West Papua: New Indonesian gov't offers more suffering
Indonesia is supposed to have a new liberal leadership with the election of new president Jodo Widodo, the first president since the Suharto dictatorship was overthrown in 198 to be elected from outside the Javanese military/political elite.
But the Australian public, in the furore over the fate of two the Australians and others facing execution, are getting a glimpse of the stance of Widodo — and other influential Indonesian leaders — towards human rights, justice and compassion.
Of all the areas ruled by Indonesia, resource-rich West Papua is especially suffering. Its people are getting little in the way of social and economic benefits and the native West Papuans live under a brutal Indonesian army occupation.
West Papua has the world’s largest copper and gold mines, but with corruption and injustice rife the West Papuans endure poverty and inequality while foreign companies are further enriched.
At the same time, the exploitation of minerals, rainforests and other resources of West Papua is leading to pollution, deforestation and destruction of wildlife and habitat.
In 1961, West Papua was promised independence from their former Dutch colonial rulers. Indonesia, however, wanted to take over the country to get access to the vast mineral and timber resources of West Papua. The US pressured the Netherlands to give West Papua to Indonesia.
