So Proud TBI now only has one eye. He seems to have forgotten that the two most important victories over the Japanese Army were inflicted by Australians. These were at Kokoda and Milne Bay and were the first defeats that showed that the Japanese could be beaten.

And Macathur's policy of sidelining Australian troops to ensure that only American troops made the headlines was based on a first hand comparison of respective capacity based on his own experience on the Western Front in WWI where the decisive engagement that forced the Germans to armistice was planned and executed by Australians. He was also fully aware of the more recent critical contribution made by Australians at El Alamein and this provided that conspicuous glory seeker with more than sufficient grounds to ensure that only Americans were in the news.

But back to the point, if Indonesian policy in West Papua is so benign, then your country has had more than 40 years to demonstrate this to the West Papuan population. And in that case, your country can easily, and permanently, settle the issue by simply holding a proper act of free choice. If the West Papuans, without the votes of Indonesian public servants on non-permanent postings, freely and fairly choose to remain in Indonesia then I would most certainly respect that choice.

But the fact remains that no such proper, fair and free from duress, act of free choice has taken place yet. And until one does take place then Indonesian control of the province has no legitimacy. And Australia will still be bound by international law to provide "first sanctuary" to any refugees that come to us.

The Indonesian demand that we not only refuse West Papuans this right of first sanctuary but also return them to the province is in blatant contempt for international law. Even if we do not allow them to stay in Australia, they still have the right to seek shelter in other Melanesian countries.

@Perseus:

Your questions are bloody repetitively redundant, d'oh! As I've said before, Papua already have a UN-supervised referendum in 1969. No referendum is necessary as neither the local or national parliaments has asked for it.

ProudTBI, I am fully aware of what was passed off as an act of free choice in 1969. So which part of my statement, "proper, fair and free from duress, act of free choice", does not translate into Indonesian?

I also note your suggestion that the takeover of West Papua by non-papuans is the "natural course" of events. But also note that there appears to be a highly selective application of such principles in the Indo/Malay world.

On one hand we have the Malaysian Government taking extraordinary measures to protect the Bumiputra "sons of the soil" from being subordinated to the economic vigour and technological edge of the Malaysian Chinese. Yet, in West Papua there are no measures to enhance or maintain the position of what can only be described as the West Papuan Bumiputra in the face of Javanese vigour and technological edge.

Do you contest the fact that the West Papuans are the "sons of the soil" in that province?
Do you think the Malaysian Government is wrong to discriminate in favour of the Bumiputra?
How do you distinguish between a Javanese economic superiority that is natural in West Papua and a Malay/Chinese economic superiority that must be prevented in Malaysia?

Could it be that the only element of distinction is Javanese/Bumiputra self interest?

@Perseus:

LOL, the UN-supervised referendum of 1969 is "proper, fair and free from duress". Deal with it!

In Papua, by law all governors and district chiefs must be native Papuans. Indeed, Indonesian govt from the beginning has always provided measures to enhance and maintain the position of native Papuans by trillions of rupiah subsidies each year to improve the education and health of native Papuans.

Unfortunately, tiny fraction of Papuans (the barbaric Papuan separatists terrorists) are people who can never be satisfied by any subsidies or help they receive. Instead, they are fanatical Nazis engulfed in racial-hatred mentality, who are intent on embarking on ethnic-cleansing of all non-Papuans.

Luckily, these lunatics are too tiny, insignificant, and dumb so they never pose any problem for Indonesian govt and its program of economic and agricultural progress through transmigration.

I spent two weeks in West Papua in August 2000 (Biak, Jayapura, Wamena) and almost everyone I spoke to there from tour guides to members of the Jayawijaya local council (DPRD II) to trade unionists supported independence. Morning Star independence flags in official ceremonies were being hoisted all over the Baliem Valley. Indonesian officials had been chased out of some kecamatan. Only one Papuan I spoke to was against independence arging that economic advancement was the priority. Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily supporting independence for West Papua and I acknowledge Jakarta has done some good for the people, but there is clearly widespread support for self-determination among the people there.

I see Proud to be a Neocolonialist is still at it with claims of a "free and fair plebescite" in Papua. No matter how many times you make the claim, it was not free nor was it fair so Indonesian occupation is just that, a military occupation. One were the military is on the take.

Interesting that all the talk about what appears to be Indonesia's manifest destiny in taking over the former Netherlands East Indies territories (forgetting of course that Timor was a ring-in Portuguese) Pride before a Fall neglects to mentions Indonesia's designs on North Borneo and Brunei, not part of NEI and ending up in an Indon bloody nose. Remember Konfrontasi?