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Irian Barat
(West Papua)
The Reluctant Colony
June 1969
Umar Suharjo raised the Soviet SVD high-powered sniper rifle and nestled the weapon against his cheek. The assassin peered through the PSO-1 scope at the scene unravelling below, where an advance patrol of KOPASSUS Special Forces paratroopers had occupied the isolated highland village. His eyes traversed the scene and then narrowed when his attention focused on a group of high-spirited soldiers gathered around something on the ground. Closer scrutiny revealed the object of their undivided attention to be a woman. A sneer curled Suharjo’s upper lip when it became apparent that the victim was white.
He concluded that she was most likely a foreign missionary and was aware of their scattered numbers and often isolated presence, throughout Indonesia’s eastern frontier.
Suharjo remained unobserved; a camouflaged backdrop high in the forest canopy, three hundred metres from where the paratroopers jostled for turns to rape their victim. He waited patiently in a dispassionate mood as he saw a child kick and flail at the attackers, only to be punched and then thrown viciously aside.
The sniper bided his time until the soldiers had finished their brutal engagement. When the last of the men rolled off the woman, rose and commenced buttoning his trousers Suharjo’s forefinger caressed the SVD’s sensitive trigger. As the barrel air-penciled a path across his targets, he paused, inhaled slowly and sent the first soldier to his death. Then, in rapid succession, he dispatched the remaining three men; their bodies crumpling under his deadly fire and their surprised expressions testament to the assassin’s lethal skill.
Moments passed until the surreal silence was suddenly pierced by shrill screams as the villagers abandoned their dwellings and fled, leaving the unconscious woman and her six-year-old son terrified at her side. Suharjo monitored the landscape for several minutes, to ensure that the entire patrol had indeed been exterminated, before climbing down from his canopy perch and descending down to his killing field.
He hesitated at the village’s perimeter, tilting his head when he detected the approach of others. Withdrawing into the jungle growth from where he could survey the developing situation, Suharjo waited impatiently, adjusting the rifle now at his hip, to automatic fire.
Angry voices signalled the arrival of a group of armed Papuans. Concluding that he was observing a band of freedom fighters and likely members of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka, the Free Papua Movement, Suharjo estimated their numbers were small and, as they were generally undisciplined and poorly-trained, there were not too many for him to confront. He crouched forward, observing the one whom he assumed to be their leader bending down to calm the wailing child. The woman moaned and struggled to a sitting position, reaching out to the light-skinned child. Suharjo frowned.
The assassin considered the opportunity. His mission was to create confusion as the interim province was dragged towards the United Nations-supervised plebiscite to determine whether Papuans would remain within the Indonesian republic or seek independence. Suharjo’s master, General Nathan Seda, acting unilaterally, had decided to influence the outcome to benefit another agenda in East Timor. Suharjo had been ordered to the former Dutch territory to disrupt the proceedings; the choice of targets left for him to determine as he crisscrossed the mountainous outposts, indiscriminately killing. His elimination of the Special Forces patrol would guarantee the severest of reprisals against the indigenous population which, in turn, would further obfuscate the security situation for the UN-sponsored plebiscite.
As it turned out, not all of Suharjo’s missions were successful. Some months earlier, he had been thwarted while attempting to execute a Jakarta-based Australian Embassy official, Stephen Coleman who, at the time, was conducting an information gathering tour of the province in anticipation of the referendum. Suharjo’s bullet had been deflected, hitting the Australian in the shoulder. Stephen Coleman had survived the assassination attempt.
Refocusing on the scene in front of him the assassin saw that the child was now cradled in his mother’s arms. Suharjo raised the SVD to his shoulder, adjusted the scope and fired rapidly until none of the Papuan soldiers were left standing. Satisfied, he then lowered his sights marginally, steadied his aim and settled the cross-hairs on the foreign woman. Suharjo could clearly see tearful eyes as she cradled her child. His bullet sent her reeling backwards, spilling the boy onto the ground. The killer considered the child and, in an out of character gesture, lowered his weapon and slunk back into the jungle leaving the boy alone, but unharmed.
Suharjo would not survive to witness the ramifications of his decision to permit the boy Julius to live. The outcome was destined to profoundly impact the course of Indonesia’s future relationships across the region.
* * * *
Jakarta
Embassy of the United States of America
The Deputy Head of Mission’s annoyance was evident at the meeting, that Henry Kissinger had convinced President Nixon to visit Indonesia at the most sensitive of times. Delegating this responsibility he had summoned the departmental heads to discuss the myriad preparations which needed to be addressed.
‘Before we move on to discuss the President’s program we’ll hear updates on West Irian,’ the career diplomat directed, passing the chair to the senior political adviser.
‘You will recall that our May monthly intelligence brief reported the surrender of the rebel leaders who have been fighting the Indonesians over the past two years.’ His eyes flicked around the polished table before he continued. ‘The Arfak tribe uprising drew a heavy response from Jakarta, with the military mobilizing an additional two infantry battalions from Sulawesi to quell the resistance. Jakarta’s propaganda machine insists that the Papuans are attempting to undermine the approaching vote to determine the question of Western New Guinea’s sovereignty, and that the increased Indonesian military presence is necessary to maintain the integrity of the plebiscite.’
The senior adviser was aware of Jakarta’s heightened concern regarding the deteriorating situation after popular rebellions had erupted across West Papua’s Western Central Highlands in April forcing the Indonesian military onto the defence. One hundred well-armed Papuan policemen mutinied and joined the Free Papua Movement. The adviser also recalled that General Sarwo Edhie, the territory’s Indonesian military commander, had ordered B-26 bombers into the theatre, and Indonesian paratroopers from West Java were flown in to hunt down the resistance fighters. The American official was also cognizant of the Indonesian counter attacks that had driven more than fifteen thousand Papuans into the hinterland and that demonstrations had flared across the territory resulting in Indonesian troops being attacked on the Bird’s Head Peninsula, and in Merauke.
‘What, if anything, will be the result of the Dutch entreaty to the UN?’ The CIA station chief wanted to know. He had been ostracised for not having indigenous agents on the ground, with the Agency dependent on US citizens within the missionaries to provide current information. Should the UN be receptive to the Dutch proposal, he envisaged the easy planting of CIA operatives among a multi-national presence.
‘UN Secretary General U Thant has dismissed the Dutch request to send in an expeditionary force, despite the Dutch arguing that such a move would neutralise the intimidation tactics employed by Indonesia’s armed forces. His refusal to consider the call reflects another clear illustration of the UN leadership’s collaboration with Indonesia to legitimise President Sukarno’s intended takeover of West Irian.’ The senior adviser paused then added cynically, ‘Not that Washington disagrees with U Thant’s position.’ Smug smiles accompanied nodding heads in silent concurrence. It
