[Kabar-Irian] Irian News - 1/23/06 (Part 2 of 3)
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- Refugees wait for 20 years
- Australian Government accused of blood on its hands over Papuan Asylum
Seekers
- Australia seeks Papua deaths report
- Greens senator to visit asylum seekers
- Fears for Indonesian backlash against families of Papuan refugees
- West Papuan killings and violence are part of a 4-decade Indonesian pattern
- Letter to Australia on Papua asylum seekers
- Forgotten conflict
- Charismatic leader being groomed for greatness
- Boat people test the winds of change
*****************************
The Australian
Refugees wait for 20 years
Greg Roberts
January 20, 2006
West Papuan asylum-seekers who arrived in Australia 20 years ago are still
waiting for a decision on their applications for permanent residency.
Wary of upsetting Indonesia over separatist sympathies in Australia,
Canberra procrastinated over the fate of 12 men who arrived from the
province, then known as Irian Jaya, in 1985 and 1986.
The men fled in canoes to Torres Strait islands. Most were active
supporters of the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
They were not detained as illegal immigrants.
Federal authorities turned a blind eye as they worked as labourers on
banana farms in north Queensland.
"Immigration just dumped them in Cairns and left them to their own
devices," said Queensland academic Greg Poulgrain, who helped the men find
jobs and accommodation.
Most were eventually granted refugee status, including Thomas Wanda, who
was jailed for three months in 1991 for trying to smuggle weapons to the
OPM from a Tully banana farm.
But Dr Poulgrain said some were still living, without permanent residency
status, in north Queensland.
Indonesia fought a bitter war with the Dutch over the western half of the
island of New Guinea in 1962. The row ended with a UN-brokered agreement
giving Indonesia control of the territory on condition Jakarta allowed a
vote of self-determination.
Instead of a referendum on independence, 1025 hand-picked Papuans, voting
under Indonesian military supervision, opted in 1969 for the incorporation
of Irian Jaya as Indonesia's 26th province.
Amnesty International estimates more than 100,000 Papuans have since died
at the hands of the Indonesian military. Displays of separatist sentiment
such as the raising of the OPM flag are brutally suppressed.
With transmigration from other provinces, non-Papuans make up half of West
Papua's population of two million, and Islam has eclipsed Christianity as
the main religion.
Licences held by the US mining giant Freeport McMoran cover 20per cent of
West Papua and its gold and copper mine on Mt Grasberg - the world's
biggest - has been blamed for widespread pollution and human rights abuses
by its military protectors.
The OPM, which has been waging a low-level guerilla war to obtain
independence for the province, attracted international headlines in 1995
when it kidnapped 25 people, including six Europeans.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indybay.org
Australian Government accused of blood on its hands over Papuan Asylum
Seekers
by Takver Friday, Jan. 20, 2006 at 7:25 AM
Reports from West Papua detail that the Indonesian military are engaging
in reprisal killing in response to 43 Papuans seeking asylum in Australia.
Five people have been shot by the Indonesian military, two dead, with one
of the killed teenagers being a relative of one of the asylum seekers. The
survivors of what was described as an unprovoked attack, are in a critical
condition.
Nick Chesterfield, spokesman for the West Papua National Authority, said
"It shows clearly what the Indonesian government is going to do to these
people if they are returned. They embarrassed the government, and they
have finally brought international attention to the issue of West Papua."
Mr Chesterfield accused the Howard Australian government of passing on the
identities of the asylum seekers to Indonesian authorities "The Australian
government has blood on its hands ... there has been an unauthorised
sharing of information between DIMEA (Department of Immigration) and the
Indonesian government," Mr Chesterfield said, according to a report in The
Age newspaper.
According to Australian Greens senator Kerry Nettle four people had been
shot by Battalion 753 of the Indonesian army. "I am advised that these
four shootings occurred near Paniai - the same area that some of the West
Papua boat people who arrived in Australia this week were from. I am
concerned that the Australian government allowed Indonesian officials
access to the West Papuan asylum seekers. I hope these two matters are not
related and am calling on the matter to be investigated," she said.
Two school children have died, with two others believed to be in critical
condition, flown to Timika for treatment. The shootings occurred in the
Papuan highlands at the village of Waghete. At least 10 of the 43 people
seeking asylum in Australia came from this district. Dr Benny Giay, the
chairman of the Indonesian human rights group ELSHAM, said the attack
appeared to be unprovoked.
