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AWPA welcomes National Party resolution to investigate human rights abuses in West Papua

Australia West Papua Association (Melbourne) Press Statement - September 17, 2005

Australia West Papua Association (Melbourne) welcomes the National Party's Resolution No. 11 calling on the Liberal Party, its coalition partner in government, to investigate human rights abuses in West Papua. The motion was put to the National Party's national convention today in Canberra by Wendy Duncan, President of the National Party (WA).

The National Party's concern for West Papuans is timely. On Friday 9th 2005, West Papua university students from all over the Indonesian archipelago gathered in Manado (North Sulawesi/Celebes) to demonstrate against the acquittal of two Indonesian generals who'd been charged with the murder of sixteen students in Abepura on 7 December 2000. Central to the students' demands was a manifestation of true democratic values rather simulations designed to appease the international community. Early this morning, after high-level intimidation by Indonesian police from Jakarta, Makassar, and West Papua, the students' cancelled their conference.

International concern for the security problems posed by the Indonesian occupation of West Papua is escalating. Recently the House of Representatives in USA passed Resolution 2601, calling on the Bush government to do its duty and investigate human rights abuses in West Papua, evaluate Special Autonomy, and review the Act of Free Choice (1969). The European Union recently called for a United Nations Peacekeeping Force to be installed in West Papua.

These spotlights of awareness and concern are seriously undermining the confidence of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government, whose policies in the resource-rich province have reached a state of paralysis. Recently he moved the headquarters of the East Indonesian Airforce from Makassar to Biak Island (off the north coast of West Papua), and is now moving the headquarters of the Indonesian Navy from Surabaya (East Java) to Sorong (on the west coast of West Papua). In the past months, thousands of TNI troops have been secretly landed throughout West Papua.

Inquiries: Louise Byrne (61 3) 9510 2193
 

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