Free West Papua: Breaking News

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Breaking News

Indonesia's Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu during an interview with Reuters in Nusa Dua, Bali island December 5, 2007. Indonesia's Papua offers seven million hectares of pristine rainforest under a pay-and-preserve plan to help the world deal with global warming, the governor said on the sidelines of the Bali climate talks. Picture taken December 5, 2007. REUTERS/Supri (INDONESIA)

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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

Free West Papua