By. Zabrina Wirz
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| West-Papua-Map, Taken-from-googlemap |
The
world is finally taking notice of West Papua’s plight
West
Papua struggle for independence from Indonesia hal long been ignored by the
international community. a number of recent high profile events are helping to
change this.
Indonesia
annexed West Papua in 1969 under controversial circumstances. The Dutch had
initially retained west Papua after WW-II even after Indonesia won its
independence. Independent Indonesia continued to claim souvereignty over west
Papua but the dutch disagreed and
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| Indigenous People of the west papuan, Style with their traditional dance. [Ist Picture] |
prepared west Papuans for independence
throughout the 1950s. In late 1961 West Papua declared its independence over
Indonesian opposition, creating a national anthem and rising the Morning Star National
flag (though the extend of this independence is questionable as the dutch
continued to be present).
Nearly
immediately Indonesia, backed by the Soviet Union, began launching military
operations to try and forcibly retake the region. The United States, concerned
that Indonesia was being dragged into the soviet sphere, intervened in the
conflict and brokered the “New York Agreement,” wich was agreed to by
Indonesia, the dutch and other international parties in August 1962. The following
year it was ratified by the UN.
The
New York Agreement called for west papua to briefly become a UN protectorate
after wich time would be placed under Indonesia’s administrative control until
a referendum could be held where the west Papuan people would decide whether to
become and Indonesian province or and independent state. After taking control
of the region in 1963, however, Indonesian authorities launched a widespread
crack down on internal dissent and began
strictly regulating outsider access to region. Ultimately the long
promised referendum on independence was held in 1969. “the act of free choice”,
as it was ironically called, consisted of about one thousand elders the
Indonesian military had hand-selected voting unanimously to become a part of
Indonesia. West Papuans have been rebelleing against Indonesian rule ever
since.
It
times violent, but overwhelmingly peaceful, the west papuans’ quest for
autonomy has been met with relentless brutality by the Indonesian regime.
Estimates of the number of Papuans killed by Indonesian authorities range from
100,000 to 400,000 with some West Papuan activist claiming that the number is
actually over 500,000. There are also allegations of widespread torture, rape
and political imprisonment sometimes for crimes
as simple as rising “the morning star flag” – widely recognized as a
symbol of West Papuan independence.
The
international community has largely ignored west papuans’ pleas for sovereignty
and indonesia’s human rights abuses against the. This is due in no small part
to indonesia’s four-decade media blackout in the region. With journalists and
human rights groups essentially barred from entering two of Indonesia’s poorest
provinces (in 2003 “West Papua” was split into two provinces – Papua and West
Papua), the suffering of those indigenous to the region has been largely hidden
from the international community. This has allowed Indonesia to act with
impunity in the region without sparking a blacklist from abroad.
However,
recent eents have seemingly propelled the issue of West Papua into the international stage at
last.
This
began back in august with the “Freedom Flotilla” that attempted to travel from
southern Australia to West Papua. The aim of the Flotilla, wich was manned by
west Papuan exiles and Australian activist, was the raise awareness of the
human rights abuses in West Papua and the region’s quest for independence. The
Flotilla received much media attention after the Indonesian government forbade
the Flotilla from entering its water because of national security concerns, and
threatened to use force to ensure compliance if it became necessary.
The,
last month, there West Papuan activist scaled the walls of the Australian
consulate in Bali, Indonesia hours before Australian PM Tony Abbott arrived
there for the APEC summit. Once inside the consulate the activist delivered a
letter addressed to the Australian People in wich they asked Abbott and other
leaders attending the APEC summit to stand up for West Papua. The letter also
called for greater press freedom in the
region.
Around
the same time, two prominent West Papuan independence leaders – Benny Wenda who
was granted political asylum in the UK in 2003 and Filep Karma who is currently
serving a 15-year prison sentence for rising the Morning Star flag in 2004 –
were announced as nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. Altough there were 259
nominations, wenda and karma’s nomination raised the International community’s awareness
of the West Papuan’s freedom struggle, and added newfound legitimacy to their
cause.
The
most significant development however, was Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Moana
Carcasses Kalosil’s speech at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in
September. During the speech Kalosil
called fro the appointment of a UN special representative to investigate human
rights abuses in West Papua and for another investigation into the
circumstances surrounding Indonesia’s annexation of West Papua in the 1960’s.
Kalosil’s speech basically questioned the legitimacy of Indonesia’s rule over
West Papua, and in doing so at a UN meeting, paved the way for future
diplomatic discussions on West Papua’s right to independence.
While
these high profile events do not ensure immediate change for West Papuans, they
have served to increase awareness of their cause internationally and provided
West Papuans with hope for the future.
Resource : this article taken from THE DIPLOMAT,
http://thediplomat.com/asean-beat/2013/11/07/asias-palestine-westpapuas-indepndence-struggle/
Follow this link for indonesian version : http://suarakolaitaga.blogspot.com/2013/11/asia-palestina-perjuangan-papua-mereka.html