Jake Lynch – Prime Minister John Howard's handshake with George W. Bush at the APEC summit will be greeted with howls of protest as his welcome for a President widely seen as a warmonger. But it is in his meeting with Indonesia's leader, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, that the Prime Minister's reputation, at least in our own quadrant of the globe, as a peacemaker will be at stake.
At the top of the two men's agenda is or should be the worsening plight of West Papua. If the Howard Government can improve the prospects there, it would add to a record of constructive interventions which any leader would be proud to carry off into the sunset or into a new term in office.
One of Howard's first international forays, back in 1996, was to send Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to the United Nations to present the recommendations of the Canberra Commission to eliminate all remaining stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Australia spoke on behalf of a Pacific region sickened by French cynicism over the test bombing at Mururoa Atoll.
Then, East Timor blew up in the Prime Minister's face and, after overcoming initial reluctance, he signed the cheques to send Australian troops. Some US State Department officials would have preferred a UN detachment but, in the event, the diggers took the strain and offered protection from militias sponsored by ill-intentioned elements in Jakarta.
By then, Australia had joined New Zealand in helping to bring an end to the civil war in Bougainville, where a decade of fighting had claimed over 20,000 lives, with the team from Canberra, again under Downer, credited with piloting the deal through the final hard yards. Later, in Solomon Islands, a military and police mission led by Australia restored order and created space for recovery from another nasty little conflict.
On Boxing Day 2004, the Asian tsunami struck, and Australians dug deep to donate to relief efforts. Howard stepped in to announce the Government would match their generosity with a grant and soft loan to Indonesia for the reconstruction of Aceh. Crucially, Indonesia's acceptance that outside help was needed effectively opened up the province. The influx of international attention and assistance is credited by many with catalysing the peace process there another notch, so to speak, on the Prime Minister's olive branch.
The new frontier for the Australian Defence Force is a Status of Forces Agreement with the Philippines. It's controversial, as the army is blamed for complicity in hundreds of mysterious civilian deaths. But when President Gloria Arroyo came to Parliament House, back in May, Howard went out of his way to draw attention to Australia's support for human rights initiatives.
The phrase "human rights" does not even crop up in the new security pact Australia has agreed with Indonesia, however.
Under Yudhoyono, Indonesia signed up to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with its famous Article 19 guaranteeing the right to hold opinions without interference, and to freedom of expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media".
Clearly, then, no more Papuans should now be thrown in jail for non-violent protest, raising flags or making speeches. But listen to the new military commander for the province, Colonel Burhanuddin Siagian. "Anyone who tends towards separatism will be crushed, we are not afraid of human rights." Siagian, incidentally, has been indicted for crimes against humanity in East Timor, but never tried.
Up to now, the Howard Government, like many in the international community, has invested its hopes in a special autonomy deal for West Papua, but a recent conference at Sydney University heard from senior Papuan speakers that people have lost faith in this. Extra revenues are coming in, but, far from delivering real benefits visible in everyday life, they are being squandered on bureaucracy as administrative layers proliferate.
Above all, nothing is being done to rein in the military. To the contrary, in fact, recent reports suggest that the traditional means of the Suharto dictatorship for removing its enemies their sudden disappearance is being revived under Siagian. Ever more troops are coming in displaced, as they now are, from Timor and Aceh.
Howard needs to encourage Yudhoyono to seek dialogue with the people of West Papua, and to enable it by sticking to his commitments under the international covenant. A friendly future historian might argue that an Australian Prime Minister had no choice but to show willing when the Bush Administration wanted political cover for the invasion of Iraq, though Howard carefully kept Australia's commitment to a minimum and its troops out of harm's way.
In his own backyard, meanwhile, he could enjoy a strong reputation as a peacemaker. Bringing hope to the people of West Papua might just seal it.
[Associate Professor Jake Lynch is director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney.]