West Papua Wants More Interaction with MSG

Solomon Islands http://pmpresssecretariat.com/ – West Papua says it wants more interaction with members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.

The intention was relayed yesterday to the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare in Honiara by the visiting General Secretary of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua, Octovanius Mote.

Mr Mote told Prime Minister Sogavare that West Papua would like to see more contacts in sports, especially in soccer with their Melanesian brothers in PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and New Caledonia.

He said West Papua would be interested in joining the Melanesian Cup soccer competition.

Mr Mote said West Papua would also like to send young West Papuans to study at the Solomon Islands National University in Honiara and in educational institutions in Vanuatu.

He added at a later date, students from West Papua could also be sent to study in PNG and Fiji.

Mr Mote is leading a three-member delegation of the ULMWP to observe the Pacific Islands Development Forum Summit, which got underway in Honiara today.

July 12, 2016 0

West Papua ULMWP calls for more Melanesian interaction

5:21 pm on 12 July 2016, RNZ

The West Papua National Committee wants a national action to be held over the next two days in West Papua (July 13th and July 14th) to mark its meeting with the MSG.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders are meeting in Honiara, where they are considering the United Liberation Movement for West Papua’s application for full membership.

The Committee says activities in Papua will include peaceful demonstrations, prayers and feasting to show support for the Movement’s application.

Meanwhile West Papua says it wants more interaction with the MSG – Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.

The Movement’s general secretary Octo Mote told the Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare West Papua would like to see more contacts in sports, especially football.

He says they would also like to send young West Papuans to study at the Solomon Islands National University in Honiara and at educational institutions in Vanuatu, and later possibly to universities in PNG and Fiji.

July 12, 2016 0

MSG gets West Papua and Indonesia to talk

SolomonStarnews.com, Published: 18 June 2016

A SENIOR delegation of Indonesian officials and delegates of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua met Thursday in a move instigated by the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

The two sides had been at loggerhead over West Papua’s struggle to have a separate state.

MSG Foreign Ministers meeting chairman and Solomon Islands Foreign Affairs minister, George Milner Tozaka said it was important to get both sides to sit at the same table and talk.

He said the objective of MSG is to look at the developmental interests of Melanesian countries and this included West Papua.

“We are constructively trying to engage both Indonesia and West Papua to talk and say what they want to say to each other in the meeting, but the main thing is to get them to sit at the same table and talk,”

Mr Tozaka said.

He said one of the major issues was the membership of MSG and the inclusion of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) as observers, while Indonesia was accorded associate membership.

“The last meeting we had in Honiara we had been to work on the criteria for the membership of Indonesia and West Papua so that they can participate in the MSG.”

Mr Tozaka said Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) had a look through this issue and concluded that there was still a lot more work to be done.

“SOM have asked for more time for them to look into this issue.”

They would then submit their report to the Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting, before it was taken up to the Leaders Summit in Honiara on July 14.

The MSG is made up of three levels, the highest of which was the Leaders Summit, then the Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting and the Senior Officials Meeting.

The application for membership from West Papua and Indonesia in the Melanesian Spearhead Group has been referred to the legal committee.

Fiji’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Ratu Inoke Kubuabola said Fiji would raise its voice with Indonesia over the matter.

Ratu Inoke said Fiji had a good relationship with Indonesia.

“We respect the integrity and sovereignty of Indonesia under international laws.”

Meanwhile, Ratu Inoke said Fiji still maintained its position that its participation in the Pacific Islands Forum would still remain at ministerial level.

“Our Prime Minister (Voreqe Bainimarama) still feels very strongly on that position.”

Fiji wants Australia and New Zealand to withdraw as members of PIF.

June 18, 2016 0

MSG Chair Reminds Jakarta about Decolonisation

11:06 am on 25 May 2016 Radio NZ

The chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group has defended his criticism of Indonesia over its alleged failure to engage with the region over West Papua.

Manasseh Sogavare, who is also Solomon Islands Prime Minister, recently claimed that Indonesia joined the MSG for the purpose of protecting its own interests, rather than discussing human rights in West Papua.

It drew a sharp rebuke from Jakarta where the Director General for Asia, Pacific and Africa, Desra Percaya, said Mr Sogavare’s claims were not based on reality.

