Aceh

Troops launch new air attacks on suspected rebel hideouts

Agence France Presse - August 3, 2004

Banda Aceh -- Indonesia's military said on Tuesday its warplanes attacked two suspected rebel bases in Aceh province, in the second use of air power against the separatists in a week.

One Bronco counter-insurgency aircraft dropped six bombs and fired about 600 rounds of 12.7-millimetre ammunition on the Teungku mountain area in South Aceh on Monday, said district military chief Jamhur Ismail.

About 600 soldiers were combing the area to hunt down about 80 to 100 Free Aceh Movement (GAM) fighters, Ismail said.

No immediate information on casualties was available from the military.

Teungku Jamaica, a spokesman for the rebels in North Aceh, told AFP in Jakarta he had not heard from his colleagues about the air attack.

Rebels denied they had a base in a mountainous area attacked by air in Aceh Besar district last week, the first use of air power in months against the rebels.

Ismail said later that two Bronco airplanes based in Medan, in the neighboring province of North Sumatra, on Tuesday conducted an air raid on a marshy coastal region in Kuala Krueng Seumanyan in Southwest Aceh district where the GAM is believed to have another base.

He said the two aircraft dropped bombs and fired 12.7-millimetre ammunition before immediately returning to Medan. Ismail did not specify what type of bombs were used but said soldiers were now combing the area for rebels.

Separately, troops shot dead one suspected rebel in North Aceh and arrested four others on Monday, Aceh military spokesman Asep Sapari said.

The military launched a major operation to crush GAM in May 2003 after the collapse of a brief truce.

Military and police figures show about 2,200 rebels have been killed since then. Rights groups have said many of the dead are civilians. GAM has been fighting for independence since 1976.

Military, police accused of human trafficking

Radio Australia - August 2, 2004

There are claims that the Indonesian military and police have been extorting bribes from Acehnese asylum seekers and selling them into slavery. The claims have been backed by refugee advocates working closely with the UN refugee agency in Malaysia, where thousands of Acehnese are facing expulsion under a government crackdown on illegal workers.

Presenter/Interviewer: Marion MacGregor

Speakers: Marty Natalegawa, Indonesian government spokesman; Ahmad Shabrimi, lawyer and volunteer with the Malaysian-based non-government organisation, Citizens International; Parmizi, a co-ordinator of the Aceh Refugee Centre in Malaysia; Saiful, Acehnese deportee from Malaysia

MacGregor: In the Malaysian government's latest drive to get rid of foreign workers, two million people, most of them Indonesians, face detention or deportation in the next few months. Around 20,000 of them are believed to be from Aceh, where the Indonesian military launched a huge operation in 2003 against rebels fighting for independence.

Kuala Lumpur doesn't recognise asylum seekers, so all the Acehnese living in Malaysia are classified as illegals. Ahmad Shabrimi a lawyer and volunteer with the Malaysian-based non- government organisation, Citizens International.

Shabrimi: They are doing odd jobs over here, and trying to survive basically. But of course the government or the authorities will just classify them as illegal immigrants and as in the case of any illegal immigrants, they will just round them up and send them to detention centres. They claim themselves to be Acehnese, and they say they don't want to be deported because they are asylum seekers, and the government puts them in special centre. And then, because the situation is quite horrible, the asylum seekers would have no other option but to voluntarily go back. They're forced, they've got no other option but to leave Malaysia.

MacGregor: When they arrive back in Indonesia, the Acehnese are usually arrested and detained by the authorities. Parmizi, a co- ordinator of the Aceh refugee centre in Malaysia who also works closely with the UNHCR, says many people have gone missing, and some have been sold into slavery.

Parmizi: Some case, the people after arrested by military in Indonesia, they sell to some company and working for them, not to pay any more.

MacGregor: The military are selling them to companies in Indonesia?

Parmizi: Yes, yes.

MacGregor: Which part of the military?

Parmizi: I think the military is working together with bandits and also officials, like immigration in Indonesia. In Dumai they have one house, or one office, belonging to bandits, working together with military. And the Acehnese refugees in this house need to pay 120,000 Rupiah. After ten days, the refugees cannot pay, they are sell to one company.

MacGregor: What companies?

Parmizi: In the forest

MacGregor: Okay, logging companies?

Parmizi: Yeah, logging companies, yeah.

MacGregor: Saiful worked illegally for two years in Malaysia until he was arrested in May and sent to Dumai in Riau province in Indonesia. After being detained for one night, he says he paid the equivalent of about fifty US dollars for his freedom. He's now gone into hiding.

Saiful: I paid people working with the Indonesian police and soldiers to be released from Riau. About 200 Ringgit. It was a bribe. There were many other people in the same situation. You were allowed to go if you paid the money. If you refused, you would be sold to owners of Indonesian logging firms, as slave labour.

MacGregor: Indonesian government spokesman, Marty Natalegawa, describes the allegations as far-fetched, and an effort by Acehnese to evoke international sympathy.

