WEST PAPUA: Daily News in English: House wants political as well as humanitarian reports on West Papua

Friday, 17 July 2009

House wants political as well as humanitarian reports on West Papua

Posted on 08 July 2009
Tags: vol 28 no 29 | July 11 - July 17
In response to a West Papua national consensus, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a legislative statement, during the second week of June, calling for reports on the Indonesian government’s involvement in the province. Full legislation is going to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

The U.S. State Department is now required to form a report on the 1969 Act of Free Choice developed in Indonesia, as well as the extent to which the Indonesian government has involved West Papuans in national leadership. A second report will need to describe how the government has halted human rights violations in the province.

“This bill demonstrates that the House of Representatives takes Papual concerns seriously and Jakarta should also,” said West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) member Ed McWilliams.

The West Papuan National Consensus noted, “The Indonesian government policy toward West Papua has been, and continues to be, a failure.” It appealed to the International Community’s recognition of the political strife that is occurring in the nation.

“[Papuans] want an internationally facilitated dialogue with Jakarta, [Indonesia] to address vital issues, including demilitarization, an end to intimidation, and the right to self-determination,” McWilliams said. ♦

For more information, visit www.etan.org.

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Letters: This time, Papuans speak louder

Fri, 01/29/2010 10:56 AM Reader's Forum

This is a comment on the responses, particularly from fellow Indonesians, to a letter titled “Why are Papuans still struggling?” by Joe Collins, Sydney, (The Jakarta Post, Jan. 20).
Many Indonesians look down on West Papuans. In the eyes of God, all races are equal.
No race is cleverer or better than others.
It is very hard for me to understand why fellow Indonesians consider us, West Papuans, as knowing nothing. They mock us as “monkeys” when our popular soccer team, Persipura, plays in Surabaya, Malang, Jakarta, Bandung and Makassar.
Is it because they have a different skin color to us? Those Indonesians themselves make this judgment. They make these differences. But let me tell you this: Even though West Papuans may be stupid, they know that ethnically they are Melanesians, not Indonesians.
West Papuans know that Indonesians and Malaysians speak almost the same language, have a similar physical appearance, but still claim they are different from one another.
West Papuans know that South Koreans and North Koreans speak almost the same language, but they still claim they are different.
West Papuans know very well that Sri Lankans and Tamils still claim they are different, although physically they look similar. Do West Papuans and Indonesians look similar physically, or act similarly, culturally? Raising the Papuan Morning Star flag is a means of protest against injustice and human rights violations in West Papua.
This is the only current, effective tool to force the Jakarta government to establish law and order in West Papua. In the past, West Papuans whispered, talked and shouted, but their voices were not loud enough to be heard by Jakarta.
So, they changed the course of action that they believed would be effective. And it was/is/will be, but it is misunderstood by Indonesians.
Thus, please do not misinterpret “the raising of the flag” in West Papua, for if you do, you are agreeing to allow injustices and human rights violations to continue in West Papua.

Izak MorinJayapura

LISTENING TO PAPUAN VOICES

Writing the history of the Act of Free Choice was a controversial endeavour

Pieter Drooglever

In November 2000, the Dutch Foreign Minister Josias van Aartsen commissioned the Institute of Netherlands History (ING) to write a study on West New Guinea leading up to and including the Act of Free Choice of 1969. The request came in the slipstream of renewed international interest in West Papua generated by the downfall of Indonesia’s President Suharto in 1998. Papuan people were finally able to speak out about their aspirations for greater autonomy or independence. Many of them expressed these aspirations with reference to promises allegedly made in Dutch colonial times. The past proved to be an active force in the present.

The Netherlands has played a large and controversial role in West Papua’s history. In the post-Suharto context many people in the Netherlands felt that an independent account of that role was required. This report was intended to be an independent academic study, rather than an endeavour to re-open a political discussion that had, according to both the Netherlands and Indonesia, been concluded many decades earlier. Instead, Minister van Aartsen and his supporters from the right-wing Protestant parties felt that the public – in the Netherlands, in Papua, in Indonesia and elsewhere – had a right to know what had happened.

