Apart from the national government, SHEFA Provincial Government Council (SPGC) is the first provincial authority in Vanuatu to recognize Mr. Benny Wenda as the interim president of a provisional West Papuan government.
The official recognition was made by SPGC Secretary General (SG), Morris Kaloran to mark West Papua Day on December 1, 2021.
SPGC had already adopted the indigenous Melanesian people of West Papua and their struggle for self-determination and liberation from Indonesian rule.
“The destiny of our two Melanesian peoples of West Papua and Vanuatu are joined,” SG Kaloran said.
“The West Papuan people remain enslaved and colonized in the 21st century, subject to discrimination, assassination and military operations. Their gallant freedom struggle, under the guidance and leadership of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Provisional Government, is moving ever closer to victory. Until the people of West Papua are, no one in Melanesia is free.”
Kaloran said SPGC is honored to officially recognise the ULMWP Provisional Government and Interim President Benny Wenda as the legitimate representatives of the people of West Papua and their struggle. He said this is another step on the formation of a long term friendship between West Papuan people and the government, chiefs and people of SHEFA province. Earlier in June, the chiefs and people of SHEFA performed a traditional adoption ceremony at SPGC headquarters in Port Vila.
At the time, a chiefly title – SHEFA — was bestowed to Mr. Frederick Jan Waromi.
Mr. Waromi is the official representative of ULMWP in Vanuatu. Under the chiefly title, Chief Marikor can now uphold the chiefly role and he will be given full respect in displaying his responsibilities and entitled to attend all chiefly ceremonies organized by chiefs in SHEFA.
West Papua day was jointly organized by SPGC and Vanuatu West Papua Association.
The chairman of Vanuatu West Papua Association, Pastor Job Dalesa, said he is proud of the progress and asks all churches in Vanuatu to continue to pray for West Papua.
Dari Markas Pusat Pertahanan (MPP) Tentara West Papua Revolutionary Army (WPRA), Komando Afiliasi West Papua Army (WPA), Gen. WPRA Amunggut Tabi menyampaikan Ucapan Selamat Merayakan HUT Kemerdekaan Republik Kepulauan Vanuatu yang ke-39.
Dalam ucapan selamat ini juga disampaikan kepada Vanuatu bahwa setelah Negara Republik West Papua merdeka, maka perayaan kemerdekaan kedua negara bersaudar akan diselenggarakan pada setiap 1 Juli dan 30 Juli, dengan mengundang petinggi militer dan pemimpin politik dari kedua negara, dirayakan di Port Vila dan Port Numbay.
Port Vila, — Tepat tanggal 30 Juli, seluruh rakyat Vanuatu selalu memperingati, selalu dikenang turun temurung anak negeri bangsa negaranya atas betapa jahatnya kaum penguasa penjajah bangsa asing bagaikan penyakit kangker ganas yang mematikan dimasa penjajahan, sekaligus mengenang para pejuang bangsa Melanesia Vanuatu yang dengan gigih, gagah berani berjuang mengorbangkan harta benda, jiwa dan raganya menentang penjajahan merebut hak kemerdekaannya yang kini telah berusia 39 tahun terhitung sejak 30 Juli 1980,” papar juru bicara United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Jacob Rumbiak melalui surat elektronik, pada Selasa (30/07/2019).
Dalam release resmi yang terima tabloid-wani.com, ULMWP menegaskan, Negara Vanuatu adalah satu-satunya negara di kawasan Pasifik yang memperoleh hak kemerdekaannya lewat keringat, air mata, korban harta benda, penculikkan, pemenjaraan hingga cucuran darah dibarengi tulang belulang berserakah dipersada tanah airnya saat menentang dan mengusir penguasa penjajahan bangsa asing Perancis dan Inggris dimasa lalu, kini ke dua negara tersebut adalah dua dari lima negara hak veto Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa/PBB.
“Pengalaman pahit yang dialami para pendiri negara Vanuatu yang tersirat dalam sejarah perjuangan kemerdekaan Vanuatu masih segar dalam ingatan generasi bangsa negaranya, masih dihayati dan benar-benar diamalkan untuk menolong sesama bangsanya sendiri Papua Barat dan wilayah Melanesia lainnya yang masih terjajah oleh penguasa bangsa asing lainnya, dimanapun dan kapanpun untuk harus merdeka dan berdaulat diatas tanah airnya sendiri sebagaimana yang telah dilakukan oleh pera pendiri negaranya Vanuatu diamasa silam,” tegas Rumbiak.
