[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 23417-23421]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 INDONESIA'S SHAMEFUL MILITARY OCCUPATION OF EAST TIMOR AND WEST PAPUA 
                               NEW GUINEA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) 
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I have entitled my remarks tonight to 
my colleagues and to my fellow Americans as Indonesia's Shameful 
Military Occupation of East Timor and West Papua New Guinea, or also 
known as Irian Jaya.

  Mr. Speaker, this week the House of Representatives considered 
legislation,

[[Page 23418]]

House Resolution 292, expressing its position with regards to the 
tragic crisis in East Timor, Indonesia.

  I want to commend the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on 
International Relations of the House, the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Gilman) and the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson), for 
bringing to the floor this important measure regarding the recent dire 
developments in East Timor.

  I would further deeply commend the chairman and ranking member of the 
House Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the 
Pacific, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) and the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Lantos), for introducing the resolution and their 
considerable work on it. I am honored to be an original cosponsor of 
House Resolution 292.

  Mr. Speaker, I also want to commend the gentleman from Rhode Island 
(Mr. Kennedy) for introducing H.R. 2895, a bill that will cut off all 
U.S. bilateral and multilateral agreements with Indonesia if the 
Indonesian government fails to implement and support the United 
Nation's supervised plebescite which resulted in a vote of over 78 
percent of the voters of East Timor in favor of total independence from 
the government of Indonesia.

  The bill of the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy) has strong 
bipartisan support by both Republicans and Democrats, and I am honored 
to have also been an original cosponsor of this legislation.

  Mr. Speaker, like many of our colleagues, I am greatly disturbed and 
saddened by the brutal, violent response of the pro-Jakarta militia and 
Indonesian military to the overwhelming force for independence 
demonstrated by the courageous people of East Timor. However, I am not 
at all surprised at the rampant killings, Mr. Speaker, as the 
Indonesian military has routinely used violence as a tool of 
repression.

  Although the Timorese struggle for self-determination has received 
much publicity, Mr. Speaker, scant attention has been paid to the 
people of West Papua New Guinea who have similarly struggled to throw 
off the yoke of Indonesian colonialism.

  As in East Timor, Indonesia took West Papua New Guinea by force in 
1963. In a truly pathetic episode, the United Nations in 1969 
sanctioned a fraudulent referendum where only 1,025 delegates that were 
handpicked and paid off by the Jakarta government were permitted to 
participate in a so-called independence vote. The rest of the West 
Papua New Guinea people, well over 800,000 strong, Mr. Speaker, had 
absolutely no voice in the undemocratic process.

  Since Indonesia subjugated West Papua New Guinea, the native Papuan 
people have suffered under one of the most repressive and unjust 
systems of colonial occupation in the 20th century.

  Like in East Timor where 200,000 East Timorese have died, the 
Indonesian military has been brutal in West Papua New Guinea. Reports 
estimate that between 100,000 to 200,000 West Papuans have died or 
simply vanished at the hands of the Indonesian military.

  While we search for justice and peace in East Timor, Mr. Speaker, we 
should not forget the violent tragedy that continues to play out today 
in West Papua New Guinea.

  I would urge our colleagues and our great Nation and the 
international community to revisit the status of West Papua New Guinea 
to ensure that justice is also achieved there.

  Mr. Speaker, with respect to the events of the past weeks, the 
Indonesian government should be condemned in the strongest terms for 
allowing untold atrocities to be committed against the innocent, 
unarmed civilians of East Timor. I commend President Clinton for 
terminating all assistance to and ties with the Indonesian military. 
United Nations estimates that there are over 300,000 Timorese, in 
excess of a third of the population of East Timor, have been displaced 
and it remains to be seen how many hundreds, if not thousands, have 
been killed in the mass bloodletting and carnage by the Indonesian 
military and its militia.

  Mr. Speaker, a couple of days ago, the United Nations Human Rights 
Commission voted for an international inquiry into the atrocities 
committed in East Timor. The call for an international war crimes 
tribunal to punish those responsible for the atrocities should be 
heeded, even if it implicates the top military leadership of Jakarta.

  I strongly supported the intervention of the United Nations-endorsed 
multinational force in East Timor, and I am heartened at their arrival 
in Dili last week. Although only 5,000 of the 7,500 troop peacekeeping 
is presently there in East Timor, they have already had a significant 
effect in stabilizing the situation and restoring order in Dili.

  Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the government of Australia for its 
leadership with the multinational force and recognize the important and 
substantial troop contributions of Thailand to the peacekeeping effort.

  While I believe America's role in the peacekeeping mission should 
have been greater, certainly the contribution of the U.S. airlift and 
logistical support has been invaluable. If Australia, Thailand and our 
allies call upon us and it is necessary that the United States play a 
more substantial role in the peacekeeping effort, I submit, Mr. 
Speaker, even if it means the contribution of a small contingency of 
ground troops which could easily be drawn from our reserves of the U.S. 
Marines in Okinawa, after all, Mr. Speaker, is this not the very reason 
why we have troops located in the Asia-Pacific region, and that is to 
provide stability and order in that region of the world?

  Mr. Speaker, with Indonesia being the fourth largest nation and the 
largest Muslim country in the world, which sits astride the major sea-
lanes of communications and trade, certainly we do have a substantial 
national interest in preserving stability in Indonesia and Southeast 
Asia as well.

  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join my colleagues in adoption of 
legislation that touches on all of the foregoing concerns. It is 
appropriate that the House finally speak as a body in addressing the 
tremendous evil perpetrated against the free citizens of East Timor by 
the Indonesian military.

  Mr. Speaker, we and our colleagues must do all we can to assist the 
recovery of the Timorese people and to support their struggle for 
freedom, economic self-sufficiency and democracy.

  Mr. Speaker, if I may borrow the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr., who said in part, ``I refuse to accept despair as the final 
response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea 
that the isness of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of 
reaching up for the eternal oughtness that forever confronts them.''

  As a nation and as a world we have watched as East Timor and West 
Papua New Guinea have struggled for independent and self-determination. 
As a government, we have known the ambiguities of colonialist history. 
Indonesia, a former Dutch colony, was granted independence by the 
Netherlands in 1949. In its own act of colonial aggression, Indonesia 
then demanded all former territories of the Dutch East Indies and the 
Portuguese Colonial Empires, including West Papua New Guinea and East 
Timor. When Indonesia's demands were not met, the Indonesian military 
troops slaughtered and murdered some 100,000 West Papua New Guineans 
and also slaughtered and murdered over 200,000 East Timorese. The world 
stood in silence while the slaughter continued.

  Mr. Speaker, we have known the isness and the oughtness of what now 
confronts our collective conscience.

  Like Conrad notes in the book, the Heart of Darkness, and I quote, 
``The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from 
those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than 
ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.''

  Mr. Speaker, ``when you look into it too much,'' the world ought to 
be a better place than what it is.


[[Page 23419]]


  Mr. Speaker, I know much has been written and said about what now 
confronts us in the conflict of East Timor. As Mahatma Ghandi once 
said, and I quote, ``I have nothing new to say. The principles of truth 
and nonviolence are as old as mountains.''

  Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, it serves us well to be reminded of the 
principles of goodness espoused by those who have lived the struggle 
and overcome. So today, I speak not as a representative with something 
new to say, but as a human being who wants to associate himself with a 
brotherhood and sisterhood of good.

  To the people of East Timor who seek to be free, I add my voice of 
support and condemn the government of Indonesia for denying East Timor 
its inalienable right to self-determination. To the good people of West 
Papua New Guinea, who also seek to be free from Indonesian colonial 
rule, I rise to share some 36 years of your pain and your suffering and 
of the slaughter and the murderings of your people by the Indonesian 
military.

  Mr. Speaker, there is consensus that the Island of New Guinea was 
settled by a people from West Africa. In 1883, the Island of New Guinea 
came under colonial rule and was partitioned by three western powers. 
The Dutch claimed the western half while the British and the Germans 
divided the eastern half.

  In 1949, the Dutch granted independence to the colonies of the former 
Dutch East Indies, including the Republic of Indonesia, but the Dutch 
retained West Papua New Guinea and in 1950 supposedly prepared the 
territory for independence.

  Indonesia, however, under the leadership of military Dictator Sukarno 
sent troops over and militarily occupied West Papua, and to this day 
West Papua continues to exist under military rule.

  Mr. Speaker, in 1962, the United States mediated an agreement between 
Indonesia and the Netherlands, minus West Papuan representation, of 
course. Under terms of the agreement, the Dutch would leave West Papua 
and transfer sovereignty to the United Nations Temporary Executive 
Authority, known as UNTEA, for a period of 6 years, after which time a 
national election would be held to determine West Papua's political 
status. But almost immediately after this agreement was reached, 
Indonesia violated the terms of the transfer and took over the 
administration of West Papua from the UNTEA.

