THE TWO PAPUAS: A CONSUL GENERAL'S VIEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 012783

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF PHUM ID PP
SUBJECT: THE TWO PAPUAS: A CONSUL GENERAL'S VIEW

REF: JAKARTA 9861

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Classified By: PolCouns Marc L. Desjardins. Reasons 1.4 (b, d)


1. (C) Summary. Papua New Guinea,s Consul General in
Jayapura, Papua shared his views on the often prickly
relations between Indonesia and his government in an October
12 meeting. He charged that the Indonesian Armed Forces
(TNI) were involved in both illegal logging and drug
smuggling in PNG. He explained that illegal fishing by
Indonesians in PNG waters was a major headache; PNG's
capacity to enforce its maritime boundary was simply
overwhelmed by the sheer number of incursions. The problem
was worsened by the sale of border crossing cards by corrupt
GOI officials. PNG was a sympathetic but reluctant host to
refugees from Indonesian Papua; wherever possible, it dealt
with the problem by simply turning a blind eye to them.
Underlying suspicions between the two governments had been
exposed by Jakarta's nervousness over Governor Suebu's
September visit to Port Moresby and the cancellation of PM
Somare,s July summit with President Yudhoyono. End summary.


2. (C) We met October 12 with Jeffrey Tolo'ube, Papua New
Guinea,s Consul General in Jayapura, Papua, and his First
Secretary Nasser Taniei. Given Jakarta,s occasional

SIPDIS
suspicions about PNG's intentions towards Indonesia's
troubled easternmost province, Tolo'ube occupies a sensitive
post. He shared his opinions freely during a one-hour
conversation.

A Sympathetic But Reluctant Host
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3. (C) Tolo'ube noted that PNG's official position was to
acknowledge the incorporation of Papua into the Republic of
Indonesia without reservation. Moreover, to avoid frictions
with its giant neighbor, PNG appeased the GOI in other ways,
such as ceasing to refer to Indonesian Papuans who had fled
to PNG as "refugees." To placate the GOI, Tolo'ube said, PNG
had accepted Indonesia,s insistence on the term "illegal
border crosser." Despite this, Tolo'ube said, the people of
PNG "cannot help but sympathize" with their counterparts west
of the border. Although the vast majority of two peoples did
not share a common language, the cultural and ethnic kinship
was obvious, and the people of PNG had taken note of the
GOI's waves of oppression of its Papuans, especially in the
70's and early 80's when thousands of Indonesian Papuans had
crossed into PNG. "Whether they are happy matters to us. We
notice and care when they are unhappy," he said. PNG Papuans
shared Indonesian Papuans' distress over the continual influx
of non-Melanesians into the province, encroaching on
indigenous ways of life. "They have the same attachment to
the land that we do," he noted.


4. (C) Tolo'ube commented on the longstanding problem of
Indonesian Papuans seeking refuge in Papua New Guinea, which
was an irritant to the GOI. (Note: As the recent uproar over
the 43 Papuan asylum seekers in Australia clearly shows, the
GOI finds intolerable the very notion of Indonesian refugees
or asylum seekers.) Many of these Indonesian Papuans, who
had fled earlier waves of repression, now lived in a
semi-permanent settlement known as Nine Mile outside Port
Moresby. Others had settled in the East Awin refugee
settlement across the border from Merauke. The last major
wave of refugees, Tolo'ube said, came in December 2001. The
PNG government, he said, had cooperated with GOI efforts to
induce them to return to Indonesia. Repatriations in
December 2003 and 2005, negotiated by the regent of Merauke,
had been somewhat successful. One of these groups, he said,
had initially settled near the town of Daru in southwest
Papua New Guinea. However, as Catholics, they had not been
accepted by Protestant locals and had eventually become
amenable to repatriation. Tolo'ube said that in recent
years, the PNG government's approach had been simply to avoid
acknowledging the presence of Indonesian Papuans crossing the
border, unless they had done so in large groups who
identified themselves as refugees. In these cases, Tolo'ube
said, PNG would turn to the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees. Tolo'ube noted, however, that the PNG government
would continue to deflect the GOI's longstanding requests for
an extradition treaty and a "hot pursuit" agreement. These
would only be used by the GOI to round up politically
troublesome persons, he said.

