INDONESIA-IRIAN JAYA: Hostage Crisis And Separatist Fight Drag On

By Pratap Chatterjee Reprint | | Print |

Pratap Chatterjee

JAYAPURA, Indonesia, Feb 5 1996 (IPS) - Helicopter engines daily roar over the dense rainforest in the central highlands of this rugged region as crack Indonesian commandos search for a group of guerrillas who have held 13 hostages for four weeks now.

Army radio operators have been able to talk sporadically with the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) guerillas, a militant separatist movement, who are believed to be some 400 km south- west of this city — the capital of Irian Jaya.

Irian Jaya is the official name for the western half of this South Pacific island (the other half is the independent country of Papua New Guinea). The OPM calls the region West Papua.

Catholic and Protestant missionary groups, who are acting as go- betweens between the Jakarta government and the rebels, have not had any contact with the hostage-takers for more than a week and there is uncertainty about the fate of those held captive.

“There is enough at stake that both sides need to work together for a peaceful resolution. Any sudden action that leads to the death of the hostages — especially the four British and two Dutch — will bring international condemnation,” says brother Theo van de Broek, of the Catholic mission here.

The guerrillas have handed Catholic intermediaries a long list of grievances against the Indonesian government, ranging from the annexation of native lands for mining to a history of violent suppression of the 250-odd tribes that inhabit Irian Jaya.

Each of these groups have distinct languages and cultures. Some of them have refused to travel to the world outside their forest while anthropologists say that there are almost certainly tribes that have never been contacted.

The guerrillas, who come from indigenous groups — such as the Amungme, the Dani, the Ekari and the Nduga — are mostly armed with bows and arrows.

But they have a crucial advantage over the commandos. They are intimately familiar with these forests — the second largest stretch of rainforest in the world after the Amazon — much of which remains unmapped by outsiders.

To date, both sides have reaped some benefits from the stand- off. The daring kidnap of the environmentalists who were doing biodiversity research at the time of their capture, has brought national and international focus for the OPM’s independence struggle.

Kelly Kwalik, the Amungme leader of the OPM, was on the front cover in “Gatra”, one of Indonesia’s leading magazines last week. This week “Forum” magazine has devoted about a dozen pages to the crisis.

In faraway Britain, the ‘Economist’, a conservative financial magazine, has criticised the Indonesian government for failing to support the rights of local communities on the island.

For its part, the army says the kidnapping proves the OPM is a violent group that cannot be trusted. This is partly to bolster the army’s own image which has come under attack in recent months after the National Commission on Human Rights confirmed that some army officials had killed indigenous people on the island.

Last week, four soldiers appeared in court here on charges related to the opening fire on civilians in Agamkinagam village in the highlands in June 1995. Sixteen villagers were killed in the incident.

“This sort of massacre happens on a routine basis here. Tens of thousands of Papuans have been killed by the Indonesian army since they took over the island 34 years ago,” an Amungme tribesman, who preferred not to be named, told IPS.

In December 1961, then President Sukarno sent troops into southern Papua to liberate the island from a century of Dutch control. “Operation Mandala” — as it was called — was viewed with great suspicion by the Papuans.

Any hope that the Indonesian victory would lead to self- government for the islanders, was immediately squashed. Indonesia brought in its own government officials to run the island and put down all attempts at revolt.

In 1969 the Indonesian officials presented an assembly of 1022 delegates, who represented the country’s 720,000 population, with a choice — accept assimilation into Indonesia or face being charged with treason.

“Our people revolted but we were violently suppressed. I still remember the soldiers parachuting into my village and spraying machine gun fire from helicopters when soldiers defected from the Indonesian army,” an Ekari tribesman from Enarotali in the western part of the highlands told IPS.

Protesters dug holes in the Enarotali airstrip and raided oil and military installations in Manokwari in the north-west part of the island.

The defeated nationalists fled to the jungle where they created the OPM. The existence of several OPM factions, that occasionally fought each other, initially hampered effective resistance.

In 1970, Seth Rumkoren — a former Indonesian intelligence officer — set up the “Victoria” faction near the Papua New Guinean (PNG) border. Jacob Prai — a former law student at Cendrawasih university just outside this city — set up the “Pemka” faction at about the same time.

In 1977, Kelly Kwalik led a group of OPM soldiers to blow up a copper slurry pipe belonging to Freeport McMoran, a U.S. operator of a copper and gold mine in the highlands. Freeport, the biggest employer on this island, owns much of the local transport from buses to helicopters, which are often used by the military.

The army struck back in an operation called “Tumpas” (annihilation) which left thousands dead. Three villages near the mine were destroyed by army troops.

Prai and Rumkoren were eventually caught by PNG police when they strayed over the border. Both were allowed to go into exile — Rumkoren to Greece and Prai to Sweden. Prai’s second-in-command — John Otto Ondowame — went to Australia.

In 1984, 100 Papuan-based soldiers deserted the Indonesian military after an army official shot dead a Papuan nationalist in this city for raising the Papuan flag. The deserters attacked army installations leading to reprisals against local villagers.

Since then Pemka and Victoria have settled their differences. Rex Rumakiek, who used to be the Pemka political officer, arranged for both sides to meet on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu in 1987.

Today, the main leader of the OPM in Irian Jaya is Kelly Kwalik. Daniel Kogoya, an Nduga, Matthias Wenda, a Dani, and Thaddeus Yogi, an Ekari, serve under him, according to sources here.

Kwalik has led several protests in the last few years. On Christmas day in 1994 and in 1995 he raised the Papuan flag near the Freeport mine. The first incident led to army reprisals that resulted in four people being killed. Many others were tortured.

In November 1995, the OPM took two Indonesian students hostage from this city. Less than two months later, the 26 environmentalists were kidnapped, 13 of whom are still being held, the others having been released.

But the army has not taken revenge on villagers since the June 1995 massacre. Observers say that this could be an indication of the fact that the human rights process is finally working.

Army officials have travelled to Amungme communities and accompanied them to this city to give testimony about the violent incidents of the past.

The OPM has also begun cooperating. Last Monday Matthias Wenda brought the two Indonesian students — Marwiyah Abubakar and Muhammad Basyir Kadir — to the nearby city of Vanimo, in Papua New Guinea, for return to Indonesia.