Gen. WPRA Mathias Wenda, Selamat Terpilih Kembali menjadi Perdana Menteri Papua Timur

General WPRA Mathias Wenda dari Markas Pusat Pertahanan (MPP) West Papua Revolutionary Army (WPRA)  menyampaikan Surat Selamat atas kemenangan menjadi Perdana Menteri terpilih Hon. Peter O’Neill MP pada tanggal 3 Agustus 2017 dan disumpah sebagai PM Papua New Guinea pada tanggal yang sama.

Dalam surat dimaksud disebutkan kepercayaan rakyat Papua di bagian timur pulau New Guinea menunjukkan ada restu langsung dari Sang Klalik Langit dan Bumi pulau kita, karena apa yang telah dimulai yang terhormat Perdana Menteri Papua New Guinea selama lima tahun lampau telah membawa banyak manfaat bagi bangsa Papua di pulau New Guinea di bagian Timur dan Barat pulau ini.

Sebagai orang tua, dan sebagai pemimpin revolusi bangsa Papua di bagian barat Pulau New Guinea, Gen. Wenda menyebutkan sejumlah hal yang telah dilakukan oleh Peter O’Neill selama ini, yaitu pertama-tama dan terutama, mengakui secara terbuka di depan para kum ibu dari gereja-gereja di Papua New Guinea pada saat mereka melakukan demonstrasi di hadapapan yang terhormat PM Papua New Guinea, bahwa “ya benar ada masalah pelanggaran HAM di West Papua, dan hal itu perlu di-address“.

Pengakuan tentang “ada masalah di West Papua, masalah Hak Asasi Manusia di Tanah Papua, pengakuan seorang pemimpin politik, pemimpin negara di pulau New Guinea atas masalah yang telah lama, selama para perdana menteri sebelumnya selalu disembunyikan, dianggap sebagai aib, diperlakukan sebagai berita pembawa kutuk atau malapetaka, adalah sebuah tindakan bersejarah, bermartabat dan akan dikenang semua anak-cucu bangsa Papua di pulau New Guinea.

Pengakuan atas situasi real di atas tanah leluhur bangsa Papua menjadi pintu masuk, dan sekaligus pintu keluar bagi persoalan HAM dan perjuangan kemerdekaan bangas Papua di bagaian Barat pulau New Guinea yang telah melewati setengah abad ini. Menyusul pengakuan yang terhormat Peter O’Neill telah terjadi peristiwa-peristiwa yang kami bangsa Papu adi bagian barat menyebutnya sebagai “mujizat-mujizat” susulan, yang kami sebut sebagai perkembangan lanjutan sampai kepada Komunike MSG (Melanesian Spearhead Group) dan Resolusi PIF (Pacific Islands Forum), disusul dengan pembentukan ULMWP (United Liberation Movement for West Papua) dan PICWP (Pacific Islands Coalition for West Papua).

Hal kedua yang saya, Gen. Mathias Wenda sebagai orang tua catat adalah langkah yang terhormat O’Neill untuk menerapkan “politics of engagement”, bukan “politics of blame” atau “politics of pointing fingers”. “Politics of engagements” adalah pendekatan politik mutakhir, yang diterapkan oleh banyak pemimpin modern,  yang telah banyak membawa manfaat stabilitas kawasan dan kedamaian hidup.

Kami sebagai orang tua, yang memegang komando perjuangan kemerdekaan West Papua telah menekan dan memerintahkan kepada seluruh pejuang Papua Merdeka, atau perjuangan saya politik Papua Merdeka supaya mengikuti dan menindak-lanjuti pendekatan yang telah dengan jelas-jelas ditunjukkan oleh PM Peter O’Neill selama ini. Kami juga berdoa agar anak-anak pejuang Papua Merdeka akan mengikuti langkah PM O’Neill di masa lima tahun mendatang.

Tindakan gertak sambal, ancam-mengancam, emosional dan saling menuduh adalah cara-cara berkomunikasi nenek-moyang kita, yang kita juga warisi saat ini. Tetapi dalma konteks peta politik global dan kawasan, kita perlu dengan arif belajar dari peraban modern dalam cara kita berkomunikasi dan melakukan dialgoue. Langkah O’Neil’ akan terus kami dukung, sampai Papua Merdeka, berdaulat di luar NKRI.

