Like East Timor, West Papua is - and never was part of Indonesia.

It was given to the Indonesians under pressure after the Dutch left and has turned into another killing field by forced migrations and out of control armed forces.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool and suffers from self-delusion - the murders, rapes and pillaging currently under way is no better than what happened in Timor.

With the granting of temporary visas to 42 Papuans, Australia has indicated that it believes Indonesia is behaving badly in Papua.

For this reason, the recall of the Indonesian embassador is not to be wondered at. Indonesia has been directly insulted, and a personal request from the Indonesian president to our PM has been ignored.

The Austalian government is displaying bravado over the Indonesian reaction while, at the same time, trying wriggle out of taking responsibility for the insult.

Both Downer and Vanstone have squealed that it is DIMIA again. It's our law and, ludicrously, they as elected representatives of the Australian people cannot do anything about it!

Get that? Elected representatives must allow government departments under their 'control' to do as they like.

Whether or not Indonesia has a case to answer in Papua is not known by most of us, despite some of the assertions made here based on third-hand reports, and Australia, by granting visas to 42 asylum seekers who might or might not be telling the truth, is a direct insult to our large, valuable neighbour.

It is unlikely Australia will ever get the chance to 'help' Indonesia with Papua as the author suggests.

One wonders what Javanese colonialist aspirations of Papua would be if it were not for the Freeport and other mineral exploitation companies.

If Jakarta was making a loss from Papua, they would drop it like a hot potato, leaving the humanitarian bill for countries like Australia to pick up.

Indonesia does not need international support to help it govern Papua, Indonesia needs a wake up call that Papua has a right (just like East Timor) to determine their own future

The legality of Indonesian occupation is best summed up in the Wikipedia as follows.....

"Amnesty International has estimated more than 100,000 Papuans have died as a result of government-sponsored violence against West Papuans, while others have set the number at more than 200,000.

In 1969, Indonesia conducted the widely criticized "Act of Free Choice". Prior to the vote, the Indonesian military rounded up and detained for one month a large group of Papuan tribal leaders. The Papuans were daily threatened with death at gunpoint if the entire group did not vote to continue Indonesian rule. Assembled troops and two Western observers acted as witnesses to the public vote; however, the Western observers left after witnessing the first two hundred (of 1,054) votes for integration. With the U.S. embroiled in the Viet Nam War and concerns about the potential rise of Communism in Southeast Asia, the U.S. and other Western powers turned a deaf ear to protests over the circumstances surrounding the vote. The process was deemed to have been an "Act of Free Choice" in accordance with the United Nations requirements, and Indonesia formally annexed the territory in August. Dissenters mockingly called it the "Act of No Choice"."

I need say no more about this illegal occupation. With PNG teethering on bankruptcy, one wonders about its eventual future and impact on the security hat that Papua represents?

@kekkenidika:

You are totally wrong. Papua is a legal and integral part of Indonesia according to two UN resolutions (UN General Assembly Resolution XXIV [1970] and UN Resolution 2504 [1963]) supported by results from UN-supervised referendum of self-determination held in 1969 according to New York Agreement between Republic of Indonesia and Kingdom of Netherlands.

Anybody who thinks otherwise is a fool and suffers from self-delusion. The extremely high rate of participation in direct national and regional elections by Papuans, combined with the small amount of Indonesian soldiers (only 10,000 troops guarding area size of France and Low Countries) needed to maintain law and order, indicates that overwhelming proportion of Papuans are satisfied with their current political situation.

Extremely high voter turnout in last month's gubernatorial elections in newly-partitioned province of West Irian Jaya also shows the local people completely approved of this partition.

@renco:

You are completely wrong and your source "Wikipedia", an online "encyclopaedia" that can be edited by anyone, is biased and contains false information.

Census records estimates that native Papuan population multiplied from around 200,000 in 1962 to around 1.2 million today, completely discrediting all accusations of "genocide".

The 1969 referendum is done according to UN regulation, and noted as UN Resolution XXIV in 1970, and has always been considered as valid. Accusations of "intimidation" remains unproven and are mostly based on biased speculations. In fact, integration of Papua into Indonesia has the most secure legal-base in history, compared with most other annexations in world history, which came by military force without any popular consultion at all.