The contract between the Institute of Netherlands History and the government explicitly stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would provide all necessary assistance and information, but could not influence the outcome of the study. As a historian and specialist on decolonisation and Dutch-Indonesian relations between 1945 and 1963, I was commissioned to conduct the study, which involved archival research and analysis in the Netherlands, Australia and the United Nations.

The result

The book, entitled Een Daad van Vrije Keuze. De Papoea’s van westelijk Nieuw-Guinea en de grenzen van het zelfbeschikkingsrecht (An Act of Free Choice. The Papuans of western New Guinea and the limits of the right to self-determination), was completed in November 2005. It contains a study on political and cultural developments in West New Guinea covering the period before and after the Second World War, as well as the position of New Guinea in the context of Indonesia’s decolonisation and during the Cold War. In particular, it reviews how the Dutch continued their rule in New Guinea after the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia over the rest of the archipelago in 1950, but were subsequently forced to hand over the territory to Indonesia in 1962. In this context, it also pays attention to the roles of the United States, its antagonists in the Cold War and the United Nations.

The book also outlines the developments within Papuan society, that society’s complicated entry into the ways and means of the modern world and the processes by which this generated a new Papuan identity. It considers the ‘New York Agreement’ reached between the Indonesian and Netherlands government and the surrounding negotiations which laid down the rules for the transfer of the administration to the UN in 1962 and to Indonesia in 1963, as well as events in and around West New Guinea during both the UN interim administration and Indonesian rule in the 1960s. The final chapters discuss the 1969 Act of Free Choice, which confirmed the inclusion of the territory into the Indonesian state, including the problems and flaws in this process.

On the whole, the book attempts to give a balanced view of the policies and actions of each of the parties concerned. It was not geared towards defending or rejecting any particular view, but rather traces the interaction between them. But in assessing these policies, the underlying questions remained the same: on what grounds did the outside world take charge of matters for the Papuans, one of the most underdeveloped people on Earth? What advantages did the international community seek for itself? And what benefits or misery did it bring for the Papuans? For the United Nations, it led to a testing of its principles and its capacity to translate them into policies. As such, it is a book for politicians, historians, legal experts and, above all, for those who want to know about the weight of the weak in the events of the modern world.

An academic study, not a government report

The book was, and had to be, an academic study. Both the author and the Institute of Netherlands History took this requirement very seriously. However, the study’s origins were in politics, and so inevitably it was drawn into the political context from the outset. Academics and politicians alike were suspicious that political intentions lay behind the project and would influence the result. The Indonesian government certainly held this view. Many prominent Indonesians felt that the Netherlands, by initiating this project, was planning to meddle in the controversial New Guinea affair all over again or, even worse, reopen a debate that was closed in 1962. Even some Indonesians who knew this was not the case believed that the book could be interpreted in this way, thereby adding to the unrest already existing in West Papua.

Many prominent Indonesians felt that the Netherlands, by initiating this project, were planning to meddle in the controversial New Guinea affair all over again

Despite Dutch government explanations and assurances that the study was without political motivation and designed only to provide a public record of events, Indonesia was never convinced. I was refused further access to Indonesia, either to do research in the archives in Jakarta, to interview Indonesian administrators and politicians, or to talk to the people in Papua. This was a major setback for the study, but it was no surprise.

I was able to continue my research without the assistance of Indonesia, as I had ample experience with Indonesia before and I was able to interview many of the relevant people outside of the country. Moreover, the richest archival sources were outside Indonesia. For the administration of Netherlands New Guinea and the dispute with Indonesia, the Netherlands archives contain abundant information, now laid fully open in the process of preparing for the documentary editions. For the later episodes, significant information is found in the Australian and US archives. For the Act of Free Choice, valuable information is available from the United Nations in New York. Nevertheless, a more open insight into Indonesia’s positions would have been welcome and it is hoped Indonesia’s views will be better heard in future publications. The Indonesian Institute of Sciences offers the best opportunity for this purpose.

The ramifications

The book was launched in The Hague on 15 November 2005. It did not go unnoticed in Indonesia. In Jayapura and Makassar, Papuans held large demonstrations calling for a new referendum. Many interested groups attended the launch in The Hague, including a strong delegation of the Papua Presidium, members of dissident groups from the Moluccas and Indonesian representatives. Among them was Dr. Astrid Sustanto, an Indonesian academic and parliamentarian, who sought to highlight the positive impacts of the Indonesian administration in Papua.