Yang ketiga, selain mengikuti trend diplomasi dan politik modern, PM O’Neill selama ini mengedepankan kearifan lolak milik bangsa Papua, menggunakan pendekatan komunikasi dan komunikasi, yang dikenal di budaya Melayu sebagai Musyawarah untuk Mufakat. Saya harus akui, slogan “musyawarah untu mufakat” hanya ada dalam istilah dan kata-kata di Indonesia, akan tetapi hal ini nyata dan dipraktekkan oleh yang terhormat Peter O’Neill sendiri selama ini dan disaksikan oleh sekalian manusia di dunia.

Dalam surat ini, Gen. Wenda juga menyampaikan terimakasih kepada Peter O’Neill yang telah memberikan hak kepada bangsanya sendiri dari bagian barat pulaunya sendiri, untuk menjadi Warga Negarea Papua New Guinea. Sudah lama kita diberitahu oleh para penjajah bahwa orang West Papua itu pengungsi, orang asing, pendatang. Padahal kita semua tahu, bahwa semua orang pulau New Guinea ialah orang tuan-tanah di pulau ini. Padahal kita semua tahu bahwa para pendatang adalah orang Australia, orang Eropa, orang Melayu Indonesia dan Malysia, mereka itu pendatang, mereka itu mengungsi ke pulau kami untuk tebang-tebang kayu, gali-gali emas dan perak, bawa pergi semua kekayaan alam kami, menduduki tanah kami, menghabisi jumlah bangsa Papua, dan mengakhiri ras Melanesia.

Perjuangan Papua Merdeka saat ini dilakukan lewat ULMWP sebagai wadah politik. Walaupun badan ini masih berstatus Non-Governmental Organisation, kami terus mendorong agar status organisasi ini kami tingkatkan menjadi Provinsional Government of West Papua, sehingga dalam diskusi dan diplomasi regional, ULMWP bisa terlibat secara bertanggungjawab dan bermartabat, dan dapat mengikuti langkah-langkah PNG dalam melakukan dialogue dengan NKRI.

Kami laporkan dalam kesempatan ini tentang Peta Politik PAN Indonesia, atau disebut juga The Great Indonesia, yaitu sebuah wilayah mencakup Malaysia, Singapura, Brunei Darussalam, West Papua, Papua New Guinea dan Solomon Islands. Inilah yang mereka sebut sebagia “The Great Indonesia’ sebagaimana selalu dinyanyikan dalam National Anthem, “Great Indonesia”. Politik NKRi dan para politisi mereka tahu, Indonesia belum “Great” kalau seluruh pulau New Guinea belum dikuasai secara politik, ekonomi dan hukum.

Mereka selalu mengatakan seperti ini,

“If I can conquer occupy, , dominate, Papuans in West Papua and extract and take benefits of natural resources there, then what is the reason for anyone to suggest to me that I cannot do just the same in the whole Island?”

Bukan itu saja, mereka juga sering katakan kepada pemimpin di Australia, Amerika dan Eropa dengan menunjuk jari kepada teman kami di Papua New Guinea seperti ini,

“If PNG itself is failing in its national development, and becoming one of the poorest countries in the world, then what is the point giving the other half of the same island an independent status?. They are better off controlled by us, Australia shouldn’nt have gave them independent status in 1975. They are cannibals, they think and talk about wars and tribal battles better than thinking about running a modern nation-state”

Tetapi semua pihak tahu, yang terhormat Pter O’Neill tahu, kami di West Papua semua tahu, perjuangan ini bukan kami lakukan karena mereka Melayu dan kami Melanesia. Sama sekali tidak! Perjuangan ini kami lakukan, pertama-tama karena

“there is a sin committed by the Indonesians in running the so-called Act of Free Choice”. This is not just an error, it is a sin before God, Our Creator and Protector. They have lied to many parties involved in the act that all Papuans in West Papua chose to be happy with Indonesia. Which is a total lie.

Oleh karena itu, pertanyaan kita generasi ini ialah, “Apakah kita harus membiarkan sebuah perbuatan dosa terhadap sebuah bangsa dan sebuah ras ini menjadi sesuatu yang sudah berlalu dan dibarkan supaya dilupakan begitu saja? Bagaimana dengan pengalaman teman-teman Aborigine yang telah diduduki selama berabad-abad lamanya? Pernahkan mereka lupakan? Bagaimana pengalaman teman-teman kami di Selandia Baru dan Amerika Utara?

