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From Downing St and an Indonesian torture cell: two men join together freedom

Oxford Papuan Rights Campaign - December 21, 2004

Two years ago, whilst West Papuan tribal leader and independence activist, Benny Wenda, was being tortured in an Indonesian prison cell, Oxford MP Andrew Smith was sitting at the Cabinet table in 10, Downing Street with Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw as the Labour Government's then Secretary of State for Work & Pensions.

Since then, both men have undertaken both real and metaphorical life journeys which yesterday led them somehow to be standing side by side at a joint Press Conference on a December day in Oxford speaking with one voice in their call for West Papua to be given the chance to choose independence in a free and fair referendum overseen by the United Nations.

Benny Wenda escaped from prison, slipped across the jungle border into Papua New Guinea and eventually found his way to safety in England -- entrusted by his people with a mission to tell the outside world that the time has come for the international community to step in and help end the 40 year long oppression of the West Papuan people by Indonesia. Meanwhile, Andrew Smith resigned from the Cabinet last September and found himself for the first time in years with a backbench MP's freedom to follow his instinctive belief in universal human rights and the existence of an international community, in the real sense of the word, by taking the initiative himself and actively campaigning for West Papuan rights.

At the Press Conference in Oxford yesterday (20.12.04), Mr Smith explained:

"One of the privileges of being an MP, especially in an international city like Oxford, is sometimes getting to hear about international crises before they hit the news headlines. A constituent warned me that something terrible was going to happen in Rwanda long before the genocide actually took place.

I am convinced that West Papua is a part of the world which is going rapidly to move up the news agenda -- like a new East Timor. During my time in the Government, the Oxford Papuan Rights Campaign regularly brought the situation in West Papua to my attention, but apart from passing it on to the Government, I couldn't doing anything more to help. My constituents have had to be very patient with me. But now, since resigning from the Government in September, I am able make public my strong support for the rights of the West Papuan people for genuine self-determination. This is an international campaign, supported by politicians in the US, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. I am one of the most senior politicians backing the West Papuan cause.

The West Papuans were promised by their former colonial rulers, the Dutch, that they would be given a genuine chance to determine their own future. What they actually got was cruelly called the "Act of Free Choice" -- but it was certainly neither "free", nor a "choice"! It was one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the United Nations, because the UN was given the responsibility of ensuring that the Act was free, fair and democratic -- and it clearly failed in its duty to the West Papuan people.

That's why I have written to Kofi Annan, calling for the UN to review its role in the Act of Free Choice. Once the truth is out, I want the UN on behalf of the whole international community to open negotiations with Indonesia so that a new referendum can be held in which the West Papuans can freely choose between independence or staying part of Indonesia.

I have also tabled Parliamentary Questions, asking the Foreign Secretary to give me the Government's position on a UN review of its role in the Act of Free Choice and also about what the Government can do to prevent the continuing appalling human rights abuses which are tasking place in West Papua right now.

When I get the replies I will ask more questions and then more questions ... and do everything I can to work with West Papuan campaigners to raise the West Papua issue up in the agenda, both in Parliament and in the country as whole. West Papua is a very important issue which needs to be dealt with now by a concerted effort by the whole international community.

I am very glad of this opportunity to meet Benny Wenda today and look forward to working closely with him and other West Papuans in the future."

For Benny Wenda, the meeting was a profoundly moving occasion:

"This is the first time in my life that a senior politician from an important country like the UK has supported my people's struggle. I want to thank Mr Andrew Smith from my heart on behalf of all the people of West Papua. At last, my people have a voice which will be heard in the world.

I am here in England, but my heart is with my people who are suffering back in West Papua. I will do everything I can with Andrew Smith to bring freedom for West Papua."
 

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