Tom Wright, Jakarta – Indonesia's attempts to blame the weekend killing of two US citizens on Papuan separatists may be the first step in a military crackdown in the restive province that could complicate US political and business interests.
Indonesia's army chief Ryamizard Ryacudu was quoted by the local news agency Antara Monday repeating claims the decades-old Papuan independence movement was linked to the killings. Many interpret those comments as a buildup to military action against the rebels.
For now, details of Saturday's ambush near the US-based Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s (FCX) mine – which left two US schoolteachers and an Indonesian dead – remain sketchy.
While the military was quick to blame the Free Papua Movement, or OPM, which has fought Jakarta's 40-year rule of the province, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The OPM has little history of armed violence against foreigners, although it has carried out intermittent kidnappings.
A harsh reaction by the army without clear evidence of OPM's involvement is likely to hurt the Bush administration's attempts to renew military ties with Indonesia, which it hopes will form a bulwark in the region against terrorism and secure US business interests here.
It will also complicate the already entangled situation New Orleans-based Freeport faces doing business in Papua, which until recently was known as Irian Jaya.
PT Freeport Indonesia has to balance a reliance on the military to defend the world's largest copper and gold mine from separatists with moves to improve its image in the local community.
Papuan separatists claim Freeport – which began extracting gold in the early 1970s under a contract with former president Suharto – has no right to operate in the province.
Since Suharto's downfall in 1998 – which ended 32 years of military dictatorship – provinces from Papua, at the easternmost end of the chain of islands that make up Indonesia, to Aceh in the west, have stepped up calls for more say in governing their own affairs.
Indonesia has offered Papua and Aceh a greater share of revenues from natural resources in their provinces.
Mega ruled out full independence for provinces
But President Megawati Sukarnoputri has ruled out full independence, and the army has stepped up military operations against separatists since she came to power in mid-2001.
US companies such as Freeport and Exxon Mobil – that runs a huge liquefied natural gas plant in Aceh – are finding it increasingly hard to distance themselves from the military units they pay to guard their operations.
Such concerns are also deterring other foreign companies from investing to develop the nation's natural resources, its largest asset.
The army's actions in Papua are already becoming an embarrassment for Freeport. In November last year, Papua's leading opposition figure, Theys Hiyo Eluay, was murdered while returning from a party thrown by military officers.
Indonesia has detained 10 officers and soldiers of an elite, US-trained special forces group in connection with the killing but hasn't started the trial. The unit has been frequently deployed to provide security at the Freeport mine.
In Aceh, the military has set the end of the Muslim fasting month in December to reach an accord with separatists. Previous attempts at peace have come to nothing in a civil war which has killed around 12,000 mainly civilians since the mid-1970s.
Exxon Mobil faces a lawsuit in the US, which alleges the company was complicit in human rights abuses against villagers by troops guarding their facilities. Faced with these problems, US companies aren't considering pulling out, and have full support of their government.
The US State Department said in a letter to the court hearing the Exxon Mobil human rights suit that criticism of Indonesia's military would hurt US business interests in the country. The State Department's intervention is expected to scuttle the suit.
Despite growing criticism of the Indonesian military, Washington agreed last month to give $50 million over the next three years to Indonesia, which it views as a crucial partner in the war against militant Islamic groups.