Bukan hanya dosa lama, setiap hari kita bangsa Papua terus berkurang jumlah, di satu sisi Indonesia setiap hari mengkampanyekan Keluarga Berencana untuk membatasi jumlah orang Papua di tanah leluhur kita, di sisi lain mereka bunuh orang Papua secara terbuka dan yang terhormat Peter O’Neill bisa dapat informasi pembunuhan orang Papua hampir setiap hari. Itu berita-berita pembunuhan terbuka, dengan peluru tajam, dilakukan oleh aparat tentara dan polisi NKRi, disaksikan oleh banyak orang, dirawat dan dimandikan mayat-mayat mereka di rumah sakit dan di lapangan terbuka.

Yang terhormat PM Pter O’Neill juga telah baca banyak laporan hasil studi ilmiah yang menyebutkan penduduk Melanesia di bagian barat pulau New Guinea sudah akan punah dari tanah laluhurnya pada tahun 2030.

Apakah ini belum berarti bahwa bangsa Papua di pulau New Guinea timur juga akan terkena imbasnya? Saya tahu, bahwa PM Peter O’Neill adalah diplomat ulung Melanesia saat ini, dan pasti akan mengambil langkah-langkah.

Ada pepatah Melayu mengatakan begini, “Berani karena benar, takut karena salah”, artinya walaupun Indonesia mengancam bunuh kita, walaupun Indonesia meneror, walaupun Indonesia menekan, walau bagaimanapun, kalau kita benar, marilah kita berani.

Selama lebih dari 40 tahun ini, pemimpin di pulau New Guinea secara keseluruhan hidup dalam ketakutan. Gerakan gertak sambal, tindakan teror telah membuat bangsa Papua dihantui oleh rasa takut kalau-kalau Indonesia bisa bunuh kita. Yang terhormat Peter O’Neill sudah jelas-jelas menunjukkan sikap ‘tidak takut’, karena benar.

Kami dari Tentara Revolusi West Papua (West Papua Revolutionary Army) selalu berdoa dari hutan rimba New Guinea agar kiranya Tuhan melimpahkan akal budi, dan berkat, kekuatan dan kesehatan, untuk selalu menggali kearifan peninggalan nenek-moyang kita, dengan juga merangkul perkembangan yang terjadi belakangan ini dalam menyelesaikan masalah-masalah yang kita hadapi, dalam hidup kita ini.

Apa yang akan kita jawab kepada anak-cucu kita nanti, kalau mereka bertanya kepada kita setelah kita mati, “Bapa/ Mama, apa yang telah kau lakukan untuk bangsamu, tanah leluhurnya, selama memagang kekuasaan yang dapat menentukan nasib bangsa dan tanah laluhur kami”, Apakah kami akan jawab, “Bapa/ Mama takut sama NKRI, Indonesia jahat dan kejam, bapa/ maka takut, jadi tidak bisa buat apa-apa?”

Sejarah hidup ini tidak hanya berakhir setelah kita dikuburkan, kita akan melanjutkannya di alam baka. Pekerjaan yang telah kita mulai 5 tahun terakhir akna terus kita lanjutkan sampai West Papua benar-benar merdeka, berdaulat di luar NKRI.

Saya sebagai Panglima Tertinggi Komando Revolusi WPRA, yang selama hampir 50 tahun bergerilya di hutan rimba New Guinea mengirimkan doa restu kepada mu Yang Mulia Perdana Menteri Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill dengan doa dan air mata, untuk terus berjuang untuk bangsamu dan tanah leluhurmu. Lupakan dan buang jauh-jauh batas-batas wilayah negara buatan para penjajah. Lihat dan baca kembali sejarah kehadiran dan keberadaan bangsa kami di pulau kami. Dan mereka akan datang dengan “Full Force” untuk mendorong dan menopangmu saat berarya dan melindungi-mu saat dibutuhkan. Ini hal yang nyata, pengalaman sehari-hari bagi saya, dan itu pasti juga menjadi pengalaman kita semua yang menentang kekuatan pendukung dan pemupuk terorisme terbesar sedunia, INDO-NESIA.

