Indonesian military chief gets an AO as West Papua human rights crisis deepens

The quiet appointment of Indonesia’s defence chief to the military division of the Order of Australia has been criticised by human rights organisations, who say the decision effectively “aids and rewards” ongoing human rights violations committed by Indonesia’s armed forces in West Papua.

General Andika Perkasa was awarded the honour last week in a ceremony presided over by Australia’s ambassador to Indonesia, Penny Williams, notwithstanding the credible allegations of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and enforced disappearances by security forces aired by United Nations experts earlier this year.

Perkasa’s predecessor, Hadi Tjahjanto, who now serves as an Indonesian minister, was given the same honour in November last year.

In a statement to Crikey, the honours and awards secretariat said the appointments were made at the recommendation of the minister for defence for “distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or humanity at large” and that it wasn’t unusual for appointments of this kind to be excluded from the published January and June honours lists.

“This is very shameful,” Amnesty International Australia spokeswoman and lawyer Veronica Koman said. “It’s a slap in the face for the many thousands of internally displaced [Papuans] and all the victims of shocking human rights abuses committed by the Indonesian army.”

Citing the legal doctrine of command responsibility, Koman said it was immaterial individual accusations of wrongdoing were yet to be levelled at either Perkasa or Tjahjanto.

“It’s clearly hypocritical for Australia to set itself up as a defender of human rights and then to reward [leaders] of the Indonesian army for service, when it’s the main perpetrator of human rights abuses in West Papua,” she said.

“And I think [the Australian government] knows that — it’s why you can’t find any press releases about it except for the one on the Australian embassy to Indonesia website. They’re hoping no one in Australia notices.”

Civil and political unrest has long marked the Papua provinces, where separatists have waged a low-level campaign for independence since the former Dutch colony was formally brought under Indonesian control following a flawed referendum in 1969.

For many years, a heavy military presence in the region has obstructed foreign journalists and international human rights monitors from accessing the territory, and more recently the military has been accused of blocking aid to displaced Papuans.

Human Rights Watch said the alleged abuses by Indonesian soldiers rarely invited investigation, much less prosecution, by authorities — a sentiment shared by Koman.

“No soldiers have been charged with the torture of Papuan children in February, and none of the six army officers investigated for the mutilation of four civilians in August have been charged,” she said.

“There’s no accountability. Just two days after [the announcement of Perkasa’s AO], we found out the only officer charged with the killings of four peaceful protesters in 2014 had been acquitted. West Papuans never get any justice.”

For several years, and particularly since the signing of the Lombok Treaty, the Australian government has refrained from commenting on the human rights crisis engulfing West Papua.

A clause in the bilateral treaty expressly recognises Indonesia’s sovereignty over West Papua and has been construed as involving a commitment on the part of Australia to not support “groups encouraging separatism”.

In March, the UN estimated that up to 100,000 people had been internally displaced since an escalation of violence in December 2018 — a figure the Indonesian government disputes.

The defence and foreign affairs departments have been asked for comment.