  In 1969, Indonesia orchestrated an election that many regarded as a 
brutal military operation. In what came to be known as an ``act of no-
choice,'' where 1,025 elders under heavy military surveillance were 
selected to vote on behalf of 809,327 West Papuans on the territory's 
political status. United Nations Ambassador Ortiz-Sanz, who was sent to 
West Papua to observe the process, issued the following statement, and 
I quote, ``I regret to have to express my reservation regarding the 
implementation of article XXII of the Agreement relating to the rights, 
including the rights of free speech, freedom of movement and of 
assembly of the inhabitants of the area. In spite of my constant 
efforts, this important provision was not fully implemented and the 
Indonesian administration exercised at all times a tight political 
control over the population.''

  Mr. Speaker, despite Ambassador Ortiz-Sanz' report, the United 
Nations sanctioned Indonesia's position and on September 10, 1969, West 
Papua became a province of the Indonesian military rule.

                              {time}  2045

  Mr. Speaker, there is some speculation surrounding the extent of U.S. 
involvement with respect to the West Papua/Indonesian settlement. In 
late 1961, a Robert H. Johnson of the National Security Council staff 
wrote a letter to Mr. Bundy, the President's Special Assistant for 
National Security Council Affairs, concerning the conflict between 
Indonesia and the Netherlands.

  Mr. Johnson wrote in part, and I quote, ``The U.S. has a general 
interest in eliminating this irritant in international relations 
involving two free world countries. But its more basic interests are 
two: (a) to eliminate this issue from Indonesian politics where it has 
diverted the country from constructive tasks, has been used by Sukarno 
as a means of frustrating opposition to himself, and has been exploited 
by the large local Communist party'' and by the Soviet Union ``(b) to 
avoid a military clash because such a clash would probably strengthen 
Communist forces within Indonesia. The loss of Indonesia could be as 
significant as the loss of mainland Southeast Asia and would make 
defense of the latter considerably more difficult. If the above 
analysis is correct, we must conclude that it is in our interests that 
a solution be devised which will lead to accession of West New Guinea 
to Indonesia.''

  Mr. Speaker, in other words, it was our national policy to sacrifice 
the lives and future of some 800,000 West Papua New Guineans to the 
Indonesian military in exchange, supposedly, for Sukarno and Sukarto to 
become our friends, and yet organize the most repressive military 
regimes ever in the history of Indonesia.

  Mr. Speaker, this event is perhaps the worst example of what the 
United Nations did by sanctioning this act of no choice against the 
people of west Papua New Guinea. Mr. Speaker, I call upon the United 
Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to take appropriate action to 
correct this shameful act of the United Nations took against the people 
of West Papua. The United Nations should call and supervise a real 
pleviscite like the one given to people of East Timor.

  Mr. Speaker, in his 1990 statement before the United Nations Special 
Committee Against Apartheid, Nelson Mandela of South Africa said, ``It 
will forever remain an indelible blight on human history that the 
apartheid crime ever occurred. Future generations will surely ask, what 
error was made that this system established itself in the wake of the 
adoption of a Universal Declaration on Human Rights.''

  ``It will forever remain an accusation and a challenge to all men and 
women of conscience that it took as long as it has been before all of 
us stood up and to say, enough is enough.''

  Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but feel similarly about our own stance 
towards West Papua during the height of the Cold War and our continued 
stance at present. Geo-politics aside, since the Indonesian government 
seized control of West Papua, the Pupuans have suffered blatant human 
rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions, imprisonment, 
torture and, according to Afrim Djonbalic's 1998 statement to the 
United Nations, ``environmental degradation, natural resource 
exploitation, and commercial dominance of immigrant communities.''

  Sadly, Mr. Speaker, a U.S.-based company mining copper, gold, and 
silver in west Papua New Guinea allegedly shares in the exploitation 
and abuse of Papuan lands and its people.

  In West Papua, New Guinea, Mr. Speaker, Freeport-McMoRan, an American 
company in partnership with the Indonesian leaders and leading 
Australian and British mining companies, operates the world's largest 
gold mine and the world third largest copper mine in West Papua, New 
Guinea. Conservative estimates suggest that the copper reserves of 
Freeport are worth well over $23 billion. The gold reserves are worth 
around $15 billion. As it currently stands, the Indonesian government 
has approximately an 8.5 percent share in Freeport mining and Freeport 
pays Indonesia more money than any other company in the entire country.