Dr Sustanto’s presence was certainly needed because in general most of the comments made at the event regarding Indonesia’s past and present administration of Papua were critical and Papuans used this opportunity to bring forward their concerns. The question remained: now that so much time had passed, was there still a right for the Papuans to ask for independence or are they better accommodated within Indonesia? No easy answer was available and opinions differed sharply.

The political reality, tensions and difficulties inherent in this question were reflected by the notable absence of the Netherlands Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ben Bot, who had not shown up to accept the book that had been written upon the request of his own ministry. In his stead, his predecessor Josias van Aartsen attended, together with the MP Eimert van Middelkoop, who had first requested the study in parliament. The Dutch government was not prepared to put relations with Indonesia at further risk. The minister’s position was heavily criticised in the Dutch media and in Congress, where it was felt that this was an excellent occasion for the Dutch government to show its continuing interest in the fate of its former colonial subjects. Meanwhile, it must be noted that Minister Bot had, notwithstanding his political aloofness in the matter, continued to facilitate the project until its conclusion, as had been decided by his predecessor in 2000.

Whatever the ensuing discussions, the book was not written to answer the political questions of the moment, though it may help defining the options. First and foremost it was meant as a record of historical fact regarding the transfer of sovereignty from the Netherlands to Indonesia and the incorporation of West New Guinea in Indonesia. The book will continue to serve as an important resource to aid understanding of the underlying historical context, which continues to drive conflict in West Papua. Previous accounts of this period had focused upon the views of the Netherlands, Indonesia, the US and the UN, and more often than not only upon one of these. Importantly, this book focuses upon Papuan sentiments on the transfer, as well as those of Indonesia and the international community. In this book the voices of Papuans are heard, for a change.

Pieter Drooglever (pieter.drooglever@planet.nl) is author of the Dutch government commissioned study on the Act of Free Choice, Een Daad van Vrije Keuze. De Papoea’s van westelijk Nieuw-Guinea en de grenzen van het zelfbeschikkingsrecht (ING-Boom, The Hague-Amsterdam 2005). The English translation is now available: An Act of Free Choice. Decolonization and the Right to Self-Determination in West Papua (Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 2009).

This article is part of our series on the fortieth anniversary of the Act of Free Choice.

To get the book follow this link: http://www.oneworld-publications.com/cgi-bin/cart2/commerce.cgi?pid=467&log_pid=yes

ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP ON WEST PAPUA IN THE UK PARLIAMENT

There is a permanent All-Party Parliamentary Group on West Papua in the United Kingdom House of Commons.

TITLE
All-Party Parliamentary Group on West Papua

PURPOSE
To promote understanding of the situation in West Papua and the human rights of the West Papuan people.

OFFICERS

Andrew Smith (labour)
Lord Kilclooney (UUP)
Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)
Lord Avebury (LD)

TWENTY QUALIFYING MEMBERS

Government Party
Andrew Smith
Martin Salter
Dr Phyllis Starkey
Dr Alan Whitehead
Michael Foster
Betty Williams
Julie Morgan
Keith Vaz
Tom Clarke
David Lepper

Main Opposition Party
Peter Bottomley
Bill Wiggin
Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone
Edward Vaizey
Tony Baldry

Other
Lord Kilclooney (CB)
Lord Avebury (LD)
Dr Evan Harris (PD)
Baroness Northover (LD)

On Approved List; All-Party Parliamentary Country Group.

Source: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi145.htm

IPWP: International Parliamentarians for West Papua

THE WEST PAPUA DECLARATION
Launch in London on 1st December 2008

WE the undersigned recognise the inalienable right of the indigenous people of West Papua to self-determination, which was violated in the 1969 “Act of Free Choice”,
AND call upon our governments through the United Nations to put in place arrangements for the free exercise of that right
SO that the indigenous people of West Papua can decide democratically their own future in accordance with international standards of human rights, the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.
International Parliamentarians for West Papua [IPWP]