Saya mau sampaikan sebuah realitas yang mutlak, bukan realias “bayangan” atau realitas “cita-cita”, yaitu bahwa “INDONESIA” itu sebagai sebuah bangsa, sebagai sebuah wilayah tanah leluhur dan sebagai sebuah realias sosial-politik TIDAK PERNAH ADA di dunia saat ini. Yang ada ialah sebuah “imagined society”. Sebaliknya, Melanesia dan New Guinea ialah sebuah realitas mutlak, sebuah kodrat, sebuah dunia citaan Allah Bapa di Surga. Apakah dengan mendukung Indonesia ciptaan para penjajah kita melanggar dunia ciptaan Tuhan. Apakah dengan menyebut orang Papua di West Papua sebagai orang Indonesia kita secara sadar dan terbuka melanggar hukum penciptaan Allah?

Inonesia is not a final entity, it is just an “imagined community” as already stated many years ago many by Bennedict Anderson. We do not want to be scared of the imagined entity, a fictional nation-sate, a dream nation-state. Yes Indonesia is politically mapped in world political map, but Indonesia does not exist in God’s created map

Demikian dan salam hormat, demi nama Bapa, Anak dan Roh Kudus, Bapa Khalik Langit dan Bumi, nenek moyang, tanah leluhur, seluruh orang Melanesia yang pernah lahir dan yang akan lebir, yang telah meninggal dan yang masih hidup, atas nama segenap komunitas makhluk penghuni Pulau New Guinea,

Disampaikan di: Markas Pusat Pertahana
Pada Tanggal: 4 Agustus 2017

 

Mathias Wenda, Gen. WPRA
NBP: A.001076

 

 

 

PM Peter O’Neill congratulates all MPs-elect

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has extended his best wishes to all declared MPs-elect and says he looks forward to the heavy workload ahead for the incoming government.

Mr O’Neill also thanked the business community and people around the nation for their patience during the election, and said he anticipates a post-election increase in economic activity after Parliament resumes.

“I congratulate all Members-elect on their declarations,” the Prime Minister said.

“Regardless of whether you join us in Government, or sit on the Opposition benches, you have already made a great achievement. Your provinces and districts have elected you to represent them in the 10th Parliament of Papua New Guinea.

“We look forward to the Return of Writs, and the invitation by our nation’s Governor-General to assemble in Parliament to demonstrate our number and to form the new Government.

“To Members who will be joining the Government, we have a lot of work ahead as we deliver our policy agenda over the coming five years.

“The Ministers and Members that will make up the Government caucus have challenges ahead and we will meet each one of these.

“Many challenges before us are known, and we will face new challenges. With a Government that is made up of the experience of returning Members, and the fresh energy of new Members, we will meet these challenges.”

The Prime Minister thanked people and the business community around the country for their patience during the election period.

“National elections are a major event for our democracy, and our people have high participation in this process,” he said.

“Every five years this also leads to a temporary slowdown for some businesses and limited disruption to Government activities.

“As we move on from the formation of Government, we will also see a surge in business activity and we look forward to the additional economic stimulus that this delivers.

“Some Government Departments will have new Ministers, and all agencies of the State will be undertaking reviews and looking at ways to enhance service delivery.

“While the 2017 National Election has not been without its difficulties, including limited instances of unfortunate and deplorable acts, we have experienced the most peaceful and safe elections of recent decades.

“All Members-elect need to honour the confidence that has been bestowed upon them by their electorates, and carry themselves in a Parliamentary manner.

“There is a core element that all Members-elect share, and that is the honour of serving our great Nation of Papua New Guinea.”

PM Sogavare On Final Leg of Second MSG Tour

MSG Chair, Prime Minister Hon Manasseh Sogavare of Solomon Islands.
MSG Chair, Prime Minister Hon Manasseh Sogavare of Solomon Islands.

Chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has arrived in the Papua New Guinea Capital this evening to complete his second visit of the MSG Capitals.

Hon Sogavare already visited two other M-S-G capitals of Port Vila, Vanuatu, and Suva, Fiji in January this year.

He did not travel to Port Moresby because his counterpart, Peter O’Neil was unavailable at the time.

Hon Sogavare did meet New Caledonia’s FLNKs representative in his January visit to Port Vila.

The MSG Chair uses his MSG Capital visits to discuss issues affecting and of concern to MSG Members.

His meeting with his PNG Counterpart is scheduled for Wednesday March 15th.

Tomorrow, Hon Sogavare will pay a courtesy call on Governor General, His Excellency Bob Dadae.

Hon Sogavare is accompanied by Madame Sogavare, the Secretary to the MSG Chair, Mr Rence Sore and two other officers from the Prime Minister’s Office and two Close-Protection Police officers.