Marty: It's trying to turn the whole thing on its head isn't it. I mean from our perspective, the Indonesian government's perspective, we've always said, that many of the Acehnese who are in Malaysia, and who have in the past sought to obtain some kind of refugee status were largely there for economic reasons and tried to convert their status to obtain refugee status and hopefully to become resettled in some third country. Now, for this type of individual to come and make these extremely serious allegations, I mean this is quite extraordinary, and of course we would want to find out exactly the facts and the details so that we can look into it.

MacGregor: Many more people are expected to be deported from Malaysia to Indonesia in the coming months. But Marty Natalegawa says the authorities on both sides are co-operating to make sure there's no risk of corruption or illegal activity.

Marty: This is a matter which is now being looked at being prepared by both governments, the Indonesian government and the Malaysian government, to ensure that the deportation process will be done in an orderly manner. You know, I mean Indonesia is a large country, but at the same time, I think it's rather misleading and it's quite incorrect to try to give the impression that there are far-flung points in our country where as if it some kind of a lawless and anything goes type of situation. That's not the case.

West Papua

Campaigners still believe military murdered Americans

Agence France Presse - August 6, 2004

A dispute over the killing of two Americans in a remote Indonesian province two years ago shows no sign of abating, despite a recent US indictment against an Indonesian man believed to have been involved.

Indonesian human rights groups are worried that by focusing on a separatist group in West Papua, Attorney General John Ashcroft has diverted attention away from the country's military (known locally as Tentara Nasional Indonesia, or TNI), which has long been suspected of involvement in the crime.

Some members of Congress, too, would like to see further FBI investigation into allegations of TNI collaboration in the killings, and they are urging the administration to hold off on resuming military-to-military ties with Jakarta in the meantime. The relations were severed over TNI human rights abuses in East Timor in the 1990s.

In June, Ashcroft announced that a grand jury had indicted an Indonesian separatist on two counts of murder in connection with an armed ambush in Aug. 2002 in Papua.

Two American teachers and an Indonesian colleague were shot dead and 11 other people, including seven Americans, were injured when gunmen attacked them as they returned from a picnic.

The group was attached to an international school operated by a nearby mine, owned by New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. The approaches to the mine are guarded by the TNI and closed to outsiders.

Initial Indonesian police investigations pointed to military involvement in the ambush, as did research undertaken by Papuan human rights groups. The TNI strongly denied involvement, but suspicions persisted when police later accused the military of failing to cooperate in a joint investigation.

After subsequent FBI investigations, however, the US authorities named as the perpetrator Anthonius Wamang, a member of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM).

The OPM has for the past 40 years been waging a low-intensity rebellion for independence for Papua, a resource-rich, predominantly Christian territory formerly known as Irian Jaya, which has been ruled by Indonesia since the early 1960s.

Armed mostly with bows and arrows, OPM members have on occasion taken Europeans hostage -- most recently in 2001 -- but according to researchers had never been known to attack foreigners before the Freeport incident.

Papuan human rights campaigners worry that the focus on the OPM will provide the military with an "excuse" to step up repression in the province. Noting that Ashcroft had used the word "terrorists" in his June 24 statement, they are concerned the TNI may try to characterize a clampdown against any Papuan dissidents as part of the "war against terrorism."

Veteran human rights campaign John Rumbiak of the Institute for Human Rights and Advocacy (known as ELSHAM) earlier helped the FBI with its inquiries, providing information including statements from Wamang, the indicted man.

Rumbiak said in a phone interview Thursday that he had been "very surprised" when Ashcroft's announcement was released that no reference had been made to the likelihood of military collaboration in the ambush. In effect the statement had cleared the TNI of any role.

In fact, the statement did say the Indonesian police and FBI were continuing efforts "attempting to identify additional participants in the murders."

Rumbiak did not call into question Wamang's involvement -- in fact the wanted man had in one statement admitted to a role in the attack, although in a later statement he denied this. But he said a full investigation was needed to reveal the whole picture, including who gave the orders.

Motive questioned

Rumbiak said Wamang had admitted conducting business with the TNI -- specifically, trading eaglewood, an important source of revenue in Papua. More importantly, he added, Wamang had admitted getting ammunition from TNI personnel. Why soldiers would provide ammunition to a separatist rebel was a mystery, unless he was operating on their behalf.

With about 100 rounds fired at the two vehicles carrying the teachers, Rumbiak said it was ludicrous to think the small faction of the OPM led by Wamang would have had access to that amount of ammunition without help from the military. In fact, the group was known to have just three ageing weapons -- an M16, an AK47 and an old "wait-and-see" Dutch rifle, he said.

Rumbiak also questioned what motive the OPM could have had for attacking foreigners. ELSHAM and other rights groups have suggested a couple of possible reasons for military involvement.

Foreign oil, gas and mining companies in Indonesia have long looked to the military for security, and Freeport has admitted paying millions of dollars for security.

One theory put forward was that the TNI was worried it would lose this important source of revenue as a result of legislative in the US designed to ensure greater corporate accountability.