"If these reports are true, they add a whole lot of strength to the West
Papuan's impending claims for asylum," she said. Senator Nettle said the
shootings were "disgusting" and called upon Foreign Affairs Minister
Alexander Downer to investigate "what, on the face of it, appear to be
reprisals for the recent arrival of asylum seekers in Australia."
Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said "These reports are
particularly disturbing given the West Papuans involved apparently are
from the same area as those who are now detained on Christmas Island," she
said. "This latest violence highlights the ongoing human rights abuses in
that region."
Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle believes "Australia should treat
the West Papuan asylum seekers like we treated the East Timorese in the
1990s, claims for asylum should be assessed while they live in the
community rather than locking them up in detention," said Senator Nettle.
"The Government has a chance to show it has learned from recent scandals
and should now implement a better approach to asylum seekers by not
putting them in a detention centre."
Despite her request the Howard Government has sent the Asylum Seekers by
military aircraft to Christmas Island, to the opposite side of the
continent.
"Australia has accepted West Papuan asylum seekers in the recent past and
with the escalation of repression of the West Papuan independence movement
by Indonesia, there is a clear case that these people need our protection.
They’ve trekked across the jungle and made a dangerous sea voyage. It is
clear they are activists in the West Papuan struggle for freedom and
independence. The Government should recognise this and treat these people
with dignity and compassion." said Senator Nettle
The Asylum seekers had left Merauke in West Papua for Cape York in a 25m
traditional dugout canoe fitted with an outboard motor and flying the
outlawed West Papuan flag. A banner on the side said: "Save West Papua
people souls from genocide, intimidation and terorist from military
government of Indonesia,"
Over 100,000 people, one sixth of the population of West Papua are alleged
to have been killed by the Indonesian military in the suppression of the
popular movement for independence. West Papua became the twenty-sixth
province of Indonesia in 1969 after the so-called "Act of Free Choice",
sponsored by the UN, saw the transfer of official administration from The
Netherlands, the colonial power, to Indonesia.
Background Information:
West Papua News - http://www.westpapua.net/
Tapol - The Indonesia Human Rights Campaign - http://tapol.gn.apc.org/
West Papua Information Kit - http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/cline/papua/
The West-Papua story: Below a Mountain of Wealth, a River of Waste -
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/104324.php
Sources:
1. Treat West Papuans like East Timorese - 19 Jan, 2006
http://www.kerrynettle.org.au/600_media_sub.php?deptItemID=514
2. Killed Papua man 'asylum seeker payback' - The Age, January 20, 2006 -
3:15PM
http://tinyurl.com/bsej3
3. Two Papua children 'shot dead' - The Age, January 21, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/afdy4
4. West Papuans land in canoe - news.com, 19 Jan 2006
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17865037-2,00.html
5. Indonesian military shoots Papuan schoolchildren - SBS repost on Sydney
Indymedia
http://sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=64135&group=webcast
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney Morning Herald
Australia seeks Papua deaths report
January 21, 2006 - 4:44PM
The federal government has sought urgent clarification from Jakarta as
Indonesian soldiers were blamed for killing up to four students in West
Papua, two days after boat people from the area sought asylum in
Australia.
The attack, which pro-democracy activists believe was a reprisal for the
decision by the 43 boat people to flee Indonesia, has sparked accusations
that Australian immigration officials may have endangered the group's
safety.
Activists said Indonesian forces murdered as many as four students, who
were shot on Friday in the West Papuan village of Waghete.
Indonesian authorities said only one high school student was shot dead and
two others injured.
One of the victims, Moses Douw, is believed to be a close relative of a
man who was among the 43 West Papuan boat people to land on Cape York on
Wednesday and seek asylum in Australia.
The group, which has been detained on Christmas Island, claimed it was
fleeing oppression in Indonesia.
Human rights activists and the federal opposition say Australia should
register its utmost concern with Jakarta over the shootings.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the Australian embassy in Jakarta had
asked the Indonesian government for urgent clarification.
"Obviously we've asked our diplomatic representatives to obtain the
appropriate report for us," Mr Ruddock said.
He declined to comment about any possible link between the shooting and
the boat people.
"You're talking about issues that might be raised in the context of asylum
claims and I'm simply saying they are not matters about which it is
appropriate for me to comment," he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said the embassy in
Jakarta had raised the reports with the Indonesian government.
"Our long-standing policy which we've reiterated to the Indonesian
government is that any differences should be resolved peacefully," a DFAT
spokesman said.
Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the government needed to
establish whether the killings were retribution for the asylum seekers'
decision to flee Indonesia.
