Indonesian security responses to resurgent Papuan separatism : an open source intelligence case study

Abstract

Simplistic but commonly held beliefs about State security functions would hold that the State manages an exclusive supply of the best possible quality of information, to which the public can only become privy via scandalous 'leaks'. Whether conducting counter-insurgencies, or intelligence collection and analysis of such operations, a State's special apparatus is often accorded an intelligence mystique, and its functions assumed to be specially endowed with 'the real story', far removed from 'low grade' information available to journalists, NGOs and other non-State actors and agents. In challenging such views, this paper sets out to detail various aspects of the Indonesian counter-insurgency in Irian Jaya/Papua, with a view to two distinct goals. The first objective is to attain an overview of the counter-insurgency's political context and some of its implications for regional security. The second is to assert the rich, though seemingly neglected, intelligence value of public domain information as evident in the Papua case. Reliance is placed upon a critical appraisal of many sources, especially Indonesian press reporting, in the discussion heading towards both destinations. Maps, tables and appendices are used to present the most specific and detailed aspects of the research made during the drafting of this paper. It must be emphasised that this study uses only information that has already been revealed in the public domain. Any analysis and opinion by the author is entirely his own, and made in a private capacity.