[This transcript was kindly supplied by Tony O'Connor as ABC TV no longer provides transcripts.]
Reporter: Anthony Balmain (AB)
Speakers: John Rumbiak (JR), Anthonius Wamak (AW), Spier (PS), Albert Kailele (AK)
Scene of Wewak beach and town
The eyes of world are far from the small coastal ton of Wewak on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea.
Scene of Wewak and people meeting
The people meeting here are from across the border in West Papua. They want independence but they know that fighting for it over the last 40 years haven't worked.
Scene of people shouting Merdeka In West Papua Septimus Paeiki is a crusader. To Indonesia he is a criminal subversive, a former political prisoner still under house arrest.
SP: I'm always being followed. I need to have strategies to get across the border and come here. I don't care if they arrest me later. What is important is what I have done for the cause.
Night scene on beach
AB: More Papuans arrive secretly – they've traveled 14 hours from the West Papuan capital Jayapura. It has been a lifetime struggle and journey for Patrick Humey (or Kumey).
PH: I am an eyewitness. At the border many of my troops died in my arms. In Wamena on April 24 1977 many people died. About 75,000 mountain people died. They burnt them alive and stabbed them with hot irons. People were buried alive. Genitals were stabbed.
Scene of people dancing.
AB: It's impossible to know how many West Papuans have been killed during Indonesia's occupation. Estimates start at 100, 000. Among West Papuan leaders there is a range of views from diplomacy to armed conflict.
West Papuan speaker: Get the troops, I'll lead them; Raise the flag; Make the proclamation. If we die, we die.
Scenes of people dancing in Jayapura and of Theys Eluay.
AB: Wewak is a world away from the historic congress that charged the West Papua capital of Jayapura.
Theys Eluay scene
AB: For the West Papuan's a time for celebration. From Indonesia's President Abdurahman Wahid the offer of autonomy and a name change what was Irian Jaya became Papua. People felt free to fly their beloved flag, the Morning Star. The 2000 Congress united many disparate groups, re-affirmed independence from Indonesia and more importantly West Papuans elected a new leader Theys Eluay.
Theys Eluay: Merdeka – echoed by others. Peace – echoed by others
AB: The euphoria of Jayapura was short lived – so too Theys Eluay – just over a year later he was killed by soldiers from Kopassus – the man who epitomized the West Papuan push for independence was strangled. Seven Indonesians, including a senior officer are now in jail – but the Indonesian military virtually got away with murder. They will be free in a year or two.
Indonesia's fierce hold on West Papua is the politics of profit. Freeport is a gold mine – it is the world's largest gold and copper mine and Indonesia's largest single taxpayer – pouring more than three billion dollars in Jakarta over the past decade.
Scenes from Freeport mine – smelter, trucks etc
It's no secret – many West Papuans deeply resent Freeport and the Indonesian government's plundering of its resources.
But shrouded in mystery is what motivated the killers who lurked in the mountain mist on a remote road near the Freeport mine. In August 2002 two cars carrying school teachers were traveling along this mountain road heavily guarded by Indonesian soldiers. The teachers worked for the International School servicing the Freeport mine.
Patsy Spier: A lone gunman came out and sprayed fire into my husband's car killing my husband and Ted Burgoigne.
Scenes of bullets in car after attack.
AB: During the 45 minutes of gunfire three people were killed. Patsy Spier was wounded in the back and foot.
PS: I wasn't screaming. I wasn't trembling in fear. It was as though I knew that Rick was gone – I felt in my heart that he was gone and I just remember thinking after a while that it was ok if they just came and put the gun through the window and shot me in the head.
AB: The Indonesian military immediately blamed the OPM for the attack.
They (the military) claimed that they shot and killed this West Papuan. But this manoeuvre backfired when a police autopsy revealed that this man had been dead for at least 24 hours before the shooting.
AB: Initial Indonesian police investigations concluded that the military played a part in the ambush. Then the FBI flew to West Papua. Now following a lengthy inquiry the FBI has charged a West Papuan with the murder of the two Americans.
Scene of West Papua man facing directly to camera – interviewer not shown (conversation in Indonesian, translated in subtitles).