"I'm deeply concerned by these reports," Mr Rudd said.
"We need to know who has been killed, how many, did this involve children,
when did this occur and what were the connections between any of those who
have been killed and those who sought asylum on Cape York."
The Australian West Papua Association said the government should register
its disgust over the incident.
"We can't have a special relationship with Indonesia that's based on
covering up atrocities," spokesman Nick Chesterfield said.
Australian Greens senator Kerry Nettle said the Australian government
should suspend talks with Indonesia over a new security treaty which
includes a clause requiring respect for Indonesia's "territorial
integrity".
"We should never sign into anything that means we can't comment on human
rights abuses when they occur," she said.
Meanwhile, the immigration department dismissed Greens claims that it had
jeopardised the safety of the asylum seekers or their families, denying it
had revealed their identities to Indonesia.
"We reject any suggestion that we've compromised the group's safety and we
reject any suggestion that we released details of their identities to
anyone," a spokesman said.
Immigration officials would not be drawn on whether the violence in West
Papua would help the asylum claims of the 36 adults and seven children on
Christmas Island, saying each case would be assessed on its merits.
The offices of Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Immigration Minister
Amanda Vanstone have not responded to requests for comment.
-- © 2006 AAP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney Morning Herald
Greens senator to visit asylum seekers
January 23, 2006 - 5:24PM
Australian Greens senator Kerry Nettle plans to visit a boatload of Papuan
asylum seekers on Christmas Island and tell them about reprisal shootings
in the Indonesian province.
Senator Nettle said she would leave on Saturday to visit the 36 adults and
seven children being processed by the Department of Immigration on
Christmas Island.
The refugees were found on Cape York Peninsula on January 18 after they
took five days to sail to Australia in an outrigger canoe. They were
transferred from Weipa air base the following day.
Refugee groups believe the shooting of four teenagers in the Papuan
village of Waghete on Friday was reprisal by the Indonesian military for
the political activists and their families fleeing the province for
Australia.
Senator Nettle said although the immigration department was currently
keeping the Papuans incommunicado while they were being interviewed, she
hoped to get access to them at the weekend.
"I'm hoping that's no longer the case on Saturday."
She said she arranged the trip before the Papuans arrived, to inspect a
new detention centre under construction on the island and to visit a group
of West Timorese asylum seekers.
As well as discussing the Papuans' asylum claims, she wanted to inform
them of Friday's reprisal attacks in Papua, she said.
"They haven't got any radios or televisions so they would not know of the
recent shootings, which included a relative of one of them there, unless
DIMIA (Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs)
told them," she said.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokesman said the
government still did not have confirmation from Jakarta that the
Indonesian military was responsible for the shootings.
One of the victims, Moses Douw, is believed to be a close relative of one
of the Papuan asylum seekers.
The department of immigration has rejected accusations its officials may
have endangered the group's safety.
Labor's spokesman for Pacific Island affairs, Bob Sercombe, has called on
the Australian and Indonesian governments to initiate a joint
parliamentary visit to West Papua.
-- © 2006 AAP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Radio New Zealand International
Fears for Indonesian backlash against families of Papuan refugees
Posted at 7:49pm on 23 Jan 2006
There are fears for the safety of families of the 43 Papuans seeking
asylum in Australia who were left behind in the Indonesian province.
Shootings by the Indonesian military left one student dead and three
injured in the Paniai area which is home to some of the asylum seekers who
arrived in Australia last week and have now been shifted to Christmas
Island for processing.
Denny Yomaki of the Human Rights group, Elsham, says while there is no
link between the shootings and the asylum seekers, he fears there may be
reprisals against families left behind.
A member of the International Commission of Jurors and refugee lawyer, Liz
Biok, says the Australian government needs to realise the close
surveillance the Indonesian military has in Papua.
"'I've been in villages where you go into look at the local mayor's
office, and they count the number of chickens and the number of cows that
are in the village. They will know when people are missing. Australia nees
to be aware that the Indonesian authorities will know whose gone. And so
they will face a real risk if they're sent back. Their families will also
be under risk at the moment." - Liz Biok of the ICJ.
-- Copyright © 2006 Radio New Zealand International
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Press Release: Project SafeCom
West Papuan killings and violence are part of a 4-decade Indonesian pattern
Monday, 23 January 2006, 3:54 pm
"Killings and violence by Indonesian police and TNI in West Papua
constitute a 'well-established pattern' that has been going on for four
decades since the hand-over of West Papua by the Dutch and the 'Act of
Free Choice' referendum, a recently commissioned report by the Dutch
government states - and this report was published just one month ago," WA
Rights group Project SafeCom says.