  Mr. Speaker, from 1969 to 1971, Freeport built a 63-mile road from 
the southern coast of West Papua to the Ertsberg Mountain, moving 12 
million tons of earth. As Mr. Wilson describes it in his book called 
Conquest of Copper Mountain, ``At one point, we literally had to chop 
off the top half of a mountain.'' Draft author James Lang in Irian Jaye 
case number 157, notes that, in 1967, Freeport signed a contract with 
the Indonesian government to mine for copper in 10,000 hectares,

[[Page 23420]]

not acres, Mr. Speaker, hectares, of land belonging to the indigenous 
Amungme tribal people. Yet, to date, this report was in 1996, Mr. 
Speaker, Freeport's control has extended over three times as much land, 
and the company has no policy of commitment or royalty distribution to 
the local community.

  With the construction of a new city for its employees, Freeport 
mining company will take an additional 25,000 hectares of land from the 
Amungme tribe. Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, Freeport recently opened a new 
mind and Grasberg just two kilometers from the Timika site. Resting on 
2.6 million hectares, again, Mr. Speaker, not acres, hectares of land 
acquired from Indonesia in 1991, the new mine will increase its output 
to 900 million pounds of copper and 1.1 million ounces of gold, making 
it the world's single biggest mining operation.

  In 1977, Mr. Speaker, the Amungme Tribe put in a claim for 
compensation for their lost land which the Indonesian government 
promptly and simply rejected. As spokesman for the Free Papua Movement 
summarized the situation, and I quote, ``Since Freeport signed 
contracts in 1967, it has regarded this land as not belonging to our 
people . . . the Indonesia Constitution considers it state land and any 
companies made by the Amungme people'' are declared ``as terrorist 
action.''

  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Robert Bryce, contributing editor for the Austin 
Chronicle, noted in Mother Jones, this is an article in 1996, 
``Freeport's Grasberg mine is essentially grinding the Indonesian 
mountain into dust, skimming off the precious metals, and dumping the 
remainder into the Ajkwa River. The pulverized rock (called `tailings') 
has created a wasteland in the river valley below. By its own 
estimates, the company will dump more than 40 million tons of tailings 
into the river this year alone,'' Mr. Speaker.

  ``The mine's tailings have already `severely impacted' more than 11 
square miles of rainforest, according to the 1996 Dames & Moore 
environmental audit. The report, endorsed by Freeport, also estimates 
that over the life of the mine some 3.2 billion tons of waste rock, a 
great part of which generates acid, will be dumped into the local river 
system.''

  ``At present,'' Mr. Speaker, ``the company mines 125,000 tons of ore 
each day. The company intends to increase that amount to 190,000 tons 
per day. At that rate, Mr. Speaker, Freeport will dump enough tailings 
in the Ajkwa River to fill Houston's Astrodome every 3 weeks.''

  Mr. Speaker, from the University of Chicago, Mr. Marina Peterson 
writes in a stated report in 1996, ``Specific allegations have been 
made to Freeport's direct association with human rights abuses 
undertaken by the Indonesian government on Freeport land. Freeport 
facilities are policed both by Freeport security and the Indonesian 
military; Freeport feeds, houses, and provides transportation for the 
Indonesian military; and after any incidence of indigenous resistance 
against Freeport, the military responds while Freeport looks on.

  ``In 1977, when West Papuans attacked Freeport facilities, the 
Indonesian military bombed the natives using U.S.-made Broncos and a 
Freeport employee sent an anonymous letter to Tapol on August 6, 1977, 
writing `any native who is seen is shot dead on the spot.' The 
Obliteration of a People,'' dated 1983. Although Freeport likes to 
shift blame onto the Indonesian government, Press reports that `One 
recent Western traveler was told by a Freeport security employee that 
he and his coworkers amuse themselves by shooting randomly at passing 
tribesmen and watching them scurry in terror into the woods and Amnesty 
International reported that the military used steel containers from 
Freeport to incarcerate indigenous people.''

