Vaudine England – Jakarta is working on faulty information and might be "stupid" for its plans to stifle independence sentiment in Irian Jaya, a leading Papuan human rights advocate says.
A Home Affairs Department plan calls for the raising of village-level militias, creating a hero out of an unspecified Irian figure and tough action against independence leaders, in a strategy to keep Irian Jaya part of Indonesia.
The measures combine velvet-glove and iron-hand tactics by which Jakarta will fund developments in the province while exposing and cracking down on the independence movement.
But the Indonesian Government may be using flawed information, says John Rumbiak, head of the Els-Ham Institute for Human Rights and Advocacy based near the Irian Jaya capital, Jayapura. Els-Ham's work involves the documenting of human rights violations, which means it often criticises Indonesian security forces.
"On the list [which names so-called separatist figures], were church leaders, NGO [non-government organisation] activists, academics, tribal chiefs, even myself," said Mr Rumbiak, who says he has seen the documents. "This information is simply wrong. The question for me is, are the intelligence people deliberately distributing false information, or are they just stupid?"
Either way, the message is unsettling. It is widely believed that the military's technique, as displayed elsewhere across the fractious archipelago, is to create a conflict to justify a crackdown and to perpetuate the army's view that without it, Indonesia could fall apart.
But Jakarta-based intelligence operatives appear to have trouble distinguishing between friend and foe, possibly because the concepts of neutrality and a free flow of information have yet to be grasped by Indonesian security forces.
Those security forces have been stepping up activities in Irian Jaya, including the apparently deliberate encouragement of both pro and anti-independence militia gangs there. The strategy would appear to be similar to Mao Zedong's "letting a hundred thousand flowers bloom", only to chop off the blooms once exposed.
The military has also dispatched two extra elite reserve battalions, about 1300 troops, ahead of December 1 – the anniversary of a Papuan declaration of independence issued in 1961, before Dutch colonialists left the province and long before Indonesia's formal annexation of Irian Jaya in 1969.
Concern about Jakarta's policy toward Irian Jaya is particularly high ahead of Friday's anniversary. Independence activists say they do not plan to declare independence again, only to hold prayers and thanksgiving ceremonies to mark the day.
Police in Irian Jaya say an agreement has been reached to allow the independence flag to fly, adding it must be lowered on Saturday. Fears of clashes remain high given the increased troop presence in the troubled province and a confusion of policy from Jakarta.
Police said they had orders from Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri to crush the separatist movement, even as President Abdurrahman Wahid was peddling tolerance and compromise.
"There has been a rapid escalation of separatist calls ... the military has to be prepared," Lieutenant-General Agus Widjojo said, representing the armed forces.