Elements in the military, according to this scenario, decided foreign firms needed a scare to justify continuing the protection payments.

Another hypothesis was that the military was worried Papua may go the way of East Timor -- which became independent of Indonesia three months earlier -- and so wanted a pretext for a harsh clampdown on separatists.

Four months after the attack, Indonesia's Koran Tempo newspaper quoted Papua deputy police chief Brig.-Gen. Raziman Tarigan as saying the attackers had used M16 and SS1 automatic rifles, types used by the military. Tarigan also said TNI soldiers had been involved.

'Full investigation'

ELSHAM and two other Indonesian rights groups issued a joint statement this week accusing Ashcroft of not releasing "evidence that would be of great interest to the US Congress and the Freeport victims' families."

They said Ashcroft's statements could be read by the military as a signal to go after Papuan dissidents. The groups called on the US Congress "to facilitate a full, impartial investigation" into the shooting incident.

Some members of Congress have been engaged on the issue since soon after the ambush. Congress earlier took steps to limit funding for military education training because of concerns that Jakarta was not cooperating with the FBI investigation.

In a new letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the administration not to take steps towards resuming normalized military relations with Indonesia -- specifically by reconvening a bilateral defense dialogue.

Among other concerns about the TNI cited in the letter, the signatories said that while they were pleased an indictment had been issued in the Freeport shooting case, "we believe that further investigation into collaborators in this ambush is warranted."

Joe Collins of the Australia West Papua Association in Sydney said Thursday that the TNI was "renowned for its dirty tricks" and would have been buoyed by the indictment against an OPM member.

"This is the opportunity the military is waiting for, that the OPM could be classed as a terrorist organization. Since 9/11 nobody wants to be classified as a terrorist organization," he said.

"They will just use this as an excuse to crack down, and they don't distinguish between civilians and so-called separatists," Collins said. "Whenever military operations take place, there's usually high civilian casualties."

Rights groups accuse US of covering Papua killings

Agence France Presse - August 5, 2004

Jakarta -- Rights groups in Indonesia's Papua province Wednesday accused US Attorney General John Ashcroft of a cover up over the killing of two US teachers and an Indonesian near Papua's giant Freeport gold mine in 2002.

In a joint statement, the Amungme Tribal Institute, the Institute for Human Rights Studies and Advocacy, and the Women and Children Human Rights Foundation, aired concerns over comments by Ashcroft on the killings.

"Ashcroft is apparently suppressing evidence in the Justice Department's possession, evidence that would be of great interest to the US Congress and the Freeport victims' families," the rights groups said.

Last month, Ashcroft said a man acting for the separatist Free Papua Movement had carried out the murders in Timika, Papua, with his group. His comments sparked outrage from the rebel group.

Ashcroft's statement cleared the Indonesian military of any role in the attack, fuelling hopes in Jakarta that military ties with Washington could be resumed after they were cut over Indonesia's support of militias in East Timor.

In their statement, the rights groups expressed their "grave concern over the actions" of Ashcroft and called on the US congress "to facilitate a full, impartial investigation," into the shooting incident.

Ashcroft's comments had sent signals to the Indonesian military that it could go after Papuan dissidents, they added.

The statement claimed that the three rights organisations, which had assisted in an FBI probe of the deaths, have already been subjected to intimidation by the military.

They accused Ashcroft of failing to say that the man blamed for the deaths had business ties with Indonesian army special forces rather than rebels and that a probe by Indonesian police had concluded the military was involved.

The rights groups said the military had carried out the attacks to reinforce fears of rebels to ensure that the Freeport mine operators would continue making large cash payments for security arrangements in and around the mine.

The Free Papua Organisation has been fighting a sporadic and low-level guerrilla war since 1963 when Indonesia took over the huge mountainous and undeveloped territory from Dutch colonisers.

Papua evidence ignored, say rights groups

Sydney Morning Herald - August 5, 2004

Matthew Moore, Jakarta -- Three human rights groups in Papua province have accused the US Attorney-General, John Ashcroft, of withholding evidence of the Indonesian military's involvement in an attack that killed two American teachers in 2002.

The groups say Mr Ashcroft ignored evidence given to FBI officers investigating the murders at the Freeport gold mine that shows a Papuan man recently indicted over the attack, Anthonius Wamang, was in business with members of the military and used military ammunition.

"Anthon told our organisations and the FBI that he got his ammunition from TNI [armed forces] personnel," the rights groups said in their statement. "He said that the officers he dealt with knew exactly who he was and knew that he was about to carry out an attack in the Freeport concession."

ELSHAM, the main Papuan rights group, and the LEMASA and YAHAMAK groups strongly criticised Mr Ashcroft for labelling the 40-year-old separatist group the Free Papua Movement (OPM) as "terrorists", giving the military the green light to "go after" any Papuan considered a dissident.

Yesterday's statement comes 23 months after assailants attacked five vehicles, including two containing 10 teachers employed by the Freeport mine, on a road above the town of Timika.