Desra Percaya from Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Desra Percaya from Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Photo: UN

He also said Mr Sogavare’s statements violated the basic principles of sovereignty and non-interference, as contained in the MSG Establishing Agreement.

However the MSG Chair’s Special Envoy on West Papua, Rex Stephen Horoi, said the chair would like to remind Jakarta that one of the key overarching principles of the group is the principle of decolonisation of Melanesia.

“This is a fundamental principle that binds the Melanesian countries and all MSG members together,” he said.

“In this principle, MSG stands for its defense and promotion of independence as the inalienable right of indigenous peoples of Melanesia.”

Mr Sogavare also sought to remind Jakarta that the United Liberation Movement for West Papua was also a part of the MSG, with observer status.

He claimed the refusal of Indonesia’s government so far to discuss West Papua with him showcases Jakarta’s intention of not engaging in dialogue about the serious allegations of human rights issues.

The MSG chair has reiterated his offer to the Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, to discuss matters of common interest within the space provided by the MSG.

Manasseh Sogavare

Manasseh Sogavare Photo: RNZI Koroi Hawkins

May 25, 2016 0

Indonesia is not Melanesia

Dr Tarcisius Kabutaulaka | May 24, 2016

LATE LAST week, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement rejecting the Solomon Islands Prime Minister’s comments the issue of West Papua and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

In his statement, Manasseh Sogavare proposes that the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) be given full membership to the MSG.

He asserts that the Indonesian President’s refusal to meet him, as Chair of the MSG, demonstrates Jakarta’s aim in joining the MSG was merely to “protect its own interest other than engage in dialogue about the serious human rights issues in West Papua”.

In response, Indonesia’s newly appointed Director General for Asia Pacific and Africa, Ambassador Desra Percaya, described Sogavare’s statement as a violation of “the basic principles of sovereignty and non-interference as enshrined in the Agreement Establishing the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in 2007”.

He went on to say, “it is . . . myopic for Prime Minister Sogavare to speculate that Indonesia’s agenda in the Pacific, let alone in the MSG, is solely Papua driven.”

While I respect Indonesia’s right to respond, it is vital that Melanesian and other Pacific Island countries do not allow Jakarta to dictate what we believe, say and do, especially when it comes to the defense of human rights.

Indonesia has persistently committed human rights violations, including atrocities, against Melanesians in West Papua for over 50 years.

That is not a myth.

It is the truth.

It has been verified and documented by international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and other independent bodies.

For Indonesia to say that it is “long committed to address human rights issues”, is misleading and an attempt to deflect attention from realities on the ground in West Papua.

Indonesia, plus international organisations such as the United Nations, as well as the governments of countries like the US, Australia, Great Britain, the Netherlands, etc must correct the mistakes of the 1960s; the fraudulent processes that led to the transfer of West Papua’s sovereignty from the Dutch to Indonesia.

History is relevant to this discussion.

As Australian academic, Jason MacLeod, states,

“Continued rule by the Indonesian government in West Papua is founded on the myth that the transfer of sovereignty from the Netherlands to the Unitary Republic of Indonesia was free and fair. It was not. Events surrounding the transfer of sovereignty remain a core Papuan grievance. This grievance is not just historical. It has a contemporary dimension. The lack of willingness to discuss history contributes to the Papuan perception that there has been a ‘death of democracy’ in West Papua.”

The international community needs to correct the wrongs of the past and hold Indonesia accountable for its continuing human rights violations.

This is central to the injustices and has deprived indigenous West Papuans their right to self-determination.

In an effort to rebuttal the growing support for West Papuan independence, Jakarta is re-inventing and re-presenting itself as a Melanesian and Pacific Islands country.

Through subtle – and sometimes not so subtle – use of language, it writes itself in as part of Oceania.

The statement released by Indonesia last week, for example, states that, “as part of the Pacific, Indonesia developed partnerships with several key countries in the region to ensure that the bilateral ties are strong and productive.”

Most Pacific Islanders, however, would not think of Indonesia as “part of the Pacific”.

It is not part of our “imagined community,” or to borrow from the late Epeli Hau’ofa, “our sea of islands”.

