Australia’s Strategic Environment: The Problem of Papua

Abstract

January 2004, that an integrated operation be conducted in Papua and a state of civil emergency declared, suggests a growing determination in Jakarta for Indonesia to impose its will on Papua, rather than resolve the issues of governance in the province. The proposal follows the appointment of Inspector- General Timbul Silaen, the head of police in East Timor in 1999, as the commander in Papua. Together with reports that one of the East Timorese militia leaders, Eurico Guterres, had established a pro-Indonesia militia in Papua, this raises the prospect that the Indonesian government is intending to implement in Papua in 2004 policies that provoked international intervention in East Timor in 1999. (The name of the western half of New Guinea has been a matter of political controversy since the 1940s. This article uses the names Papua, West Papua, Netherlands New Guinea, West Irian and Irian Jaya as appropriate to the context). Papua and East Timor have different colonial pasts. The history of how they became part of Indonesia also diverges significantly. However, both territories have been the focus of differences between Indonesia and A