SUARA RIMBA PEGUNUNGGAN TENGGA WEST PAPUA REGELOAN BLECK

West Papua: my people need Australia’s help before it is too late

noreply@blogger.com (SUARA RIMBA PAPUA) — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:44:00 +0000

Article by Benny Wenda published in The Guardian

This Anzac Day weekend, we opened the first ever Free West Papua campaign office in Australia.

For more than 50 years, my people have suffered what I considered to be a slow-moving genocide under the repressive military occupation of Indonesia. During the second world war, the “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels” of West Papua came to the aid of Australian soldiers. Now it is the West Papuans that need Australia’s help in order to end human rights abuses so that my people can be free to live in peace.

Indonesia’s response to West Papua advocacy abroad has been frighteningly vehement. After the opening of our UK office in 2013, Indonesia made a diplomatic complaint to the British government. Foreign minister Natelegawa said he could not understand why the British government was “unwilling to take steps against the Free West Papua office”, and the president even tweeted about it. The British ambassador in Jakarta was summoned and had to remind Indonesia of the protections enjoyed in democracies, pointing out that no steps would be taken against our office, since it “does not require [government] permission to open”.

Bob Carr revealed in his recent memoir that he had discussed the prospect of us opening an Australian office with Indonesia’s foreign minister at that time, and was told that Indonesia would “prefer [Australia] not to allow an office to open”. During his state visit to Indonesia last year, prime minister Abbott said last year that West Papuan activists were not welcome in Australia, and that Australia would not tolerate West Papuans’ demonstrations against Indonesian control.

But we hope that the Australian government will follow the example set by the British government: reminding Indonesia that, unlike in West Papua where people are sent to prison for 15 years for merely raising a flag, Australia is a democracy where freedom of speech is protected and where West Papuans and those who support us can speak out about our desire for self-determination.

The Australian public clearly has much sympathy for West Papua and for our cause – both historically and today. Australia initially prepared to go to war with the Dutch to prevent Indonesia’s invasion of West Papua in the early 1960s. As a result of Cold War real-politik and US pressure, Australia stepped out of the dispute. Much like the support for Indonesian control over East Timor until 1999, the Australian government has so far refused to acknowledge West Papua’s claim to self-determination out of concern for its relationship with Indonesia. Like in East Timor, the law is on our side. If Australia can change its position on East Timor, it can change its position on West Papua.

Despite the government’s current position, the Australian public remains supportive. An opinion poll commissioned in 2006 showed over 75% of Australians support self determination – including the option of independence – for West Papua. My last visit to Australia was for a 2013 TEDx event where I spoke alongside my lawyer, Jennifer Robinson. We received two standing ovations from a packed out Sydney Opera House, and I was overwhelmed by the support and encouragement we received from the audience.

Predictably, Indonesia was concerned. Some officials argued that Indonesia should cut diplomatic ties with Australia for allowing me the opportunity to speak about my people’s cause. A few days later, Australia’s then foreign minister Bob Carr responded in the Senate, saying that Australians supporting West Papua’s claim to self-determination was “an appalling thing to do”. In his memoir, Carr refers to our office opening in Oxford, alleging we are “provocateurs who encourage Papuans to put their lives on the line”, and spoke with concern about the prospect of an office opening in Australia.

What is appalling is how my people have been betrayed by the United Nations and by the international community and left to suffer at the hands of a brutal Indonesian military regime. What is appalling is Indonesia asking Britain and Australia to compromise on their own values and freedoms in order to silence us.

We are not provocateurs, but advocates for the rights of the West Papuan people. As a leader in exile, I have an obligation and duty to my people to use the democratic freedoms I enjoy abroad to speak out about their suffering. The only people putting Papuan lives on the line are those who kill peaceful activists with absolute impunity (more than 22 of them were killed in 2012 alone).

My people’s lives remain on the line – and the nations who continue to support Indonesian control are complicit. We aim, through opening the office in Australia, to raise awareness about the illegality of Indonesia’s occupation, and about this ongoing violence.

Raising awareness is important, especially when Tony Abbott claims that West Papuans are “better not worse off” under Indonesia. This is just not true. It is estimated that more than half a million West Papuans have been killed since Indonesian occupation in the 1960s. We are the poorest province in Indonesia, despite being the richest in natural resources. Literacy is very poor – the worst in Indonesia. Health statistics are grim. We are suffering an HIV/AIDS crisis with the highest rate of infection in Indonesia. There are at least 73 West Papuan political prisoners in Indonesia today. I cannot and will not remain silent while my people suffer.

