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[ANN]Southwest Pacific
forum, beyond Papua issue
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The
Korean Herald News
October
12, 2002
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[ANN]Southwest Pacific forum,
beyond Papua issue
The Jakarta PostAsia News Network
The startling vision of former
president Abdurrahman Wahid had rarely been taken seriously. But
when closing the two-day Southwest Pacific Dialog in Yogyakarta on
Saturday, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda might have recalled
that the forum of six foreign ministers was born out of
Abdurrahman's anger against the sharp-tongued statesman of the
region, Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew.
Two years ago Abdurrahman had
spontaneously announced his idea to establish a new multilateral
West Pacific grouping after being humiliated by Lee. Lee had
rejected his idea to include Papua New Guinea and East Timor in
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
After attending the ASEAN annual
summit in Singapore in 2000, Abdurrahman pointed out that the West
Pacific forum would become a new cornerstone for Indonesia's
diplomacy. Many laughed at what seemed like another of his grand,
spontaneously declared notions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
however followed up on the idea. Hassan knows, at least for the
short term, that the informal forum can be used to encounter the
diplomatic campaigns by the Free Papua Movement (OPM) especially
among states in the Pacific.
Then, what is the result?
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, New Zealand's Phil
Goff, Papua New Guinea's Rabbie Namaliu, the Philippine's Blas F.
Ople, East Timor's Jose Ramos Horta and Hassan met in Yogyakarta
to discuss future cooperation of Southwest Pacific countries.
"We all want our partners of
dialogue to reiterate ... their support for our struggle of
(territorial) integrity and national unity," Hassan said in
conversation with The Jakarta Post before chairing the meeting on
Friday.
Whatever Abdurrahman's motivation,
he had rightly corrected the four-decade paradigm that ASEAN was
the cornerstone for Indonesia's foreign affairs policymaking -
neglecting in effect the needs of people living in Indonesia's
eastern part.
ASEAN has been relatively more
relevant for the interests of people in western Indonesia.
Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, the Philippines, Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar are members of ASEAN, but for Sulawesi,
especially North Sulawesi, the Philippines is the closest foreign
neighbor.
ASEAN was established in 1967,
shortly after Suharto came to power. As Indonesia wanted to
concentrate on economic development, Suharto decided to focus its
foreign affairs policy on Southeast Asia. From an anti-communist
grouping, the organization eventually embraced the 10 countries in
the region, including communist Vietnam.
But times have changed. The region
has also drastically changed, as well as the global situation.
Indonesia, perceived as much weaker now, is no longer the anchor
of ASEAN. Many Indonesians feel that they have sacrificed too much
for neighbors, who did not assist them enough during these
difficult times as Indonesia is too big to depend only on ASEAN.
Somewhat similar to the East and
West Coast of the United States, respectively facing the Atlantic
Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, Indonesia is split between the
western part, facing the Indian Ocean, and the eastern regions,
facing the Pacific Ocean.
The western part includes Java,
Bali, Sumatra and Kalimantan, while the eastern provinces, among
which most inhabitants identify themselves closer to Melanesians,
comprises Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua, West Nusa Tenggara and East
Nusa Tenggara.
People in Papua are not interested
much in the progress of Singapore or Malaysia, which are too
remote from them. Culturally and geographically, they feel much
closer to Papua New Guinea. The sufferings of Papuans easily
provokes expressions of solidarity from their neighbors.
Australia, New Zealand and the smaller states in the Pacific, are
Papua's closer neighbors.
For East Nusa Tenggara people, East
Timor is their nearest neighbor, where the people share a similar
culture, religion and also economic hardship. Although the
presence of unwanted refugees from East Timor is still a big
burden for the poor province, a prosperous East Timor will also
benefit its closest neighbor. Instability and chaos in the new
state will also firstly affect East Nusa Tenggara. Australia is
another major economic power important to Nusa Tenggara. Residents
of Maluku and North Maluku are also culturally and physically
closer to those in the Pacific.
Provinces in eastern Indonesia have
long lagged far behind the western areas, their natural resources
exploited by the Javanese and the money deposited in banks in
Java.
It is time now for the government
to give more serious attention to the Pacific, not just to
minimize international support for the Papuan rebels but also to
boost economic cooperation between Indonesia's eastern provinces
and the Pacific countries.
Minister Hassan knows very well
that although many of the countries in the Pacific are small in
terms of size or population, they could make problems for
Indonesia as in the case of the 1980s. At that time the government
had clearly underestimated the position of outspoken Vanuatu. Its
government often attacked Indonesia's position on East Timor and
Papua, but it was ignored for a long time until the government
gave more attention to the tiny island.
During the Yogyakarta meeting, the
five dialogue partners expressed support for Indonesia's
territorial integrity including on Papua. But there is no
guarantee of everlasting loyalty.
Neighboring countries in the past
had also continued to say that East Timor was a part of Indonesia.
This helped boost the government's confidence of its support among
the international community - while the struggle of the East
Timorese were belittled, ending in the major shock for Jakarta
when most of its population chose to separate from Indonesia.
Therefore, regarding any other
troublesome regions in the country, a senior Indonesian diplomat
said, "Whatever we do in diplomacy, if our treatment (of
other regions) like that of East Timor in the past does not
change, we may be repeating the same history all over again."
By Kornelius Purba
2002.10.12
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