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Category: ULMWP

  • Reject Jakarta’s ‘divide and rule’ Papua provinces strategy, warns Wenda

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Indonesia is trying again to “divide and rule my people” by further carving Papua into three new provinces, warns interim president Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP).

    And he says that Jakarta is bringing in another 450 troops in to “violently enforce” its policies.

    “Indonesian troops torture and stab our bodies, international corporations slice down our forests and mountains, and now the Indonesian government is trying to divide our unity,” Wenda said in a statement.

    “We are not three separate regions – we are West Papuans, one people with one soul and one mission: freedom.

    “The people of West Papua have rejected these proposals, part of the renewal of the 2001 ‘Special Autonomy’ legislation.

    “Over 600,000 of us have signed a petition rejecting ‘Special Autonomy’. Even the head of the Papuan People’s Assembly, an institution set up by Jakarta, has rejected the sham programme.

    Wenda said ‘Special Autonomy’ was “a dead end”.

    ‘Indonesia has failed the world’
    “It is Jakarta’s wish. A referendum and full independence is our wish. Indonesia has failed the world, and failed the people of West Papua,” he said.

    To enforce this renewal of Special Autonomy, even more Indonesian troops were flooding into West Papua – 450 in the last month alone.

    At least 6000 new troops were sent in 2019 and more than 1000 more in 2020.

    “Indonesia is turning our land into a war zone, a martial law colony with military check points on every street corner,” Wenda said.

    “Civilian rule in Indonesia is a myth: the military still holds power. Retired generals experienced in genocide in East Timor continue to call the shots.

    “Indonesia has done this to us many times before. In 1963, they invaded our land. They held the fraudulent Act of No Choice in 1969, against the desires of all West Papuans.

    “At every turn, they have treated us like a colonised people, less than human. We are called monkeys, spat at, forced off our land.”

    Papuans rejected Indonesian law
    From 1 December 2020, Papuans had rejected all Indonesian law and formed the ULMWP Provisional Government.

    “We are no longer bowing down to Jakarta’s rule. I call on all my people to unite and refuse all Indonesian law. We are establishing our own sovereign government,” said Wenda.

    “As the legitimate representative of the people of West Papua, the provisional government is peacefully demanding the following:

    1.The withdrawal of all Indonesian troops from West Papua;
    2. An end to all forms of racism and discrimination against Melanesian West Papuans;
    3. Immediate access to West Papua for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in accordance with the call of 83 international states;
    4. Cancellation of ‘Special Autonomy’ and an immediate referendum on independence; and
    5. For all international states and multinational corporations to cease any and all funding for Jakarta’s ‘Special Autonomy’.”

    Wenda saidf the international community must help to force Indonesia to negotiate by withdrawing all support for the “failed ‘Special Autonomy’ project”.

    “The world may be banned from seeing what is happening in West Papua. But we can see it,” Wenda said.

    And we are going to peacefully continue our long struggle for freedom until the world finally hears our cry.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • State-sanctioned racism against West Papuans ‘shows Jakarta’s true agenda’

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda.

    “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian elites have made clear their racist plans to destroy Melanesian West Papuans as a distinct people,” said Wenda in a statement.

    Last month retired General Hendropriyono, former head of the Indonesian intelligence agency (BIN) and special forces (Kopassus) general, claimed that two million West Papuans should be separated from their Melanesian brothers and sisters in the Pacific and moved to the island of Manado in Indonesia.

    “This is racial ethnic cleansing, a genocidal fantasy at the highest levels of the Indonesian state,” Wenda said.

    Last week, one of President Jokowi’s most prominent supporters called a leading West Papuan human rights defender a “monkey”, the same racial slur that sparked the 2019 West Papua Uprising.

    Ambronicus Nababan, chair of the Pro Jokowi-Amin Volunteers (Projamin), made the racial comment about Natalius Pigai, former head of Indonesia’s leading human rights group.

    “These remarks stand in a long tradition. When Indonesia invaded our land, General Ali Moertopo said the Papuan people should be transferred to the moon,” Wenda said in the statement.

