Hasluck, Australian Minister for External Affairs, during the period known as The Years of Living Dangerously.
‘Selamat datang, tuan.’ The seemingly ageless Indonesian security guard known as Pak Ali welcomed the frequent visitor. Holding the pale blue Holden sedan’s rear door open with one hand and saluting with the other he enquired, courteously, ‘Kapan datang tuan?’
Special envoy Jonathan Meyers’ limited Bahasa Indonesia vocabulary let him down. Although he understood the question asking when he had arrived, the Canberra intelligence bureaucrat reached into a trouser pocket and passed an unopened packet of Camel cigarettes to the beaming seventy-year old.
‘Terima kasih, tuan.’ Pak Ali’s head bobbed with gratitude as he thanked the dwarfing figure, leading Meyers up the embassy steps to the lobby.
Meyers approached the reception desk manned by a Commonwealth Police officer.
‘The Counsellor is expecting you, Sir.’ The guard’s rehearsed one-sided working smile jacked a lower cheek as he rotated the visitor’s book around for signature.
‘Ah, you’re here,’ Meyers was greeted by the Counsellor, who ranked directly below the ambassador in seniority. ‘Perfect timing.’
They shook hands, the Counsellor nodding perfunctorily in the guard’s direction before escorting the envoy through yet another security door to the unmanned elevator. The Counsellor pressed the button for the second floor, the pair rising in silence as the four-passenger lift which resembled an oversized dumbwaiter, carried them slowly upstairs.
Jonathan Meyers was taken to the Counsellor’s office and asked to wait there until the others assembled. Alone, he eased his corpulent frame into an executive chair and angled his head to enable a clear view of protocol avenue, Jalan Thamrin where children frolicked, splashing vehicles playfully, as they ploughed along the partially flooded thoroughfare. Meyers had seen the capital’s roads inundated before, never ceasing to be amazed how the street urchins survived exposure to raw sewage that eructed from inadequate and overflowing canals.
Two hundred metres further up the street and adjacent to an open kali stood the Soviet-styled monument depicting a youthful couple, hands held in welcoming gesture, their statue centered in the roundabout’s neglected fountain. To the left he could see the British Embassy, dwarfed by the skeleton-like outline of the abandoned Wisma Nusantara skyscraper. He mulled sadly; the structure reflected the demise of the Indonesian economy in every way. The project had been poorly conceived, badly designed and now, with the funding misappropriated by corrupt officials, destined to remain an incongruous marker of how business was done in this country.
His thoughts returned to matters at hand. The weekly “prayers meeting” with the Ambassador and department heads had been postponed to permit the special envoy the opportunity to brief senior embassy officials regarding Canberra’s policy shift in respect to the forthcoming West Papuan vote. Meyers was all too familiar with the historical references that predicated Australia’s current dilemma. Subsequent to the cessation of hostilities following the ousting of President Sukarno, with relations between Jakarta and Canberra on the mend, Australian bureaucrats and the business community now advocated nurturing relationships with Suharto’s New Order elements; even if this resulted in West Papuans losing sovereignty to Indonesia.
Just months before, the newly appointed Australian External Affairs Minister, Gordon Freeth signalled Australia would accept the results of an act of self-determination in West Irian even though only one thousand representatives of the indigenous population would be selected to vote. Aware that the decision to support Indonesia’s proposed methodology in implementing the so-called Act of Free Choice would polarise many across the political and intelligence spectrum, Meyers, the Department of External Affairs SE Asian theatre special envoy, was there to discuss the ramifications of the revised policy.
Canberra was now confronted with how to accommodate Indonesia’s self-interest in moving to assume sovereignty over West Papua, whilst balancing the benefits of consolidating relationships with Suharto’s pro-Western “New Order”. Meyers accepted that this positioned Australia between two irreconcilable outcomes. Meyers knew that the Indonesian leadership, apart from any nationalist designs it held over the disputed territory, with General Suharto assuming power, the armed forces’ economic tentacles had already reached far into the area. Preempting the plebiscite’s outcome by issuing mining licenses two years before to the powerful American mining conglomerate, Summit Gold, the envoy understood why ABRI, the armed forces, were so profoundly opposed to West Papua’s separation.
The Counsellor returned to find Meyers deep in thought, gazing out through the double-glazed windows. ‘The ambassador and department heads are ready,’ he announced, one hand extended to usher the visitor down the passageway to the meeting. The envoy followed, nodding and smiling at familiar faces when he joined the gathering of the embassy’s most senior advisers.
Meyers had attended meetings in this inner sanctum before noting that nothing in the décor had changed since his most recent visit. An ornately carved desk separated the ambassador from the others, the attachés and others occupying a leather suite of armchairs positioned in a crescent row facing the Head of Mission.
‘I believe that introductions are not necessary?’ The Counsellor commenced as all present had attended such meetings together over time. ‘With your permission, Ambassador, we’ll ask Special Envoy Meyers to commence.’
The ambassador nodded affirmatively and Jonathan Meyers assumed the floor.
‘Gentlemen,’ he commenced, abandoning the customary acknowledgement to the ambassador. ‘On behalf of the Minister I wish to offer some insight as to how Canberra will proceed in support of Indonesia’s imminent assumption of sovereignty over West Papua.’
Without referring to notes, Meyer reminded those present of events which, over the previous months clearly reflected Indonesia’s determination to have its way.
‘When this country’s Foreign Affairs Minister Adam Malik declared that the “one man, one vote system” proposed by the United Nations was impractical and therefore not acceptable, one could say that this was the opening round in Indonesia’s more militant stance in securing the outcome over West Papua that we had previously wished to avoid. As you are aware, last month our ambassador challenged Adam Malik on if it were true that he had accused Australia of establishing training camps in Papua New Guinea close to the shared border with West Papua. Although Malik rescinded his earlier statement he did, nevertheless, suggest that such a development to be of concern to his government. ‘Part of my brief today is to confirm that we are, in fact, continuing to covertly expand our military presence directly along the shared border area, in response to the increased number of Indonesian military incursions into our mandated territory of New Guinea.’
None of the three defence attachés so much as raised an eyebrow, aware of the Australian Special Forces jungle-warfare training camps in the New Guinea highlands. SAS presence had commenced along the border earlier that decade when Indonesia had unofficially declared war against neighbouring states, dragging Australian troops into direct confrontation with Indonesia’s finest. SAS soldiers also undertook intensive training in the tropical environment to provide assimilation opportunities prior to taking up operations in Borneo and Vietnam. The attachés never discussed the black ops conducted by the SAS which often required cross-border search and destroy missions, resulting in deep penetration into Indonesian territory. Armed with the knowledge that border delineation both with Malaysia and New Guinea had never been clearly defined, in the unlikely event that SAS elements were captured, they were instructed to claim that they were not aware that they were on Indonesian soil.
‘Documented reports demonstrate that the Indonesians remained determined to ignore our objections to their military incursions into New Guinea. In April, fifteen uniformed Indonesian soldiers followed a group of West Papuan refugees to Wutung, firing at the Patrol Post constabulary who later reported several of the refugees being killed in the skirmish.’
‘And these attacks will continue unless we take them to task,’ the Army Attaché interrupted.
‘No doubt,’ Meyer affirmed.