  Mr. Speaker, it might be fair at this point to note that West Pupuans 
differ racially from the majority of Indonesians. West Papuans are 
Melanesian, believed to be of African descent. In 1990, Nelson Mandela 
reminded the United Nations that when ``it first discussed the South 
African question in 1946, it was discussing the issue of racism.'' I 
cannot help but wonder, Mr. Speaker, if what we are now discussing is 
the issue of racism in West Papua New Guinea. As Mahatma Gandhi said, 
``Till we are fully free, we are slaves.''

  Mr. Speaker, ultimately I believe in the goodness of people and in 
the goodness of the Members of this body. I believe that, as we are 
made aware of human suffering and gross injustice, we will rise to say 
enough is enough.

  It was not so long ago that Nelson Mandela stood before us in a joint 
session of Congress, some 9 years ago as I recall, Mr. Speaker, and 
commented on our stand against apartheid. ``The stand you took 
established the understanding among the millions of our people that 
here we have friends, here we have fighters against racism, who feel 
hurt because we are hurt, who seek our success because they, too, seek 
the victory of democracy over tyranny.''

  Mr. Speaker, let the people of West Papua know that here, too, they 
have friends, here, too, they have fighters against racism, who feel 
hurt because they are hurt. Let them know that we seek their success 
because we, too, seek the victory of democracy over tyranny. Let us go 
out this evening with that determination, Mr. Speaker.

  Again, I love to share with my colleagues another quote from Martin 
Luther King, Jr. who said in part, ``I refuse to accept the view that 
mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and 
war, that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become 
a reality. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere have 
dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what 
self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I 
still believe that one day mankind will bow before the alters of God 
and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent 
redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land. I still believe 
that we shall overcome.''

  That quote, by the way, Mr. Speaker, was part of Martin Luther King, 
Jr.'s speech that he made when he accepted the Nobel Prize for the 
promotion of peace in 1964.

  Mr. Speaker, I was in high school then. It was a little high school 
in the State of Hawaii. It was named Kahuku High School. My high school 
is among the smallest in number in the State of Hawaii, but Kahuku High 
School never lacked in size and fierceness when it came to football 
players.

  I was in high school, and our Nation had just elected a new 
President. I remember well the most profound statement that, to this 
day, is quoted by people and leaders throughout the world. It was 
President Kennedy who did not mince his words when he said it in his 
inaugural address, and I quote, ``Let every Nation know that we shall 
pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, 
oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.''

  Mr. Speaker, there are close parallels between our country and the 
colonies of East Timor and West Papua New Guinea. Our Nation was 
founded under the yoke of British colonialism. East Timor was formerly 
a colony of Portugal, and West Papua New Guinea was a colonial 
possession of the Dutch or the Netherland. But there is a slight 
difference, however. Unlike the 13 colonies that eventually won its 
independence from England, immediately following the withdrawal of 
Portuguese and Dutch influence from East Timor and West Papua New 
Guinea, respectively, the Indonesian military became the new colonial 
master of these two colonies.

  So when we talk about colonies, Mr. Speaker, our Nation has a very 
real sense of appreciation what colonies are like: a constant fear of 
military rule by a military dictatorship, absolutely no freedom of 
expression, one's family and friends are not free to meet and to 
congregate, and even the right or privilege to petition the government 
for wrongdoings. One can forget about the privilege of voting freely 
for people of one's choice to represent you.

[[Page 23421]]



                              {time}  2100

  Simply put, Mr. Speaker, just kiss goodbye to democracy.

  Mr. Speaker, our Nation currently is the most powerful, the most 
prosperous, and the only superpower remaining now since the fall of the 
former Soviet Union. There are those who argue that we should stop 
being the policeman of the world. But if we do not assist territories 
like East Timor and West Papua New Guinea should we let countries like 
China, Iran, and Iraq to take our place?

  We have actively supported the concept of regional security 
organizations like NATO. Why not revive the Southeast Asian Treaty 
Organization to serve similar functions that NATO currently provides in 
Europe?

  Mr. Speaker, let us give heed to President Kennedy's challenge to the 
world and to all our fellow Americans. Let us support the cause of 
freedom and democracy wherever and whenever any people who live under 
repressive military governments seek our help.

  I commend the people and the good leaders of East Timor for their 
long-last struggle to become a free people after some 25 years of 
military rule. Now I challenge my colleagues in the United Nations to 
do the same for the people of West Papua New Guinea who continue to 
live in fear of Indonesian military rule for the past 36 years, and 
that repressive rule still continues.

                          ____________________