The government of the Netherlands commissioned Professor Pieter J.
Drooglever to review the issues of the hand-over by the Dutch, led by the
then foreign minister Joseph Luns to the Indonesian government with
assistance by the United Nations, at the time under Secretary-General U
Thant, and the report became public in December 2005 under the Dutch title
of "Een Daad van vrije Keuze" (An Act of Free Choice).
[ Online summary available at
http://tapol.gn.apc.org/reports/droogleverengsum.htm ]
Professor Drooglever, although he does not endorse it, states in his
report that "A legal research group linked to Yale University found, in
their report from 2003, the facts which had become known to them
sufficiently serious to use the ominous word genocide to describe the
situation", and he admits that "...according to the statements of Papuans
with a considerable knowledge of what was going on, not a day went by
during the following decades when no one died or no one was seriously
mistreated."
In addition to Professor Drooglever's report, the well-regarded New
Internationalist magazine dedicated an issue to the West Papua situation
in 2002, and in the overview of the country's history, reporter Chris
Richards writes: "Officially, more than 100,000 have died. Unofficially,
the estimate is 800,000."
"The situation in West Papua is equal to that of East Timor under
Indonesian rule, because the methods of "rule" in Indonesia have always
blatantly disregarded any sense of natural justice, fairness and human
rights, and to make matters worse, the Freeport Mining interests provides
a massive financial reason for Indonesia to quell any independence-related
unrest, and in this they, as the media have shown in the last decade, are
ably assisted by the mining companies."
"The 12 July 1999 ABC Four Corners Program 'Blood on the Cross'** where
Mark Davis investigated allegations about the role of the International
Red Cross and the British military in a massacre in the Southern Highlands
of Irian Jaya in May 1996 is an example of the killings and complicity of
mining companies in this."
** link to ABC transcript http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/s39706.htm
"Last week's aggressive press release about by the Chamber of Commerce in
Cairns, where the Chamber recommended that the Howard government adopt a
hard-line approach to the asylum seekers from West Papua may well have
been the first voice of these interests."
"It is imperative that the Howard government starts developing an open
voice about the human rights abuses in West Papua, 'without fear or
fervour' in the context of its economic relationships with the mining
industry or other commercial interests, in the context of the West Papuan
refugees as well as in its bi-lateral relationship with Indonesia in
general."
Summation of the issues are now available on the Project SafeCom website
at http://www.safecom.org.au/merdeka.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
East Timor Action Network (ETAN)
20 Jan 2006
Letter to Australia on Papua asylum seekers
20 January 2006
Prime Minister John Howard
c/o Embassy of Australia to the United States
1601 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20036-2273
Via facsimile: 202-797-3168
Dear Prime Minister Howard:
We strongly urge your government to respond with compassion and in
compliance with legal and international obligations with respect to the 43
West Papuan refugees seeking asylum who arrived at Port York on January
17. While Australia is to be commended for its timely and successful
efforts to assist these men, women, and children after their harrowing
journey, it is equally important that they now be accorded the full rights
and privileges which accrue to their refugee status.
The circumstances of their plight, especially the systemic human rights
violations which impelled them to make this arduous voyage, are not in
question. International human rights organizations, the media, and West
Papuan rights organizations now under threat have convincingly documented
the widespread and intensifying abuse in West Papua carried out by
Indonesian authorities, primarily by the military and police. In December
2003, Yale Law School published a report that addressed both the scale and
seriousness of the situation in West Papua. It said in part:
The Indonesian military and security forces have engaged in widespread
violence and extrajudicial killings in West Papua. They have subjected
Papuan men and women to acts of torture, disappearance, rape, and sexual
violence, thus causing serious bodily and mental harm. Systematic resource
exploitation, the destruction of Papuan resources and crops, compulsory
(and often uncompensated) labor, transmigration schemes, and forced
relocation have caused pervasive environmental harm to the region,
undermined traditional subsistence practices, and led to widespread
disease, malnutrition, and death among West Papuans....Many of these acts,
individually and collectively, clearly constitute crimes against humanity
under international law.
The military and police operate with impunity within Indonesia's corrupt
judicial system. Increasing military deployment and continuing development
of "militia" to intimidate the local population, as well as the central
government's plan to divide the province, have led to a potentially
volatile climate. The marginalization of West Papuans in their own land,
reflected in a dearth of fundamental health, education and other basic
services as noted in recent World Bank reporting, has created intolerable
conditions.
