Papuans give mixed reactions to Dutch study on 1969 vote

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Papuan people gave mixed reactions on Thursday to a Dutch government-commissioned study that found the 1969 vote on their territory's incorporation into Indonesia to be a "sham".

Papuan students and others supporting the province's separation from Indonesia staged a protest to urge the United Nations to review the controversial vote. Pro-integration supporters, however, refrained from holding a counterdemonstration.

Pieter J. Drooglever, a professor from the Institute of Netherlands History, launched on Nov. 15 in the Hague his 740- page book Een Daad van Vrije Keuze (An Act of Free Choice) which depicted how the Indonesian government rigged the vote by more than 1,000 Papuans supposedly representing the territory's population of 700,000.

Papua, which was not included in the sovereignty agreement with Indonesia after World War II, was to be ruled by the UN (UNTEA) until a free and fair popular vote was held.

Drooglever, who conducted the five-year study of the integration process at the request of the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry, concluded that Jakarta manipulated the vote to show the world that Papuan people were in favor of joining Indonesia.

Hundreds of Papuan students in South Sulawesi staged a demonstration in the provincial capital of Makassar on Thursday, demanding that the Indonesian government, the United Nations and the Netherlands review the contentious vote.

In a speech at the city's Mandala Monument, protest leader Buchtar said that a new vote involving all Papuan people should be held to determine the territory's future.

"Besides, 59 years after the illegal integration, Papuan people are treated as second-class citizens and abused while their natural resources are being looted," he said as quoted by Antara.

Meanwhile, Jan J. Ayomi, a regional representative from Papua, called on all sides in the province not to be influenced by the Drooglever study as it could have wide-ranging adverse consequences for the province's future.

"It is the right of all people to access information on Papua, including a book that rewrites (the history) of the province's integration into Indonesia. But all sides should stay calm and should not launch any moves as the book sets out the findings of an academic study and does not represent a political movement to fight for Papua's independence," he said.

He said the Indonesian government and Papuan people should accept the study but stressed that it was no longer relevant to question the integration.

"Of most importance is that the government does not repeat its mistakes ... it has to give more attention to improving the Papuan people's welfare under special autonomy," Jan said.

The government, which has long been under fire for human rights abuses and seemingly ad hoc policies in Papua, has yet to give an official response to the book.

The Dutch government presented the study's findings to parliament on Tuesday and, in an accompanying letter, called it "the results of an academic study that represents an additional contribution to our history and the events surrounding the Act of Free Choice."

Hans van Baalen, a member of the Dutch parliament, said here recently that the Drooglever study had no political implications for Papua's status as the territory's integration into Indonesia was final.

The United States government also recently removed the question of Papua from the State Department appropriations bill after it had been raised by the Black Caucus in the House of Representatives. The bill asked the U.S. State Department to look into the 1969 vote and the implementation of special autonomy in Indonesia's easternmost province.