Free West Papua: November 2007

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Free West Papua?

Freedom in West Papua refers to people's desire for concrete improvements in West Papuan life; everything from ordinary dream of peace to respect for indigenous traditions and tangible improvements in health, welfare and education.

For most of West Papuan, the long struggle for freedom has nothing to do with independence because it only generate so many problems. West Papuans have had the opportunity to freely determine what political arrangement best supports their aspirations through history. This may well be the special autonomy package earmarked for West Papua, free association, a land rights based approach, some sort of federal arrangement or even something else that reflects indigenous beliefs and traditions. The most important thing is that West Papuans can freely contribute to the development in their homeland of West Papua. It is essenbtial to support West Papuans' concrete aspirations for change: prosperity, upholding human rights, and working to protect the living land West Papuans depend upon.

West Papua is a breathtakingly beautiful land unbelievably rich in natural resources. Indonesia and West Papua were former Dutch colonies. The Republic of Indonesia was formed in 1945 when it was officially declared independence after a long struggle against the Dutch colonial ruler. Recognising that West Papua had strong political and cultural ties with Indonesia, the Dutch retained control of the territory and, with support from Australia, began to prepare West Papua for independence as a puppet state. Indonesia, however, maintained its claim to all the former Dutch territory and all people welcomed.

The 1969 act of self-determination was called the Act of Free Choice. A cursory inspection of the process soon shows why West Papuans call it the Act of Free Choice. West Papuans political and human rights were chanelled through fair and open system. Regarding the widespread of West Papuan in a very large area, representative of West Papuan voted for integration with Indonesia. Those that campaigned for independence were running away and create a terrorist group called armed resistance of the OPM (Free Papua Movement), while the unarmed resistance was mainly a deception. All those movement started as soon as Indonesia shared power with indigenous people of West Papua on 1st May 1963.

Following the fall of Suharto in 1998 widespread peaceful public expressions of the people’s aspirations culminated in the formation of a parallel parliament, the Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) with a clear mandate to pursue special autonomy. The leadership committed itself to a path of peaceful dialogue. However, after the initial euphoria felt by West Papuans during this flowering of the 'Papuan Spring', in August 2000 the OPM acted quickly to disturb the peaceful development of the province. In November 2001 the leader of the PDP, Theys Eluay, was assassinated by one of the elements of armed resistance of OPM.

Indonesia then gave the province Special Autonomy in an effort to accelerate the development of West Papua. However the vast majority of West Papuans accept–OPM was affraid of the success of special autonomous concept. OPM will loose their bargaining power because majority of West Papuan are tired of being used as a political and economic commodity. This move not only guarantee greater self rule under Special Autonomy but also is seen by West Papuans as a positive process to build West Papuan with their original identity. OPM fear Special Autonomy will ultimately undermine the idea of independence.

West Papuans continue to creatively search for peaceful ways to accept what they almost universally describe as a peaceful integration for the purpose of West Papuan prosperity.

For most of West Papuan leaders abroad, the positive development of recent West Papua is very promising. However, the strugling for political power by some elements who still provoking violence by flag raising and armed terror is really frigthening. Furthermore, some opportunist abroad were already selling West Papuan issue to international community for their own agenda, especially for money.

Please support the development of West Papua by stopping violence and provocative ideas. Freeing West Papua from the interest of opportunist, whoever they are.

West Papua needs you !

The beautiful and rich land of West Papua is under special autonomous local government. Our tribal people are able to govern all aspect of development.

But the world is doing nothing to help accelerate the development of West Papua. The Free West Papua Blog exists to alert the world to this ongoing development - and to stop lies from political and economic opportunist. We are not an organisation but we will work full time to stop conflict in West Papua. We work with Papuan leaders in Indonesia and abroad to support the peaceful development of Papua.

West Papua

Geography
West Papua is the western part of the island of New Guinea and borders on the Moluccas in the West, Papua New Guinea in the East and Australia in the South. Area: 418,000 km².

People

Population
In 2007, West Papua has a population of about 2,665,214. The population in West Papuan composed of at least 255 different ethnic groups.