    ‘Obstacle to development’
    “In 2016, General Luhut Panjaitan said the Papuans should be transferred to the Pacific. Indonesia’s rulers have always seen us as sub-human, as an obstacle to ‘development’ that needs to be ethnically cleansed and killed.

    “My people rose up against this racism and colonisation in 2019. Thousands of students returned from the rest of Indonesia in an exodus from racism, dozens were killed by Indonesia, and hundreds arrested.

    “The Indonesian state punished those who spoke out with over 100 years of collective prison time. The killers and racists in the army, police and state-backed militias were allowed to go free.”

    These are not just statements from Indonesian officials, Wenda’s statement said.

    They were linked to the military operations that had displaced more than 60,000 people since December 2018. The racist attitudes “justify treating us as second-class citizens, torturing and imprisoning us for exercising our rights to free expression under international law”.

    Indonesia’s settler colonial project in West Papua had been built on racism.

    Wenda said this was why the ULMWP provisional government was formed on December 1 last year.

    ‘We are no longer accepting Indonesian law’
    “We are no longer accepting any Indonesian law, policy or proposal. We will not bow down to Indonesian rule any more. The provisional government is issuing the following four points:

    1. We reject all forms of Indonesian law enforced in West Papua;
    2. We support the 83 countries demanding Indonesia allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into West Papua;
    3. The solution to West Papuan suffering is an independence referendum; and
    4. All West Papuans must unite behind the provisional government.

    “It is time to end this: no more torture, no more displacement, no more killing, no more discrimination. To all my people, those who are working in the Indonesian government, in the civil service, professionals, exiles, lawyers, those inside, in the highlands, coasts, islands and towns – we are no longer Indonesian citizens.

    “We are forming our own Melanesian nation. Come behind the provisional government, and we will peacefully reclaim our country and refuse Indonesia’s illegal occupation of our territory.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ULMWP accuses Indonesia of ‘ethnic cleansing’, aggression against Papuans

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Indonesia has pursued a strategy of aggressive arrests and violence against peaceful demonstrations for independence since the announcement of a provisional government of West Papua and rejection of Jakarta’s “Special Autonomy” renewal last month, reports the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

    ULMWP chair Benny Wenda was named interim President of the provisional government on 1 December 2020 as the Papuan people roundly rejected renewal of the failed 2001 Special Autonomy law.

    Highlighting the vast resources the Indonesian state is dedicating to crushing dissent over  renewal of Special Autonomy status across West Papua, a large convoy of heavily-armed police vehicles was photographed heading toward demonstrations in Manokwari last week on January 11.

    On January 7, West Papuan activist Alvarez Kapisa was arrested by Indonesian security forces.

    Kapisa helped organise meetings where West Papuan’s overwhelmingly asserted their rejection of the colonial special autonomy law, calling for their legal right to self-determination, decolonisation and independence.

    Nine more Papuans were arrested in Biak and Supiori between January 4-7 by joint Indonesian military and police patrols for questioning over their support for Benny Wenda’s provisional government and rejection of special autonomy.

    In Biak, they include Yusup Daimboa, Soleman Rumayomi and Yermias Rabrageri, as well as five villagers in Supirori.

    In Serui, Frans Kapisa, Yonathan Ruwayari and Yuliana Rumbara have also been detained. The International Lawyers for West Papua has released a statement condemning their treating.

    KNPB leader abducted
    On January 4, at 5pm, popular activist and National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) leader Naftall Tipagau was abducted by police intelligence agents, alleged ULMWP.

    The husband and father was attacked and dragged into a black van in front of his family, in Intan Jaya, where military operations have displaced over 13,000 people.

    He is yet to be released and no charges have been made by police.

    Tipagau actively reported in Intan Jaya, where the Indonesian military has recently killed Papuan priests.

    The recently discovered Wabu Bloc of gold reserves is planned for extraction by Freeport McMoran, the mining company responsible for decades of environmental destruction and human rights abuses at the Grasberg gold and copper mine in West Papua.