Menurutnya, kemerdekaan negara Vanuatu dijamin konvenan PBB yakni Hak Azasi Manusia setiap bangsa, hak politik dan hak miliknya yang tak boleh dirampas oleh siapapun dan kapanpun.
“Hak kemerdekaan yang sama berdasarkan konvenan PBB itulah yang menetapkan tekad negara Vanuatu berani tampil di berbagai panggung dunia menyuarakan hak kemerdekaan bagi sesama saudara saudari sebangsanya Melanesia Papua Barat atas hak kemerdekaannya,”
tulis Jubir ULMWP.
Lanjut Jubir, dalam perayaan HUT kemerdekaan ke-39 ini, Pemerintah Negara Vanuatu resmi mengundang Tuan Benny Wenda selaku Ketua Eksekutif ULMWP, Tuan Andy Ayamiseba selaku Wakil Legislatif ULMWP dan Tuan Kolonel Fredy Waromi Atase Militer West Papua mewakili seluruh rakyat West Papua.
“Turut menghadiri upacara kenegaraan perayaan Hari Ulang Tahun ke 39 tahun 30 Juli 2019 mulai sekitar Jam 08:00 hingga selesai, berlangsung di halaman Lapangan Kemerdekaan kota Port Vila ibu kota Negara Republik Kepulauan Vanuatu,” ujarnya. “Kehadiran wakil resmi West Papua sebagai rasa hormat sekaligus mengucapkan selamat kepada pemerintah dan rakyat Vanuatu,”
Last week’s 14th Pacific Regional ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Port Vila issued a five-point position of the issue of West Papuan independence.
It says Parliamentarians of the ACP-EU Parliaments can voice their concern and they can support Papuan rights, including the right to self-determination by rallying to the call from the 8 Pacific Island Countries for justice and respect for the right to self-determination.
They can get regional and global intergovernmental bodies such the African Union, CARICOM and other regional and sub-regional multilateral bodies to pass resolutions and restrict commercial and other relations with Indonesia.
As member states of the United Nations ACP–EU countries can insist on an internationally supervised referendum on independence (or at least the re-listing of West Papua as a non-self-governing territory).
Support with one voice the proposed resolutions in the upcoming Joint ACP-EU parliament meeting in month of October and also the resolution on West Papua to be adopted at ACP Council of Ministers meeting in November 2017; And call on ACP-EU Parliamentarians to urge their respective governments to address the issue of West Papua at the multilateral level and assist Indonesia to resolve this 54 year crisis.
Jonas Cullwick, a former General Manager of VBTC is now a Senior Journalist with the Daily Post. Contact: jonas@dailypost.vu. Cell # 678 5460922
United Liberation Movement for West Papua bai em i nonap kamap full memba blong Melanesian Spearhead Group inap long ogeta 5-pela full memba nau ia i wanbel longen.
Wamena protest march long West Papua long December (FWCP photo)
Odio: Hilaire Bule, PR Ofisa long Ofis blong Vanuatu Prime Minister i toktok
Dispela toktok i stap insait long mama agriment we i setim ap MSG we i tok olgeta lida imas gat consensus oa wanbel longen.
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu na ol FLNKS blong New Caledonia i laik long West Papua we i nau gat Observer status tasol, long kamap olsem full memba long MSG.
Tupela narapela memba, Papua New Guinea na Fiji ino wanbel long West Papua i kamap full memba.
Praim Minista blong Vanuatu Charlot Salwai na FLNKS Lida Victor Tutugoro ibin toktok long dispela isiu wantaim Chairman blong MSG, Solomon Islands Praim Minista Manasseh Sogavare long Port Vila dispela wik.
Mr Sogavare i nau wok long raun igo long toktok wantaim ol MSG lida.
A series of Melanesian Spearhead Group meetings are taking place this week in Vanuatu’s capital to look at the group’s membership guidelines.
Last month, the MSG secretariat scheduled this week’s meeting in Port Vila for leaders of its members to discuss a West Papuan bid for full membership.
However there will not be a leaders summit component at this week’s meetings, with the expectation that they will now meet early in the new year.