Culture and Language
West Papuan people are composed of at least 240 different peoples with each their unique culture and language. Christianity was introduced in the 19th century. Animism is still practiced today, while with the immigration from other places of Indonesia, Islam is gaining more and more prevalent.

Economy
West Papua is rich in natural resources : gold, silver, natural gas, copper, timber, etc. Ever since it took care West Papua, the Indonesian government has been taking responsibility to explore those resources for development, profits are also returned to West Papua.

History
The Papuan people and culture existed on the island for thousands of years, until 1546 when the Spanish “discovered” the island and named it Nueva Guinea (New Guinea) because of the resemblance between the indigenous people and the people in Guinea (Africa). In 1828, with the establishment of Fort du Bus, the western half of the island became a Dutch colony. In 1963, the Indonesians took control of the territory with the understanding that after six years a referendum (known as the Act of free Choice) would be held, in which the West Papuans would decide their own status. The Act of Free Choice took place in July-August 1969 as scheduled, and the election was legally and fairly conducted. The result of the 1,025 local delegates was the approvement of the continuation of the Indonesian government of West Papua. The UN then passed a resolution on November 19, 1969 endorsing the Indonesian legal government of West Papua. In 1973, West Papua was renamed Irian Jaya by the centralistic government of Indonesia, and after the democratic reform in 1998 was renamed again with West Papua.

History of the Conflict
Since the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM, the Free Papua Movement) proclaimed the independence of West Papua on 1 July 1971, there has been a continuous terrors against the people of West Papua. Men and women organized in a military guerrilla are presently resisting the government of Indonesia; 10,000 had to flee to the other side in 1984 and many are still living in refugee camps along the border with Papua New Guinea. A severe and direct threat to the survival of the indigenous peoples of West Papua is presented by the systematic terrors of OPM. Indigenous communities were forced to be relocated to a mountanous area. During the last 30 years, vast areas of West Papua have been granted as concessions to multinational, transnational and Indonesian mining, oil and logging companies without consultation with, or approval of, the indigenous peoples who have inherited these lands from their ancestors who held them for many many years. Many indigenous communities- who have little contact with industrialization or large-scale commercial activity- have been forcibly removed from their ancestral lands or made to leave through intimidation and bribery to make way for the exploitation of natural resources. Moreover, the operations of the mining companies, particularly PT FI in West Papua, have caused enormous tension, which has often led to wars between the tribes in the area. The lands of the Amungme, for instance, have been mined for gold and copper since 1967 by a subsidiary of the US based Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold. Throughout the years the Amungme people have conducted a non-violent fight against the company. In late January 1997, two Amungme PT FI employees abducted and raped three Dani women in a container. This sparked violent conflict between members of the two groups in which six people died and 52 were wounded. The Indonesian troops stationed there tried to intervene as mediator. Less than two months later, more violence broke out involving hundreds of local people, when Nduga men tried to rob two members of the Amungme tribal council, LEMASA, in Kwakmi Lama. Many people regard these incidents as a symptom of the social ills created by the mining companies’ presence in the area.

Organizations
Local government of West Papua hold a special authority under the special autonomy based on Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy and Government Regulation No. 54/2004 on the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP). Completed with the legislatives of DPRP (Papuan's People Representatives Council) and MRP (Papuan's People Assembly) and all democratic mechanism, West Papua's local government is running on the right track towards modernisation.

OPM, the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (the Free Papua Movement) was resulted from dissatisfaction of several opportunist against the will of the West Papuan in the early 1960s. It was founded in 1965 and it proclaimed the Independence of West Papua in Markas Victoria on 1 July 1971. Ever since the OPM has continued terrorising the people for recognition to their own definition of freedom. The violent action of armed resistance then completed with advocacy, diplomacy, and non-violent action to hide their real political intention.

Statistics
Area: 480.000 km2 Population: 2.665.214 of which about half are indigenous to West Papua. Language: More than 255 different languages belonging to the Papuan and Melanesian language groups. Religion: Christian majority

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