TNI Headaches
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5. (C) Tolo'ube commented on PNG's occasional headaches with
the Armed Forces of Indonesia (TNI). He claimed that the TNI
was involved in illegal logging activities in Papua New
Guinea, supporting two Indonesian firms ) Brilliant
Investments and Shantri ) operating in northern PNG with the
collusion of corrupt local officials in the city of Wewak.
Tolo'ube said that on one occasion, a low-flying TNI Hercules
aircraft had been tracked by observers from the border to
Wewak. It presumably had been carrying materiel and
personnel for illegal logging operations, he said.


6. (C) The CG went on to say that he had reason to believe
the TNI was involved in smuggling marijuana into Indonesia.
He claimed that TNI-issued weapons were turning up in the
hands of drug smuggling networks in Papua New Guinea.
Tolo'ube said he doubted that the marijuana was being sold in
Indonesian Papua, but was instead destined for Java.

Troubled Waters
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7. (C) Turning to border issues, Tolo'ube said illegal
fishing continued to be a huge problem. PNG's capacity both
to monitor and enforce its maritime border off the north
coast was overwhelmed by the sheer number of Indonesian
vessels. Most of these, he said, were not even from
neighboring waters, but were from as far away as Serui, Biak,
and South Sulawesi. The problem was aggravated, he said, by
the Indonesian authorities' sale of traditional border
crossing cards to anyone who was prepared to pay the right
price. Although these cards were meant to meet the needs of
longtime residents of border areas, GOI officials now sold
them wholesale to people from all over Indonesia.


8. (C) PNG's frustration over the illegal fishing situation,
Tolo'ube said, had led to the accidental shooting in August
of two Indonesian fishermen in PNG waters. One of PNG's
infrequent police boat patrols had given the vessel every
signal to stop, he said, and the shots had been fired in an
attempt to disable the Indonesian boat's engine. The deaths,
he said, had been accidental.

Suspicious Minds
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9. (C) Poloff asked the reason for the cancellation of PNG
Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare's meeting with President
Yudhoyono, originally scheduled for July (reftel) when the
two leaders were supposed to have inaugurated a new border
crossing. The vague explanation Tolo'ube had heard in
Jakarta was "technical reasons on PNG side." The opening of
the new crossing had been postponed in response to
"intelligence reports" and political sensitivities. It was
technically possible to drive across the border now, but it
was not officially permitted, he said. Those crossing the
border must do so on foot and hire a vehicle on the other
side. The new crossing would have permitted free passage of
vehicle traffic. However, Tolo'ube said, the idea had proved
unpopular at home; PNG had always harbored suspicions that
Indonesia nurtured designs on its territory, and local people
were already referring to the crossing as "the invasion
highway." PNG, Tolo'ube said, could envision a scenario in
which Indonesia, eyeing the country's abundance of natural
resources and seeing that its neighbor was weak and "not
doing as well as we ought to," annexed the other half of New
Guinea the way it had East Timor.


10. (C) Continuing in this vein, Tolo'ube commented on
Jakarta's extreme mistrust of any display of Melanesian
solidarity. Certain parts of the GOI, he said, had been
alarmed by Papuan Governor Bas Suebu's mid-September trip to
Port Moresby, during which he had attended Papua New Guinea's
National Day celebration. During the trip, Suebu had been
made a Companion of the Order of the Star of Melanesia. For
some elements of the GOI's security apparatus, this harmless
honor could call into question Suebu's commitment to the
integration of Papua into Indonesia. On the same trip,
Tolo'ube continued, Suebu had met with Indonesian Papuan
exiles at Nine Mile. Although Suebu had later said the
purpose of the meeting had been to urge the refugees to
return to Indonesia, the story had circulated that he had met
with exiled separatists. These rumors had been fueled by the
fact that an Indonesian media team, hoping to film a news
story about the event, had been chased out of the settlement
by a hostile crowd.

Comment

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11. (C) Consul Tolo'ube's comments on the GOI's nervousness
about "Melanesian solidarity" ring true. Still smarting from
the East Timor trauma, many in the Indonesian ruling classes
are fixated on the danger of efforts to internationalize the
Papua problem, notably attempts by some outside critics to
revisit the issue of Papua's annexation. Although parts of
the national security apparatus, accompanied by the public
clamor of freelance "intelligence analysts," express the
greatest worry about Australian and U.S. attitudes in this
regard, they are also mindful that some of "their" Papuans
are seeking support from Melanesian countries such as PNG.
Although Governor Suebu's visit to Port Moresby was most
likely undertaken for purely pragmatic reasons, it probably
does not sit well with those in the GOI who already suspect
him of pursuing a covert separatist agenda. End comment.
PASCOE