In my short post about genocide below, Andrew comments that things aren't going really well in West Papua either. It's nice to have that pointed out because the media certainly isn't commenting much on West Papua. A quick google search of "West Papua" brings up any number of websites that indicate that West Papuans are fighting for human rights.
I know very little about Papua/New Guinea. But I actually was offered a research position in New Guinea 15 yrs. ago. It's certainly not surprising that the aboriginal people in West Papua are not being treated well. What country on earth has treated aboriginal groups well? We in the USA certainly do not hold any moral high ground there. I am certain that concerns about the way aboriginal people of West Papua are being treated by Indonesia is also way down on the list in the US Congress.
But at least I am now aware of the situation and now you are too. One power of the internet.
1 comment:
Hi,
The causes of genocide in West Papua are complex but are not so different to the genocide of Indigenous people in Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the US. Fundamentally the cause is that West Papua is home to an Indigenous culture that is 50,000 years old while the land is very resource rich. International Companies (mainly from the US, UK, Australia and Japan) support an Indonesian military fiefdom in Papua that due to weak governance in Jakarta is able to continue to implement Suharto era policies. Western Governments (especially Holland, Australia and the US) have a long history of ignoring the human rights of the Papuans to appease Indonesian regimes and support multinational extraction of Papuan resources while the Indigenous Papuans live in abject poverty on a par with the worst economies in Africa. Conservatively 100,000 Papuans have been murdered by the Indonesian security forces since 1963, but the figure is most likely much higher (the approx current pop of Indigenous Papuans is about 900,000).
Many Indonesians get angry with Westerners who speak out about human rights in Papua and point to the treatment of Indigenous people in our own countries. While this has some rhetorical value it becomes fairly empty when the high incidences of killings, arbitary detentions and suppression of Separatist activists.
Indonesia itself is suffering from weak institutions and is considered the 5th most corrupt country in the World which has led to Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism at all levels of government leading to extreme maldevelopment in Papua. In the post-Suharto period reformasi was the catch-cry and the Papuans also benefitted from this political change. However since the Bush Administration's push for the 'War on Terror' the rather fragile democracy in Indonesia has been strangled by Western support and funding of the Indonesian security forces (TNI) having disasterous consequences for the Papuans and civil society in Indonesia.
The Indonesian security forces often falsely claim the Australia is really behind the unrest in Papua and wish to steal Papua from Indonesia to garner support from the Indonesian population to continue their repressive policies in the province which enables them to increase their profits in the region - the Indonesian security forces receive 70% of their annual budget from outside of government coffers- usually from security forces businesses, both legal and illegal.
Americans can support Papua by supporting strong opponents of TNI oppression in Papua like Congressman Eni Faleomaveaga, who is currently Chair-person of the Congressional Foreign Affairs sub-Committee on Asia and the Pacific and encourage him to continue his work in revealing the genocide in Papua. Also by encouraging the Congress to questiuon the current administrations strong support and funding of the TNI.
Thirdly, Americans can question the legitimacy of the Indonesian ban on International journalist and Human Rights NGOs from entering Papua.
Post a Comment