Catharine Munro, Jakarta – In a sign Papuan independence still strains relations between Indonesia and Australia, Canberra this week had to repeatedly deny suggestions it supported secession for the province.
The Australian aid agency Ausaid issued a statement overnight denying that government funds were being misused by non-government organisations (NGO) to support separatist movements. Ausaid was responding to reports in the Indonesian press last weekend that claimed government-funded aid groups supported independence movements in Papua.
"No NGO is receiving Australian government funds to conduct activities contrary to Indonesia's sovereignty or stability," Ausaid's director general Bruce Davis said. He said NGOs funded by Australia received endorsement by Indonesian authorities. In Jakarta the Australian Embassy wrote letters to Indonesian newspapers restating Ausaid's position.
Papua also emerged as an issue behind closed doors on Tuesday at the resumption of talks between Jakarta and Canberra on regional security. The talks were the first held since the two countries fell out when East Timor broke away from Indonesia in 1999. Australian diplomats and military officials had planned to look at wider topics such as terrorism and illegal immigration. However, Indonesian officials added to the agenda concerns about non-government organisations in Australia supporting independence movements in Indonesia. Australia responded by restating its policy of supporting Indonesia's territorial integrity.
Earlier this month, Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered his National Intelligence Agency to investigate the attendance of a delegation from Papua of mostly churchmen to a conference on peace and reconciliation in Sydney last month. The meeting in Sydney was held at the same time as an attack by unknown gunmen on teachers at a mine in Papua, owned by the US company Freeport.
Susilo's move was seen by human rights workers as an attempt to somehow link Australia to the attack. In February, parliamentarians staged a boycott of Prime Minister John Howard's visit to Jakarta, citing concerns about Australia's role in independence movements in Papua.