Rockefeller & the Demise of Ibu Pertiwi. Kerry B Collison
Movement; OPM) and the general was determined to have them annihilated, to a man, as the President had ordered the military to take whatever measures necessary to ensure an outcome that would favour Jakarta.
The OPM had too many successes in opposing the brutal Indonesian occupation army. Two years earlier, the OPM had overrun the former Dutch capital, Manokwari and held it for several days until retaken by the general’s paratroopers.
In light of the KOPASSUS Special Forces’ presence in the operational theatre and their achievements, he was reminded of the recent report claiming thousands of Papuans had been killed by KOPASSUS troops during an uprising in the Kebar Valley, and Paniai District.
The Brigadier General mentally counted the numbers he could still draw down upon from commands in other provinces. In order to achieve the required result troop strengths in Irian Barat his Indonesian security forces had been increased to forty-thousand, of which five thousand were members of the Mobile Brigade (BRIMOB), the paramilitary brigade. The general considered this elite unit necessary in dealing with the ongoing, deeply-annoying mass demonstrations currently occurring in major West Irian centres.
Deciding a face-to-face with the relevant commanding officers would be more appropriate, he summoned an aide and ordered a vehicle to stand by to take him across the city to Cijantung, home of the revered Special Forces.
* * * *
Indonesian Special Forces (KOPASSUS)
Group 3 Sandi Yudha
Cijantung, East Jakarta
Elements of Batallions 31, 32 and 33 were present when their commanding officer, an infantry colonel, briefed the select assembly of soldiers from the KOPASSUS (a portmanteau of Komando Pasukan Khusus) Special Forces Group 3, Sandhi Yudha. This highly-secretive command specialised in clandestine operations, the gathering of combat intelligence and counter insurgency. The unit had been operational for two years, headquartered amongst other commands at Cijantung in the outer-eastern corridors of the capital, Jakarta.
The Colonel scanned the serious-faced men before him as if searching for any that might disappoint, a problem the unit had occasionally experienced when some of its number displayed excessive behaviour. He accepted that it was not always possible to weed out those with maverick tendencies.
Soldiers selected for membership of Group 3 had not only completed the demanding basic ten weeks KOPASSUS entry training, but had also completed specialist training undercover operations and advanced martial arts. Many of these soldiers had been selected to attend military intelligence education centres abroad in the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel and the USA.
Due to the secrecy of the unit, its members were ordered never to reveal their activities to any, including family.
Group 3 elements were essential to providing on-the-ground theatre combat intelligence prior to any military incursions. Often operating in civilian attire with the appropriate documentation, these Sandhi Yudha operatives acted as fifth columnists and undertook subversive actions. On occasion, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) utilised Sandhi Yudha personnel due to their expertise, when shadow operations were required.
The Colonel accepted that penetrating the Papuan communities with secretive agents would be extremely difficult due to the absence of any indigenous Papuans within his organisation. To overcome this hurdle, he had decided to utilise several of his specialist undercover agents to assume the role of black marketeers in the targeted areas, and ingratiate themselves with the local traders. These operatives would be separated from family and friends, frequently for extended periods.
When the unit had been dismissed and the briefing completed, the Colonel examined his notes, satisfied that his highly-skilled soldiers would complete the clandestine operations ordered by Central Command, and other more delicate missions he personally had authorised.
An uncommon smile curled the officer’s upper lip as he nodded sagely to himself; satisfied that amongst his bag of dirty tricks, the introduction of pigs infected with the very contagious swine flu across the Papuan environment would exacerbate food shortages across the undeveloped territory. Several hundred infected animals had been moved from Bali by freighter, the virus to be introduced into the animals prior to the ship’s arrival in the far eastern destination known as Irian Barat.
* * * *
USA
Phoenix Arizona
Chubby fingers held a Cuban in one hand and a near-empty tumbler of Southern Comfort bourbon in the other. The Summit Gold Mining president peered out across the city of Phoenix two miles north, where the Phoenix Corporate Tower stood supreme. Soon, he mused, the title of being the tallest skyscraper in Arizona would be passed to another, the Wells Fargo Plaza, as it was completed in just over a year.
He turned to the former diplomat and, consciously tapping ash from the cigar to the floor, raised his glass. ‘To our good friends in Jakarta,’ he toasted.
The former United States Secretary of Defense nodded. ‘…and to a clear and prosperous path ahead.’
The Summit Gold president nodded knowingly. His associate had been instrumental in orchestrating Washington’s substantial increase in military aid to Indonesia, which was delivered with the customary “facilitations fees” to that nation’s generals, via Langley financial conduits. President Nixon had returned from visiting Jakarta where behind closed doors, he assured President Suharto that the United States fully supported an outcome when the plebiscite was held, whereby Indonesia would legitimately absorb West Irian.
When President Sukarno had been overthrown in a coup, there had been a rush to invest in the emerging economy, and Summit Gold had been amongst the many USA interests that had immediately invested in Indonesia. The new regime under General Suharto had thrown open thousands of square kilometres of offshore oil fields to US multi-nationals such as Atlantic Richfield, Mobil Oil, and Union Carbide. Stock markets responded favourably and, amongst those that benefited, was the US listed Natomas Co whose shares were listed in 1968 at sixteen dollars, and within one year had increased in value by eightfold.
The Summit Gold board members wielded considerable influence in Washington and had Pentagon assurances, that arms shipments destined for the illegal campaign in Cambodia would be redirected to the Indonesian military, to consolidate their presence in West Irian. Publicly, the US Government had supported almost $400 million in grants and loans to Jakarta, accepting that much of this would be siphoned off by the so-called New Order’s quasi-military regime.
When the initial Contract of Work to commence operations was signed, the Summit Gold founding shareholders accepted that an allocation of fully-paid shares would be allocated to selected members of Jakarta’s powerful elite. Summit Gold had negotiated a seventy-five percent share in the new Indonesian mining entity, P.T. Akumuga Mining. The Indonesian Government was gifted ten percent, and the remaining fifteen percent was held by a nominee entity, on behalf of undeclared local interests. Akumuga Mining’s investment agreement with the government provided for Summit Gold to carry out exploration, mining and production activities, across an area of some twenty-five thousand acres, on a site adjacent to the border with Papua New Guinea.
The company’s operations had been in progress for eighteen months, and capital expenditure had already exceeded $100M with expectations that a further $50M would be required in the coming year.
The former United States Secretary of Defense topped-up their tumblers. He was conscious that his associate had reservations about the outcome of the imminent plebiscite. ‘The situation will be much clearer once the United Nations observers leave the area in August and the military can consolidate its presence at the mine.’
The company president suppressed a sigh, recalling what his associate’s Pentagon contacts had suggested would be the impact on the indigenous tribes, once Jakarta officially assumed control over the former Dutch outpost. ‘I just wish we could have accommodated the Papuans without all this bloodshed.’
‘Forget about those stone-age bastards,’ the Secretary countered. ‘Once their environment has been fully developed and they’re dragged into the twentieth