Two American and one Indonesian teacher died and the others were wounded. Although Indonesian police concluded the military were likely to have been involved in the attack, Mr Ashcroft announced in late June that a grand jury had indicted Anthonius Wamang, a member of OPM, on two counts of murder.

His failure to mention possible military involvement prompted the head of the armed forces, General Endriartono Sutarto, immediately to announce his forces had been cleared and the way was now open for the resumption of a US training program for Indonesian soldiers.

One of the signatories to yesterday's statement, John Rumbiak from ELSHAM, said Wamang traded eaglewood with the army.

Because of Mr Ashcroft's desire to resume military links with Indonesia, evidence of the army's involvement in the Freeport attack had been ignored. "Our organisations know that this evidence was in the hands of the FBI since we gave it to them."

The US embassy in Jakarta and the Freeport company both declined to comment yesterday.

US whitewashes military over Papuan murders

World Socialist Web Site - August 5, 2004

John Roberts -- US Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in late June that the Justice Department and FBI had indicted Anthonius Wamang over the August 2002 ambush of employees of the giant US-operated Freeport mine in West Papua that resulted in three deaths-two US teachers and an Indonesian colleague.

The indictment was a politically-motivated decision, which conveniently ignored evidence pointing to the involvement of the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) in the murders. The ambush became an issue blocking the resumption of close ties between the US and Indonesian military. The indictment of Wamang effectively let the TNI off the hook.

Ashcroft's sudden announcement came just one day after a US Congressional sub committee renewed a ban on the provision of funds for the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program for Indonesia. The ban was initially put in place over the TNI's role in the militia violence against

pro-independence supporters in East Timor in 1999 then extended after the 2002 ambush to ensure Indonesian cooperation with an FBI investigation.

Ashcroft and FBI director Robert Mueller blamed the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) for the attack and presented Wamang's indictment as a victory in the "war on terrorism". "Terrorists will find that they cannot hide from US justice, whether in the world's largest cities or in the most remote jungles of Asia," Ashcroft declared. Mueller claimed that the investigation illustrated "the importance of international cooperation to combat terrorism".

Ashcroft and Mueller produced no evidence to substantiate the OPM's direct involvement and neither explained why the ambush should be branded "a terrorist attack". The OPM is a poorly armed separatist militia that has conducted a spasmodic struggle against Jakarta's oppressive rule in the province since the 1960s. The US State Department has never listed it as a terrorist organisation nor does it have a history of attacking foreigners.

The decision to treat the OPM as a terrorist organisation effectively gives a green light to the TNI to step up its repression in the province. The Indonesian military in already engaged in a ruthless war of attrition against separatist guerrillas in the province of Aceh-all in the name of "fighting terrorism".

Ashcroft's announcement was greeted with delight in Jakarta where the Foreign Ministry rapidly announced its hope that military cooperation between the two countries would be resumed. Spokesman Marty Natalegawa declared: "We are very pleased that eventually the truth has been exposed."

However, Wamang's indictment answers none of the questions surrounding the ambush. While Wamang appears to have been involved in the attack, he had business relations with the Indonesian military and his ties with the OPM were tenuous. The OPM issued a statement in early July denying any involvement in the ambush. "The indicted man, Mr Antonius Wamang, has worked closely with the Indonesian military for the past four years in the sandalwood business and also as part of a pro-Indonesian militia," it declared.

Earlier this week, three Indonesian human rights groups issued a statement accusing Ashcroft of deliberately withholding evidence of the TNI's involvement in the murders. "Anton[ius] told our organisations and the FBI that he got his ammunition from TNI personnel. He said that the officers he dealt with knew exactly who he was and knew that he was about to carry out an attack in the Freeport concession," the groups said.

John Rumbiak, from the Papuan human rights group Elsham, explained: "Our organisations know that this evidence was in the hands of the FBI, since we gave it to them and later had extensive discussions about it with them."

In an interview in late June on the Australian television program "Dateline", Rumbiak said he had taken FBI investigators to meet Wamang and local OPM militia leader Kelly Kwalik. Wamang admitted to staging the attack but claimed the teachers had been killed by mistake. He thought he was attacking a TNI convoy. Kwalik denied ordering the ambush.

Rumbiak told "Dateline" that Wamang had "a very good relationship with the military, especially involving the sandalwood business, as well as gold panning, and he travelled to Jakarta and also to Surabaya and that's how he got the ammunition". So far, no one has explained how the attackers obtained the automatic rifles used in the attack.

As Rumbiak related, Wamang has given several conflicting accounts of his involvement. But even if he did organise the attack, which remains to be proven, his statements suggest, at the very least, TNI knowledge of and possible involvement in the ambush.

In its initial report of Wamang's indictment, the Washington Post noted: "State Department officials also said the preponderance of the evidence pointed to the Indonesian military. Congress, in classified hearings, also was given evidence to support that preliminary finding."

Other facts that emerged during investigations of the attack point in the same direction.