    Papuans and political leaders around the world were horrified on January 6 as plans for a complete “ethnic cleansing” of Papuans were revealed by Indonesian General Hendropriyono.

    Plan to remove Papuans
    The retired Kopassus general and former head of the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency (BIN) declared his proposal to forcibly remove two million Papuans from their homeland and replace them with Indonesians.

    He stated his plans for Indonesia to “transmigrate these two million people to Manado and move two million Manadonese over to Papua. What for? So that we could racially separate them from Papuans in PNG, so that they could feel more like Indonesians instead of foreigners”.

    This plan for ethnic cleansing matches the history of Indonesian population management, described as settler colonialism by a recent study.

    In 1985, the head of the Indonesian “Transmigration” policy of population resettlement described the aim of the programme thus: “The different ethnic groups will in the long run disappear because of integration, and there will be one kind of man.”

    That same day, on January 6, Indonesian forces tortured and killed Mispo Gwijangge, a Papuan who was only 14 years old when he was first arrested in 2018. The 16-year-old boy was falsely charged with the killing of 17 Indonesian soldiers in Nduga, and was imprisoned and tortured for 333 days.

    In Serui, Papuan elder and chairman of West Papua National Authority (WPNA) Waropen regency, Jeremias Rabrageri, was arrested by colonial Indonesian forces on December 30 along with his son, Reiner Rabrageri, after declaring his support for Benny Wenda’s provisional West Papuan government.

    In the week before Christmas, 4850 TNI soldiers were deployed to West Papua to assist the Indonesian police. TNI soldiers were placed throughout West Papua to shut down the peaceful demonstrations marking two decades of failed special autonomy that ended on January 1 and the displays of support for Benny Wenda’s provisional government.

    Confession to torture
    This deployment comes alongside a confession on December 23 by an Indonesian military chief that TNI soldiers tortured, murdered and burned two West Papuan brothers in their custody, alleges ULMWP.

    The bodies of Luther and Apinus Zanambani were then thrown into a river in April 2020.

    This is not the only recent execution carried out. On 26 October 2020, Catholic Catechist Rufinus Tigau was also murdered by the TNI in a village raid.

    On the anniversary of Indonesia’s 1961 attempted invasion of West Papua, on December 19, Indonesian police arrested both Indonesians and Papuans who came together to peacefully protest 59 years of human rights abuses.

    Lombok was the signing place of a notorious treaty between Indonesia and Australia, in which the latter promised to avoid upsetting Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua.

    Indonesian police attacked West Papuan students peacefully protesting against Indonesian human rights abuses, arresting 18 students in Nabire on 10 December 2020.

    Fourteen members of the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) were also arrested in Merauke and accused of treason on December 12, including chairman of the Merauke branch Charles Sraun, by Indonesian police, who also destroyed the KNPB office. They remain incarcerated and their families have been denied visitation rights.

    Media investigate Indonesian propaganda
    In December, Australian and British media began investigating the Indonesian government’s use of propaganda and fake social media accounts.

    Indonesian intelligence has been running a coordinated social media campaign to discredit the West Papuan independence movement, attributing online posts supporting Indonesia’s colonisation to UK politicians and Australian officials.

    This followed a Bellingcat investigation exposing Indonesia’s creation of fake profiles to disseminate pro-occupation propaganda that have flooded Facebook and Twitter in the past 12 months.

    On 12 January 2021, the Netherlands became the 83rd international state calling for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be allowed into West Papua.

    This comes after similar calls by the UK government on November 11 following a declaration of concern over killings of Papuans by Indonesian forces by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ULMWP accuses Indonesia of ‘ethnic cleansing’, aggression against Papuans

    Part of the militarised police convoy at Manokwari, West Papua. Image: ULMWP

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Indonesia has pursued a strategy of aggressive arrests and violence against peaceful demonstrations for independence since the announcement of a provisional government of West Papua and rejection of Jakarta’s “Special Autonomy” renewal last month, reports the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

    ULMWP chair Benny Wenda was named interim President of the provisional government on 1 December 2020 as the Papuan people roundly rejected renewal of the failed 2001 Special Autonomy law.

