in the town of Timika and jointly owned and operated by US multinational Freeport and Australia/UK-owned Rio Tinto.
The primary argument employed by Indonesia against West Papuan independence however, is that it would disrupt the national unity and territorial integrity of the country, and they have used this questionable line of argument as an excuse to quash the movement for self-determination through violent measures. Since 1963 the Indonesian military (TNI) have routinely terrorised the indigenous population, some of the most disturbing examples of which are the Biak massacre of 1998, in which as many as 200 people were killed at the hands of the TNI; and the assassination of independence leadership figure Theys Eluay in 2001.
The Indonesian takeover of West Papua was performed in a manner that directly breaches international human rights laws, yet the United Nations and international community passively stood by and allowed it to happen. And sadly, we continue to stand by, as the TNI and military-backed militia perform the kind of human rights abuses that we became so familiar with during the 24-year occupation of East Timor.
In terms of recent world politics, the Indonesian military may appear to be emerging as a rogue force, beyond all reasonable control. However, this is far from the case. The TNI's present existence relies heavily on the support of foreign governments, including Australia, who provide ongoing training, arms and diplomatic support.
The Indonesian occupation of West Papua relies on the support of the international community in a number of other ways too: including the continued legitimisation of the Act of Free Choice; economic aid from foreign governments and bodies such as the IMF and the Asia Development Bank; and continued investment of foreign capital in West Papua. In fact, one could argue that the occupation relies more predominantly on the co-operation of the international community than it does on that of West Papuans. The power of the international community to put pressure on Indonesia to cease their occupation of West Papua and improve their human rights record is therefore huge.
The first day of the Yumi Wantaim gathering focussed on information sharing. Speakers included Dr Jacob Rumbiak, committed West Papua activists Kel Dummett and Jason McLeod and representatives from neighbouring Melanesian countries such as Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
On the second day of the gathering we sat in a circle with butcher's paper and pens and workshopped ways in which we could put pressure on the right bodies in order to raise awareness about the issue. By the end of the day we had outlined some concrete objectives with which to go forward. In terms of political influence, we – ordinary people living in Australia – may not have a great deal of power over the Indonesian Government or military. We do however have the power to put pressure on our own government; to demand transparency about which foreign militaries the Australian Government provides support to, and to call on them to withdraw support from countries that routinely abuse human rights. We also have the power to call for an investigation into the UN's role in the fraudulent Act of Free Choice, and eventually, to demand a review of the Act. There are already groups in existence organising to undertake this kind of work, and involvement in the cause is as easy as getting in touch with one of them and offering your assistance.
Just as the actions of ordinary people were integral in the East Timorese struggle for independence, so will they be in the future freedom and harmony of West Papua. Yumi Wantaim was a step in the right direction.