West Papua Activists Take On the International Crisis Group

While Indonesia's government has improved by leaps and bounds over the past decade, it still has not figured out a way to negotiate peacefully with the many secession groups fighting for independence on several of the country's clusters of islands.

Stories of East Timor, Aceh, and sometimes Maluku, have gotten some traction in the West, but for some reason media covering the volatile controversies around "West Papua" remains biased on all sides. Now West Papuan activists are claiming that much of the reason they are being persecuted by the Indonesian government on the island known as Papua (or Irian Jaya and shared with Papua New Guinea) is because major Western governments and rights organizations are pulling their punches on Indonesian repression because they don't want to turn that government against them. West Papuan activists have specifically targeted the highly-respected International Crisis Group for a thunderstorm of tomatoes.

To be more specific, the Dutch colonialists claimed the western have of the island of Papua last century, with Britain claiming the eastern half. As the eastern half became the independent nation of Papua New Guinea dominated by ethnic Melanesians, the western half became part of Indonesia. When spectators discovered poor western Papua had rich deposits of minerals, oils, and wildlife, the former Indonesian dictatorship of Suharto invited them in and directed the profit back to the central government.

Locals became furious about the loss of land and alleged expulsions from historic homes. They first protested the foreign mining companies, then collected a few rifles and spears and attacked the Indonesian authorities. The Indonesians struck back hard, overwhelming the locals and sending many as refugees into neighboring Papua New Guinea. When the Indonesian government transformed to a democracy in 2000, much of the country changed, but the west Papua debates stayed largely the same.

Now, as West Papuan activists continue to accuse the Indonesian government of violence and repression, and the Indonesian government banned most foreign media in the area, the U.S. State Department, Human Rights Watch, and the International Crisis Group have waded in to try to present a balanced view of the situation. Unfortunately, without much impartial global media, it's very difficult to find the truth about how bad it is, and what measures the international community should take.

West Papuans describe it as a genocide or near genocide. Most institutions view both sides at fault, but the Indonesian government and the foreign mining companies overstepped their bounds. Now West Papuan activists are angry that the International Crisis Group swung criticism their way, in that as they rally for human and civil rights they may be using methods which are too provocative.

If you get a chance, catch up on this subject through the East Timor Action Network's new report or directly from the International Crisis Group.

While you're at it, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue has a new report on conflict management strategies geared for Indonesia. Also, here's a fabulous photo essay from the herculean photographer Eric Lafforgue on an exploding volcano in neighboring Papua New Guinea and an editorial by Nick Chesterfield on the West Papuan cause.

Photo credit: David Jackmanson