An Indonesian captures the Melanesian Spearhead Group proceedings, 20 December 2016 in Port Vila, on device. West Papuan representatives Benny Wenda and Octo Mote (MSG observers with the United Liberation Movement) in foreground. Photo: Supplied
But today in Vila, MSG senior officials met, and tomorrow the group’s foreign ministers are to meet, to discuss the findings of a constitutional committee that has reviewed MSG rules on membership.
It’s understood there won’t be a decision on the full membership application by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua this week.
Fiji’s prime minister and foreign minister Frank Bainimarama is not in Vila for this week’s MSG meeting, but a leaders summit to decide on West papuan membership is expected early in the new year. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
In a sign of the sensitivity around the issue within the MSG, leaders have this year deferred a number of summits where West Papuan membership was a priority item.
The Sub-Committee on Legal and Institutional Issues was tasked by MSG leaders at their Honiara summit in July to clarify guidelines for observer, associate and full membership in the group.
The MSG’s five full members – Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia’s FLNKS Kanaks Movement – have been divided over whether to grant full membership to West Papuans.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua was granted observer status in the MSG last year but its bid for full membership has been deferred pending clarity on the guidelines.
United Liberation Movement for West Papua representatives outside the Melanesian Spearhead Group secretariat, 20 December 2016. Photo: Supplied
The Liberation Movement’s leaders, including Octo Mote, Benny Wenda, Rex Rumakiek and Jacob Rumbiak are in Port Vila for this week’s meetings.
Representatives of Indonesia, which has associate member status at the MSG, are also present.
Barak Sope, Mantan PM Vanuatu, Penyantun Perjuangan Papua Merdeka di Vanuatu
Former Prime Minister of Almasdarnews – Vanuatu, Barak Sope, wants his country to become a member of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation to counter Indonesia’s aggression on its eastern most provinces of West Papua.
Vanuatu has consistently been one of the most consistent advocates of Papuan self determination and to end Indonesian genocide against the Melanesian people of the region.
The former Prime Minister believes that Indonesia only has a seat on this committee to protect its interests in West Papua.
“The reason why Indonesia is there is to prevent West Papua’s case. That is all they are doing – always wanting to be in that top committee to ensure that West Papua is not discussed in that committee,” he said.
“That is why it is important that we have countries that would support the idea of West Papua to get independence and the proper way of doing it is to be on the Committee of 24.”
Radio NZ explained that while West Papua is not on the list of 24 territories being considered for independence, six Pacific territories are on it – namely French Polynesia, New Caledonia, American Samoa, Guam, Tokelau and Pitcairn.
Lands Minister Ralph Regenvanu confirmed earlier this week that he has written to Speaker, Esmon Sae, asking him to rule the private member’s bill to repeal the Custom Land Management Act out of order.
In a letter dated 11 October 2016, Mr Regenvanu reminded the Speaker that recent changes to the Constitution require that the Malvatumauri be consulted prior to any changes to land law being enacted in Parliament.
The bill to repeal the Custom Land Management Act was lodged by Opposition Leader Ishmael Kalsakau.
The explanatory note at the head of the Bill states that “the Land Management Act No. 33 of 2013 fails to enhance the application of this constitutional rule to enable the customary institutions throughout the Republic of Vanuatu to dispose of disputes over land owned in accordance with the customary law of each particular place”.
Mr Kalsakau was not available for comment due to personal travel overseas, but Opposition spokesman John Shing admitted that “I met with the Land management section of Malvatumauri and gave them a copy of the bill and explained what we intended to do.
“They advised that the Vanuatu council of chiefs would only be meeting in January or February of 2017.”
He argued that a consultation is not required because strictly speaking, the requirement arises only in the case of an amendment.
“We are not making an amendment as we intend to repeal the Act,” he wrote in a letter to the Daily Post.
He concluded: “The only slight amendments would be to the Land leases Act and these amendments are only adjusted so as cancel any reference to the Custom Land Management Act which we intend to repeal.”
Mr Regenvanu’s letter to the Speaker makes specific reference to Article 30 (2) of the Constitution, which states, “The [Malvatumauri] Council must be consulted on any question, particularly any question relating to land, tradition and custom, in connection with any bill before Parliament.”
The Daily Post contacted the Speaker’s office, and was told that the determination whether the bill was in order or not is a matter for parliamentarians to decide. It was suggested that Parliament could decide to forward the bill to a committee, which could conduct any required consultation.
