‘Killed like animals’: documents reveal how Australia turned a blind eye to a West Papuan massacre
The Guardian
Dozens of West Papuans were tortured and thrown into the sea 23 years ago. Days later, Australia knew details of the attack, yet remained silent. (...)
Women and children were cut down before his eyes. Some were singing hymns as the troops opened fire.
Bullets tore through the neck and stomach of two of his friends.
“They were killing like they killed animals,” he says. “They don’t think these are human beings, they are thinking these are animals.”
Korwa’s skull was cracked from the butt of an Indonesian soldier’s rifle and his stomach was bleeding heavily from a machete wound. (...)
In the 23 years since, not one person has been charged with the killings. The massacre is not recognised officially and no government or international inquiry has reported on it.
The Indonesian government has either denied or downplayed the deaths. (...)
Australia has only ever offered a muted response, expressing concern to the Indonesian government but not condemning the massacre.
The true extent of the Howard government’s knowledge of the massacre has, until now, largely remained unknown.
But a newly released, unredacted intelligence report handed to Guardian Australia reveals an Australian intelligence officer provided the government with compelling evidence just 11 days after the killings that Indonesia “almost certainly used excessive force against pro-independence demonstrators”.
The same officer was also handed photographic evidence by West Papuans on Biak, at great risk to their safety. The photos were distributed to his superiors within defence, but never saw the light of day.
New evidence suggests they have since been destroyed by the defence department, despite consistent calls for a proper investigation into the atrocity. (...)
> More on West Papua (formerly Netherlands New Guinea)
Yudha Korwa fled West Papua and came to Australia in 2006 after a massacre by the Indonesian military. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian.
Tags: #new_guinea #dutch_new_guinea #papua #west_papua #papua_merdeka #independence #act_of_free_choice #referendum #human_rights #racism #discrimination #indonesia #media #censorship #censor #news #freedom_of_the_press #press_freedom #nederlands_nieuw-guinea #human_rights_abuse
There are no comments yet.