West Papua Problem Will Only be Solved in Melanesian Way, by Melanesian Leaders

West Papua Liberation Army (WPRA) Secretary-General, towards the end term of his office before the secretariat-general office is being ended by its Commander in Chief, Gen. WPRA Mathias Wenda, made a public statement last night that “West Papua Problem Will Only be Solved in Melanesian Way, by Melanesian leaders“, in reply to written questions sent by PMNews (Free West Papua News at papuapost.com via Email and Mobile Text Message.

PMNews: Hello, this is from PMNews again, we would like to ask some questions in relation to current development of West Papua independence campaign. It was reported recently that the Solomon Islands Prime Minister as the Chair of Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) has toured and met other Melanesian leaders, except the PNG Prime Minister. What do you make out of this development?

WPRA: We thank to God, Almighty, creator of our Melanesian Islands, particularly the home of Melanesians, the Isle of New Guinea, and to our Melnaesian leaders, who are already standing up for their own people and our common identity as Melanesians.

About the current progress of MSG Chair meeting other MSG leaders, we are really grateful that this is happening. About MSG Chair not yet met PNG Premier, please PMNews,do not worry about this. This is exactly we call “The Melaensian Way”. The most obvious feature of the “Melanesian Way” is: UNPREDICTABLE. Please not it, Melanesians are unpredictable, what we do always unpredictable. When Barack Obama, Donal Trump, T. May, Joko Widodo say something, then most of us will be able to predict what they mean and what they imply at the same time. But when Melanesian peoples say something, they can mean something totally different, it is just unpredictable.

PMNews: United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) was promised to be accepted as Full Member of the MSG by early 2017, but this did not happen. Do you think this is also related to “The Melanesian Way”?

WPRA: You are absolutely right. You got it now. That is exactly why I said, we are Melanesians, and we are unpredictable.What we do is the same as the modern world do things. Melanesians are Melanesians. West Papua Issue is now Melanesian Issue, and we are now already dealing with it. Do not do things in Melanesia according to the Western mindset. It will have a counter-productive outcome.

PMNews: Does it mean Melanesian leaders can make promises but then it is OK if they do not deliver?

WPRA: You were already good in previous question, but now you got it wrong in this question. PLEASE: Do not focus on semi-membership and full-membership. That is western mind. Please focus on “membership”. Full stop. ULMWP is ALREADY a member of the MSG, full stop.

Be thankful, work on it, cultivate and nurture communication and collaboration with Melanesian leaders, our own leaders. Do not treat PNG Premier and Solomon Premier as different peoples. They are just one: Melanesian leaders.

West Papua just born into Melanesian family, a new born baby. Do not ask for food yet, milk first. Work first, cultivate first, nurture first, then things will evolve automatically and naturally. We are not talking about other peoples. We are talking about our own Melanesia and Melanesians. Think in Melanesian Way, Act in Melanesian Way.

PMNews: Elaborate more on the “Melaensian Way” that you are talking about.

WPRA: Just one short story. If you want a girl from another clan, what do you normally do? You must behave, you must show yourself capable man, know how to build house, make garden, and be a man, a husband. If your thinking and behavior is like a small kids, no woman will be willing to marry you, no clan will approve you to get their daughter.

You do not need to go around, you do not need to go to their men’s houses and put notice and distribute leaflets asking for support for your marriage with the girl. You do not need to ask other boys to join you in your demonstration. That will make the whole thing counter-productive, right?

What you should do is “behave”, do things that Melanesian peoples do in order to get attention, and in order to get support!

When we Melanesians live long time in the west, then we forget our own Melanesian Way. This is why we say we are Melanesians, but we do in western way. “Our Voice is like that of Jacob’s, but our skin feels like that of Esau’s”. What a game we are into now.

Get out from there. Be Melanesians, do things in Melanesian Way.

Everything is already on the right track. Nothing to worry about. Just TRUST….

  1. Trust in God and His miracles;
  2. Trust in Melanesia and Melanesian leaders’ wisdom
  3. Trust in Yourselves as Melanesians in West Papua.

And then…

  1. As far as possible, avoid to trust opinion from Non-Melanesian(s), because they have their own interests and we do not want them to change our course into their course;
  2. As far as possible, DELETE doubt in yourself, and in your own Melanesian peoples, because that is the deadliest disease that we can have in order to destroy us Melanesians and our future; and
  3. Only then, you can have the capability to absorb and comprehend ideas and suggestions from outside Melanesia, and then you can properly make use of things coming from outside.