    Highlighting the vast resources the Indonesian state is dedicating to crushing dissent over  renewal of Special Autonomy status across West Papua, a large convoy of heavily-armed police vehicles was photographed heading toward demonstrations in Manokwari last week on January 11.

    On January 7, West Papuan activist Alvarez Kapisa was arrested by Indonesian security forces.

    Kapisa helped organise meetings where West Papuan’s overwhelmingly asserted their rejection of the colonial special autonomy law, calling for their legal right to self-determination, decolonisation and independence.

    Nine more Papuans were arrested in Biak and Supiori between January 4-7 by joint Indonesian military and police patrols for questioning over their support for Benny Wenda’s provisional government and rejection of special autonomy.

    In Biak, they include Yusup Daimboa, Soleman Rumayomi and Yermias Rabrageri, as well as five villagers in Supirori.

    In Serui, Frans Kapisa, Yonathan Ruwayari and Yuliana Rumbara have also been detained. The International Lawyers for West Papua has released a statement condemning their treating.

    KNPB leader abducted
    On January 4, at 5pm, popular activist and National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) leader Naftall Tipagau was abducted by police intelligence agents, alleged ULMWP.

    The husband and father was attacked and dragged into a black van in front of his family, in Intan Jaya, where military operations have displaced over 13,000 people.

    He is yet to be released and no charges have been made by police.

    Tipagau actively reported in Intan Jaya, where the Indonesian military has recently killed Papuan priests.

    The recently discovered Wabu Bloc of gold reserves is planned for extraction by Freeport McMoran, the mining company responsible for decades of environmental destruction and human rights abuses at the Grasberg gold and copper mine in West Papua.

    Papuans and political leaders around the world were horrified on January 6 as plans for a complete “ethnic cleansing” of Papuans were revealed by Indonesian General Hendropriyono.

    Plan to remove Papuans
    The retired Kopassus general and former head of the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency (BIN) declared his proposal to forcibly remove two million Papuans from their homeland and replace them with Indonesians.

    He stated his plans for Indonesia to “transmigrate these two million people to Manado and move two million Manadonese over to Papua. What for? So that we could racially separate them from Papuans in PNG, so that they could feel more like Indonesians instead of foreigners”.

    This plan for ethnic cleansing matches the history of Indonesian population management, described as settler colonialism by a recent study.

    In 1985, the head of the Indonesian “Transmigration” policy of population resettlement described the aim of the programme thus: “The different ethnic groups will in the long run disappear because of integration, and there will be one kind of man.”

    That same day, on January 6, Indonesian forces tortured and killed Mispo Gwijangge, a Papuan who was only 14 years old when he was first arrested in 2018. The 16-year-old boy was falsely charged with the killing of 17 Indonesian soldiers in Nduga, and was imprisoned and tortured for 333 days.

    In Serui, Papuan elder and chairman of West Papua National Authority (WPNA) Waropen regency, Jeremias Rabrageri, was arrested by colonial Indonesian forces on December 30 along with his son, Reiner Rabrageri, after declaring his support for Benny Wenda’s provisional West Papuan government.

    In the week before Christmas, 4850 TNI soldiers were deployed to West Papua to assist the Indonesian police. TNI soldiers were placed throughout West Papua to shut down the peaceful demonstrations marking two decades of failed special autonomy that ended on January 1 and the displays of support for Benny Wenda’s provisional government.

    Confession to torture
    This deployment comes alongside a confession on December 23 by an Indonesian military chief that TNI soldiers tortured, murdered and burned two West Papuan brothers in their custody, alleges ULMWP.

    The bodies of Luther and Apinus Zanambani were then thrown into a river in April 2020.

    This is not the only recent execution carried out. On 26 October 2020, Catholic Catechist Rufinus Tigau was also murdered by the TNI in a village raid.

    On the anniversary of Indonesia’s 1961 attempted invasion of West Papua, on December 19, Indonesian police arrested both Indonesians and Papuans who came together to peacefully protest 59 years of human rights abuses.

