A Savage Dawn for the ‘Morning Star’?

Even before the blood is dry in East Timor, another secessionist crisis looms in Indonesia. On May 1, Theys Hiyo Eluay, the self-proclaimed Great Leader of the Papuan Nation, intends to declare an independent government of West Papua and raise that nascent country’s forbidden “Morning Star” flag. This act of defiance to the Indonesian government, which is conducting a major military buildup on the island it shares with Papua New Guinea, could be more savage and protracted than East Timor’s secession.

West Papua and East Timor were acquired as Indonesia’s 26th and 27th provinces during the expansion of “Greater Indonesia” initiated by Presidents Sukarno and Suharto during the 1960s and 1970s. Thanks largely to the tireless efforts of Portugal and Australia, East Timor’s incorporation was never endorsed by the international community. West Papua was not so lucky.

West Papua (or West Irian as it was known to the Dutch who colonized the area) fell under Indonesian administration as part of a U.N.-sponsored deal grossly misnamed the “Act of Free Choice.” In accordance with the agreement, Indonesia held a 1969 plebiscite widely recognized as a sham. Nevertheless, the U.N. General Assembly approved the plebiscite and Indonesia renamed its new territory Irian Jaya, or Irian Victory. Since then the Papuan people have been subject to the same pacification operations the Indonesian military made infamous in East Timor.

Eluay, the most prominent of West Papua’s political leaders, began his political career as a tool of Suharto’s “New Order.” He was one of the 1,000 delegates to the “Act of Free Choice.” He continued his political career as a member of the government’s party, Golkar, and served as a member of the provincial parliament. Eluay later recanted his 1969 vote and now speaks out for Papuan independence. In October 1998, he was arrested for raising a Papuan flag. When he was released in December 1999, he promptly raised another flag.

Eluay and other Papuan leaders consider the time ripe for a break with Jakarta. An all-Papuan congress was convened last week by Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid. Eluay now is expected to declare an independent government of West Papua. Unlike in East Timor, there are no Papuan leaders willing to embrace a watered-down “autonomy” under Indonesian rule. Papuans come in only two political stripes: those who want immediate independence and those willing to postpone independence for a brief transition period.

This declaration of independence will meet fierce resistance from the Indonesian military. The West Papua province is a cash cow for the Indonesian army and national police, and they will be loath to give it up. Along with their legal businesses in timber and mining, the military and police commit as much as half of the illegal logging and poaching in the province.

The army and police are dramatically increasing their strength in the province. Every source I interviewed spoke of the sharp rise in the number of army and police units. In Jayapura, the provincial capital, I saw two of the Indonesian navy’s amphibious landing ships unloading equipment. The army and police are unlikely to accede to Papuan independence, to heed calls for discipline from Indonesian politicians or to respect human rights as demanded by the international community. East Timor was rife with military crimes, but even now in the restive province of Aceh, the military is conducting “security operations” considered by many to be the worst in memory for naked violence. If this is how the Indonesian military treats the Acehnese--who are fellow Muslims, belong to the same Indo-Malay ethnic group and largely prefer to remain a part of Indonesia--how much worse will it be for the Christian, dark-skinned and independence-minded Papuans?

The humanitarian crisis in East Timor stretched thin the military resources of Australia and New Zealand. A fresh crisis in the region could require considerably more American support than the 200 military communications specialists we provided in East Timor. The time to focus on West Papua is now, before the slaughter begins.