Papua murders haunt survivors, strain U.S.-Jakarta relations
Papua murders haunt survivors, strain U.S.-Jakarta relations
Dean Yates, Reuters, Timika Papua
Nearly a year has passed, but American couple Saundra Hopkins and Ken Balk cannot shake off the terror of waiting to die.
Crouched in terror behind the tire of their vehicle, they waited for gunmen who had ambushed two carloads of mainly U.S. schoolteachers in Indonesia's rebellious Papua to cross a mountain road and kill them and their six-year-old daughter.
For 45 minutes on August 31 last year, gunmen sprayed 200 bullets from rifles and shotguns at the group near a giant U.S.- owned copper and gold mine not far from the lowland town of Timika. When it was over, two Americans and one Indonesian were dead. Ten others were wounded, Balk almost fatally.
One year later, police have made no arrests nor named any suspects in a case that is becoming a major thorn in ties between Washington and the world's most populous Muslim nation, especially over accusations soldiers might have been involved.
The United States has warned Jakarta of the ramifications should it fail to cooperate with the FBI in resolving the case.
"The initial volley that came at us, I still feel the thunder of the noise as we were rained down upon," said a composed Hopkins, speaking by telephone from her home in Sunriver, Oregon.
"Then the fear became that we were going to see boots coming across that road, and those boots would be carrying guns that would finish us off."
Indonesia's powerful military has repeatedly denied a role in the ambush, blaming the attack on rebels who have waged a low- level war for decades in this remote eastern province. It has said its own investigation had shown no troop involvement.
Major-General Sulaiman A.B., chief of Indonesia's military police, told Reuters there were no fresh developments.
"The investigation continues," he said on Tuesday.
U.S. Congressional documents say the shooting, which took place in thick fog, "appears likely to have been perpetrated at least in part by members of the Indonesian military".
The sprawling mining town of Timika, enclosed by a green carpet of mangrove swamps and rainforest and home to bars and rundown shops, is the base for a road that leads up mountains to the mine operated by U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. The mine, and the ambush site, is closed to the media.
After simmering for months, the case hit the headlines in July when the U.S. House of Representatives moved to block Jakarta from receiving military training aid, complaining it had conducted a lax investigation into the killings.
Jakarta warned that would hurt ties, although it has not said how. While Indonesia is a partner in the U.S.-led war on terror, some played down suggestions cooperation on that front could be affected, arguing Jakarta realized its commitment to fighting a scourge that was killing Indonesians overrode its pique.
On the Papua investigation, one senior U.S. official said results were needed. "There's a limit, I think, to how far you can drag this out," the official said.
Some Papuan human rights groups say military elements could have staged the ambush to discredit the rebels or get higher payment for their key security role guarding Freeport.
The teachers worked at a school serving Freeport expatriates.
The dilemma for the U.S. administration is it wants to re- engage Indonesia's military despite concerns over its human rights record, and broaden its strategic relationship with Jakarta in a world fixated on terrorism, rights activists say.
Victims fear any U.S. response could be held hostage to such priorities, especially since a bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta on August 5 that killed 12 people and wounded 150.
The U.S. House vote blocked $600,000 from the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program for fiscal 2004. IMET monies of $400,000 for 2003 have been passed but not disbursed. Analysts say that could also be held up.
The amounts are not large, but are seen as highly symbolic as IMET benefits officers. Fiscal 2003 IMET would be the first since it was cut in the early 1990s over violence in East Timor. Overall military ties were largely cut in 1999 after East Timor's bloody vote to break from Indonesian rule in that year.
Ed McWilliams, a former State Department official who was political counselor with the U.S. Jakarta embassy from 1996-99, said any Jakarta retaliation would be "petty" actions such as refusing high-level visits, not dragging its feet on terrorism.
"Frankly, I don't think Indonesia has much leverage in that sense. It has a responsibility to its own people to eradicate terrorism and to the international community," McWilliams said.
"I think if Jakarta and particularly the military do not cooperate with the FBI and there is no persuasive prosecution of those responsible, I think Congress, both the Republican side and the Democrats, would not allow the administration to move forward, certainly with military to military cooperation."
So why didn't the gunmen cross the road and finish the job?
A year later, that question still haunts Hopkins and Balk. The attack ended after several other vehicles came along.
And there are the constant reminders. For Balk, it's every time he takes a step and feels where one bullet smashed his femur. Then there is watching their daughter relive the incident.
"I think she will have for most of her life a very strong reaction to sounds. The 4th of July fireworks were extremely distressing for her, she panicked," said Hopkins. With reporting by Jerry Norton and Telly Nathalia in Jakarta