    Lombok was the signing place of a notorious treaty between Indonesia and Australia, in which the latter promised to avoid upsetting Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua.

    Indonesian police attacked West Papuan students peacefully protesting against Indonesian human rights abuses, arresting 18 students in Nabire on 10 December 2020.

    Fourteen members of the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) were also arrested in Merauke and accused of treason on December 12, including chairman of the Merauke branch Charles Sraun, by Indonesian police, who also destroyed the KNPB office. They remain incarcerated and their families have been denied visitation rights.

    Media investigate Indonesian propaganda
    In December, Australian and British media began investigating the Indonesian government’s use of propaganda and fake social media accounts.

    Indonesian intelligence has been running a coordinated social media campaign to discredit the West Papuan independence movement, attributing online posts supporting Indonesia’s colonisation to UK politicians and Australian officials.

    This followed a Bellingcat investigation exposing Indonesia’s creation of fake profiles to disseminate pro-occupation propaganda that have flooded Facebook and Twitter in the past 12 months.

    On 12 January 2021, the Netherlands became the 83rd international state calling for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be allowed into West Papua.

    This comes after similar calls by the UK government on November 11 following a declaration of concern over killings of Papuans by Indonesian forces by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Confusion reigns over real reasons for burning of missionary plane in Papua

    Pacific Media Watch correspondent

    The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader.

    A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the Intan Jaya regency, Papua province.

    The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) or OPM (Papua Liberation Organisation) were alleged to have opened fire on the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) aircraft.

    The shooting and blaze also sparked different responses from the leader of the KINGMI Synod on the Land of Papua, the interim president of the ULMWP, the TPNPM spokesperson and Indonesian police officers.

    Jubi reports that the Head of Public Relations of the Papua Police (Kombes Pol), Achmad Mustofa Kamal, said the aircraft was set ablaze when it landed at Pagamba Airport, Nabire City, Papua.

    The MAF PK-MAX aircraft piloted by an American citizen, Alex Luferchek departed from Nabire airport carrying two passengers from the local community bound for Pagamba (MAF’s pioneering airport), Biandoga district, Intan Jaya regency.

    About 09.30am, pilot Luferchek reported via radio to the MAF office that the plane had landed at Pagamba airport.

    Pilot secured by priests
    When the pilot got off the plane, somebody – allegedly from an “Armed Criminal Group” (the Indonesian security description for TPNPB) – came with a gun. He fired a shot into the air while telling the pilot to duck.

    The pilot was secured by priests and the community and taken to to Kampung Tekai, the border between Kampung Bugalaga and Kampung Pagamba, Mbiandoga district, Intan Jaya regency.

    According to Sebby Sambom, an international spokesman for the TPNPB, the reports he had received were only related to the shooting. His party did not yet know about the burning of the MAF aircraft.

    Sambom said that the arson was reported by Indonesian media to “build a bad narrative” against the TPNPB.

    “We’re freedom fighters. The ones who have developed this burning aircraft issue are the Indonesian media,” he said.

    Sambom also said that the shootings carried out by the TPNPB were not arbitrary. His party had learned that the TNI/POLRI used missionary planes to transport Indonesian military and their logistics.

    Benny Wenda, acting President of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, told Pacific Media Watch by telephone that the ULMWP was the umbrella organisation for independence groups.

    Struggle through ‘peaceful means’
    He said the ULMWP struggle was a struggle through peaceful means.

    He added that the enemy of TPNPB was the Indonesian army, not humanitarian workers and that West Papuans always “respected missionaries and other humanitarian workers” for their sacrifices and services to the people of the West Papua region.

    “The shooting that took place (on January 4) was two days after the statement made by the former head of the State Intelligence Agency, Hendropriyono, that some missionaries had been involved using the church’s channels in an effort to liberate Papua from Indonesia,” said Wenda.

    Retired general Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono from Kopassus, the Indonesian Army special forces group is also the first head of Indonesia’s State Intelligence Agency (BIN).

    Wenda, who is currently living in Oxford, United Kingdom, as interim President of West Papua-in-exile, says his party is fighting for the independence of West Papua through peaceful means.