Some of the survivors of the attack, who pushed for an FBI investigation, pointed to an obvious discrepancy. A permanently- manned military post was within earshot of the ambush, during which at least 200 rounds were fired over 45 minutes. But the soldiers did nothing until the attack was over. The survivors also pointed out that if the attackers had travelled by road they would have had to pass through a number of TNI checkpoints.

Indonesian police who initially investigated the crime concluded that there was evidence of TNI involvement. In the immediate aftermath of the Freeport attack, the military claimed to have shot and killed a Papuan, Danianus Walker, who took part in the assault. However, a police autopsy showed that Walker had died at least 24 hours before the ambush.

Another Papuan, who was a member of the TNI-controlled Tenaga Bantuan Operasi militia, told police that he was in the immediate area with Kopassus special forces troops at the time of the attack. He claimed to have overheard a mobile phone call during which soldiers were firing on the convoy. However, the police were taken off the case and the witness disappeared once the TNI took over the investigation, which subsequently exonerated the military.

Articles in the Washington Post and Sydney Morning Herald in 2002 cited intelligence sources who claimed there had been high level communications between the military in Jakarta and Papua, referring to an operation at the Freeport mine prior to the ambush. TNI chief Endriartono Sutarto vehemently denied this and threatened to take legal action against the Washington Post.

The Indonesian military had a number of motives for staging an attack. The Freeport McMoRan corporation admitted that it was paying the TNI for protection at the mine site. Under pressure from shareholders, company executives said in addition to spending $US37 million on a TNI base it had made secret annual payments of $US5.6 million. The attack could well have been an attempt by local TNI commanders to extort more protection money from the company.

At the same time, the Indonesian military was seeking to overturn the US ban on the provision of IMET training. The killing of American citizens provided a convenient argument to bolster its case for the resumption of close ties as part of the Bush administration's "war on terrorism". The TNI could also use the ambush to press its demand for tougher action against separatist organisations in Papua, Aceh and elsewhere.

The Indonesian military has a long history of thuggery and repression, both under the US-backed Suharto dictatorship and subsequently. The willingness of the Bush administration to brush aside evidence pointing to the military's involvement in the murder of American citizens is a clear indication that it regards close ties with Indonesia's repressive security apparatus as essential to US interests in the region.

Indonesia's fierce hold on West Papua

ABC Foreign Correspondent - August 4, 2004

[This transcript was kindly supplied by Tony O'Connor as ABC TV no longer provides transcripts.]

Reporter: Anthony Balmain (AB)

Speakers: John Rumbiak (JR), Anthonius Wamak (AW), Spier (PS), Albert Kailele (AK)

Scene of Wewak beach and town

The eyes of world are far from the small coastal ton of Wewak on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea.

Scene of Wewak and people meeting

The people meeting here are from across the border in West Papua. They want independence but they know that fighting for it over the last 40 years haven't worked.

Scene of people shouting Merdeka In West Papua Septimus Paeiki is a crusader. To Indonesia he is a criminal subversive, a former political prisoner still under house arrest.

SP: I'm always being followed. I need to have strategies to get across the border and come here. I don't care if they arrest me later. What is important is what I have done for the cause.

Night scene on beach

AB: More Papuans arrive secretly -- they've traveled 14 hours from the West Papuan capital Jayapura. It has been a lifetime struggle and journey for Patrick Humey (or Kumey).

PH: I am an eyewitness. At the border many of my troops died in my arms. In Wamena on April 24 1977 many people died. About 75,000 mountain people died. They burnt them alive and stabbed them with hot irons. People were buried alive. Genitals were stabbed.

Scene of people dancing.

AB: It's impossible to know how many West Papuans have been killed during Indonesia's occupation. Estimates start at 100, 000. Among West Papuan leaders there is a range of views from diplomacy to armed conflict.

West Papuan speaker: Get the troops, I'll lead them; Raise the flag; Make the proclamation. If we die, we die.

Scenes of people dancing in Jayapura and of Theys Eluay.

AB: Wewak is a world away from the historic congress that charged the West Papua capital of Jayapura.

Theys Eluay scene

AB: For the West Papuan's a time for celebration. From Indonesia's President Abdurahman Wahid the offer of autonomy and a name change what was Irian Jaya became Papua. People felt free to fly their beloved flag, the Morning Star. The 2000 Congress united many disparate groups, re-affirmed independence from Indonesia and more importantly West Papuans elected a new leader Theys Eluay.

Theys Eluay: Merdeka -- echoed by others. Peace -- echoed by others

AB: The euphoria of Jayapura was short lived -- so too Theys Eluay -- just over a year later he was killed by soldiers from Kopassus -- the man who epitomized the West Papuan push for independence was strangled. Seven Indonesians, including a senior officer are now in jail -- but the Indonesian military virtually got away with murder. They will be free in a year or two.

Indonesia's fierce hold on West Papua is the politics of profit. Freeport is a gold mine -- it is the world's largest gold and copper mine and Indonesia's largest single taxpayer -- pouring more than three billion dollars in Jakarta over the past decade.

