Kopassus Targets Australians - Turkish Weekly
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add commentSaturday, 13 August 2011BY TOM ALLARD
Australian academics, church leaders, businessmen and journalists have been targeted by Indonesias military for their supposed support of independence in the troubled region of Papua, a cache of documents and intelligence reports from the elite special forces unit Kopassus reveals.
The 19 documents, dating from 2006 to 2009 and obtained by Fairfax, show Kopassus runs a vast network of spies and informants as part of its campaign to keep vice-like control of the region and monitors the activities of foreigners in the region and around the world.
As well as providing a chilling insight into the deep paranoia of Kopassus and its interference in the daily lives of ordinary Papuans, the documents are also remarkable for the false assertions they contain.
A case in point is the inclusion of ex current affairs host Naomi Robson - now running an online dating service - on the list of foreign leaders in support of Free Papua.
Her place on the list in the 2009 document entitled Anatomy of Papuan Separatism, along with four other journalists from Channel 7, relates to her infamous trip to Papua in 2006 to rescue Wa-wa, the six-year-old member of the Korowai tribe that still practices cannibalism.
Channel Nines 60 Minutes program had run the original story on Wa-wa but left him behind, prompting Channel Sevens Today Tonight to launch a mission to save him and embarrass its rival.
Ms Robson was briefly detained, alleging that Channel Nine tipped off Indonesia about her arrival. Others on the list include ABC journalists Geoff Thompson and David Anderson - who have reported from the region - the Greens leader Bob Brown and senior Uniting Church pastor John Barr.
More than 40 United States Congress members, including the chairwoman of the powerful Senate intelligence committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein, are also branded separatist agitators.
Other names include South Africas Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the former PNG prime minister Sir Michael Somare. Senator Feinstein and Archbishop Tutu have raised concerns about human rights in Papua.
The documents obtained by Fairfax include reams of bio-data of Kopassus agents and targets and scores of daily intelligence reports detailing activities from the significant to the everyday.
Clan leaders, bureaucrats, university students, taxi drivers, farmers, workers at car rental agencies and a 14-year-old girl were all on the books of Kopassus and supplying information.
The strength of the armed wing of the Papuan separatist movement is estimated at just 1129 people, with 131 weapons in the documents.
Yet the Indonesian military is estimated to have about 15,000 personnel in Papua.
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