Freedom in the World 2004 - West Papua [Indonesia]

Political Rights: 5
Civil Liberties: 4
Status: Partly Free
Population: 1,800,000
GNI/Capita: N/A
Life Expectancy: N/A
Religious Groups: Christian, Muslim, animist
Ethnic Groups: Melanesian [240 different peoples] (50 percent)
Capital:

Overview

Five years after the downfall of former Indonesian strongman Suharto ushered in greater political and social freedoms in troubled Papua, serious human rights abuses continued in 2003 in Indonesia's easternmost province, as security forces mounted a crackdown following a raid by armed attackers on a military outpost. Meanwhile, a military court in April handed down light sentences to four soldiers convicted in the killing of a pro-independence leader in 2001.

Located on the western side of rugged New Guinea island, Papua has been dominated by outside powers for nearly two centuries. The Dutch set up the first European outpost in New Guinea in 1828 and formally took control of the South Pacific island's western side under an 1848 agreement with Britain. That deal paved the way for Britain and Germany to colonize the eastern side, which today is the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The Japanese occupied the Dutch-controlled side of New Guinea during World War II. The Netherlands ceded its territory to Indonesia in 1963 under a UN agreement calling for Jakarta to hold a referendum on self-determination by 1969.

Seeking an independent homeland, a group of tribesmen calling themselves the Free Papua Movement (OPM) began waging a low-grade insurgency against Indonesian rule in the mid-1960s. As the violence continued, Jakarta gained UN approval to formally annex Papua after holding a tightly controlled "Act of Free Choice" referendum in the summer of 1969. The 1,025 traditional leaders who took part in this sham referendum voted unanimously against independence.

As the OPM stepped up its hit-and-run attacks against the far more powerful Indonesian forces, the army launched a counteroffensive in 1984 that drove hundreds of villagers into neighboring Papua New Guinea. That year, Indonesian troops also killed the prominent Papuan anthropologist Arnold Ap. The army carried out more major anti-OPM offensives in 1989.

While the OPM and other tiny, armed groups continue to mount sporadic antigovernment attacks, civilian groups have become the main voices for Papuan independence ever since Indonesia's democratic transition began in 1998. The Papua Presidium Council, a forum for Papuan leaders seeking peaceful independence, held a congress in the spring of 2000 that called on Jakarta to recognize a 1961 Papuan declaration of independence under Dutch rule that was never recognized internationally.

Jakarta tolerated the congress, but violence in the town of Wamena later in 2000 raised tensions and pushed the two sides even farther apart. That October, security forces in Wamena killed two people while breaking up a pro-independence ceremony. Amid mounting tensions in the town, security forces shot dead 11 more people, and local Papuans killed 19 immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.

The Papuan independence movement suffered a major blow when the leader of the Presidium Council, Theys Eluay, was killed in 2001. A military court in April 2003 convicted two officers and two soldiers for their involvement in Eluay's killing, but handed down light jail sentences of up to three and a half years. Throughout 2001, a series of alleged rebel attacks and security force crackdowns caused thousands of villagers to flee their homes.

Tensions rose again in 2003 as police and soldiers carried out sweeps in the Wamena area after unknown attackers broke into a local military command in April, killing two soldiers and stealing arms. Indonesian forces arrested at least 30 people in connection with the attack, one of whom died in custody allegedly as a result of torture. Police in July shot dead one man and wounded two others while breaking up a pre-dawn ceremony in Wamena that raised the pro-independence Morning Star flag.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether the military was involved in an ambush in 2002 that killed two Americans and an Indonesian near the giant Grasberg mine in Tembagapura. The military has denied involvement. Owned by the local subsidiary of the U.S.-based Freeport McMoRan, the gold and copper mine came under scrutiny in the 1990s over environmental concerns and allegations that Indonesian forces guarding the site committed rights abuses against local Papuans.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Papuans enjoy many basic rights previously denied to them under former President Suharto. Security forces, however, continue to commit serious human rights abuses, and several Papuans recently have been jailed for peaceful, pro-independence activities.

Moreover, while Papuans can vote in Indonesian elections, they continue to lack the right to determine Papua's political future. They had no input into the so-called New York Agreement of 1962 between the Netherlands and United Nations that transferred Papua from Dutch to Indonesian control in 1963. Moreover, the 1969 referendum that ratified Indonesian rule was neither free nor fair. The New York Agreement did not specify procedures for the referendum, but the agreement did call for it to be held "in accordance with international practice," a standard that Jakarta arguably ignored. The Indonesian military reportedly coerced the traditional leaders who took part into approving Jakarta's rule. The UN special observer reported that, "the administration exercised at all times a tight political control over the population."

Papua's many independent newspapers and magazines generally are permitted to report on the territory's pro-independence movement and other local political news. However, journalists who try to expose abuses by security forces often come under pressure to halt their investigations. Radio and television stations generally are less outspoken than their print counterparts.

Most Papuans follow either Christianity or indigenous beliefs, and all generally can worship freely. University professors and other educators generally can write and lecture without interference.

Meanwhile, human rights, social welfare, and environmental nongovernmental groups generally operate freely. Prominent local human rights groups, however, such as the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy, have had their activities monitored and members harassed by police. Trade unions have limited influence given the relatively low number of Papuans who have wage-earning jobs.

Papua's court system is fairly rudimentary, and corruption among judges reportedly is common. Moreover, courts continue to jail peaceful independence activists. Around 20 of the more than 50 Papuans who have been tried since late 1998 in connection with separatist activities are believed to be peaceful pro-independence activists, the human rights group Amnesty International reported in July. Amnesty said in early October that two prisoners of conscience currently were in jail in Papua, both in connection with a December 2002 flag-raising ceremony.

Indonesian forces in Papua have assaulted, tortured, and killed villagers while searching for suspected rebels and have also killed Papuans while searching for ordinary criminal suspects, according to the U.S. State Department's human rights report for 2002, released in March 2003. Some detained suspects are tortured or brutally beaten, the New York based Human Rights Watch said in 2002. Meanwhile, the OPM and other small, armed, separatist groups in recent years have killed several soldiers and police and have also briefly kidnapped several foreigners in order to bring attention to their cause.

Critics say that the presence of large numbers of non-Papuans in the territory threatens to marginalize the Papuans' distinct Melanesian culture and makes it harder for them to find work. Local governmental agencies and private mining outfits reportedly tend to fill job openings with immigrants rather than Papuans. Moreover, immigrants dominate small business and reportedly discriminate against indigenous Papuans. The October 2000 killings in Wamena of at least 19 immigrants from other parts of Indonesia were the worst of several incidents in recent years where Papuans violently attacked or otherwise harassed non-Papuans. Some 170,000 non-Papuans came to Papua from Indonesia's overcrowded main islands under a largely defunct "transmigration" program that began in the 1970s. Thousands more immigrated on their own.

Indonesian rule has helped modernize Papua and develop its economy. Most of the benefits, however, have been reaped by the military, foreign investors, and immigrants from other parts of the archipelago. Papuans also have little control over the territory's abundant natural resources. Indigenous Papuans say that officials continue to expropriate their ancestral lands and grant mining, logging, and energy contracts without adequate consultation or compensation, while investing little in local development projects. Papua recently received an increase in funds from Jakarta under a 2001 Indonesian law giving the province 80 percent of local forestry, fishery, and energy revenues. Many Papuans say, however, that they have seen few tangible benefits from the money.

Traditional norms relegate women to secondary roles in family and public life, contributing to unofficial discrimination against women in education and employment.