It is certain that the 43 West Papuan refugees would face persecution
should they be sent back to Indonesia. We urge you to ensure that they
have the fair hearings to which they are entitled.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Karen Orenstein, Washington Coordinator
East Timor and Indonesia Action Network
Bama Athreya, Deputy Director
International Labor Rights Fund
Kevin Martin, Executive Director
Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund
Emily Goldman, Senior Program Officer
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights
Mary Anne Mercer, Deputy Director
Health Alliance International
Joseph K. Grieboski, President
Institute on Religion and Public Policy Secretary General,
Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney Morning Herald
Editorial
January 21, 2006
Forgotten conflict
Australia's enthusiastic embrace of Indonesian democracy overlooks the
bleak truth that sweeping political reforms in Jakarta falter when
powerful vested interests stand in the way. Nowhere is this more
tragically apparent than in the remote, resource-rich Indonesian province
of Papua. Despite repeated promises of political autonomy, an end to
military repression and a fairer share for the local people of Papua's
considerable natural wealth, it's business as usual. Credible reports of a
recent military build-up and continued threats against Papuan activists
suggest far too little has changed since the collapse of the abusive
Soeharto dictatorship in 1998. An extensive research project by Yale
University concluded in 2003 that systematic and horrific human rights
abuses at the hands of Indonesian troops, resources-stripping,
environmental degradation and the destruction of traditional agriculture
were "calculated to bring about the destruction" of the Papuan people.
That is tantamount to genocide. The landing this week of a group of Papuan
asylum seekers on Cape York should focus the Howard Government's attention
firmly on this forgotten conflict on Australia's doorstep.
The decision to make the perilous trip across the Torres Strait in a
large, dugout canoe would not have been taken lightly. Australia has never
supported Papuan activists seeking independence from Indonesia, despite
the rigged referendum which incorporated the former Dutch colony into
Indonesia in 1969. But that does not mean ignoring the plight of the
Papuan people. The tribal Papuans share no ethnic, cultural or religious
heritage with Indonesia's majority Malay Muslims and have been fighting a
sporadic guerilla war for independence since Indonesia assumed control.
The Indonesian military uses the conflict as a pretext to make tens of
millions of dollars a year from logging, extortion and in "protection"
money at the giant US-operated Freeport copper and gold mine. The
Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has put the armed forces
on notice that their extraordinary Soeharto-era business privileges are
coming to an end. Plans to hand autonomy to the Papuan people are already
on the table in Jakarta. It can be done. International pressure following
the 2004 tsunami highlighted similar longstanding grievances in Aceh,
resulting in a peace treaty. Reform in Indonesia's remotest corners is
every bit as important as a fine, new parliament in the capital. And
Australia needs to tell Jakarta so, in the frankest of terms. Real friends
tell each other what they need to know, not what they want to hear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney Morning Herald
Charismatic leader being groomed for greatness
By Tom Allard
January 20, 2006
In Herman Wainggai, the struggling West Papuan independence movement may
have the articulate young leader it needs to get its message across to the
mainstream.
Under constant siege by the Indonesian military and riven by factionalism
in recent years, Papuan separatists have failed to make inroads into
global consciousness as East Timor's independence movement did in the
1980s and 1990s.
While East Timor had Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Carlos Belo, both Nobel
Peace Prize winners, the Papuan cause has suffered without similar
spokesmen or women who were credible at home and persuasive abroad.
Those who have met Wainggai have been universally impressed. "He's very
committed and charismatic and has really good command of English. He's
also really outspoken and forthright in his views," says Jason Macleod, a
PhD student and activist who has interviewed Wainggai twice. "He's also a
strategic thinker. He's really systematic in the way he demolished the
Indonesian case on West Papua."
Wainggai has been at the vanguard of the student campaign for Papuan
nationhood for the best part of a decade. In 2002, he was arrested and
served two years in prison for his role in a ceremony where the Papuan
flag, the Morning Star, was raised at Cenderawasih University in Abepura.
His uncle, Thomas Wainggai, died in prison after being arrested for his
pro-independence views and his role in raising the Morning Star.
On his release in 2004, Wainggai resumed his protest activities and was
clearly earmarked for greater things. He has studied at the University of
Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and chosen to do a
diplomacy course run by the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre in Fiji.
