Sarah Stephen
One of the passengers aboard the outrigger canoe that landed on Cape York peninsula on January 18 was a five-year-old child.
Reminiscent of so many stories of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, the boy's parents, high-profile West Papuan independence activists, were unable to escape and expect to die at the hands of the Indonesian military. To give their son some chance of surviving, they put him on a boat to Australia.
Herman Wainggai, a prominent student activist in West Papua, is another of those seeking political asylum in Australia. Australia West Papua Association member Alex Rayfield interviewed Wainggai in 2001. Wainggai told him, "For over 40 years we have been living under pressure from the Indonesian military. Our heart is crying for independence."
In a January 25 article on the New Matilda website, Rayfield wrote: "Wainggai says he is deeply committed to the pursuit of West Papuan independence through nonviolent means. When I first interviewed him in 2001 he had just come out of four months' jail for organising and participating in a rally and flag raising. When I returned to West Papua in 2002 he was in jail again for another nonviolent action, and was not released until 2004.
The article also described the fate of Wainggai's uncle, Dr Thomas Wainggai. "On 14 December, 1988, Dr Wainggai, together with several hundred other West Papuans, participated in an illegal flag raising. He was arrested by the Indonesian authorities and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. Several other leaders who helped organise the protest also received lengthy prison sentences. Dr Wainggai's Japanese-born wife was sentenced to six years' jail for simply sewing the flag used in the demonstration.
"Dr Wainggai died in prison in Jakarta in March 1996. The cause of his death is not known but many West Papuans suspect that he was murdered by the Indonesian military."
From Green Left Weekly, February 1, 2006.
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