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National Gathering of Australian and Pacific West Papua Solidarity Groups meet in Brisbane

Media Release - June 13, 2005

Only two months after John Howard pledged Australian government support For Indonesia's territorial integrity, Australians from the National Coalition of West Papua Solidarity Groups met in Brisbane to plan how to secure justice for people in the restive Indonesian colony of West Papua.

"Australia's joint declaration with Indonesia overlooks the troubled and tragic state of West Papua, one of our closest neighbours. By ignoring potential genocide in West Papua, the Australian government runs the risk of West Papua becoming the next East Timor", says spokesperson Anne Noonan.

In a move that clearly signals that the government is out of touch with The Australian people on the issue of West Papua, twenty three leading organisers from West Papua Support groups in Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle, Byron Bay, Melbourne and Adelaide were joined by seven West Papuans and regional representatives from Vanuatu and Aotearoa/New Zealand for the second annual National Gathering of Australian West Papua Support Groups. Activists from support groups in the Northern Territory, Tasmania, Warrnambool, and Ballarat also sent messages of solidarity. The National gathering followed the recent successful international solidarity meeting in Manilla attended by representatives from around South East Asia (including Indonesia), West Papua, Australia, Europe, and the United States.

The national gathering took place just after two West Papuans, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage were sentenced to 15 and 10 years in jail respectively For peacefully raising the banned West Papuan flag on the anniversary of West Papua's Independence Day, 1st of December, last year. In a clear Departure from due process, Karma and Pakage's trial started early and the pair Was sentenced even before their lawyers arrived at court. West Papuan human rights activists report that thirty West Papuan supporters demonstrating outside the court were detained and scores of West Papuans were beaten and stabbed with bayonets by heavily armed police. Several protesters were taken to hospital. Inside the court house 3 of the West Papuans arrested by police were forcibly injected with an unknown substance while the presiding judge, Mr. A. Lakoni Hernie, recently returned from Indonesia's other troubled province in Aceh, brutally kicked and stomped on a West Papuan female detainee.

In face of this and other ongoing violations of the rights of West Papuans, the national gathering unanimously declared that Indonesian rule in West Papua is illegitimate and firmly resolved to continue and intensify support for the West Papuans peaceful struggle for freedom. Delegates particularly welcomed the Vanuatu Governments leadership and principled stand calling for observer status for West Papua at the forthcoming Pacific Island Forum in Port Moresby. Delegates rejected the Act of Free Choice as fraudulent and called on the Australian government to support a genuine process of self-determination in West Papua. Delegates demanded that the Australian government cease arming and training the Indonesian military and also pledged to organise around military backed theft of West Papuan natural resources and environmental recklessness by companies like Freeport/Rio Tinto, BP, and BHP-Billiton in the resource rich territory.

Groups represented at the second annual Australian Gathering of West Papua Support Groups included: Australian West Papua Association Brisbane, Australian West Papua Association Newcastle, Australian West Papua Association Sydney, Australian West Papua Association South Australia, Byron Bay West Papua Group, Indonesia Human Rights Committee  Aotearoa/New Zealand, Free West Papua Collective, Vanuatu Free West Papua Association, and the West Papua Australia Active Support Network.

For over four decades West Papuans have endured an illegal and often brutal occupation by the Indonesian military, to secure mineral wealth for Western transnational corporations and their Indonesian allies. Like the East Timorese before them, West Papuans are struggling to be free.

For interviews contact: Anne Noonan or Joe Collins on: 0407 785 797.

If phoning from outside Australia phone: +61 407 785 797. Alternatively Phone Jason McCloud on 0438 503 532. If phoning from outside Australia phone: +61 438 503 532.
 

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