Scenes from Freeport mine -- smelter, trucks etc

It's no secret -- many West Papuans deeply resent Freeport and the Indonesian government's plundering of its resources.

But shrouded in mystery is what motivated the killers who lurked in the mountain mist on a remote road near the Freeport mine. In August 2002 two cars carrying school teachers were traveling along this mountain road heavily guarded by Indonesian soldiers. The teachers worked for the International School servicing the Freeport mine.

Patsy Spier: A lone gunman came out and sprayed fire into my husband's car killing my husband and Ted Burgoigne.

Scenes of bullets in car after attack.

AB: During the 45 minutes of gunfire three people were killed. Patsy Spier was wounded in the back and foot.

PS: I wasn't screaming. I wasn't trembling in fear. It was as though I knew that Rick was gone -- I felt in my heart that he was gone and I just remember thinking after a while that it was ok if they just came and put the gun through the window and shot me in the head.

AB: The Indonesian military immediately blamed the OPM for the attack.

They (the military) claimed that they shot and killed this West Papuan. But this manoeuvre backfired when a police autopsy revealed that this man had been dead for at least 24 hours before the shooting.

AB: Initial Indonesian police investigations concluded that the military played a part in the ambush. Then the FBI flew to West Papua. Now following a lengthy inquiry the FBI has charged a West Papuan with the murder of the two Americans.

Scene of West Papua man facing directly to camera -- interviewer not shown (conversation in Indonesian, translated in subtitles).

AW: My name is Anthonius Wamang. I am 32 years old.

AB: The accused is Anthonius Wamang from the Tembagapura area near the Freeport mine. The ABC has not been allowed into West Papua but Foreign Correspondent has obtained this interview with Anthonius Wamang now in hiding since being branded a terrorist by the United States.

Qn: Did you also participate in the events of the killings near Tembagapura on August 31, 2002.

AW: Yes I did

Qn: Did you know that the people in the car were American teachers?

AW: I didn't know.

AB: Anthonius Wamang claims that along with 14 others he ambushed the cars believing they contained Indonesian military.

A member of the OPM for 20 years Anthonius Wamang denies that he was acting on orders from the OPM leadership.

AW: My feeling is that Freeport came in and destroyed the environment, destroyed nature and destroyed the places where we live. They pay the Indonesian military and they come and kill us and make us suffer.

AB: Since the mine opened back in 1967 Freeport has enjoyed a cosy relationship with the Indonesian military. The army has been paid handsomely -- tens of millions of dollars -- so much that Freeport's critics charge that Indonesian soldiers act as the mining giant's private security force.

AW: So I thought it was the Indonesian military driving when I opened fire.

AB: Adding to the intrigue AW has admitted to doing deals with the Indonesian military.

AW: I had a business relationship with them for purchasing ammunition.

Patsy Spier (PS): Innocent people were killed and that is wrong and we've got to find out why it happened so that something positive can come from my husband's death. Because it is not just an unfortunate incident -- it was well planned -- people died and lives were changed forever.

AW: It was the wrong target and I regret it. I apologize to the victims and the families of the victims and I'm ready to take responsibility.

AB: Human rights activist John Rumbiak believes there is much more to the murders. He claims that there is evidence incriminating the Indonesian military and its militia gangs.

JR: Anthonius Wamang and its followers were trained and armed by militias and the Indonesian military.

AB: So if this is true why didn't Anthonius Wamang say this to the FBI?

JR: He would be dead -- he was trained and he was armed and he was warned by the militias and TNI that if he did that then not only him but his family and everyone that was involved would be the target.

Qn to AW: Are you ready to surrender to the TNI or police?

AW: No, I don't want to.

Qn to AW: Why don't you want to?

AW: They don't enforce the law properly -- that's why I don't trust them.

AB: But Anthonius Wamang says that he is willing to give himself up to the FBI.

PS: The people who wanted to carry out the ambush that day wanted to kill somebody. It doesn't matter what organization they were with. They were going to kill someone that day. We need to have a legitimate trial. We need to find out what is going on that would cause people to want to kill others.

AB: Patsy Spier is maintaining her fight to bring her husband's killers to justice.

Scene of PS visiting Congressional offices

AB: She is still lobbying the US Congress -- today she is meeting Republican Joel Hefley to continue its ban on funding military aid and training to Indonesia.

Scene: Patsy Spier talking to Joel Hefley PS: I heard that the US wanted to continue to fund Indonesia and I just couldn't believe it. If the Indonesian police had implicated the TNI why should my government want to give money to that military?

Scene of people shaking hands in Wewak.

AB: Even before the FBI branded the OPM as terrorists Papuan pro-independence leaders decided on a new strategy of peace and dialogue. For leaders like Albert Kailele it's a radical departure from 40 years of violent conflict.

Albert Kailele (AK): The answer is peace but we are going to be independent. We have to struggle peacefully until we are independent.