    “In our policy it is very clear that, we do not take any harmful action against missionaries or any other humanitarian workers, because it would violate international law,” said Wenda.

    He said the public could not simply accept the news reported by Indonesian authorities because an incident like this had happened because it is likely it was was “fabricated by the Indonesians”.

    Asked whether the OPM was a terrorist organisation, Wenda said: “West Papua does not have terrorists. In fact, it was Indonesia who came to Papua as terrorists killing Papuans with modern weapons”.

    This report has been compiled by a special Pacific Media Watch freedom project correspondent.

     

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Confusion reigns over real reasons for burning of missionary plane in Papua

    Pacific Media Watch correspondent

    The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader.

    A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the Intan Jaya regency, Papua province.

    The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) or OPM (Papua Liberation Organisation) were alleged to have opened fire on the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) aircraft.

    The shooting and blaze also sparked different responses from the leader of the KINGMI Synod on the Land of Papua, the interim president of the ULMWP, the TPNPM spokesperson and Indonesian police officers.

    Jubi reports that the Head of Public Relations of the Papua Police (Kombes Pol), Achmad Mustofa Kamal, said the aircraft was set ablaze when it landed at Pagamba Airport, Nabire City, Papua.

    The MAF PK-MAX aircraft piloted by an American citizen, Alex Luferchek departed from Nabire airport carrying two passengers from the local community bound for Pagamba (MAF’s pioneering airport), Biandoga district, Intan Jaya regency.

    About 09.30am, pilot Luferchek reported via radio to the MAF office that the plane had landed at Pagamba airport.

    Pilot secured by priests
    When the pilot got off the plane, somebody – allegedly from an “Armed Criminal Group” (the Indonesian security description for TPNPB) – came with a gun. He fired a shot into the air while telling the pilot to duck.

    The pilot was secured by priests and the community and taken to to Kampung Tekai, the border between Kampung Bugalaga and Kampung Pagamba, Mbiandoga district, Intan Jaya regency.

    According to Sebby Sambom, an international spokesman for the TPNPB, the reports he had received were only related to the shooting. His party did not yet know about the burning of the MAF aircraft.

    Sambom said that the arson was reported by Indonesian media to “build a bad narrative” against the TPNPB.

    “We’re freedom fighters. The ones who have developed this burning aircraft issue are the Indonesian media,” he said.

    Sambom also said that the shootings carried out by the TPNPB were not arbitrary. His party had learned that the TNI/POLRI used missionary planes to transport Indonesian military and their logistics.

    Benny Wenda, acting President of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, told Pacific Media Watch by telephone that the ULMWP was the umbrella organisation for independence groups.

    Struggle through ‘peaceful means’
    He said the ULMWP struggle was a struggle through peaceful means.

    He added that the enemy of TPNPB was the Indonesian army, not humanitarian workers and that West Papuans always “respected missionaries and other humanitarian workers” for their sacrifices and services to the people of the West Papua region.

    “The shooting that took place (on January 4) was two days after the statement made by the former head of the State Intelligence Agency, Hendropriyono, that some missionaries had been involved using the church’s channels in an effort to liberate Papua from Indonesia,” said Wenda.

    Retired general Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono from Kopassus, the Indonesian Army special forces group is also the first head of Indonesia’s State Intelligence Agency (BIN).

    Wenda, who is currently living in Oxford, United Kingdom, as interim President of West Papua-in-exile, says his party is fighting for the independence of West Papua through peaceful means.

    “In our policy it is very clear that, we do not take any harmful action against missionaries or any other humanitarian workers, because it would violate international law,” said Wenda.

    He said the public could not simply accept the news reported by Indonesian authorities because an incident like this had happened because it is likely it was was “fabricated by the Indonesians”.

    Asked by Pacific Media Watch, whether the OPM was a terrorist organisation, Wenda said: “West Papua does not have terrorists. In fact, it was Indonesia who came to Papua as terrorists killing Papuans with modern weapons”.

    This report has been compiled by a special Pacific Media Watch freedom project correspondent.

