the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, which provided that vessels passing through territorial waters were only entitled to the right of ‘innocent passage’ which obliged the crew to navigate on the surface and show their country’s flag.
The PM dry-washed his partially disfigured face with hardened hands. The scars were a reminder of a time when he piloted a Hawker Hurricane and had crash-landed during the war against Japan. Gorton’s face had slammed against the gun sight and windscreen mutilating his nose and breaking both cheekbones. He thumbed open the ‘OYSTER’ report Andersen had wished to discuss.
‘Are the Americans aware of our incursions?’
Andersen shook his head. ‘They don’t have any assets in New Guinea. Besides, even if it did become known that our Special Forces crossed into West Irian we would merely shrug it off as the delineation of the border is far from clear to either side.’ Andersen moved to reassure. ‘And we have a legitimate reason for our troops to be stationed in the New Guinea highlands. Apart from our UN responsibility to provide New Guinea with defence and security, it’s a perfect environment to train our men in jungle warfare, and preparation for their Vietnam deployment.’
‘And what about those engagements between our troops and the Indonesians?’ the PM wanted to know. Typically, Gorton was seeking confirmation of what he had been told by the Chief of Army.
‘Nothing that’s been relayed through our people in Jakarta,’ Andersen reassured. The SAS troopers operated under the strictest guidelines. Should Indonesian forces be caught crossing into New Guinea then they were dealt with expeditiously, their bodies buried deep in the jungle. In the event of any Australian casualties inside Indonesian territory, wounded or dead, bodies were never left behind to avoid the potential for political fallout.
* * * *
Having returned to his office, Director Andersen sat alone quietly chewing over the dramatic shift in Australia’s policy towards Indonesia since General Suharto had seized power, acknowledging that Canberra’s about face over West Irian to support Jakarta was in Australia’s long-term interests.
Andersen accepted the premise that whoever controlled New Guinea and West New Guinea had the capacity to greatly influence the security of shipping to Australian ports, this consideration soon to become paramount with New Guinea’s independence to be granted in five years. He had read his agents’ reports from Jakarta expressing the Indonesian military’s concerns that New Guinea would become a hotbed of rebel, if not communist activity, once independence had been achieved.
Andersen appreciated Indonesia’s tendency to suspect the West’s motives from a historical perspective. Jakarta secretly resented the United States and had done so dating back to when the Eisenhower Administration, obsessed with the eradication of the Indonesian Communist Party, had decided to attack and invade with the support of rebels in Sumatra and Sulawesi. The United States had provided funds, weapons, training and backed by the Seventh Fleet with air support out of the Philippines, had moved to overthrow the Sukarno regime. Incredibly, the plan failed. Then, in the following eight years, six US-sponsored assassination attempts made on President Sukarno left no doubt as to the Americans’ determination to expand their sphere of influence, displacing the British and French across SE Asia.
* * * *
Indonesia
HANKAM — Indonesian Defence Department — Jakarta
The Brigadier General signed the document then watched officiously as the order was sealed by a junior officer. ‘Ensure a copy is hand-delivered to Jalan Cendana,’ the Brigadier General ordered. ‘Inform the Palace Guards you are on the way.’
Alone with his thoughts the general remained at his desk contemplating the momentous increase in troop numbers across the restive territory known as Irian Barat. In preparation of the imminent Act of Free Choice vote his troops had engaged in widespread killing to annihilate Papuan resistance. At first, he had believed that last month’s aerial bombing of the Wissel Lake District had been successful, with more than fourteen thousand villagers fleeing into the jungle, only to learn that the event had hardened the Papuan resolve swelling the ranks of the resistance movement. He accepted that the three-thousand-strong Papuan Battalion formed by the Dutch in earlier times offered a serious threat to the outcome of the imminent vote to determine the territory’s future. These guerrilla units were collectively known as the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (Free Papua Movement; OPM) and the general was determined to have them annihilated, to a man, as the President had ordered the military to take whatever measures necessary to ensure an outcome that would favour Jakarta.
The OPM had too many successes in opposing the brutal Indonesian occupation army. Two years earlier, the OPM had overrun the former Dutch capital, Manokwari and held it for several days until retaken by the general’s paratroopers.
In light of the KOPASSUS Special Forces’ presence in the operational theatre and their achievements, he was reminded of the recent report claiming thousands of Papuans had been killed by KOPASSUS troops during an uprising in the Kebar Valley, and Paniai District.
The Brigadier General mentally counted the numbers he could still draw down upon from commands in other provinces. In order to achieve the required result troop strengths in Irian Barat his Indonesian security forces had been increased to forty-thousand, of which five thousand were members of the Mobile Brigade (BRIMOB), the paramilitary brigade. The general considered this elite unit necessary in dealing with the ongoing, deeply-annoying mass demonstrations currently occurring in major West Irian centres.
Deciding a face-to-face with the relevant commanding officers would be more appropriate, he summoned an aide and ordered a vehicle to stand by to take him across the city to Cijantung, home of the revered Special Forces.
* * * *
Indonesian Special Forces (KOPASSUS)
Group 3 Sandi Yudha
Cijantung, East Jakarta
Elements of Batallions 31, 32 and 33 were present when their commanding officer, an infantry colonel, briefed the select assembly of soldiers from the KOPASSUS (a portmanteau of Komando Pasukan Khusus) Special Forces Group 3, Sandhi Yudha. This highly-secretive command specialised in clandestine operations, the gathering of combat intelligence and counter insurgency. The unit had been operational for two years, headquartered amongst other commands at Cijantung in the outer-eastern corridors of the capital, Jakarta.
The Colonel scanned the serious-faced men before him as if searching for any that might disappoint, a problem the unit had occasionally experienced when some of its number displayed excessive behaviour. He accepted that it was not always possible to weed out those with maverick tendencies.
Soldiers selected for membership of Group 3 had not only completed the demanding basic ten weeks KOPASSUS entry training, but had also completed specialist training undercover operations and advanced martial arts. Many of these soldiers had been selected to attend military intelligence education centres abroad in the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel and the USA.
Due to the secrecy of the unit, its members were ordered never to reveal their activities to any, including family.
Group 3 elements were essential to providing on-the-ground theatre combat intelligence prior to any military incursions. Often operating in civilian attire with the appropriate documentation, these Sandhi Yudha operatives acted as fifth columnists and undertook subversive actions. On occasion, the State Intelligence Agency