Hon. Andrew Smith MP Labour (UK)
Benny Wenda (West Papua)
Lord Harries (UK)
Rt Hon. John Battle MP (UK)
Caroline Lucas MEP Green Party (UK)
Lembik Opik MP Lib Dem (UK)
Jeremy Corbyn MP Labour (UK)
David Amess MP Conservative (UK)
Ralph Regenvanu Independent (Vanuatu)
Martin Caton MP Labour (UK)
Powes Parkop MP Independent MP and Governor of Port Moresby,
Papua New Guinea
Abel David MP leader of current opposition party,
'Shepherds Alliance' (Vanuatu)
Chief Reuben Ishmael VP
'Shepherds Alliance' (Vanuatu)
Moana Carcasses Kalosil MP
Green Party (Vanuatu)
Lord Hylton (UK)
Eva-Britt Svensson MEP (Sweden)
Leke van den Burg MEP
Social Democrat (The Netherlands)
Martin Salter MP Labour (UK)
Dr Phyllis Starkey MP Labour (UK)
Dr Alan Whitehead MP Labour (UK)
Michael Foster MP Labour (UK)
Betty Williams MP Labour (UK)
Julie Morgan MP Labour (UK)
Senator Bob Brown
leader of The Australian Greens (Australia)
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
The Australian Greens (Australia)
Jeanette Fitzsimons
leader of the Green Party (New Zealand)
Keith Locke foreign affairs spokesman
the Green Party (New Zealand)
Catherine Delahunty MP
Green Party (New Zealand)
Dr Russell Norman MP
Co-Leader Green Party (New Zealand)
Keith Vaz MP Labour (UK)
Tom Clarke MP Labour (UK)
David Lepper MP Labour (UK)
Peter Bottomley MP Conservative (UK)
Bill Wiggin MP Conservative (UK)
John Bercow MP Conservative (UK)
Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Conservative (UK)
Edward Vaizey MP Conservative (UK)
Tony Baldry MP Conservative (UK)
Lord Kilclooney Ulster Unionist Party (UK)
Lord Avebury Lib Dem (UK)
Dr Evan Harris MP Lib Dem (UK)
Baroness Northover Lib Dem (UK)
Senator Edward 'Ted' Kennedy Democrat Party (US)
Ondrej Liska MP Minister of Education (Czech Republic)
Katerina Jacques MP (Czech Republic)
Přemysl Rabas MP (Czech Republic)
Alex Sobel MP Labour (UK)
Pascal Prince MP Deputy of the Jurassian Parliament (Switzerland)
Greg Barber MP Green (Australia)
Stephen Williams MP Lib Dem (UK)
Jamie Maxton-Graham MP (PNG)
Boka Kondra MP (PNG)

Source: http://www.ipwp.org/

ILWP: International Lawyers for West Papua

ILWP Launched in Guyana on 3rd April 2009

THE STATEMENT OF LEGAL PRINCIPLES ON WEST PAPUA

We the undersigned recognise and confirm that the indigenous peoples of West Papua have a fundamental right to self-determination under international law.

We are committed to assisting the indigenous peoples of West Papua to exercise freely and peacefully their right to self-determination.

We are also committed to upholding, strengthening and preserving the fundamental rights and freedoms of the indigenous peoples of West Papua under international law.

We call upon the international community of States and the United Nations to uphold the international rule of law.

We request indigenous peoples across the world to help the indigenous Papuan peoples to exercise peacefully their human rights:

Charles Foster MA (Cantab), of the Inner Temple, Barrister (England), and of the Kings’ Inns, Dublin, Barrister (Ireland), Outer Temple Chambers, London, and the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford; Founder and Co-Chair Melinda Janki LL.B, BCL (Oxford), LL.M, Member of the Law Society of England and Wales, Attorney-at-Law (Guyana); International Human Rights Lawyer; Founder and Co-Chair

Jennifer Robinson, LLB (Hons)/BAsian Studies (ANU), BCL (Oxon), MPhil in Law (Oxon), Rhodes Scholar and Solicitor Australia and England, Secretary of ILWP

Professor Robert Fowler LL.B.(Hons.), LL.M, Professor of Law, University of South Australia

