Papuans give mixed reactions to Dutch study on 1969 vote

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.