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Australia Linked to Disturbing Report on Papuan Genocide

By Athena Yenko | October 25, 2013 1:33 PM EST 

The report revealed that West Papuan independence supporters suffered being burned and boiled alive. There were women who were raped, had their breast cut off and internal organs pulled out. Other forms of violence involved slicing Papuans with razors and forcing them to eat soldiers' faeces. 
 
The genocide was allegedly conducted by the Indonesians in 1977 to 1978 as a counter-attack to West Papuan independence uprisings after the 1977 general elections.

However, the report also alleged that two helicopters from Australian Defence Department were used in bombing attacks on the Central Highlands village to perform the genocide. 
The report was released by the Asian Human Rights Commission.

Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission expressed frustration over Australia's lapse in judgement in recognising the act of genocide. He said the association with Australia in this disturbing incident was the most shocking aspect of the report.

"Such a large number of people being killed, but has not been a preoccupation for the Indonesian government as well as for the neighbouring countries - such as Australia - that is one of the most shocking aspects of this report."

In a statement to SBS Radio, the Department of Foreign Affairs said that the present situation in West Papua no longer reflects the situation described in the report. The department reasoned that it cannot comment on a situation that had happened 35 years ago.

Meanwhile, University of New South Wales West Papua expert, Associate Professor Clinton Fernandes, explained why Australia was associated to this harrowing detail of the West Papuan past.

"In the 1970s the Indonesian military was annexing West Papua and some of the Papuans who were resisting had to be crushed by force. The Indonesian air force's doctrine was to destroy agricultural areas, destroy foodstocks, buffaloes, paddy fields and so on. And they would use napalm and they would do that in order to starve the resistence into submission."

Mr Fernandes said that it is difficult to establish proofs about the involvement of Australia with the genocide, having all information classified at present.
However, it was known that between 1975 and 1978 Australia spent $26 million in support of Indonesia's modernisation of its military. This made it impossible for Australian authorities not to know that Australian helicopters were being deployed as weapon for the genocide.

"It's inconceivable. Anybody who provided the helicopters as well as Australian intelligence would have been writing detailed reports about what they knew, how they'd been used and so on simply in order to inform out own intelligence services about the doctrine, training and operational capabilities of the Indonesian airforce. Bureaucrats can never say they knew nothing. It's possible that certain high level politicians may not have read certain reports and so on but this is all the more reason for the government to declassify its holdings from the 1970s," explained Mr Fernandes.

Defence' Argument
 In a statement obtained by ABC, The Australian Department of Defence denied claims that Australia helicopters were instrumental in Indonesia's alleged genocide attack to Papuan civilians.

"From 1976 to 1981, Defence units undertook Operation Cenderawasih, the survey and mapping of then Irian Jaya. Iroquois, Caribou, Canberra and C-130 Hercules aircraft from Australia operated within Irian Jaya. The base for the operation was Mokmer Airfield on the island of Biak," the statement said.

 "The Australian Government's current policy towards Papua is clear: we condemn all violence affecting civilians and security personnel alike. The contemporary human rights situation in the Papuan provinces does not resemble the situation portrayed in the AHRC report. Any requests for access to departmental records from this period should be directed to the National Archives of Australia in accordance with the Archives Act 1983," a spokesman for the department told ABC.

To contact the editor, e-mail: editor@ibtimes.com

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