     

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Rival OPM leaders dispute Papuan ‘independence’ declaration

    Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

    A renewed declaration of independence by an exiled West Papuan leader has stirred a negative response from other Papuan independence fighters who are part of the West Papua liberation army force clashing with Indonesian security troops.

    The rival fighters have rejected the peaceful unilateral claim of independence and in particular the claim that Benny Wenda is Papua’s provisional president, reports CNN Indonesia.

    On December 1 – West Papua’s national flag day when protests across Indonesia and globally each year raise the banned Morning Star flag in defiance – the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) chairperson Benny Wenda declared Papuan independence.

    He did not make the declaration on Papuan soil but rather through a press release
    on the ULMWP’s official website.

    In his declaration, Wenda said that he would no longer submit to the constitution and Indonesian law and that Papua will have its own laws and constitution.

    Aside from declaring Papuan independence, Wenda also stated that he had been appointed as the interim president of the provisional administration of the republic of Papua.

    “Today, we announce the formation of the West Papua provisional administration. We are ready to take over our territory, and we will no longer submit to Jakarta’s illegal military laws,” Wenda said.

    “Starting today, December 1, 2020, we will begin to apply our own constitution and reclaim our sovereign land.”

    Hot debate in news media
    Indonesian news and current affairs programmes such as on TV One have hotly debated the diplomacy challenge raised by Wenda. Two prominent human rights advocates have spoken out in support of West Papuan right to self-determination.

    Commentators on Indonesian television hotly dispute Benny Wenda’s diplomacy challenge over West Papua’s future. Image: TV One PMC screenshot

    The declaration has been disputed by other Papuan independence fighters who are part of the West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organisation (TPNPB-OPM).

    “Starting today December 2, 2020, we from the TPNPB-OPM National Committee Central Management Office declare a motion of no confidence in Benny Wanda,” said TPNPB-OPM spokesperson Sebby Sambon in a written release.

    The OPM believes that the claim of independence announced by Wenda will actually damage the Papuan people’s unity who are in the midst of an immediate struggle.

    Sambon even accused Wenda of working in the interests of foreign capitalists from the European Union, the United States and Australia.

    This, claimed Sambon, conflicted with the revolutionary principles of the Papuan nation.

    “According to international law Benny Wenda declared and announced his state and claim in a foreign country, namely in the country of the British monarchy, this is totally wrong and cannot be accepted by any sensible person,” he said.

    ‘No significant impact’ says military
    Wenda’s declaration of Papuan independence has not had any significant impact on the situation in Papua itself, claim Indonesian military leaders.

    The spokesperson for the Indonesian military’s (TNI) Joint Defence Area Command III, Colonel Czi IGN Suriastawa who said that so far the situation in Papua was “still favourable”.

    Suriastawa said that the declaration by Wenda is a matter for law enforcement officials and the TNI could only confirm that the situation in Papua was currently under control.

    “It’s pretty smooth in Papua. Let the police deal with BW (Benny Wenda) because [his declaration] leans in the direction of makar [treason, rebellion, subversion],” he said.

    Despite this, House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I member Sukamta has asked the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo not to take Wenda’s declaration lightly.

    According to Sukamta the government must immediately deal with this protracted problem through a comprehensive approach so that Papua did not suffer the same fate as East Timor which separated from Indonesia.

    “Don’t treat this development lightly, we don’t want Papua to end up like East Timor.

    “Shootings and attacks on the security forces and civil society are still continuing, showing that the situation in Papua is not yet stable,” said Sukamta.

    Declaration of independence
    Although it is widely held that West Papua declared independence from Indonesia on 1 December 1961, this actually marks the date when the Morning Star (Bintang Kejora) flag was first raised alongside the Dutch flag in an officially sanctioned ceremony in Jayapura, then called Hollandia.

    The first declaration of independence actually took place on 1 July 1971 at the Victoria Headquarters in Jayapura where the OPM raised the Morning Star flag and unilaterally proclaimed West Papua as an independent democratic republic.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was
    “Pecah Kongsi Benny Wenda dan OPM Soal Papua Merdeka”.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.