PMNews: Your advice is not really easy, because we are in a globalised world, out West Papuan leaders now live in the West and we do not know what things they are getting from there and what things they want to use to Free West Papua.

WPRA: The right Melanesian leaders from West Papua will choose to live in one of Melanesian states, just like what Any Ayamiseba and The Late Dr. OPM John Otto Ondawame did. If they choose to live in the western countries, we will surely know that they dot not FULLY represent West Papuans, but they PARTLY represent non-Melanesians as well.

PMNwes: Any advice for Melanesian youths in West Papua and all over Indonesia?

WPRA: Not now, nothing to say for them right now.

Since 2004, WPRA has already been active in building bases for Free West Papua Campaign across Melanesian states. Since 2006, or ten years ago, we already have moved the Field  of West Papua Political Match from Western New Guinea to Eastern New Guinea. Therefore, the match now is happening in PNG, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Kanaky and Vanuatu, not in West Papua or Indonesia anymore.

There is no comment for spectators. When there is a match, people normally give comments on the match, not on the spectators. Thank you.

 

State urged to do more for West Papuans

humanitarianTheNational – THE Government has been urged to do more about the plight of West Papuans and to assist them obtain full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop made the call while celebrating the International Humanitarian Day with the West Papuan refugees at Vabukori in the National Capital District on Saturday.

“I call on our people and our Government not to abandon the West Papua people,” he said.

“Let us be brave and allow moral righteousness to prevail by allowing West Papuans to full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.”

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in May said PNG was concerned about what was happening in West Papua and expressed this directly to Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

He said West Papuans were welcomed in PNG.

“We are equally concerned about what is happening in West Papua,” O’Neill said.

“We have expressed that directly to the highest authority, including the president (Widodo), this year, particularly the human rights issue and for autonomy.”

Parkop said a humanitarian right issue facing PNG was the denial of the West Papuan people to properly and legally exercise their rights to self determination.

“These are fundamental human rights  expressed clearly in the United Nations  Human Rights Charter,” he said.

West Papua’s MSG membership expected by December

Radio NZ – Reports from Vanuatu say West Papua is poised to be granted full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in December.

The Daily Post said this was announced by the MSG chair, the Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, in Port Vila at a meeting with West Papuan representatives.

Mr Sogavare reportedly said Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia’s FLNKS movement would admit West Papua at the next MSG Leaders Summit in Vanuatu even if Papua New Guinea and Fiji stay away.

An MSG summit planned for last week was cancelled without a reason being given after it had already been deferred earlier in the year.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua has been seeking to become a full member of the MSG which last year made Indonesia as an associate member.

The Chairman of the Vanuatu Free West Papua Association Pastor Allan Nafuki said if Fiji and Papua New Guinea do not turn up for the next summit, the three other members will have no alternative but to go ahead and vote West Papua into full MSG membership.

Concern about human rights abuses by Indonesian forces in West Papua was raised by several Pacific Islands countries at the United Nations last month, triggering a rebuke from Jakarta for alleged interference in Indonesia’s domestic affairs.

PM takes courageous stand

The National, Friday May 27th, 2016

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill has reaffirmed his bold and courageous stand on the West Papua issue.

Last year, he became the first PNG Prime Minister to break the National Government’s silence on this sensitive issue since independence.

In his historic statement during the 2015 National Leaders’ Summit in Port Moresby, O’Neill said Papua New Guinea had become a respected regional leader but had not spoken about the human rights issues across its common border with Indonesia.

“I think, as a country, time has come for us to speak about the oppression of our people there. Pictures of brutality of our people appear daily on the social media, and yet, we take no notice. We have the moral obligation to speak for those who are not allowed to talk. We must be the eyes for those who are blindfolded.”

And this week, O’Neill revealed during a radio talkback show that the Government had expressed concerns about human rights issues in West Papua and their desire for autonomy to the Indonesian authorities, including President Joko Widodo.

“We have just returned from the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting that Papua New Guinea chairs and we have written to the president (Widodo) expressing that we want to send a team to West Papua to engage directly with the people. The response we are getting from Indonesia is that they welcome such a dialogue and also they are positive about the desire for West Papua to have some more autonomy,”

O’Neill told listeners.

