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INTERVIEW-Papua
rebels say Jakarta aided Muslim militants
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The
Sydney Morning Herald
January
22, 2003
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INTERVIEW-Papua rebels say
Jakarta aided Muslim militants
By Anna Peltola
MALMO, Sweden, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A
Christian rebel group in Indonesia accused Jakarta on Wednesday of
helping Islamic militants set up bases in the country's
resource-rich Papua province.
The Free Papua Organisation has
waged a protracted, low-level guerrilla war for independence in
remote Papua, one of several trouble spots in the world's most
populous Muslim country.
The group's spokesman said the
Indonesian military had armed and funded Islamic groups such as
Laskar Jihad in the largely Christian province, which has oil
reserves and the world's biggest gold and copper mine, owned by
U.S.-based Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Inc .
"Now there are a lot of
terrorist bases in Papua. We're Christian people, we're not
Muslims, so everyone understands that it's not our doing,"
Joseph Prai told Reuters in an interview.
"There is Laskar Jihad and
Satgas Merah Putih," he said.
Laskar Jihad was Indonesia's best
known militant Muslim group until it was disbanded soon after the
bombings on Bali in October. The group sent several thousand
fighters to the Moluccas islands in mid-2000, adding to
Christian-Muslim tension there.
"After the Bali bombing...
they (Laskar Jihad) transported 2,000 forces to West Papua from
Aceh," Prai said, referring to Indonesia's westernmost
province, on Sumatra island, where Muslim rebels have been seeking
a separate state for years.
Satgas Merah Putih, or the
"red and white task force", is a less well known group
supporting Jakarta. "Red and white" is a reference to
the Indonesian flag and is nationalist rallying cry.
Prai said this information was
based mainly on evidence collected by Elsham, Papua's most
prominent human rights group.
"We're still finding hard
evidence. But we know they exist there because there have been OPM
members who have been fighting against Laskar Jihad forces."
"They (Jakarta) know there are
terrorists in the country... The Indonesian army knows this and
they take advantage of this. They (the militants) were funded in
the beginning by the Indonesian army and armed by them."
There was no immediate reaction
from Jakarta, which initially drew criticism for being less
visibly active in the U.S.-led war on terrorism than other
countries in the region.
Prai's father, rebel leader Jakob
Prai, has directed the guerrilla war for more than 20 years from
exile in Sweden but his son is gradually taking over
responsibility.
REAL SITUATION
Since the attacks on the resort
island of Bali that killed at least 193 people, Indonesia has put
anti-terrorism regulations into force and made scores of arrests,
many of people with a militant Islamic background.
Prai said the West would be
sympathetic to his group's demands if it knew the real situation
in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province that was formerly known
as Irian Jaya.
No country officially supports the
Papuan separatists but many in the West have criticised
Indonesia's heavy-handed approach to the conflict. In December,
Jakarta warned Western nations against any support for the
Papuans.
The guerrillas operate mainly in
the remote highlands of the rainforest-covered region and do not
have modern weapons.
The province was incorporated into
Indonesia in 1963 and Papuans voted for Indonesian rule six years
later in a U.N. plebiscite that was widely criticised as unfair.
Indonesia recently granted Papuans
special autonomy but Prai said his group wanted the United Nations
to take up their case again.
"We have to let the people
decide who should lead the country, let them vote. Our main
strategy now is just independence for West Papua," he said.
The tiny Pacific island nation
Vanuatu may take up the Papuans case with the United Nations, Prai
said. The rebels plan to open an office in Vanuatu next May which
could make it the first country to have links with the Free Papua
Organisation.
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