The response given by Damien Kingsbury to my op-ed article (Is Papua a danger of becoming another E. Timor), published in The Jakarta Post on March 29, was quite understandable. I accepted his judgment that my article was just trying to highlight the misunderstandings between the two neighbors, so that solutions to the current situation can be formulated for the benefit of both countries in general and specifically for the Papuans.
However, I feel that there are several aspects that need to be clarified about the claims he made. First, how different are the circumstances in Papua and the ones in Afghanistan or Iraq when the Australian government decided to refuse their claim as political asylum seekers, or to delay their process up to six to 12 months, as opposed to the relatively quick response by the Australian government to grant the emergency visas to the 42 Papuans?
If human rights abuses are the basis for granting the visas, didn't these Afghans and Iraqis deserve the same treatment? Or should there be differences in their treatment? Wasn't there any ""long and well-documented history of human rights abuses"" in these countries?
The seemingly hasty decision by the Australian immigration department to accept the claims of these Papuans as political asylum seekers and grant them visas resulted in some suspicion of the genuine intentions of the Australian government in supporting the sovereignty of Indonesia as a whole and Indonesia's sovereign claim over Papua.
Second, by claiming that there is no Australian involvement to the current situation in Papua, it seems Kingsbury forgot the fact that it was the international community that permitted the Indonesian government to implement the New York Agreement and conduct a ""referendum"" for the future of West Papua in 1969.
Australia, as a member of the international observers of this referendum, left West Papua before completing its duty. This incident, in turn, resulted in the choreographed referendum that led to the integration of West Papua into Indonesia. No objection by the Australian government was raised over this result.
Thus, Australia is, in my opinion, also responsible for all the problems in Papua. And as a good neighbor, Australia should not exploit the current situation for its short-term objectives, but instead Australia should support Indonesia in its efforts to solve the problems in Papua through shared civic values, in which all Indonesian citizens are treated with equality, respect and dignity.
Papua is Indonesia's internal problem and should not be internationalized.
AHMAD QISA'I New Delhi
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|