The Australian and the United States governments pledged to support the Indonesian military while ignoring the crimes committed by the Indonesian military in violation of the United Nations Charter and International Law. The Australian government told Aljazeera that the Australian government’s best friend in the region is Indonesia.
In a statement to Aljazeera, the Australian defense ministry explained:
“Indonesia is one of Australia’s most important partners. Australia will continue to conduct joint exercises, provide military and police training, and – consistent with appropriate legislation – export military equipment to Indonesia.”
Aljazeera
Earlier this week, the United States through its “USAID Kolaborasi,” offered $10 million to “support Indonesia’s Master Plan for the Acceleration Development Papua (RIPPP).” This collaboration will see a substantial amount of money going into the pockets of Indonesian bureaucrats in West Papua while the abuse and killing of innocent indigenous people continue unabated.
Meanwhile, millions of Australian taxpayer dollars will go directly to Indonesia in the form of military training, arming, and funding, and one of the primary abusers of West Papuans is also a major beneficiary of this military aid. As pointed out by Aljazeera, “Military units, such as Kopassus,” will receive specialized training from the Australian Special Operations – SAS. Other units such as the Indonesian counterterrorism force which was created after the Bali Bombings of 2002, the Densus 88, will “get funding and training from both Australia and United States,” the report says.
Two months ago, six members of the Indonesian elite forces in West Papua were arrested for luring four innocent West Papuans into an isolated area and murdering them in cold blood. Then, they dismembered their bodies and stuffed them in bags, and tossed them into the river. Some of them were found, and others weren’t. These are the kinds of soldiers – the elite special forces – that the Australian government is funding. It is sad and unfortunate.
History of violence
Between 1969 and 2022, the Indonesian government murdered more than half a million indigenous West Papuans: Politicians, professors, scholars, lecturers, lawyers, and ordinary citizens including women and children. And in 2018 and 2019, the Indonesian government – using claims of attack on highway workers – ordered the bombings of Nduga village in the highlands of West Papua. Indonesian jets bombed the villages indiscriminately without regard for innocent lives. They even used “chemical weapons” to bomb villagers as they ran into the jungle. Eyewitnesses told The Saturday Paper – as quoted by UNPO – that those who encountered these explosions had “burns around their wounds. The flesh appears to have been torn open or borrowed into, the victims’ clothes mantled or cut away. At least seven are dead. Thousands more fled into the hills.”
This criminal act, which was apparently sanctioned by the Indonesian government, displaced 50,000 West Papuans who sought refuge in the jungle and caves from their homes. Many of them remained in the jungle until now. They are afraid of being killed if they returned to their villages.
If this attack on innocent villages took place somewhere else, the world would condemn the leader of the country that carried out the attacks, but with West Papua, the world is pretending everything is okay and sucking up to Indonesia. The blood of innocent West Papuans doesn’t matter at all.
If you are a hardworking Australian or an American taxpayer, know that your money is going to fund the slaughter of indigenous West Papuans. You worked extremely hard to pay your taxes, and this is what your government is doing with your money – funding the murder of innocent West Papuan babies! And the sad thing is, the UN is not protecting our people. International Law failed us. It is a travesty!
Say no to the abuse and misuse of your money.
Say no to state-sponsored terrorism.
Say no to the Indonesian military killing of West Papuans.
Say no to Australian and US funding and arming of these murderers.
How can you condemn Russia over Ukraine while ignoring the suffering of West Papuans by your own guns and missiles?