AW: My name is Anthonius Wamang. I am 32 years old.
AB: The accused is Anthonius Wamang from the Tembagapura area near the Freeport mine. The ABC has not been allowed into West Papua but Foreign Correspondent has obtained this interview with Anthonius Wamang now in hiding since being branded a terrorist by the United States.
Qn: Did you also participate in the events of the killings near Tembagapura on August 31, 2002.
AW: Yes I did
Qn: Did you know that the people in the car were American teachers?
AW: I didn't know.
AB: Anthonius Wamang claims that along with 14 others he ambushed the cars believing they contained Indonesian military.
A member of the OPM for 20 years Anthonius Wamang denies that he was acting on orders from the OPM leadership.
AW: My feeling is that Freeport came in and destroyed the environment, destroyed nature and destroyed the places where we live. They pay the Indonesian military and they come and kill us and make us suffer.
AB: Since the mine opened back in 1967 Freeport has enjoyed a cosy relationship with the Indonesian military. The army has been paid handsomely – tens of millions of dollars – so much that Freeport's critics charge that Indonesian soldiers act as the mining giant's private security force.
AW: So I thought it was the Indonesian military driving when I opened fire.
AB: Adding to the intrigue AW has admitted to doing deals with the Indonesian military.
AW: I had a business relationship with them for purchasing ammunition.
Patsy Spier (PS): Innocent people were killed and that is wrong and we've got to find out why it happened so that something positive can come from my husband's death. Because it is not just an unfortunate incident – it was well planned – people died and lives were changed forever.
AW: It was the wrong target and I regret it. I apologize to the victims and the families of the victims and I'm ready to take responsibility.
AB: Human rights activist John Rumbiak believes there is much more to the murders. He claims that there is evidence incriminating the Indonesian military and its militia gangs.
JR: Anthonius Wamang and its followers were trained and armed by militias and the Indonesian military.
AB: So if this is true why didn't Anthonius Wamang say this to the FBI?
JR: He would be dead – he was trained and he was armed and he was warned by the militias and TNI that if he did that then not only him but his family and everyone that was involved would be the target.
Qn to AW: Are you ready to surrender to the TNI or police?
AW: No, I don't want to.
Qn to AW: Why don't you want to?
AW: They don't enforce the law properly – that's why I don't trust them.
AB: But Anthonius Wamang says that he is willing to give himself up to the FBI.
PS: The people who wanted to carry out the ambush that day wanted to kill somebody. It doesn't matter what organization they were with. They were going to kill someone that day. We need to have a legitimate trial. We need to find out what is going on that would cause people to want to kill others.
AB: Patsy Spier is maintaining her fight to bring her husband's killers to justice.
Scene of PS visiting Congressional offices
AB: She is still lobbying the US Congress – today she is meeting Republican Joel Hefley to continue its ban on funding military aid and training to Indonesia.
Scene: Patsy Spier talking to Joel Hefley PS: I heard that the US wanted to continue to fund Indonesia and I just couldn't believe it. If the Indonesian police had implicated the TNI why should my government want to give money to that military?
Scene of people shaking hands in Wewak.
AB: Even before the FBI branded the OPM as terrorists Papuan pro-independence leaders decided on a new strategy of peace and dialogue. For leaders like Albert Kailele it's a radical departure from 40 years of violent conflict.
Albert Kailele (AK): The answer is peace but we are going to be independent. We have to struggle peacefully until we are independent.
AB: It's not Sudan or the Congo but up to 15,000 West Papuans live in refugee camps like this one just outside Wewak. Rico Wiromi typifies the
alienation of her people – she has spent the last 25 years living in exile.
Rico Wiromi: We're Melanesians – we want to be independent, free of Indonesian colonialism.
AK: I remember Ali Murtopo, the Indonesian Minister of Information. This is what he said: "We don't need Papuans. We need land. If Papuans want independence they can build a country on the moon on the sun, a star or on a planet".
AB: Having lost East Timor Indonesia is in no mood for compromise with West Papuans. The OPM's new strategy of non-violence will do little to change Indonesians view that the unique culture and identity of the West Papuans is subservient to the territorial integrity of Indonesia.