Jakarta – Indonesia strongly rejected claims by dozens of refugees who fled eastern Papua for Australia this week that the government was perpetrating genocide in their home province.
The 43 Papuans, who reportedly include prominent pro-independence activists and their families, arrived on the northern coast of mainland Australia on Wednesday aboard a large outrigger canoe in an apparent bid for asylum.
The political nature of their flight from Indonesia was highlighted by a banner strung on their canoe that accused Indonesia of genocide in West Papua, a former Dutch colony that Indonesia took over in the 1960s.
Indonesia's presidential spokesman Dino Djalil dismissed the claims. "It's all rubbish. There is no genocide whatsoever in Papua. No one believes that," he told AFP.
Djalil conceded there had been human rights "problems" in the past but insisted that under the current government, security forces did not commit violations.
"I'm not aware of any human rights incidents recently in Papua," he said. "There are political problems, but the government is doing its best to rectify the problems of the past," he said.
He was referring to ongoing discontent among Papuans over their share of revenue from resource extraction in the province as well as a low-level and sporadic separatist insurgency that has rumbled on for decades.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who came to power in October 2004, wanted to tackle separatist sentiment, "address grievances and create political stability" in Papua, by implementing a regional autonomy law, Djalil said.
"I'm sure the Australians realise the sensitivities of the Indonesians on this issue," he said, adding that if the situation was dealt with sensitively, it would not disrupt relations between the two countries.
The incident comes as the neighbours negotiate a new security treaty that is expected to include a pledge by Canberra not to interfere in provinces like Papua.
Foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin told AFP Thursday that Indonesia was remaining open minded about the incident and wanted to "manage this case well".
On Friday he said that the matter remained in Australian hands for now and Indonesia was still waiting to be informed officially about the Papuans' claims.
Indonesia won sovereignty over Papua, which was then called West Irian, in 1969 after the UN allowed an integration referendum with a public show of hands by a few hundred hand-picked tribal leaders. The vote was labelled a sham by critics.