We commend the Prime Minister for his bold initiative to establish dialogue with Indonesia on this sensitive issue, which all his predecessors had ignored for fear of upsetting our giant neighbour.
Our citizens can be rest-assured that we now have a Prime Minister who will not shirk his moral obligation to our Melanesia brothers and sisters across the border.

O’Neill’s stance has been enthusiastically welcomed by local, regional and international supporters and sympathisers of West Papuan freedom and self-autonomy.

For the younger generation of Papua New Guineans who are not familiar with the “Papua Conflict”, it is an ongoing low-level conflict between the Indonesian government and portions of the indigenous population of West Papua.

Since the withdrawal of the Dutch colonial administration from the Netherlands New Guinea in 1962, the implementation of Indonesian governance in 1963 and the formal absorption of West Papua into Indonesia in 1969, the Free Papua Movement (OPM), a militant Papuan-independence organisation, has conducted a low-level guerrilla war against the Indonesian state, targeting the Indonesian military and police, as well as engaging in the kidnapping of both non-Papuan Indonesian settlers and foreigners.

West Papuans have conducted various protests and flag-raising ceremonies for independence or federation with Papua New Guinea, and accuse the Indonesian government of indiscriminate violence and of suppressing their freedom of expression. Many West Papuans have been killed by the Indonesian military since 1969 and the Indonesian governance style has been compared to that of a police state, suppressing freedom of political association and political expression.

The Indonesian government restricts foreign access to West Papua due to sensitivities regarding its suppression of Papuan nationalism.

The Indonesian government is accused of human rights abuses, such as attacks on OPM-sympathetic civilians and jailing people who raise the West Papuan National Morning Star flag for treason.

Through the transmigration programme, which since 1969 includes migration to Papua, about half of the 2.4 million inhabitants of Indonesian Papua are born in Java, though intermarriage is increasing and the offspring of transmigrants have come to see themselves as “Papuan” over their parents’ ethnic group. As of 2010, 13,500 Papuan refugees live in exile in PNG and occasionally the fighting spills over the border.

As a result, the PNG Defence Force has set up patrols along the western border to prevent infiltration by the OPM. Additionally, the PNG Government has been expelling resident “border crossers” and making a pledge of no anti-Indonesian activity a condition for migrants’ stay in PNG. Since the late 1970s, the OPM have made retaliatory “threats against PNG business projects and politicians for the PNGDF’s operations against the OPM”.

The PNGDF has performed joint border patrols with Indonesia since the 1980s, although its operations against the OPM are parallel.

PNG Restates Wet Papua Concerns

11:39 am on 26 May 2016

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister says his government is concerned about what is happening in West Papua and has expressed this directly to Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo.

Peter O’Neill made the comment on FM100’s radio talk back show while responding to questions from the public about West Papua.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill.
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill. Photo: PNG PM’s office

 

The prime minister has previously spoken of the need for PNG to speak out about ongoing human rights abuses in his country’s neighbouring territory.

On talkback yesterday, Mr O’Neill indicated West Papuans were welcome in PNG.

“We are equally concerned about what is happening in West Papua,” he said.

“We have expressed that directly to the highest authority including the President this year particularly the human rights issue and for autonomy.”

The prime minister said that as chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, PNG had written to President Widodo, requesting to send a fact-finding team of Pacific Island leaders to West Papua to talk directly with the people themselves.

“The response we received from Indonesia is they welcome such a dialogue and appreciative of our desire for West Papua have some more autonomy, whether that will be self-determination or not is something that can be worked on towards,” he said.

The prime minister’s comments follow criticism by the chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Manasseh Sogavare, that Indonesia has failed to respond to requests for engagement over Papua by both the Pacific Forum and the MSG.

After their special summit scheduled for Port Vila earlier this month was postponed, MSG leaders were now expected to meet in Port Moresby in coming days.

Port Moresby meeting

The MSG leaders meeting is expected to coincide with a summit of the African Carribean and Pacific Group that PNG is hosting.

“So I am aware we will have an MSG side meeting at the weekend,” Mr O’Neill is reported in the Post Courier as saying, “and some of the issues will be brought up during the ACP summit which is coming up next week.”

Vanuatu’s Daily Post newspaper reports that the country’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai and his Foreign Minister Bruno Leingkone will be attending.

Mr Salwai has clearly stated his government’s support for the United Liberation Movement of West Papua’s bid for full membership in the MSG.