Gino Persaud, Attorney-at-law, Guyana

Nigel Hughes, Attorney-at-law, Guyana

Teni Housty, Attorney-at-law, Guyana

David Black, Solicitor. UK

Benias Epe Peri, Principal Lawyer, Papua New Guinea

Source: http://www.ilwp.org/

Chapter of West Papua lobby group launched in Papua New Guinea

By BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
Nov 18, 2009, 19:36

BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
November 17, 2009

Text of report by Papua New Guinea Post-Courier website on 17 November

[By Harlyne Joku]

A West Papuan independence leader in the United
Kingdom, Benny Wenda, has described 2009 as a vital year for the indigenous people of West Papua. Mr Wenda, the chairperson of the Koteka Tribal Assembly based in UK, said it is 40 years since the former Indonesian President Suharto announced the result of the "so-called Act of Free Choice".
"The claim is outrageous and totally false that 100 per cent of West Papuans wanted to be annexed by Indonesia. Forty years ago all UN members including UK recognized our right to self-determination, but until now we have never been allowed to exercise our right freely and legally.

"We did not want to become Indonesian in 1969 and after so many years of Indonesian oppression; we certainly do not want to be Indonesia now. We want to be free," he said.
Mr Wenda said that is why West Papua so desperately needs friends from around the world. He said as an important step forward in international solidarity Andrew Smith MP and Lord Harries of the UK parliament launched the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP) in October last year.

"We are immensely grateful for the messages of support we received from parliamentarians from every corner of the world and political parties in UK," Mr Wenda said.
Last week in Port Moresby NCD [National Capital District] Governor Powes Parkop convened and launched the PNG Charter of the IPWP, saying that West Papua's Melanesian brothers and sisters in PNG cannot remain silent on the issue any more.

Mr Parkop said although the PNG government policy on West Papua is that it is an integral issue for Indonesia, PNG leaders like him feel that it is against their conscience to remain silent any longer.

Another MP who signed the charter at a press conference at parliament last Thursday [12 November[, Mr Jamie Maxtone Graham, said PNG leaders including Mr Parkop and himself will "shine the spotlight" in the international forum on the West Papua issue, especially in relation to Indonesian's military response with brutal force by killing, torturing
and imprisoning peaceful Papuan activists.

Mr Graham showed photos of these atrocities sent last month on e-mail to the media.

The Indonesian embassy was contacted for comment last Thursday, but an officer there said most of the senior officials including the Indonesian Ambassador Bom Surijantoe were out of Port Moresby, organizing a repatriation of some hundreds of West Papuans who had agreed to return back to their home provinces.

Watch the video of the launch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J15iWVC58-E&feature=player_embedded

THE LAUNCH OF IPWP AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT IN BRUSSELS

Dear all our supporters,
We are very pleased to be able to invite you to the European Parliament Launch of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua on 26th January 2010 in Brussels. The event will be held in the member's salon from 18.30 – 20.00 and
will feature speakers from Papua New Guinea, West Papua and the International Lawyers for West Papua. The speeches will be followed by traditional West Papuan dance performed by the dance group Mambesak and there will be a chance
to meet and network with each other, food and drink will be available. If you would like to attend please let us know no later than 15th January with your full name, date of birth and city/town residence.

This will be an exciting and historic night on the road to freedom and justice in West Papua. We hope as many of you can make it as possible. Please also write to your MEP encouraging them to attend.

Best wishes
The Free West Papua Campaign.

The speakers on the night will be:

Caroline Lucas MEP – long term supporter of the West Papuan's campaign for freedom

Rev Socratez Sofyan Yoman is chairman of the Alliance of Baptist Churches in West Papua. In the past eight years, Rev Socratez has taken an increasingly high profile as a campaigner for peace, justice and human rights in West Papua.
He has briefed Australian, British and European parliamentarians as well as United Nations representatives about West Papua. He has written five books
about West Papua, including 'Papuans Are Not Separatists' and 'Gate to Free Papua'.

Powes Parkop - governor of the National Capital District in Papua New Guinea. He has been the most vocal long term
supporter of the West Papuan cause in PNG.

Melinda Janki – Co-director of the International Lawyers for West Papua. Melinda has done extensive research into the legality of the 1969 Act of Free Choice.

Benny Wenda - Papuan leader living in exile in the UK and founder of the Free West Papua Campaign

Source: http://www.freewestpapua.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1111&Itemid=2