Selling arms to Indonesia, do tricky words betray WW-II veterans?
Several years ago the State Department began using this phase "territorial integrity" whenever questioned about the sovereignty of West Papua, a phase used yesterday by Hillary Clinton while responding to a question regarding the territory (see below).
Although the phase neatly avoids giving an opinion regarding sovereignty and does not conflict with the UN statement in the 1970s about the Administrative History, "The United Nations Temporary Authority in West Irian (UNTEA) was formed to administer West Irian, which is located on the island of New Guinea. In 1963 Dutch New Guinea became Irian Barat, which in 1973 changed its name to Irian Jaya and is currently administered by Indonesia.", that is not a distinction which the media understands nor is it one which the public may appreciate.
Lets not forget who these Papuans are, they risked their lives saving tens of thousands of Americans during World War Two, it was due to Papuan support that America had its first land victory against the Japanese. Half a million Americans passed through West Papua after General MacArthur decided the local support made it the ideal location for his new Pacific headquarters and a staging base for the 'big push' in case the A-bombs didn't convince Japan to surrender.. Not only did Papuan men go unarmed as guides and to carry wounded Americans back to the aid stations, but the rest of the population harvested their networks of food gardens and carried their produce to help feed the arriving American troops. The military happily photographed the Papuans helping to erect the US bases across the Papuan territories.
It could be a public relations nightmare if the public ever realizes how Washington has been repaying the colony that had been our ally and saved thousands of Americans
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/09/197279.htm (extract)
QUESTION: Thank you for the opportunity to ask. My name is (inaudible). I’m from an English language daily newspaper, Jakarta Globe. I would like to ask Mrs. Clinton if the U.S. Government proposal to sell air-to-ground sales have been approved by U.S. Congress to accept the F-16 jet fighters Indonesia? And what other defense system that U.S. will provide assistance for Indonesia? And why would the U.S. want to sell missiles to Indonesia despite human rights records in Papua? Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, let me begin by saying that we support Indonesia’s security, including its defense, and we believe strongly that Indonesia has a right to enhance its security. We obviously work closely with Indonesia on a range of issues, particularly on counterterrorism cooperation. And we commend the Indonesian Government for the law enforcement-led approach to counterterrorism and believe that Indonesia has made great strides in protecting its citizens and citizens more generally who visit and travel for business or recreation to Indonesia, which is such a wonderful country to be able to see.
Regarding the very important question on the situation in Papua, we support the territorial integrity and that includes Papua and West Papua provinces. We believe strongly that dialogue between Papuan representatives in the Indonesian Government would help address concerns that the Papuans have and assist in resolving conflict peacefully, improving governance and development. We think there should be inclusive consultation with the Papuan people and implementation of the special autonomy law for Papua. And of course, we deplore violence of any sort in Papua, and when it does occur there should be full and transparent investigations under the rule of law and make sure that lessons are learned from that
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-28/west-papua-730/4228710 (extract)
{Answer} from the Australian Federal Police :
We understand that Detachment 88 is involved in targeting independence leaders in Papua and West Papua. Is this a concern to the AFP? If so what measures has the AFP taken to investigate the allegations?
Detachment 88 is a specialist counter terrorism unit within the Indonesian National Police, however it should be noted that Indonesian law does not differentiate between terrorism, separatism and insurgency.
