The Indonesian military is not genocidal

August 2006 in The Australian Financial Review, Sidney Jones wrote a very interesting analysis on Indonesian Military in Papua Province. She said that over the last five years, serious human rights violations by Indonesian Military in Papua have become more infrequent and usually in response to the use of violence by others. I think all Papuan should work hand in hand to further push Indonesian Military reform in one side, and bury the movement of the OPM (Free Papua Organization) in other side because the OPM is no more a reliable source than the military in terms of reporting on incidents of human rights violation in Papua.

Sidney Jones opinion: 

The Indonesian armed forces have a largely deserved reputation for abuse and rapaciousness in Papua, but over the last five years, serious human rights violations have become more infrequent and usually in response to the use of violence by others. The real problem is not so much widespread killing and disappearances but chronic, low-level extortion and humiliation that could be addressed by better training, fewer troops, greater reliance on locally recruited civilian police, and attention by the Yudhoyono government to the lack of military accountability. Not only do many Australians seem to see the Indonesian army as evil incarnate and incapable of change, but, in rooting for the underdog, they also tend to see the OPM as credible and somehow pure. It’s not: the OPM is no more a reliable source than the military in terms of reporting on incidents, often less, and its members are no angels they have also engaged in hostage taking and other attacks on civilians.

Indonesians have got it wrong, too. Those who blame independence activities on Australian incitement have made no effort to understand the source or extent of Papuan resentment, and the malfeasance of every Indonesian administration since the Dutch handed over responsibility in 1963. Yudhoyono has promised much and thus far delivered little. It remains to be seen whether his government, and the two newly elected Papuan governors, with significant resources at their disposal, can turn things around.