This re-presentation is also obvious in Indonesia’s attempts to forge itself as a Melanesian country.

It argues it should become a member of the MSG by virtue of having ethnic Melanesians as citizens.

To increase its “Melanesian population”, it includes Maluku and the nearby islands as part of its “Melanesian Provinces”.

In these diplomatic manoeuvrings, Jakarta is stretching the boundaries and definitions of Melanesia and Pacific Islands to suit its political, economic and strategic agendas.

It deploys identities, albeit misconceived, as a political tool of inclusiveness.

What the Indonesian Government conveniently erases from this narrative is that Melanesian West Papuans make up for only 0.67 percent of Indonesia’s total population of over 260 million people.

The Melanesians are also the most discriminated against: they have been murdered, oppressed, abused and marginalised in their own land.

Furthermore, it is predicted by 2020, Melanesians will make up for only 28.99 percent of the total population of West Papua.

The rest will be Malays from densely populated islands such as Java.

This is part of a concerted effort by Jakarta to assimilate West Papua into Indonesia.

As part of this strategy, Jakarta has used population census as a political tool.

While the 1971 and 2000 population censuses made a distinction between Papuans (Melanesians) and non-Papuans, the 2010 census did not make that distinction, enumerating everybody as West Papuans.

Melanesians will eventually be absorbed as “Indonesians,” continuing Sukarno’s policy of building a unitary republic.

Interestingly, Jakarta peddles the story that it is “the third largest democracy, [and therefore] respect for human rights is an essential principle for Indonesia”.

The sub-text here is that size – the third largest democracy – warrants a commitment to human rights principles.

Of course, that is not necessarily true.

Also, the invoking of size is meant (either intentionally or unintentionally) to intimidate.

But Pacific Island countries should not be intimidated.

We might be small and imperfect democracies, but we compensate that with huge principles that uphold human rights.

Furthermore, in its statement, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs flaunts the issue of sovereignty to counter what it views as the Solomon Islands PM’s infringement into its national affairs; West Papua is a national issue.

But it is worth noting that sovereignty is not absolute, especially when a country has perpetrated human rights abuses for over 50 years.

The international community must not allow the Indonesian government to use sovereignty as an excuse for continuing human rights violations in West Papua.

Another twist to this story is that although West Papua contributes significantly to Indonesia’s economy, it is the province with lowest development index.

Between 1992 to 2011, for example, the Grasberg Mine, owned by the US company, Freeport-McMoran Inc, made direct payments to the Indonesian government totalling US$12.1 billion.

This is made up of $7.3 billion in corporate income tax; $2.3 billion in employee income tax, regional tax and other levies; $1.2 billion in royalties and $1.2 billion in dividends.

Indigenous West Papuan have been economically marginalised and have not benefitted equitably from the mine and other natural resource investments.

Given the above, I support the Solomon Islands Government on this issue.

We might be a small country, but we must not let Indonesia bully us.

Contrary to the statement by Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Solomon Islands Prime Minister’s statement is not “myopic”.

Rather, it reflects an understanding of issues far into the past and well into future.

It is the Indonesian government that is myopic in its treatment of this issue and of Melanesians.

Manasseh Sogavare and the Solomon Islands Government, you have my support.

Don’t let Indonesia bully us.

Vote Indonesia out of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

Indonesia is not Melanesia.

Dr Tarcisius Kabutaulaka

Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

May 24, 2016 0

Keanggotaan Penuh untuk ULMWP Dapat Dipertanggungjawabkan

Pres Perdana Menteri Kepulauan Solomon, May 17, 2016

Memberikan status keanggotaan penuh kepada Perserikatan Gerakan untuk Pembebasan West Papua (PGPWP) dalam Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) dapat dipertanggungjawabkan karena Indonesia telah memintakan keanggotaan ke blog regional ini hanya dalam rangka melindungi kepentinganya sendiri daripada terlibat dalam dialog tentang isu-isu pelanggaran HAM serius di West Papua.

Perdana Menteri Manasseh Sogavare menyatakan ini para Konperensi Pers di Honiara International Airport VIP Lounge kemarin dalam perjalanan pulang dari Vanuatu di mana ia berkesempatan bertemu dengan teman sejawat Perdana Menteri Vanuatu Charlot Salwai dan satu delegasi dari para pemimpin United Liberation Front for West Papua (ULMWP) di samping isu pemenangan Pacific Games.

