West
Papua Report May 2015 - ETAN
This
is the 132nd in a series of monthly reports that focus on developments
affecting Papuans. This series is produced by the non-profit West Papua
Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments, and
analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua. This report is
co-published by the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN). Back
issues are posted online athttp://www.etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm Questions
regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund McWilliams at edmcw@msn.com. If you wish to receive the
report directly via e-mail, send a note toetan@etan.org.
Link to this issue: http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/2015/1504.htm
The Report leads
with PERSPECTIVE, an analysis piece; followed by UPDATE, a summary of some
recent news and developments; and then CHRONICLE which includes analyses,
statements, new resources, appeals and action alerts related to West Papua. Anyone
interested in contributing a PERSPECTIVE or responding to one should write to edmcw@msn.com. We also welcome suggestions of
resources and analysis to for listing in the CHRONICLE section. The
opinions expressed in Perspectives are the author's and not necessarily those
of WPAT or ETAN. For ongoing news on West Papua subscribe to
the reg.westpapua listserv or visit its archive;
the list is also available on Twitter.
The
issue covers events in April and the beginning of May. As we prepared to
publish, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo was visiting West Papua. We will
have coverage of this and other May events in the next issue.
CONTENTS
This
edition's Perspective is
a statement issued by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua on the
occasion of the 60th anniversary convocation of international leaders to
commemorate the "Bandung Conference." The Perspective notes the
irony that both the 1955 anti-colonial gathering and its commemoration were
hosted by Indonesia which continues a colonial occupation of West Papua.
UPDATE features the repression
of peaceful Papuan demonstrators protesting Indonesia's occupation of
West Papua since May 1, 1963. On April 29, protesters gathered in 22 cities around
the world, to demand that Indonesia end its decades-old restrictions on access
to West Papua A letter signed by 52 international organizations addressed
to Indonesian President Widodo demanded access and decried repression.
Various NGO's including the Indonesian
Journalists Association, Freedom
House, the Pacific Freedom
Forum, among others, similarly demanded and end to restrictions. The trial
of a Papuan facing treason charges for assisting to French journalists in 2014
is moving forward reportedly on the basis of planted evidence. Treason charges are
being assembled against some West Papuans following their return to West Papua
from a meeting with Indonesian Defense Minister Ryacudu. A Presidential
task force to examine some notorious human rights cases will be
formed. Among the cases they will be tasked with reviewing is the Waisor/Wamena
case in West Papua. The World Wildlife
Federation included West Papua as the site of projected severe forest
loss.. A Papuan tribehas
urged an end to timber-cutting permits. A notorious Indonesian
military figure who prosecuted the repression of opposition to Indonesia's
annexation of West Papua in the 1960's and oversaw the implementation of the
notorious "Act of Free Choice" is to be made an Indonesian
"National Hero." A 20-year extension of Freeport's
contract is being considered.
In CHRONICLE:
all issues of the TAPOL
Bulletin are available online, a review of mining and
repression in West Papua; an atlas identifying
companies involved in the development of oil palm plantations in West Papua and
a new video adds
graphic information on the December 2014 Paniai massacre.
ULMWP
Statement with regard to the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Bandung Conference
Sixty years ago, the Bandung conference of Asian and African governments opened. The conference issued a stirring denunciation of "colonialism in all its manifestations." The gathered leaders vowed to eradicate colonialism. President Sukarno of Indonesia, welcoming the delegates, recalled that it was the anniversary of Paul Revere's ride in 1775, and called the American revolution the first great anti-colonial revolution.
"We are often told: Colonialism is dead," Sukarno said in his speech. "Let us not be deceived or even soothed by that. I say to you, colonialism is not yet dead. How can we say it is dead, so long as vast areas of Asia and Africa are unfree?"
Sixty years ago, the Bandung conference of Asian and African governments opened. The conference issued a stirring denunciation of "colonialism in all its manifestations." The gathered leaders vowed to eradicate colonialism. President Sukarno of Indonesia, welcoming the delegates, recalled that it was the anniversary of Paul Revere's ride in 1775, and called the American revolution the first great anti-colonial revolution.
"We are often told: Colonialism is dead," Sukarno said in his speech. "Let us not be deceived or even soothed by that. I say to you, colonialism is not yet dead. How can we say it is dead, so long as vast areas of Asia and Africa are unfree?"
