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.