AB: It's not Sudan or the Congo but up to 15,000 West Papuans live in refugee camps like this one just outside Wewak. Rico Wiromi typifies the

alienation of her people -- she has spent the last 25 years living in exile.

Rico Wiromi: We're Melanesians -- we want to be independent, free of Indonesian colonialism.

AK: I remember Ali Murtopo, the Indonesian Minister of Information. This is what he said: "We don't need Papuans. We need land. If Papuans want independence they can build a country on the moon on the sun, a star or on a planet".

AB: Having lost East Timor Indonesia is in no mood for compromise with West Papuans. The OPM's new strategy of non-violence will do little to change Indonesians view that the unique culture and identity of the West Papuans is subservient to the territorial integrity of Indonesia.

West Papuan separatists reject armed struggle

Sydney Morning Herald - August 3, 2004

Antony Balmain -- West Papuan leaders, including several from the Free Papua Movement, OPM, have decided to lay down arms and pursue self-determination from Indonesia through peaceful means.

The leaders, who met at a secret congress near the West Papuan border in Wewak, Papua New Guinea, have also decided to establish an East Timor-style united council for independence. Their aim is to end armed conflict with the Indonesian Army. The fighting has cost thousands of lives over the past 42 years.

The decision coincides with rising tension in West Papua, following charges laid in June by the FBI on a West Papuan man who is associated with the OPM.

Anthonius Wamang has been charged with murdering two American school teachers near the Freeport McMoran mine in West Papua in 2002.

The US Attorney-General, John Ashcroft, condemned the attackers as "terrorists" when he announced the indictment. Human rights groups which have investigated the ambush say Wamang was working with the Indonesian military.

John Rumbiak, of the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy, headed an 18-month investigation into the ambush. He said the Indonesian police investigation clearly pointed to "the Indonesian military as the ones that are responsible".

Mr Rumbiak spoke to Wamang, who he said admitted he had carried out the Freeport attack. "He admitted that he himself and about 14 other members of his group were involved in the ambush, taking place on August 31, 2002," Mr Rumbiak told SBS television. He said Wamang had strong connections with the Indonesian military and had disobeyed orders from an OPM commander, Kelly Kwalik, by mounting a violent attack.

The Indonesian military conducted an inquiry and cleared itself over the killings.

Albert Kaliele, a pro-independence leader based in the West Papuan provincial capital, Jayapura, has confirmed that leaders across the province are prepared to lay down their arms and embrace diplomacy. "We have to struggle peacefully until we're independent," he tells ABC's Foreign Correspondent, to air tonight.

Vanuatu recently offered to mediate peace talks with West Papuan leaders over their political future, and Indonesia expressed interest in the talks.

And for the first time, Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, is cautiously publicly supporting a political solution. He had a friendly understanding with Indonesia, he said, but the world had yet to properly deal with the West Papuan self-determination.

2004 elections

Bambang strikes deal with defeated 'kingmaker' Amien

Agence France Presse - August 2, 2004

Jakarta -- A former general who led the first round of Indonesian presidential polls agreed yesterday to join forces with a defeated rival, a move that could usher in a strategic alliance for the run-off vote.

Front runner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he and Dr Amien Rais, who is known as a kingmaker in Indonesian politics, had agreed to join "thoughts and resources", although the two had not formed a direct coalition.

Both Mr Bambang and his challenger, incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri, have been courting first-round losers ahead of the Sept 20 final vote in the hope of securing the majority they both failed to achieve in the initial poll.

Analysts say such support will probably not influence an increasingly independent-minded electorate, but it will be needed later to create a stable government.

After a meeting at Dr Amien's home in the Javanese cultural capital, Yogyakarta, Mr Bambang told Elshinta radio the two had agreed to pursue an agenda focusing on democratisation, human rights, law enforcement and the tackling of corruption.

Results from the July 5 first round put Mr Bambang on top with almost 34 per cent of the vote compared to Ms Megawati's 27 per cent. Dr Amien came in fourth with almost 15 per cent of the vote.

Dr Amien, the People's Consultative Assembly Speaker and a former chairman of Muhammadiyah -- the country's second-largest Muslim social group -- said it was too early to talk of a full-blown coalition with Mr Bambang.

Meanwhile, about 100 students outside the United States consulate in Indonesia's second city, Surabaya, denounced what they called Washington's interference in the elections, the official Antara news agency said.

Protest leader Ihsan Tualeka said American interference was proved by the release of a poll just hours after the vote by the US-based National Democratic Institute, accurately forecasting Mr Bambang and Ms Megawati's results.

Megawati team claim Muslim vote is united behind them

Radio Australia - August 2, 2004

The former leader of the largest Muslim group in Indonesia and possibly its next Vice President says its time for the religious group to rule the country. Hasyim Muzardi resigned as leader of Nadlatul Ulama to contest the election as President Megawati's Vice Presidential running mate. The pair are to face the leading team of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla in the do-or-die second round in September.

Presenter/Interviewer: Karon Snowdon

Speakers: Hasyim Muzardi, President Megawati's Vice Presidential running mate

Snowdon: The team of President Megawati and Hasyim Muzardi surprised most pundits in July by seizing second place from former General Wiranto to make it to the September run-off.

