July, 25, 1998-August 24, 1998
NATSUKO SAEKI

Introduction
On August 1, 1998 we have visited the Irian Jaya (West Papua) and surveyed the status of the region after the exit of Suharto and coming power of the Habibie regime. Though Indonesia is currently suffering from a serious economic crisis and inflated prices of fuel and imported materials are seriously affecting the aviation industry, we were able to visit some of the regions utilizing aircraft, shrimp boats, and log boats.
In the capital city of Jayapura, we visited the YPMD (Village Development Foundation), ELSHAM (Human Rights Research Organization), Forum Kerja LSM Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya NGO Partnership) to gather information. We also visited the Biak islands where it has experienced some firing incidents by the national troops and suffered many deaths, which hoisted the Papua national flag aiming to achieve its independence by July 1998. Also in our itinerary were the Manberamo River area where Habibie had plans for a large-scale economic project but were interrupted due to the economic crisis.

With an area of 420,000‡u and population of 1.95 million, the Irian Jaya occupies the Western half of the New Guinea islands. It is rich in natural resources with abundant supply of oil, natural gas, iron, gold, sea products, and sago palms. In the 1949 Hague Conference which granted Indonesia its full independence after fighting the war against the Netherlands, negotiations revolving around the restitution of the region came to a halt. In 1961, a war breaks out between the Netherlands which propels policies granting autonomy for the Papua nation, and Indonesia (Sukarno) which claims that all region formally occupied under the Dutch auspices are now Indonesian territory. The UN arbitrates a peace treaty in 1969 in which by a vote of "Act of Free Choice" the region was officially restituted as an Indonesian territory. In the course of this "Act of Free Choice," 1025 people were selected by election or appointment to represent a population of then 800,000 residents. It is said that some form of rekayasa or conspiracy was active in the process of this selection by the Indonesian government. Because the annexation disregarded the voices of the Irian people, the Free Papua Movement (OPM) was born. To oppress the cry for independence, the government designated Irian Jaya as a military strategic domain (DOM) in 1970.
As a result of this action, people of Irian Jaya continues to experience series of human rights abuse by the Indonesian military to this day. For example, in Mimika, Akimuga on May of 1997, Indonesian military helicopter attacked the village with bombs and napalms to burn down houses and crop fields. The villagers fled to the near-by cave, but because they didn't have any food stored there some went back into the village in search for food. The Indonesian troops ambushed them for a shoot up, and a mother and her son died from this incident.
After the exit of Suharto, on the 1st of July, an incident occurred in the regions of Irian Jaya-Jayapura, Biak, Wamena, and Sorong-in which the Papua national flag was hoisted. In Biak, the flag was hoisted over a water tower at the Health Ministry. However, since the Indonesian military was in no position to determine its course of action immediately after Suharto's exit, people were able to enjoy dancing and singing around the flag for a brief moment. But on the 8th of that same month, military and police forces surrounded the flag pole, and it is said that gunshots could be heard for hours. From what we know 35 were arrested, 11 were missing, and 29 dead bodies were found. The Indonesian government officially claimed that the "dead bodies were from the tsunami waves that occurred during the Papua New Guinea Earthquake." However, this claim is negligible considering the factors of distance and ocean currents. By August, the water tower in question was totally repainted, although some craters could still be found on the walls which was just about the height of an adult male.
Because the Indonesian national military have regarded all Irian Jaya residents as members of OPM (Free Papua Movement), they never hesitated in abusing the human rights of civilians. They have continued to strengthen their reign of terror through demonstration of rapes and executions to implant fear. The people of Irian Jaya as well as those of Eastern Timor (also a designated DOM), Aceh, and the Indonesian democratic activists has joined in cooperation to voice their opposition against such inhumane treatment.

Although the Habibie government has been repeatedly announcing the concept of "reform," there are no visible signs of change in the basic Suhartarian structure of power. However, it is also true that what has been labeled a taboo and many facts of human right abuses are now in the open, and that serious discussions concerning the issue are about to begin.