Salah satu isu yang dibahas antara para Perdana Menteri Melanesia ialah mosi yang akan diajukan oleh Perdana Menteri Salwai pada KTT Pemimpin MSG mendatang di Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea untuk memberikan keanggotaan penuh kepada ULMWP yang mana mendapatkan dukungan penuh dari PM Sogavare.

Dalam pertemuan antara PM Sogavare dan delegasi ULMWP, pihak ULMWP menyerahkan dua petisi untuk dipertimbangkan oleh Ketua MSG untuk diskusi pada KTT Pemimpin mendatang dan termasuk menaikkan status keanggotaan ULMWP di MSG dan permntaan untuk intervensi PBB ke West Papua untuk menetralisir tingkat genosida yang semakin meningkan dari waktu ke waktu.

Yang Mulia Sogavare menyampaikan dalam Konperensi Pers bahwa penolakan yang nyata dari Indonesia untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini oleh para pemimpin Pacific Islands Forum di Port Moresby pada tahun 2015 unuk mengirimkan misi penemuan fakta ke West Papua dan juga penolakan Presiden Indonesia untuk bertemu dengan dirinya dalam kapasitasnya sebagai Ketua MSG menunjukkan dengan kepada posisi MSG terhadap isu West Papua memiliki dasar yang begitu kuat untuk menaikkan status keanggotaan ULMWP menjadi anggota penuh.

“Indonesia memberikan MSG tidak ada alternatif untuk membawakan isu-isu West Papua ke atas meja untuk dibahas, selain meningkatkan status West Papua dari Peninjau menjadi anggota penuh, sehingga para Pemimpin MSG dapat berdiskusi tentang isu-isu West Papua secara lebih strategis,”

katanya.

PM Sogavare bersikeras bahwa Indonesia akan terus-menerus menganggap remeh isu-isu HAM West Papua sampai ada kemungkinan Resolusi Perserikatan bangsa-Bangsa tentang West Papua dicapai di masa depan.

Dia katakan sebagai Ketua, MSG akan membawa hal-hal seperti ini sebagai isu-isu prioritas untuk disinggung.

Perdana Menteri katakan peristiwa-peristiwa terbaru tentang pelanggaran HAM di West Papua terus-menerus terjadi dan mengemuka, akan tetapi penolakan Presiden Republik Indonesia untuk bertemu di Jakarta untuk menyampaikan posisi MSG terhadap West Papua adalah indikasi yang jelas bahwa Indonesia punya alasan-alasan lain sehingga bergabung dengan MSG, lain daripada membahas isu-isu pelanggaran HAM di West Papua.

Dikatakannya sikap Presiden Indonesia yang tidak punya komitmen memberi jaminan kepada MSG untuk mengangkat hal ini ke Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa untuk disampaikan.

Perdana Menteri Sogavare mengatakan ia tahu bahwa dengan mengatakan bahwa begitu ULMWP diberikan status Peninjau pada KTT MSG 2015, situasi tensi di West Papua telah menjadi lebih tinggi, menyebabkan penduduk pribumi saat ini sudah berada dalam kondisi terancam punah.

Minggu lalu, saat berada di Port Vila, Perdana Menteri Sogavare katakan penolakan Indonesia terhadap permintaannya untuk dialogue memberinya alasan kuat untuk membawa persoalan ini kembali ke MSG, menambahkan bahwa “Indonesia telah melintas batas, karena itu kita harus mengambil langkah-langkah yang lebih tegas.”

May 17, 2016 1

MSG chair urges UN intervention in West Papua

Radio NZ – The chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Manasseh Sogavare, says the regional body is pushing for an urgent intervention by the United Nations in West Papua.

Manasseh Sogavare Photo: RNZI

Mr Sogavare, who is the prime minister of Solomon Islands, has also declared his country’s support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua’s bid to be a full member of the MSG.

Mr Sogavare has just been in Port Vila where he met with his Vanuatu counterpart Charlot Salwai whose proposal to give the Liberation Movement full membership at the MSG is to be discussed at an upcoming MSG leaders summit in Papua New Guinea.

