Ben Bohane, Irian Jaya – From the air, the Fly River looks like a vast brown intestinal tract, twisting its way through the tangled jungles of southern New Guinea. In the last century, European explorers navigated the river to see if it led to the heart of the island (it did). These days, the Fly is an estuarine highway for barges carrying gold and copper concentrate from a mine upriver. While most of the waterway is located in Papua New Guinea, in parts it acts as the border between P.N.G. and Indonesia. Camped along its banks are some 8,000 West Papuan refugees fleeing Indonesian rule in Irian Jaya.
After a meandering five-hour trip up the river, one arrives at the Southern Command headquarters of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM), or the Free Papua Organization. This year is the 30th anniversary of Indonesia's formal annexation of Irian Jaya. In 1969, under the UN-observed Act of Free Choice, West Papuans were supposed to decide whether to join Indonesia or become independent. But only 1,025 handpicked men were allowed to vote, after being bribed and intimidated. (Indonesia's then-president Sukarno threatened to have their "tongues cut out" if they did not vote for integration.) The OPM has been carrying out a low-level separatist insurgency ever since.
In charge of the OPM's Southern Command is Bernard Mawen, a tall, slim man with a gray beard. Accompanying him is a younger man, Commander John Nek Nek, who leads the OPM's "progressive" faction. Delegates from all over Irian Jaya have gathered in this riverside village for a conference to discuss strategy, draw up a list of demands for Jakarta and, as it soon transpires, allow Nek Nek to effectively take up the reins of the movement.
In a curious way, the situation in the OPM mirrors the momentous change sweeping the archipelago. Just as Indonesia is moving uncertainly toward a shift in leadership after three decades, so too is the OPM attempting a smooth transition of power to the next generation. It is an equally fraught process. The OPM has long been characterized by factionalism, due as much to geography as to politics. Given the sheer size and terrain of Irian Jaya, the seven "commands" of the OPM have operated autonomously with very little coordination. Today, it has been left to the three active regional commanders – Kelly Kwalik (Central), Matthias Wenda (Northern) and Mawen (Southern) – to continue the struggle. All three have at some point claimed the mantle of supreme commander, and tensions have existed for many years between Wenda and Mawen.
Thus, the emergence of Nek Nek, 41, and his progressives as the new driving force in the OPM is significant. They have already reconciled the Northern and Southern Command leaders for the first time, as evidenced by the presence of Wenda's men at the conference. Asked what his priorities are, Nek Nek replies: "The first is unity. The OPM has become all-inclusive to avoid the factionalism of the past. I have tried to introduce a more democratic process within the OPM, holding forums like this one where everyone can speak openly, including women. This is important because when we achieve independence, we don't want to be dominated by militaristic thinking. Otherwise we are no better than the current regime."
That Irian Jaya must be independent goes without saying for the 100 or so conference participants, notwithstanding the reformist noises emanating from Jakarta. "Even if Megawati [Sukarnoputri] gets elected with her promises of reformasi, she is still the daughter of Sukarno, the man who invaded West Papua," says one delegate. "We think it is unlikely she would go against her father's policy." Indeed, like the founding president, Megawati is a nationalist to the core and opposes any territorial break-up of Indonesia.
The OPM will continue to train fighters, says Nek Nek, but the focus will now be on small teams of special forces, "like the Sparrow Units" – a reference to the urban hit squads deployed by Philippine communist rebels.
Nek Nek explains the reason for the special units: "I believe that militarily we need to put pressure on Indonesia by hurting their economy. We will soon begin economic targeting." He declines to name any such targets, but one of them will likely be US resources giant Freeport, whose gold-and-copper mining operation in Irian Jaya accounts for 30% of Indonesia's export earnings.
The OPM hopes to achieve its ultimate aim within a decade. "We are looking at a transitional period to independence of perhaps five to 10 years," says Nek Nek. "That begins this year." Lately, with the world fixated on pro-independence rumblings in East Timor and Aceh, the plight of the Irianese has been almost forgotten. But that does not make the struggle any less urgent for the likes of Nek Nek. Jakarta would do well to take note.