[The following statement was issued by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) on November 8 in response to the Indonesian troops build-up in West Papua.]

Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor supports the West Papuan people's demand for a free act of national self-determination. Since the UN-supervised referendum in East Timor in August 1999, in which the overwhelming majority supported independence from Indonesia, the West Papuan people's campaign for the same opportunity to decide their future has intensified.

When the Dutch government relinquished colonial rule over Indonesia between 1945-1949, West Papua remained under its control. Under United Nations auspices, West Papua's future was to be renegotiated in 1950, but no such consultation took place with the West Papuan people.

In 1961 the Dutch colonialists began a defence build-up, while on December 1 that year some West Papuan leaders declared independence. In January 1962, the Sukarno government sent in a special force to “liberate” the territory, but that failed. In August, as part of the New York Agreement, an interim United Nations administration took over from the Dutch. But on May 1, 1963, under US and Australian government pressure, the UN gave Indonesia the task of administering the territory and organising an act of self-determination within six years.

The UN, backed by the West, acceded to Indonesia's demand that West Papua be “returned”. This take-over was “ratified” by 1,025 local chiefs selected by the Indonesian military to take part in the so-called Act of Free Choice in 1969. This sham was recognised by the UN as a legitimate act of self-determination. In 1973, following years of a transmigration program, Indonesia renamed Dutch New Guinea Irian Jaya or the “Victorious Irian”.

Secret documents released in 1999 by the Department of Foreign Affairs reveal that Australia's security organisation, ASIO, played an active role in preventing West Papuan leaders from presenting their case for independence to the UN, just weeks before the fake vote. The Australian military collected evidence of Indonesian atrocities in West Papua, but still Australia played a key role in the campaign to ensure the Act of Free Choice was accepted without debate at the UN General Assembly in November 1969.

Since the early 1960s, resistance to Indonesia's brutal rule in West Papua has been growing. In 1965 the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (Organisation for Papua's Independence — OPM) was formed to coordinate the struggle for self-determination. Indonesia responded with military action, arbitrary arrests, disappearances, and the murder of those suspected to be OPM supporters.

Following the massive demonstrations early this year to mark the 38th anniversary of the 1961 declaration of independence in which some 80,000 people took part and the OPM's flag was raised all over the country, President Abdurrahman Wahid was forced to make some conciliatory gestures. He agreed to a name change, back to West Papua, and apologised for years of repression and human rights violations.

However Wahid, backed by local imperialist bully Australia, has ruled out a referendum on self-determination.

West Papua is home to Freeport, one of the richest copper and gold mines in the world. Located at Grasberg mountain, the mine is owned by the New Orleans-based Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold company and is run by Freeport Indonesia with the help of the Indonesian military. The local Amungme and Koworo people were never consulted and have been harassed and massacred for their opposition to the mine.

After smelting, the gold and copper are estimated to be worth US$2 billion a year. Freeport Indonesia, a privately-owned company, has a 20% stake.

For now, the political elites in Indonesia and the Western powers believe West Papua's massive mineral and forestry resources are more easily exploited under Indonesian rule. However, growing international support for the West Papuan people's right to self-determination may make this untenable. The week-long Papuan People's Congress in June, attended by some 2700 participants from 14 districts with 501 elected delegates, declared that Indonesia's incorporation of West Papua was invalid and that the province became independent from the Dutch in December 1, 1961.

These events and the recent Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Kiribati where delegates discussed the deteriorating human rights situation in West Papua represents a significant step forward in the struggle for self-determination.

On December 1, the West Papuans will raise the independence flag in a bid to push forward their struggle for independence. Wahid has ordered a ban on flag raising ceremonies and some a number of people have recently been murdered for such acts of civil disobedience. Some 100,000 West Papuans have been killed since the early 1960s and the terror is intensifying as between 5000-10,000 Jakarta-funded pro-integration militias continue their campaign of terror and brutality.

The Australian Coalition government and Labor opposition must be forced to reverse their policy and support the West Papuan people's right of self-determination.

ASIET calls on supporters of the right to self-determination to demand the Howard government:

Cut all military aid to Indonesia;

Pressure Jakarta into withdrawing its military from West Papua;

Add its weight to calls for a UN inquiry into human rights violations in West Papua, and;

Support a UN-supervised act of self-determination to allow the West Papuan people to decide on their future.

[For more information contact <asiet@asiet.org.au.>]

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