While in Vila, the MSG chair met with visiting representatives of the Liberation Movement which has strong support in Indonesia’s Papua region.

Since the West Papuans were granted observer status in the MSG last year, Mr Sogavare said the situation in Indonesia’s Papua region had become more tense, leaving the indigenous people on the “brink of extinction”.

This comes after Indonesia’s leading human rights organisation said that since the new government came to power in late 2014, abuses in Papua were as rampant as they were under previous governments.

United Liberation Movement for West Papua members Mama Yosepha Alomang, Edison Waromi, Andy Ayamiseba and Jacob Rumbiak with the Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare (centre), Photo: MSG

Crossing the line

Indonesia was granted MSG associate member status last year in a bid to foster dialogue with Jakarta on West Papua.

However, in a statement, Mr Sogavare censured Jakarta for rebuffing his his request for dialogue on Papua.

‘Indonesia has crossed the line so we need to take some tough stance,” he said.

A recent surge in Indonesian diplomatic overtures to Pacific Islands countries is increasingly seen as being about countering the growing regional support for West Papuan self-determination aspirations.

However Melanesian leaders are frustrated at Jakarta’s apparent aversion to meaningful dialogue about West Papua.

The Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s refusal to meet with Mr Sogavare in his capacity as the MSG chair has been proffered as grounds for the Melanesian states to “take the matter up to the next notch which is the United Nations”.

Mr Sogavare said as well as the membership bid, the MSG summit would address the group’s pursuit of UN action on what he called “genocides committed against humanity in West Papua by Indonesia”.

While Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia’s Kanaks have signalled support for West Papua’s membership bid, it remains uncertain where the other two full MSG members – Fiji and PNG – stand.

Governments of both countries have closer ties with Indonesia than the others, and Jakarta has recently said that it has support of the Fiji and PNG for its own bid for full MSG membership.

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama receives a 5 million US dollar cheque from Indonesia's Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan.

March, 2016: Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama receives a 5 million US dollar cheque from Indonesia’s Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan. Photo: Fiji Sun

Vanuatu appeared to counter that when prime minister Salwai suggested Indonesia should be stripped of its membership status within the MSG.

The West Papua issue continues to be a stern test of MSG unity.

Confusion over director-general’s appointment

The upcoming MSG leaders summit was already shadowed by division among the members of the appointment of a new director-general.

Last month Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu objected to confirmation by the MSG chairman that the Fiji diplomat Amena Yauvoli had been selected for the role, which has been vacant since last year.

Earlier, it came as a surprise to other MSG members that the Fiji Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola announced Mr Yauvoli’s appointment to media, when the formal selection process was still underway.

PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato (right) talking to his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi.

Jakarta’s outreach to Melanesia: Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in talks with her PNG counterpart Rimbink Pato (right). Photo: Supplied

The MSG summit, originally scheduled for the first week of May in Vanuatu, was supposed to be when the leaders deliberated on the director-general’s appointment.

Vanuatu had put forward its own nomination for the role, its ambassador to the European Union Roy Mickey-Joy, and insisted that the selection be finalised at the summit.

This prompted an exchange between Charlot Salwai and his Solomon Islands counterpart over MSG procedure.

At the last minute,the summit was postponed, amid reports that Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama opted instead to attend the Queen’s birthday celebrations in Britain.

The MSG chairman said the summit would now be held next month, in Port Moresby.

Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades

Mr Sogavare has also now indicated that he despite his earlier statements, he would allow the formal appointment of a director-general to proceed as originally planned, with a decision to be reached at the summit.

The other priority item on the summit’s agenda is the formal application for full membership by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.

May 13, 2016 0

Solomon Tunjuk Utusan Khusus untuk Angkat Isu Papua di PBB

Kantor pusat Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) di Port Vila, Vanuatu (Foto: RNZI / Jamie Tahana)

HONIARA, SOLOMON ISLANDS, SATUHARAPAN.COM – Negara Kepulauan Solomon akan menunjuk mantan diplomat negara itu, Rex Horoi, menjadi utusan khusus urusan Papua di Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

Perdana Menteri Solomon, Manasseh Sogavare, telah mengisyaratkan bahwa Horoi – mantan direktur Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific, akan segera mengisi posisi tersebut.