"He should adjust well to his new situation in Australia," the Fijian
centre's associate director, Rex Rumakiek, says.
For Papau's independence push, much hinges on the application by Wainggai
and his comrades for refugee status. It is no surprise that Indonesia has
been so quick to vigorously oppose their asylum claims.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Age (Melbourne)
Editorial
Boat people test the winds of change
January 20, 2006
Throughout history there are examples of relatively minor incidents having
far-reaching consequences. The arrival by boat of 43 West Papuan asylum
seekers at Cape York on Wednesday is potentially one of those times. Their
presence on Australian soil poses particular challenges for the Federal
Government as it attempts to reconcile its moves to soften the application
of the mandatory detention policy with its efforts to forge a closer
relationship with Indonesia.
The Papuans, from the Indonesian province formerly known as Irian Jaya, on
the western part of the island of New Guinea, spent five days at sea on a
25-metre wooden canoe before landing at Janey Creek, north of the
Aboriginal community of Mapoon. They are seeking refuge, alleging
persecution and likely death at the hands of the Indonesian military.
Papuan separatists have been agitating for independence since a 1969 vote,
widely regarded as unrepresentative, supported political integration of
the former Dutch colony with Indonesia. The situation further deteriorated
last week with the deployment of 10,000 Indonesian troops from Aceh and
the arrest of 12 separatists.
Long ignored by the rest of the world, West Papua has received greater
global attention since East Timor gained independence from Indonesia in
1999. It is significant, although undoubtedly coincidental, that these
asylum seekers arrived in Australia on the eve of the release by the East
Timorese Government of a United Nations report documenting atrocities
carried out by the Indonesian military during 25 years of occupation.
The accounts of slavery, torture and public beheadings along with evidence
of the deaths of as many as 180,000 civilians at the hands of the
Indonesian military, most of whom remain unpunished, cannot be ignored.
They lend credence to the claims of repression by the West Papuan
separatists and make less credible the assertion by an Indonesian embassy
spokesman that Papuan activists were not persecuted.
Given the negotiations of a security treaty with Indonesia that calls on
Australia to pledge not to interfere in its "territorial integrity", the
Federal Government is in a delicate position. Granting asylum would mean
accepting that the Papuans would be persecuted if they returned home.
But, above all else, the Government must learn the lessons of East Timor
and of last year's damning report into the Immigration Department by
retired senior policeman Mick Palmer. It is imperative that this country
take its international obligations seriously and assess the asylum
seekers' claims on their merits, free of political interference.
Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone's response to the arrival of
the Papuans was heartening. She stated clearly that the asylum claim would
be assessed on its merits and that relations with Indonesia would not
influence any decision relating to this group of people. Now her
department has an opportunity to demonstrate that promised changes have
been made to the application of immigration policy and to the culture in
the department. There should be no repetition of the sort of hysterical
scare campaign that has greeted the arrival of "boat people" in the past
when the Government relentlessly exploited public fears about asylum
seekers.
Beyond this, the issue is a test of Australia's improved relations with
Indonesia. If the relationship has matured, our northern neighbour should
be able to accept Australia's honouring of its international obligations
on human rights.
Indonesia's elected president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, represents a
break from his country's past but the nation is still emerging from
decades of dictatorship and a period of resentment over Australia's role
in East Timor. The question is whether Australia has broken from its
recent oppressive policies on asylum seekers. As The Age has asserted
previously, seeking asylum is a human right, not a crime. People must not
be kept locked up merely because their acceptance may upset the
authorities in another country.
Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone's response to the arrival of
the Papuans was heartening. She stated clearly that the asylum claim would
be assessed on its merits and that relations with Indonesia would not
influence any decision relating to this group of people. Now her
department has an opportunity to demonstrate that promised changes have
been made to the application of immigration policy and to the culture in
the department. There should be no repetition of the sort of hysterical
scare campaign that has greeted the arrival of "boat people" in the past
when the Government relentlessly exploited public fears about asylum
seekers.
Beyond this, the issue is a test of Australia's improved relations with
Indonesia. If the relationship has matured, our northern neighbour should
be able to accept Australia's honouring of its international obligations
on human rights.
Indonesia's elected president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, represents a
break from his country's past but the nation is still emerging from
decades of dictatorship and a period of resentment over Australia's role
in East Timor. The question is whether Australia has broken from its
recent oppressive policies on asylum seekers. As The Age has asserted
previously, seeking asylum is a human right, not a crime. People must not
be kept locked up merely because their acceptance may upset the
authorities in another country.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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