War in West Papua?

[Magda Hassan]

I just watched a rather disturbing report on West Papua tonight. WP is in the western part of the island with Papua and New Guinea just north of Australia. It was part of the Dutch empire and when the Dutch left the Dutch East Indies Indonesia militarily took over WP. There is no linguistic, cultural or ethnic connection with the two countries other than the Dutch were both their colonial rulers. Now Indonesia is the colonial power there and the WP want independence. Indonesia's claim was upheld in the UN at the time in a very questionable vote. Since then there has been an independence movement which has been violently repressed some say a slow motion genocide. The Indonesian military did kill 1/3rd of the East Timor population when they were there too. It seems to be invisible to the rest of the world but it is truly gruesome beyond words. I saw footage tonight showing a WP man on the ground with his entrails beside him, still alive and conscious, while the US and Australian trained Indonesian soldiers who had presumably done this to him were drinking and eating and smoking, filming him and taunting him "Do you still want freedom?" :puke:Needless to say there are huge mineral riches there and timber is also a very valuable resource. None of which belong to the locals. The Indonesian military have many companies involved throughout the country (and Indonesia in general) in logging and mineral extraction. It was the same in East Timor and was perhaps the main reason why they didn't want to go and when they did they did the burnt earth retreat so no one else could benefit.

The 'President' of WP was interviewed in Vanuatu. He stated that they were organising to bring the war of resistance to Papua and New Guinea, drag them into it, to bring their plight to the international community. This is in part to the failure of any one to take their situation seriously including most recently at the South Pacific Forum. They are hoping for a Julia Gillard win as her faction is a supporter of WP independence and they hope and expect to have her support in this coming war. I can only wonder that some arms dealer, or their commissionaire, hasn't been talking in his ear suggesting such crap hoping to sell him some hardware to get the ball rolling and even more hard ware to the Indonesian to stop the ball rolling. Indonesia has certainly been busy doing the rounds paying leaders off in the Pacific and PNG.
Some info here:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/west-papua-w...11ojd.html
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/45145

[Peter Lemkin]

I just watched a rather disturbing report on West Papua tonight. WP is in the western part of the island with Papua and New Guinea just north of Australia. It was part of the Dutch empire and when the Dutch left the Dutch East Indies Indonesia militarily took over WP. There is no linguistic, cultural or ethnic connection with the two countries other than the Dutch were both their colonial rulers. Now Indonesia is the colonial power there and the WP want independence. Indonesia's claim was upheld in the UN at the time in a very questionable vote. Since then there has been an independence movement which has been violently repressed some say a slow motion genocide. The Indonesian military did kill 1/3rd of the East Timor population when they were there too. It seems to be invisible to the rest of the world but it is truly gruesome beyond words. I saw footage tonight showing a WP man on the ground with his entrails beside him, still alive and conscious, while the US and Australian trained Indonesian soldiers who had presumably done this to him were drinking and eating and smoking, filming him and taunting him "Do you still want freedom?" :puke:Needless to say there are huge mineral riches there and timber is also a very valuable resource. None of which belong to the locals. The Indonesian military have many companies involved throughout the country (and Indonesia in general) in logging and mineral extraction. It was the same in East Timor and was perhaps the main reason why they didn't want to go and when they did they did the burnt earth retreat so no one else could benefit.

The 'President' of WP was interviewed in Vanuatu. He stated that they were organising to bring the war of resistance to Papua and New Guinea, drag them into it, to bring their plight to the international community. This is in part to the failure of any one to take their situation seriously including most recently at the South Pacific Forum. They are hoping for a Julia Gillard win as her faction is a supporter of WP independence and they hope and expect to have her support in this coming war. I can only wonder that some arms dealer, or their commissionaire, hasn't been talking in his ear suggesting such crap hoping to sell him some hardware to get the ball rolling and even more hard ware to the Indonesian to stop the ball rolling. Indonesia has certainly been busy doing the rounds paying leaders off in the Pacific and PNG.
Some info here:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/west-papua-w...11ojd.html
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/45145

Indonesia has LONG been a proxy country/military/intelligence for/of/paid for
by the 'ol US of A [see Blum's Killing Hope or many other books on topic]. They, yes, have their OWN evil agenda on top of that and this looks like both to me....."have natural resources...will dominate you until you do not" 'globalization' [once called colonialization]......with many killed, opressed, tortured, impoverished and robbed......ecruity:

[Jan Klimkowski]

A lot of human experimentation for Big Pharma, ie human "clinical trials" without meaningful oversight, consent or ethics, has been conducted in the Indonesian archipelago too.

As I found out when researching "The Human Laboratory" documntary.

Eg military sterilization units turning up in "ethnic" villages with brand new drugs which had only previously been tested on rats...

[Magda Hassan]

Indonesia has admitted that the men seen torturing Papuan villagers in a video uploaded on the internet earlier this week are members of the military.
The minister for security said the soldiers' actions were excessive and unprofessional. He added that the soldiers would be punished.
An investigation is continuing.
The graphic video has caused international outrage and raised concerns about the US's recent decision to renew ties with Indonesia's army.
Continue reading the main story Related stories

• Indonesia flashpoints: Papua
  
• Papua's struggle for independence
  
• Indonesia 'must face Papua issue'
  

The grainy and badly-shot footage, uploaded on the website of Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission, shows two men dressed in military uniforms, kicking and abusing indigenous Papuan villagers.
The men are seen interrogating the villagers, and accusing them of having links to rebel groups and separatists.
The second part of the video shows a Papuan man tied up on the ground, being tortured by a group of unidentifiable men.
A man holds a knife to the victim's face and neck as he is repeatedly kicked and questioned.
'Grave abuses' The video momentarily shows his genitals being scorched with a burning stick.
Continue reading the main story Papua: Key facts

• Formerly known as Irian Jaya, it is Indonesia's poorest region
  
• Majority of population is Melanesian
  
• Shares a border with Papua New Guinea
  
• Annexed by Indonesia in 1963
  
• Separatist campaign since 1960s
  

• Indonesia flashpoints: Papua
  
• Papua's struggle for independence
  

The rest of the footage is edited out because, according to a statement on the website, the images are too disturbing.
Djoko Suyanto, the Indonesian Co-ordinating Minister for Security, said that the soldiers had reason to believe the Papuan villagers they caught were dangerous.
"The excessive actions that we have seen in this video, which has been spread on the internet, and on YouTube, show unprofessional conduct by members of our military in the field.
"But the soldiers suspected that the Papuan men they had caught are members of groups who have committed violent actions before in Papua. They found weapons on them when they were caught," he said.
But human rights groups say the Papuan villagers who were tortured were farmers.
They add that this video is evidence of the grave abuses committed by the Indonesian military in Papua, where a small group of rebels have waged a low level war for independence for decades.
There is a significant military presence in Papua, which the government says is necessary to maintain security in the province because of the existence of separatist groups.
The military has consistently rejected allegations that it is guilty of human rights abuses in Papua.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11604361