Australia has before taken a stand against Indonesia in order to respect international law and protect West Papuans. In 2006, Australia granted asylum to 42 West Papuans after concluding (correctly) that, as activists advocating independence for West Papua, they would be persecuted if they were returned to Indonesia. This decision was taken in accordance with Australia’s obligations under international law, and Australia should be commended for standing by that decision despite Indonesia recalling its ambassador.

We hope that Australia will withstand pressure from Indonesia over the opening of our office. Lest we forget: by the time Australia changed its political position to support East Timor, close to a third of its populationhad been killed by the Indonesian military. My people need Australia’s help before it is too late.

Things are not getting ‘better’ in West Papua

noreply@blogger.com (SUARA RIMBA PAPUA) — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:40:00 +0000

An article Benny Wenda has written for UK newspaperThe Guardian in response to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s recent comments that the situation is improving in West Papua

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Ever since West Papua was annexed and colonised by Indonesia in 1969 through a referendum ironically called the Act of Free Choice (we call it the Act of No Choice), my people have endured nothing but violence, hardship and human rights abuse. Maybe Australia’s prime minister Tony Abbott would then care to explain how things in West Papua are “better, not worse”, as he recently stated? Is it possible to have a better state of colonialism? Has Indonesia created a better state of fear? Better forms of intimidation? Better ways to suppress free speech?

If the situation is indeed getting better, why is it that the Indonesian government imposed a ban on international media and human rights groups from entering the region – which the West Papua governor said was lifted only yesterday? Surely if there was nothing to hide, it would be in their interests to open the gates and let observers in. The truth is that they are desperate to hide the reality of life there, less than 200km north of Australia’s shores.

Few Papuans manage to get out of West Papua alive to share their story. I fled in 2002 after being put on trial for a crime I did not commit because of my political opinions and leadership, and was granted political asylum in the UK. Two years ago, the Indonesian government issued an Interpol red notice in an attempt to stop my international campaign to bring self-determination to my people. With the support of my legal team I successfully had the notice removed: Interpol recognised Indonesia was abusing its notice system to extend their political persecution of Papuans outside of West Papua and across international borders.

I travel the world raising awareness about my people’s suffering and their struggle for freedom. People often ask what inspired me to devote my life to do this. I can only speak from my own experiences: how as a five year old boy I was forced by the Indonesian military to watch the rape of my three aunties, how throughout my student life I was subject to degrading levels of racism and discrimination by an occupying regime that continues to regard Papuans as backward, primitive, and sub-human.

My experience is not unique, and I am not on a quest for revenge. I have always and will continue to advocate for a peaceful solution to this decades-long conflict.

Human rights groups estimate that over 500,000 people have been killed by the Indonesian military in operations since the 1960s. Just last month, Indonesian police opened fire on unarmed Papuan civilians in a market, killing one and injuring two others because they refused to cut their hair. Is this what Abbott would call “getting better”?

In West Papua there is no political freedom. No basic human freedoms. In some cases we are even restricted in freedom of movement – in our own land. There are currently 57 Papuan political prisoners serving lengthy prison sentences for the “crime” of daring to speak out against Indonesian rule. The most high profile case, Filep Karma, has been nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. He is serving a 15 year sentence for taking part in a peaceful flag-raising ceremony in 2004.

If West Papuans were free to express themselves as they wished, they would demand the restoration of our sovereignty. If Indonesia allowed freedom of expression, then there would be Morning Star flags flying in every garden. If Indonesia was a real democracy, then there would be no political prisoners.

West Papuans remain the poorest people in all of Indonesia, despite having the greatest abundance of natural resources. Abbott is correct to state that Indonesia is becoming “increasingly prosperous”. They are prospering from the gold, oil and timber that they are stealing from us and our land. Abbott also says that he will not allow Australia “to give people a platform to grandstand against Indonesia”. Is he suggesting he intends to curtail freedom of speech laws in Australia to keep Indonesia happy? That makes for uncomfortable reading for the Australian public, if this is indeed the direction he plans to take their country. Will he also prevent Moana Carcasses Kalosil, the prime minister of Vanuatu, from visiting Australia now too? Just last week, Kalosil gave a speech to the General Assembly at the UN, urging action “on the genocide being committed in West Papua”.

During the second world war, the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels of West Papua famously came to the aid of Australian military personnel, carrying the wounded on their backs and providing the hungry with food. Now it is the West Papuans that need Australia’s help. This is our hour of need. Recent events in Bali show that the issue of West Papua cannot be swept under the carpet and ignored. I always tell people that Australia is our big brother in Melanesia. It is time Australia took a stand for us.

