BY MAIRE LEADBEATER
AUCKLAND — A forest of West Papuan "Morning Star" flags and chants of "Free West Papua" and "Observer status now" greeted the arriving delegates of the Pacific Islands Forum at the Sheraton Hotel here on August 14. Sixty people, including West Papuans and solidarity activists from Fiji, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and Hong Kong joined the action, which was the highlight of a week of strategy discussions, campaigning and lobbying.
The previous weekend, 50 activists and guests from West Papua and Indonesia took part in the Fourth International Solidarity Conference for West Papua. Held on Nga Kete Wananga Marae, Manukau, it was the first time the conference had been held under the shelter of Maori culture and tradition and the first time it had been held in the Pacific.
Participants heard from the eight West Papuan representatives from the Papuan Presidium Council, the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and from human rights groups. Mama Yosepa Alomang, tiny in frame, mighty in impact, is an Amungme woman and leader who was awarded the Goldman environmental prize in 2000 for organising resistance to the Freeport mine and its destruction of rainforest, rivers and sacred mountains.
Delegates confirmed their unequivocal support for the right of the West Papuan people to national self-determination, condemned the renewed Indonesian military operations and the warned of the deterioration of human rights in West Papua. The activists affirmed the West Papuans' proposal to declare the territory a "land of peace".
It was decided to reinvigorate existing solidarity campaigns, such as the campaign to get the United Nations to review the discredited 1969 "Act of Free Choice", to have West Papua reinstated on the UN's list of non-self-governing territories and for international military sanctions against Indonesia.
During the Pacific Islands Forum, the West Papua issue was inescapable. OPM international spokesperson John Ondawame was inside the forum thanks to the Vanuatu government, which included him in its delegation. In the corridors of the Sheraton, solidarity activists held meetings and sought impromptu opportunities to meet with Pacific delegations.
A Civil Society Forum, broadly representative of Pacific non-government organisations, endorsed West Papuans' demands including the call for observer status at the PIF.
In the end, the PIF communique did not reflect the sympathy that was extended "off the record". The PIF's statement on West Papua reiterated references to Indonesia's "sovereignty" and Jakarta's discredited "special autonomy" proposal. Referring to the need for "human rights of all residents in Papua", the statement included a sentence urging Indonesian authorities to bring to justice the perpetrators of serious crimes.
Ondawame urged PIF leaders "to take the next step and call on Indonesia to enter a process of peaceful dialogue to consider all options for the future of the territory."
The solidarity conference and its activities have deepened the unity and respect between the solidarity activists and the West Papuan leadership. It has also heightened awareness of situation facing the people West Papua and created a more focused strategy towards the goal of a Free West Papua.
[Maire Leadbeater is part of the NZ-based Indonesia Human Rights Committee.]
Pic: http://www.indymedia.org.nz/front.php3?article_id=9832
From Green Left Weekly, August 27, 2003.
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