CIA Overthrow Sukarno for Gold in Papua

Greg Poulgrain, a historian at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Australia, during a review of his book, "The Incubus of Intervention", at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jakarta, 5 September 2017. Photo: Nur Janti / Historia.

At the end of August 2017, the government announced that Freeport was willing to divest 51% of its shares. This decision was welcomed. However, it will not benefit Indonesia until Freeport agrees to change the basics in operational surveillance.

This was said by Greg Poulgrain, a historian at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Australia, in his latest book review, The Incubus of Intervention, at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta, 5 September 2017.

Poulgrain said that with a fundamental change in operational supervision, Indonesia had the right to audit Freeport. "This must be sought so that Indonesia can confirm the true wealth of Freeport. Freeport did not give details of his wealth to Jakarta, "said Poulgrain.

Freeport's gold mine in Papua was discovered by Dutch geologist Jean Jacques Dozy and two of his friends in 1936. Freeport claimed to have obtained Dozy's research report from a library in Leiden, the Netherlands. Dozy denied it.

"The story that Freeport found Dozy's research report before World War II in the library is a big lie. Because the person who made Forbes Wilson (geologist at Freeport Sulfur) interested in Dozy's findings is Dozy's close family, "said Poulgrain.

Poulgrain interviewed Dozy after 20 years finding Ertsberg in Papua. Dozy revealed that he found a mountain of gold instead of copper. "Ertsberg is the largest gold mine in the world and Grassberg beneath it turns out to be five times bigger," Poulgrain said.

The discovery made the United States side with Indonesia in the West Irian (now Papua) dispute with the Netherlands. America pushed the Netherlands to release Papua. Dutch Foreign Minister Joseph Luns said the US forced the Dutch out of Papua after refusing to cooperate in mining gold and copper sources. However, after successfully expelling the Netherlands from Papua, America also failed to enter due to Sukarno's economic policies. Therefore, CIA Director Allan Dulles, tried to overthrow Sukarno.

According to Poulgrain, Dulles has long known of the natural wealth in Indonesia. His interest in Indonesia began in 1928 when he worked as a young lawyer who won a legal case against Henri Deterding from the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company who intended to build an oil industry in Indonesia. "From here he had access to find out about mines in the Dutch East Indies," Poulgrain said.

In addition, Dulles considered the Sukarno government to be dangerous and tended to support communism. In contrast, President John F. Kennedy saw Sukarno as a nationalist. Kennedy dismissed Dulles as director of the CIA in 1961 because the CIA operated in Indonesia for six years including supporting PRRI / Permesta.

On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was killed on a visit to Dallas, Texas. President Lyndon Johnson included Dulles as a member of the Warren Commission investigating Kennedy's death. Dulles concluded the perpetrators of the Kennedy assassination were Lee Harvey Oswald.

Poulgrain actually suspected Dulles might be the mastermind behind the Kennedy assassination. Because, Kennedy believed Sukarno was not a communist and tried to become a mediator of the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation.

"Kennedy was killed in 1963 so he would not come to Jakarta in early 1964. For me this is interesting. Because Kennedy wants to mediate the problem so that both parties do not lose face, "said LIPI historian Asvi Warman Adam.

According to Poulgrain, if Kennedy went to Jakarta and formed a partnership with Sukarno, Dulles' plan to overthrow Sukarno could fail and his position would be stronger. "When Indonesian politics heated up and the turnaround became pro-Western during the Soeharto era, Freeport made it in," said Poulgrain.

Asvi criticized the research method carried out by Poulgrain who interviewed Dozy after 20 years of his discovery of the golden mountain in Papua. "Oral history or interviews are complementary if written sources are not found. Oral history will complement it to make it more perfect. This oral history has a trap, especially if done 20 or 30 years after that event occurred. The interviewee or historical performer has a second chance to intensify himself or reduce his mistakes. That's a trap of oral history, "said Asvi.

Asvi gave the example of Poulgrain writing that the death of the UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold was Allan's ploy. Dag is considered to have interfered with the Papua problem because he wishes to help the people of Papua by planning economic programs. This is considered to disrupt Allan's plan. "It is not easy to conclude that Dag was killed because of Papuan affairs," said Asvi.