The Clerk of Parliament said it was his duty to process all bills submitted to him, but added that a finalised bill had yet to be submitted by the Opposition.
The Custom Land Management Act has the subject of controversy since it was first passed in 2013. Real estate developers, investors, chiefs and academics have all complained at various times that the processes outlined in the Act are ungainly and impracticable. The Opposition argues that no single legislative solution can comprise the widely diverse kastom practices concerning land in Vanuatu.
Vanuatu’s national language, Bislama, is derived from Beche-de-Mer or sea cucumber, the trade of which commodity in the late 1800s signaled the start of trade relations between Vanuatu and China
, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism and Trade Joe Natuman told a recent Seminar on Cooperation and Exchange between China (Guangdong) and Vanuatu.
He was speaking at the seminar hosted by the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou two days after the DPM and his delegation of 13 MPs attended the opening of the Guangdong 21st Century Marine Silk Road International Expo in Dongguan, Guangdong Province’s second largest city. The same city is popular for hosting a different kind of Silkroad: Silkroad MMORPG annual tournaments (hosted through a Silkroad Private server), wherein the event sees thousands of ardent gamers.
“Vanuatu and China have had a long fruitful relation dating back a number of years”, he said adding: “It is important that we are holding this forum at the time when you are holding the International Expo on the Maritime Silk Road initiative that will aim to increase trade relations between our two countries.”
“The Chinese people and the people of Vanuatu have had a long relationship with each other,” Natuman added saying: “At the time when the Europeans were coming to the Pacific to trade in the late 1800s, the Chinese were also involved in the trade in the Pacific.”
“In fact when the British imported Chinese tea, the Chinese would not accept the British Pound or British money. So, the British had to look for something to trade with for the tea, and they looked for sandalwood and Vanuatu had lots of sandalwood.
“In fact one of our Members of Parliament in this delegation (UMP MP Tomker Netvunei) comes from Erromango and his island has lots of sandalwood. The British got the sandalwood from Vanuatu, came to China, exchanged the sandalwood and took the tea to England. That was our first trade contact,” the Deputy Prime Minister, a history/politics graduate told the seminar.
“Later on we had lots of Chinese investors and traders in the marine sector. They came to trade in beche-de-mer or sea cucumber. In Vanuatu we don’t eat sea cucumber but in China I believe you like sea cucumber and the Chinese came to our islands because we have lots of sea cucumber.
“That’s how we started trading. And in fact our national language, the lingua franca of Vanuatu, which in Papua New Guinea is called Tok Pisin – a broken English, in the Solomon Islands is called Pidgin English, and in Vanuatu the name was changed. It’s called Bishlamer or Bislama,” Natuman continued.
“The language is derived from beche-de-mer trading. The local people could not speak Chinese, they could not speak English and they could not speak the many ni-Vanuatu languages, so they came up with this language to communicate, they call Bishlamer or Bislama. Today it is our national language.”
“That is the history of our first trading experiences that have linked Vanuatu and China to this day.
“In the early 1900s we were colonized by two colonial powers – Britain and France, and Britain because of their interests in China through Hong Kong, when they colonized us, they brought Chinese from Hong Kong and South China to work in housekeeping, in the kitchen to cook their food and other such tasks.
“In Vanuatu we call them as people from Canton or Cantonese.
“The British allowed them to set up their own businesses and they set up a China town part of Port Vila which remains to this day. Many generations of these Chinese have become very successful and are doing businesses in Vanuatu today and they invest overseas.”
In 1982, after our independence, Vanuatu and China established diplomatic ties and Vanuatu is keen to look at ways to tap into China’s latest international trade initiative, the Maritime Silk Road.
Jonas Cullwick, a former General Manager of VBTC is now a Senior Journalist with the Daily Post. Contact: jonas@dailypost.vu. Cell # 678 5460922
‘Being a young, female Indonesian myself, I expected myself to celebrate Nara Masista Rakhmatia’s UN General Assembly speech. Instead, I was gravely disappointed.’
Several weeks ago, a young, female diplomat named Nara Masista Rakhmatia made a speech that dazzled the Indonesian public. In a video that went viral, she denied accusations from 7 Pacific country leaders about human rights abuse in Indonesia’s Papua province at the 71st Session of United Nations General Assembly in New York last September.