Indonesia is also seeking full membership, although Mr Salwai is also proposing that Indonesia’s current associate membership in the group be cancelled.

PNG Supporting West Papua’s Indepencence

 PNGBlogs.com  Melanesian support for a free West Papua has always been high. Travel throughout Papua New Guinea and you will often hear people say that West Papua and Papua New Guinea is ‘wanpela graun’ – one land – and that West Papuans on the other side of the border are family and kin.

In the Solomon Islands, Kanaky, Fiji and especially Vanuatu, people will tell you that “Melanesia is not free until West Papua is free”. This was the promise that the late Father Walter Lini, Vanuatu’s first prime minister made.

Ordinary people in this part of the Pacific are painfully aware that the West Papuan people continue to live under the gun. It is the politicians in Melanesia who have been slow to take up the cause.

But that may be changing.

Earlier this month, Powes Parkop, Governor of the Papua New Guinea’s National Capital District, nailed his colours firmly to the mast.

In front of a crowd of 3000 people, Governor Parkop insisted that “there is no historical, legal, religious, or moral justification for Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua”.

Turning to welcome West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda, who was in Papua New Guinea as part of a global tour, the governor told Wenda that while he was in Papua New Guinea “no one will arrest you, no one will stop you, and you can feel free to say what you want to say”.

These are basic rights denied to West Papuans who continue to be arrested, tortured and killed simply because of the colour of their skin.

Governor Parkop, who is a member of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua, which now has representatives in 56 countries, then went on to formerly launch the free West Papua campaign.

He promised to open an office, fly the Morning Star flag from City Hall and pledged his support for a Melanesian tour of musicians for a free West Papua.

Governor Parkop is no longer a lone voice in Melanesia calling for change.

Last year, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill broke with tradition and publicly admonished the Indonesian government’s response to ongoing state violence, human rights violations and failure of governance in West Papua.

Moved by 4000 women from the Lutheran Church. O’Neill said he would raise human rights concerns in the troubled territory with the Indonesian government.

Now Governor Parkop wants to accompany the Prime Minister on his visits to Indonesia “to present his idea to Indonesia on how to solve West Papuan conflict once and for all.”

Well known PNG commentator Emmanuel Narakobi remarked on his blog that Parkop’s multi-pronged proposal for how to mobilise public opinion in PNG around West Papua “is perhaps the first time I’ve heard an actual plan on how to tackle this issue (of West Papua)”.

On talk back radio, Governor Parkop accused Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr of not taking the issue of West Papua seriously, of “sweeping it under the carpet.”

In Vanuatu, opposition parties, the Malvatumari National Council of Chiefs and the Anglican bishop of Vanuatu, Rev James Ligo are all urging the current Vanuatu government to change their position on West Papua.

Rev Ligo was at the recent Pacific Council of Churches in Honiara, Solomon Islands, which passed a resolution urging the World Council of Churches to pressure the United Nations to send a monitoring team to Indonesia’s Papua region.

“We know that Vanuatu has taken a side-step on that (the West Papua issue) and we know that our government supported Indonesia’s observer status on the MSG, we know that.

“But again, we also believe that as churches we have the right to advocate and continue to remind our countries and our leaders to be concerned about our West Papuan brothers and sisters who are suffering every day.”

In Kanaky (New Caledonia) and the Solomon Islands, West Papua solidarity groups have been set up. Some local parliamentarians have joined the ranks of International Parliamentarians for West Papua.

In Fiji, church leaders and NGO activists are quietly placing their support behind the cause even while Frank Bainimarama and Fiji’s military government open their arms to closer ties with the Indonesian military.

This internationalisation of the West Papua issue is Indonesia’s worst nightmare; it follows the same trajectory as East Timor.

The West Papuans themselves are also organising, not just inside the country where moral outrage against ongoing Indonesian state violence continues to boil, but regionally as well.

Prior to Benny Wenda’s visit to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu-based representatives from the West Papua National Coalition for Independence formerly applied for observer status at this year’s Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting due to be held in Noumea, New Caledonia in June, home to another long running Melanesian self-determination struggle.

While in Vanuatu Benny Wenda added his support to that move, calling on Papuans from different resistance organisations to back a “shared agenda for freedom”.

A decision about whether West Papua will be granted observer status at this year’s MSG meeting will be made soon.

In Australia, Bob Carr may be trying to pour cold water on growing public support for a free West Papua but in Melanesia the tide is moving in the opposite direction.

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