Papua vote to join Indonesia 'a sham': Dutch study

Papua vote to join Indonesia 'a sham': Dutch study

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

key 1969 vote on the future of the Indonesian island province
of Papua was "a sham" orchestrated by Jakarta, a Dutch
government-commissioned study has found.

That vote, which officially made the province part of
Indonesia, has been followed by decades of abuse at the hands of
the Indonesian military, the study states as reported by AP.

The 740-page book, "An Act of Free Choice," was published
Tuesday after five years of research by Dutch author Pieter
Drooglever at the request of the Dutch government, the colonial
ruler of Indonesia and New Guinea for centuries.

When the Netherlands gave up its colonies in the Dutch East
Indies after World War II, the territory that was at the time
called West New Guinea and was not included in a sovereignty
agreement with Indonesia. Only in 1962 did the two countries
agree to place West New Guinea under UN rule, amid strong
international pressure.

The region was promised a popular vote on its sovereignty, but
was transferred to Indonesian control six months later. In 1969,
its status as an Indonesian province was set when, Drooglever
concluded, the Indonesian government rigged a vote by 1,022
inhabitants on behalf of the population of around 700,000.

UN observers were turned away from the voting site, the result
of which was declared to be 100 percent in favor of joining
Indonesia.

"The Act of Free Choice ended up as a sham," Drooglever wrote
in the summary of the book. "A press-ganged electorate acting
under a great deal of pressure appeared to have unanimously
declared itself in favor of Indonesia."

Although Drooglever's conclusions are consistent with those of
other historians, the sponsorship of the Dutch government gave
the report added significance since The Hague has always seen
itself as an interested party in Indonesian affairs.

Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, however, termed the report -
requested by parliament in 1999 - as "superfluous" before its
official publication, according to the daily Trouw newspaper in
an extensive three-page report Tuesday on the book.

Bot, nonetheless, presented the report to parliament Tuesday
and in an accompanying letter called it "the result of an
academic study, which forms an additional contribution to our
history and the events surrounding the Act of Free Choice."

Bot visited Jakarta to attend the celebration of Indonesia's
60th anniversary of independence in August, marking the
Netherlands' recognition of the Southeast Asian nation's self-
proclaimed freedom in 1945.

Moves to question the legitimacy of the 1969 vote have also
been rife in Papua. Some Papuan groups said they would call for a
mass strike beginning on Dec. 1 to force the central government
to heed demands for a review of the referendum and dissolution of
the newly established Papua People's Council.

Dec. 1 coincides with the anniversary of the Free Papua
Movement, which has waged a low level armed struggle for
independence against the central government.

"The Indonesian government has given us nothing but
impoverishment," Hans Gebze of the West Papuan People's Struggle
(PEPERA PB) Front told a joint press conference.

He claimed that one million Papuans would participate in the
strike.

The groups also plan to hold rallies in front of the Dutch
Embassy on Thursday and the UN representative office on Friday
this week.