Menurut radionz.co.nz, Horoi akan bertanggung jawab memastikan dukungan MSG untuk memasukkan Papua dalam daftar Dekolonisasi PBB.

Sejak tahun lalu, Kepulauan Solomon telah merencanakan penunjukan utusan khusus untuk melobi negara-negara di kepulauan Pasifik dalam mendukung dimasukkannya Papua dalam daftar dekolonisasi PBB.

Kepulauan Solomon juga diharapkan akan menunjuk Feiloakitau Tevi – mantan Sekretaris Jenderal Konferensi Gereja-gereja Pasifik – sebagai penasihat bagi utusan khusus tersebut.

March 22, 2016 0

PM Kepulauan Solomon Dukung Dialog Indonesia-Papua Merdeka

Selasa, 26 Januari 2016 | 10:44 WIB

TEMPO.CO, Honiara – Perdana Menteri Kepulauan Solomon Manasseh Sogavare mengatakan akan terbang ke Jakarta untuk memfasilitasi dialog antara pemerintah Indonesia dan para aktivis pendukung kemerdekaan Papua.

Sogavare, yang saat ini menjabat ketua kelompok negara-negara Pasifik, Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), berusaha mempertemukan pemerintah Indonesia dengan kelompok gerakan prokemerdekaan Papua, United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP).

ULMWP, seperti dijelaskan Abc.net.au, 25 Januari 2016, telah diberikan status pengamat (observer) di MSG pada tahun lalu.

Menurut Sogavare, selain Kepulauan Solomon, Vanuatu dan Kaledonia Baru mendukung upaya dialog pemerintah Indonesia dengan ULMWP. Adapun Papua Nugini dan Fiji kurang tertarik membahas dialog itu dengan Jakarta.

Sebelumnya, koordinator Jaringan Papua Damai, Neles Tebay, kepada Tempo pada pertengahan Desember lalu menuturkan ia mendorong pemerintah melakukan dialog dengan semua elemen masyarakat di Papua, termasuk mereka yang mendukung kemerdekaan Papua. Jadi semua pihak mendengarkan langsung apa yang menjadi tuntutan dan alasan, kemudian bersama-sama mencari solusi terbaik.

ABC.NET | MARIA RITA

January 26, 2016 0

Sogavare pushes for West Papua at Forum

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has emerged as a leading advocate for regional representation for West Papuans Photo: RNZI Koroi Hawkins

Radio NZ – The government’s special envoy on West Papua Matthew Wale says the Solomon Islands is supporting the United Liberation Movement of West Papua’s application for observer status at the Forum.

The ULMWP was granted observer status in the Melanesian Spearhead Group at the regional organisation’s recent leaders summit in Honiara.

Mr Wale says Solomon Islands will also urge Forum leaders to support a resolution calling for the UN Human Rights Commissioner to conduct an assessment on the human rights situation in West Papua.

The Solomon Islands also wants a resolution calling for West Papua to be included on the UN’s decolonisation list.

Mr Wale says the leaders have a moral obligation to deal with the issues responsibly given public opinion and the amount of information about the situation in the Indonesian region.
Manasseh Sogavare

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has emerged as a leading advocate for regional representation for West Papuans Photo: RNZI Koroi Hawkins

However other Pacific Islands government, notably those of Melanesian powerhouses Papua New Guinea and Fiji appear reluctant to engage on West Papua at the Forum level to any great extent.

The situation in the Indonesian region is one of the five agenda items at the Pacific Islands Forum leaders summit in Port Moresby and there have been calls for a fact-finding mission to the province.

However PNG’s Foreign Minister Rimbink says his country will not do anything to endanger the good relationship it has with Indonesia when it comes to West Papua.

Mr Pato says he acknowledges the call for a forum mission and it will be discussed but PNG is looking at other methods.

“Our strongest recommendation will be to work alongside Indonesia. Indonesia has just been made an associate member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group which is a sub-regional body and that is a starting point, and should there be some issues we will be looking to work through that and work together with Indonesia.”

The plenary meetings at the 2015 Forum summit have been marked by protesters outside the venue calling for more action in West Papua.

September 10, 2015 0