West Papua

Lord Kilclooney Excerpts

Wednesday 24th July 2013 Grand Committee

[Lord Kilclooney]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, on securing this debate today. This is a subject that I knew nothing about until I came to the House of Lords. I place it on the record that the people of West Papua owe much to the noble and right reverend Lord for the way in which he has raised this subject throughout the past 10 years since I first came across it. It is a subject that is rarely mentioned in the press and the rest of the media or by the Government. It is not only a tragedy but, in the context of many tragedies around this world, one of the worst that I have come across—and living on the island of Ireland, I know what tragedies are.

One of the great problems of the modern world is that the Islamic and Christian worlds are given the impression that they are in conflict. I reject that. As a Christian myself, I accept that Islam and Christianity both believe in God and both accept the reality of Jesus—one as a saviour and the other as a prophet. We have much in common and should not be seen to be in conflict or presented by some people as being in conflict. After all, it was the western world that came to the rescue of Islam in Kosovo, where my son fought; in Bosnia, where my daughter fought; and even in Kuwait, where we relieved the Islamic people of Kuwait when they were invaded. We should take credit for these instances where we came to the rescue of Islam, and should not always allow ourselves to be portrayed as people who are opposed to it.

Of course, Islam is facing a great crisis, mainly between the Sunni and the Shia, and not just in Syria. It is happening right across the Middle East and north Africa, in Pakistan and in Indonesia, where the Shia are encountering problems with the Sunni majority. Indonesia is one of the great countries of the world today. It is the largest Islamic country in the world. It has a growing economy, so the United Kingdom requires a good relationship with that great nation. It is 86% Islamic and 9% Christian, and within it is West Papua which, as was mentioned by the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, has a population of around 800,000 of whom 55% are Christian and 40% are Muslim. It is the Christians in West Papua who are experiencing problems so far as freedoms are concerned. I recommend highly to anyone who reads the Hansard report of this debate that they should look at the House of Lords Library briefing pack because it is excellent. It goes into every detail of the atrocities that are taking place in West Papua. I could not go into that detail in the time available today, but I recommend the document.

The history of West Papua is rather sad because, after the Dutch left, the Indonesians invaded it in 1961. By 1969 the United Nations had shown an interest, saying that there should be, as the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, said, an Act of Free Choice. However, I underline what has just been said: there was no free choice. In fact, the Indonesians selected 1,000 chosen people to vote on behalf of the entire West Papuan population. They selected who could vote and more or less told them how to vote. They said that that was how democracy worked, that West Papua had expressed its opinion and that it wanted to be part of the Indonesian nation. Regrettably, there are now almost daily atrocities that are never reported in the media. The silence of the world on the tragedy of West Papua is amazing. There is hardly any government structure in the province, and certainly no one that you can really talk to in order to get the consent of the population. The international bodies and the United Nations itself, with their disregard of what is going on in West Papua, have been shameful in their attitude. They have ignored the tragedy of that part of Indonesia.

Does the Minister agree that the people of West Papua—I stress “the people”—never voted to be part of Indonesia? Does she accept that there are continual killings and a denial of human rights in West Papua today? It is time that we had clear answers to these allegations. When did Her Majesty’s Government last raise the issue of West Papua with Indonesia? I ask that because it is very important. In fairness, I think that the Prime Minister, Mr Cameron, did raise it, but I want that confirmed in the debate today.

Of course, it is hard to know what is going on day to day in West Papua if the press are forbidden to visit it in order to see what is happening and report on it openly. Freedom of the press is one of the essentials of democracy, so it is important that the press are given access to West Papua. As we know from the Belfast agreement talks, there can be a security solution or there can be a political solution. In a divided society like West Papua, there is no security solution. The more you apply security pressures, the more the opposition to the established Government will increase. The way forward must be through political dialogue, and I suggest that in their own interests the Indonesians, for whom I have great sympathy and whom I support—I repeat that it is a great country that we need to be friendly with—should develop a dialogue with West Papua. People may ask, “But with who? Who are the leaders in West Papua? How can you negotiate with them or have a dialogue?”. I suggest that the Indonesian Government should start a dialogue with the church leaders under the chairmanship of an independent statesman drawn from outside. That would be a beginning.