Breaking News

noreply@blogger.com (SUARA RIMBA PAPUA) — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:37:00 +0000

Benny Wenda is currently on an official month long tour of Papua New Guinea, meeting with local and national politicians, as well as regional community leaders to increase awareness and support for West Papua’s struggle for freedom.

At a press conference in the capital Port Moresby, Benny Wenda stated “We have a voice but our voice has been silent for more than 50 years. The Papuan issue is a regional issue and we call on our brothers and sisters in PNG to work with us hand in hand.”

Media groups including Papua New Guinea’s National EMTV News and two national newspapers widely covered the story which has given a significant platform for the new Free West Papua Campaign office in PNG.

He added “We are One Land, One Culture, One People and One Ancestor. We are one people and we cannot do this without PNG”.

Watch a news report from EMTV about Benny’s visit to Papua New Guinea:

Update from Papua New Guinea tour

noreply@blogger.com (SUARA RIMBA PAPUA) — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:32:00 +0000

Benny and Maria Wenda photographed with Powes Parkop and international lawyer Jennifer Robinson in the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby.

Powes Parkop was presented with the ‘John Rumbiak Human Rights Defenders Award’ for 2013.

Later today a historic meeting of IPWP members will take place in the Papua New Guinea National parliament in Port Moresby.

This Sunday, a permanent Free West Papua Campaign office will be opened in Port Moresby. Thousands of people are expected to join a march to City Hall in the morning, including church leaders, political figures, activists and civilians. The West Papua flag will then be raised permanently from the main Government building, City Hall, alongside the Papua New Guinea flag.

Later in the day a freedom concert will take place in Jack Pidik featuring some of Melanesia’s leading musicians.

IOfficial visit to the Caribbean & award presentation

noreply@blogger.com (SUARA RIMBA PAPUA) — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:24:00 +0000

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Free West Papua Campaign founder Benny Wenda has been on an official visit to the Caribbean island of St. Martin where he gathered enormous support and recognition for West Papua’s struggle for self-determination and independence, from the Caribbean people who also presented him an award. This came after Benny was invited to come and talk on the island by Mr. Lasana M. Sekou, one of the most famous poets and authors of the region.

The visit
This was Benny’s third official visit to the Caribbean region and he received huge support from the people he met, including the governor, Mr Eugene Bernard Holiday.
Benny was officially invited to attend the 12th annual St. Martin Bookfair where he held a workshop about the situation in West Papua.

On Saturday night, at the Chamber of Commerce, Concordia, Benny was also awarded with an African wood statuette, the esteemed President’s Award by during the closing ceremony of the Bookfair.

Support from the Caribbean people
Benny said “the Caribbean people welcomed me with open hearts” and he is very grateful for all the support and sympathy he received on his visit.
Those present told Benny that the “West Papuan struggle is now the Caribbean’s struggle”
and that “we, the islands which make up the Caribbean are small but internationally our voice is very big”
World renowned HNP author Lasana M. Sekou gave an incredibly strong statement of support for the people of West Papua

“The Caribbean people, artists, authors, and eventually our governments rose to the forefront, hold an outstanding record in the defeat of the Apartheid regime in South Africa and the release from prison of the Madiba, Nelson Mandela. Even as we struggle to correct wrongs and better our own lives within our nations and region, another nation, in another region of islands, is calling us to raise the banner one more time, to meet in such a whirlwind once again. We respond, oui, because this is also who we are as ‘Caribbean People.’
FREEDOM FOR WEST PAPUA!”

Benny said “the Caribbean people suffered so greatly under the yoke of slavery and many African nations also suffered the evils of apartheid and colonialism. Now my people are some of the last in the world to endure modern day slavery, apartheid and colonialism.
We need your support to finally be free.”

He was told by the Caribbean people that they were so shocked and could hardly believe that West Papua was still suffering under colonialism in the 21st century.

The award presentation
During the closing ceremony of the Bookfair there was an historic moment as Benny was presented with the esteemed President’s Award by Book Fair coordinator Shujah Reiph and President of House of Nehesi Publishing (HNP) Jacqueline Sample.

Those present in the audience included Governor Eugene Holiday and his wife, the Minister of Education, Cultural Affairs, and Sports, Patricia Lourens-Philip, SXM Airport Managing Director Regina Labega and the Territorial Councillor Annette Philips from the Collectivité.

This ground breaking award presentation was also reported by The Daily Herald, the leading newspaper in the North Eastern Caribbean which described the situation in West Papua as genocide and right across the audience, Benny was given a great amount of support and sympathy for his people’s struggle for freedom. Shujah Reiph stated that Benny was “standing up for the same reasons that led to Mandela’s imprisonment for