She further shamed their attempt to interfere with Indonesia’s sovereignty. The video gathered over 188 thousand views on Facebook, along with hundreds of comments from Indonesian citizens expressing how proud they are of Nara’s intelligence and bravery to ‘teach those foreign country leaders about how to respect Indonesia’—especially given her young age.
In their remarks, delegations from Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Tonga criticized Indonesia’s human rights records in Papua. Nara in particular argued that these sentiments were largely misplaced, given that the main agenda of the Assembly was Sustainable Development Goals and a global response to climate change.
Furthermore, she claimed, these countries needed to self-reflect upon their own domestic issues before pointing their fingers to how Indonesia handles the province’s push for self-determination.
Being a young, female Indonesian myself, I expected myself to celebrate her speech. I should have been inspired and impressed by how sharp she was. Instead, as someone who studied International Relations and currently a Public Policy student, I was gravely disappointed.
Disappointed
First of all, Nara based her entire rebuttal on the obsolete definition of the sovereignty principle. While sovereignty is a crucial foundation to the United Nations, since 2005, the international community has extended its definition under the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ commitment, which stipulates that absolute sovereignty does not hold when a government fails to protect its people.
PROTEST. An arrested Papuan pro-independence demonstrator gestures from a police truck in Jakarta on December 1, 2015, after police fired tear gas at a hundreds-strong crowd hurling rocks during a protest against Indonesian rule over the eastern region of Papua. File photo by AFP
Although the concept was developed specifically as a framework for humanitarian interventions to prevent atrocity crimes and this situation has arguably not brought us that far, this core principle stands.
In other words, should these allegations stand, it is justifiable for the international community to express their concerns about the possibility of ongoing crimes against humanity.
Therefore, it is more urgent to argue about whether Indonesia has indeed violated human rights in Papua.
The speech failed to address, for example, the progress of President Joko Widodo’s promise to investigate the killing of 4 Papuan high-school students in 2014. No reports have been made available to the public around this and other pressing matters such as killings in Wasior in 2001 and Wamena in 2003. A recent op-ed contended that these were not ordinary crimes but crimes against humanity.
Nara also did not talk about the 4,587 individuals who were arrested by the police for expressing their political views in regards with the Papua issue in 13 cities, as documented by the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.
On top of that, she spent a lot of air time explaining how Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for significantly longer periods compared to these 6 countries. She leveraged that membership status as a validation to the country’s ‘human rights commitment’.
This is a logical fallacy. In reality, Jakarta continues to maintain restrictions for human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and International Committee of the Red Cross from entering Papua. Becoming a member of a certain council hardly proved these allegations wrong. If anything, it should become an additional reason as to why the country needs to feel embarrassed about the hypocrisy at home.
Wrong focus
Some of my friends asked me to give Nara a break. After all, she was only representing her country. If anything, such response is far from surprising and rather predictable. Throwing in phrases like ‘territorial integrity’ and ‘sovereignty’ sounds like something that any other country would do in responding to such accusations at an international stage.
PROTEST HALTED. Papuan pro-independence activists, some in traditional tribal garb, march during a rally in Jayapura. AFP PHOTO
However, the issue goes beyond this. Even if we look past the messenger, the problem in Papua still exists, and the fact that the government of Indonesian preferred not to deal with it should alert us.
Thus what added to my disappointment was how mainstream media in Indonesia covered the issue. Instead of playing its role as the ‘fourth pillar’ that criticizes the government, many news outlets practically made her a heroine by echoing the flattering Facebook comments and further highlightsing how she looks.
It seems like nationalist sentiments—fueled by an ‘external threat’ from these Pacific countries’—distracted them from addressing the elephant in the room. Except for The Jakarta Post, most news seemed to avoid highlighting these allegations and instead talked about how beautiful and brave Nara was. In effect, social media discussions regarding this event rotated primarily around unproductive debates about her physical qualities.
Although concerns regarding Papua were expressed by only 7 small Pacific countries now, how will Indonesia—represented by Nara or anyone else—respond in the future, should they come from other geopolitically more powerful countries?
President Joko Widodo’s administration must know by now that something has to be done in Papua, and it should be done immediately.
Surely, we could not just continue deflecting every question with a ‘sovereignty’ card. – Rappler.com
Andhyta Firselly Utami graduated from International Relations program at Universitas Indonesia, and is currently a Master of Public Policy candidate at Harvard Kennedy School.
Andhyta Firselly Utami
Papua Merdeka News 