The former leader of the 40-million strong Nadlatul Ulama or NU says there wont be any surprises the second time around. Hasyim Muzardi says the NU vote was split three ways in the July election but that problem won't exist in September.

He says Solahuddin Wahid, his former NU deputy, and running mate of failed Presidential candidate Wiranto, has promised his support along with millions of NU votes. And at the weekend, Hamzah Haz, who came last in the July vote has pledged the support of his small Muslim Party, the United Development Party. Hasyim Muzardi adds its time for NU because of its size, to rule the country.

Muzardi: NU is the largest Muslim organisation, and moderate Muslim organsition in Indonesia, must rule the state, must rule the country.

Snowdon: Does that mean NU is changing from being a social and religious organisation, to being a political party? Muzardi: Oh no, certainly not. Because it's only to elect the person, not all the behaviour of NU. The behaviour of NU in daily [life] is not to work in politics. This [doesn't mean] changing from social to political party, no.

Snowdon: How confident are you of winning the September second elections with President Megawati? Muzardi; I am confident because in the first round we had many difficultes, but now the difficulties are none because NU can be united. Candidate is only one, me.

Snowdon: In the first round election it was said there was very little public confidence in Mrs Megawati's government. Won't that remain an issue, and perhaps be an even more deciding factor the second time around when she is one of only two candidates? Muzardi: Performance with Mrs Megawati is so low, therefore it must be upgraded. We can improve the performance little by little and slowly, but me from Nadhlatul Ulama can support the performance of Megawati in the grass-roots.

Snowdon: NU has constantly denied it acts like a political party and many of its religious leaders say they don't direct their communities on how to vote.

But of course along with his own immense personal following, the support of NU was an essential part of former President Abdurrahman Wahid's success.

The NU vote is likely to be more split than Muzardi wants to believe but he says he's confident also of the backing of Golkar, the largest political party and responsible for keeping dictator Suharto in power for thirty years.

Muzardi: President Megawati now makes the connection between PDI-P and Golkar.

Snowdon: She's talking with Golkar now? Muzardi: Yes. And these [talks] are still in process. But I think in the next week, we will have a conclusion about the connection between PDI-P and Golkar, I think.

Snowdon: The political alliances being made in the September run-up may or may not have a major influence on voters. Exit polls at the July 5th election indicate many NU members voted for former General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

And now he's joined forces with Amien Rais, who came fourth with15 per cent of the vote in July. He's the current Speaker of the Assembly and a former chairman of Muhammadiyah -- the country's second-largest Muslim group.

Amien's reputation for incorruptibility will no doubt help in the race which pits the two major religious groups in opposing camps.

News & issues

Demonstration attacked in Jakarta

Green Left Weekly - August 4, 2004

Max Lane -- On July 27, outside the office of the Jakarta governor, scores of civil service police -- the governor's security corps -- attacked a peaceful demonstration as it was dispersing. Some 700 people had gathered outside the Presidential Palace earlier in the day to demand that the perpetrators of the 1996 attack on the offices of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) be brought to justice.

As they were leaving, the security corps started firing shots and wielding truncheons. They attacked and chased demonstrators, and all but destroyed a bus in which some protesters were waiting to leave. During all this, the national state police who were nearby did nothing.

Scores of protesters were injured. Gregorius Eko Wardoyo, a chairperson of the Indonesian Front for Labour Struggles (FNPBI), was knocked unconscious and had to be rushed to hospital. He was released from hospital the next day with stitches to his scalp, a broken nose and internal bleeding to his left eye.

The demonstration was organised by three coalitions: the Peoples Forum, the Forum of Concern for Education, and the United Opposition Front (BOB), which includes the FNPBI and the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD). In the attack on the offices of the PDI on July 27, 1996, scores of people were killed and many were injured. No military or police have been charged, but more than 20 people who were inside defending the building were tried and jailed by the Suharto regime.

The anniversary protest also called for the disbandment of the Armed Forces' territorial command, the nationalisation of army and police businesses, a reduction in the size of the regular army, a wage rise for ordinary soldiers, the lifting of the civil emergency in Aceh and an end to military operations in Papua.

After a peaceful action outside the Presidential Palace, the demonstration moved to the governor's office. The current governor, retired General Sutoyoso, was the territorial commander in charge of the Jakarta region at the time of the July 27, 1996 attacks. Former General Yudhoyono, now a presidential candidate, was Sutiyoso's boss at the time.

The coalitions are demanding that Sutiyoso apologise and resign, and that the Jakarta government cover all medical costs and repairs to the bus. They are also insisting that the police be held accountable for doing nothing to assist the unarmed protesters.

The demonstrators also wanted to show their support for another protest outside Sutiyoso's office. Teachers, parents and others had assembled to pressure the govenor not to allow a junior high school to be demolished to make way for a commercial development.

[Max Lane is the chairperson of Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific.]