West
Papua remains unfree, today, 60 years later. It is Indonesia, today, that holds
West Papua as a colony. Today, the time has come to end colonial rule and
permit West Papuans a genuine act of self-determination.
While Sukarno spoke against rule of one country over another, his government was using the Bandung conference to build Third World support for Indonesian plans to take over West Papua. The conference called for the end of Dutch rule over West Papua, but it failed to support Papuan self-determination. Instead: "The Asian-African Conference, in the context of its expressed attitude on the abolition of colonialism, supported the position of Indonesia in the case of West [Papua]." This was a failure to support the "Bandung spirit" of ending colonialism. But the conference also "expressed the earnest hope that the United Nations would assist the parties concerned in finding a peaceful solution to the dispute."
In the 1960s, Indonesia took possession of West Papua, despite the support for West Papuan rights expressed by many governments and peoples – Melanesians, Africans, and people from around the world. The result has been more than half a century of injustice. Dutch colonialism died, but a more brutal and even more ferocious and strongly racist Indonesian colonialism took its place. Killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and other systematic violations of human rights continue. The Indonesian government has tried to reduce the West Papuan people to a minority in their own country through the "transmigration" programme where thousands of Javanese and other Indonesians came and settled on Papuan land. It has tried to suppress indigenous West Papuan culture.
But there has also been half a century of West Papuan resistance, which continues to this day. West Papuans have never ceased asserting their identity as a Melanesian, not an Indonesian, people. Nor has international support ever ceased. Numerous African countries, for instance, declined to support the Indonesian claim to have annexed West Papua in an "act of free choice" in 1969.
On the 60th anniversary of the Bandung conference, it is time for human rights violations in West Papua to end. More than that, it is time for the inalienable right to self-determination of the People of West Papuan to be recognized, respected and implemented, at last. That right has been recognized by the leaders of five Melanesian independent countries. Consequently, the West Papuan liberation movement is seeking membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group. The movement also calls upon the UN and its members, in the "spirit of Bandung," to assist the West Papuan people and the Indonesian government to find a peaceful solution to the continuing dispute, a solution that honours the right to self-determination of the West Papuan people.
Octovianus Yoakim Mote -Secretary General of United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP)
Benny Wenda (Spoke Person), Members: Jacob Rumbiak, Leoni Tanggahma, Rex Rumakiek
While Sukarno spoke against rule of one country over another, his government was using the Bandung conference to build Third World support for Indonesian plans to take over West Papua. The conference called for the end of Dutch rule over West Papua, but it failed to support Papuan self-determination. Instead: "The Asian-African Conference, in the context of its expressed attitude on the abolition of colonialism, supported the position of Indonesia in the case of West [Papua]." This was a failure to support the "Bandung spirit" of ending colonialism. But the conference also "expressed the earnest hope that the United Nations would assist the parties concerned in finding a peaceful solution to the dispute."
In the 1960s, Indonesia took possession of West Papua, despite the support for West Papuan rights expressed by many governments and peoples – Melanesians, Africans, and people from around the world. The result has been more than half a century of injustice. Dutch colonialism died, but a more brutal and even more ferocious and strongly racist Indonesian colonialism took its place. Killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and other systematic violations of human rights continue. The Indonesian government has tried to reduce the West Papuan people to a minority in their own country through the "transmigration" programme where thousands of Javanese and other Indonesians came and settled on Papuan land. It has tried to suppress indigenous West Papuan culture.
But there has also been half a century of West Papuan resistance, which continues to this day. West Papuans have never ceased asserting their identity as a Melanesian, not an Indonesian, people. Nor has international support ever ceased. Numerous African countries, for instance, declined to support the Indonesian claim to have annexed West Papua in an "act of free choice" in 1969.
On the 60th anniversary of the Bandung conference, it is time for human rights violations in West Papua to end. More than that, it is time for the inalienable right to self-determination of the People of West Papuan to be recognized, respected and implemented, at last. That right has been recognized by the leaders of five Melanesian independent countries. Consequently, the West Papuan liberation movement is seeking membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group. The movement also calls upon the UN and its members, in the "spirit of Bandung," to assist the West Papuan people and the Indonesian government to find a peaceful solution to the continuing dispute, a solution that honours the right to self-determination of the West Papuan people.
Octovianus Yoakim Mote -Secretary General of United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP)
Benny Wenda (Spoke Person), Members: Jacob Rumbiak, Leoni Tanggahma, Rex Rumakiek
Also
this statement in
French.
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