Category: News alert

West Papuan people preparing for fresh wave of independence protests demanding referendum

Bintang Papua

The chairman of the KNPB, the National Committee of West Papua, Buchtar Tabuni has told the press that his organisation is preparing to consolidate and mobilise large numbers of people to occupy town centres across West Papua to draw international attention to the cause and, making the following demands:

Pepera, the Act of Free Choice is unlawful and must be handed back. A referendum should be held as soon as possible. International Parliamentarians for West Papua, the IPWP, and International Lawyers for West  Papua, the ILWP, together with the Vanuatu government should facilitate efforts to challenge the legal and political status of West Papua at the UN. And the KNPB wants to mediate the referendum by the people.

‘This is the most democratic way forward,’ he said, ‘as the way leading to independence. The idea to hold a referendum came from the Majelis Rakyat Papua, the Papuan People’s Council.’

He said that the referendum is the middle way towards resolving the West Papua conflict. The pepera occurred in the 1960s, with a huge amount of manipulation, violating basic international standards.

At the present moment, this matter is before the international community, a move to convince the UN to understand the illegality of Papua’s status as part of the Indonesian republic, NKRI. The IPWP and the ILWP were set up to press for these issues to be taken to the UN, and its members have been lobbying governments in their respective countries.

The process has been promoted by the Vanuatu parliament and government which have agreed to take the issue to the UN, namely to the International Court of Justice, and seek an opinion about the political status of West Papua. Similar pressure is under way by the governments of the PNG and the UK. [Comment: There is little evidence at the moment that this statement is true.]

The  process needs to be supported by the mass of the Papuan people, solidly demanding a referendum. The international community is beginning to underrstand what the Papuan people want while Jakarta is closing its eyes and doing nothing to seek a solution, even though thousands of people have demonstrated in support of the decisions of the MRP.

Papuans need to recognise that Indonesia is a colonial power which cannot be expected to find a solution by means of a referendum.

On 2 August, a campaign will begin to point out that the pepera took place at a time of brutal military repression in Papua. This will be the moment when the Papaun people’s  rejection of pepera will become part of a national campaign throughout the territory of West Papua.

Undercover video report on West Papua independence struggle

As part of their feature series on the independence struggle in West Papua, leading UK publication The Economist has produced this video from its special undercover correspondent.
http://www.youtube.com/v/V_vWnGK-Dj8&hl=en_US&fs=1

Online Graphic Novel on West Papua

(Edit – this is the original 2010 version of the Graphic Novel which has now been updated in 2014.  For more information on the updated and rewritten 2014 version,  please see Permalink: https://westpapuamedia.info/2014/05/30/new-interactive-online-graphic-novel-on-west-papua-now-available-on-almost-any-device )

 

Dear Friends,

Please help us help humanity by reading and encouraging other adults to read the graphic novel at http://www.papuanvoices.com. (Does not yet work on mobile phones.)

The Illustrator and I have chosen to release the first three chapters (60 pages) now, given the urgency of the content but also because we can update and add to this “flip book” over time. (Try your scroll wheel to flip pages.)

If you care about disappearing cultures and biodiversity, you can help raise the world’s awareness of West Papua by forwarding this appeal to your friends and colleagues, or by letting them know about this through Facebook, Twitter or word-of-mouth.

If you enjoy the beautiful illustrations in this book and you come to appreciate the global significance and dire urgency of its story, please tell others about http://www.papuanvoices.com.

The Author

Photos and UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN PUNCAK JAYA

UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN PUNCAK JAYA
9 July 2010

Report by Piron Moribnak, Puncak Jaya

First part :
On Friday, 9 July 2010 TNI/Polri forces shot dead a TPN/OPM member sent from the Tingginambut headquarters in Kampung Jambi. NUMBUNGGA GIRE died at the hands of the Indonesian security apparatus and was then cremated by OPM members and villagers in Kampung Jambi. No picture could be attached to this report since the access from Kota Mulia to the place was blocked by military forces. Source: Witness from Kampung Jambi (D. GAME).

Second part
In May, I sent a report on two churches and villager’s houses torched down by Indonesian military in two villages in Tingginambut District, Yarmukum and Pilia. At that time, I did not have any pictures to testify. Here are a few pictures of the brutalities committed then by the TNI forces against villagers’ properties. These houses were burnt down by INDONESIAN MILITARY.


Picture 1 : Houses were torched down by military, forcing villagers to live in shelters, Tingginambut District. Picture taken by Dopes Morib

Picture 2 : An example of the Indonesian military perpetuated arsons : the GIDI church in Yarmukum, May 2010, Tingginambut District.

Picture 3 : A woman searches the ashes of an Indonesian military torched house for an axe or a knife, Pilia GIDI church, Tingginambut District.

(WPmedia note: Other photos were also included in the report but were not included as they do not show any significant evidence. see below)

(not included:
Picture 4 : A woman and her children appear helpless after their house was burnt down. They are now forced to live in a shelter under the banana trees (which doesn’t appear in the picture), Tingginambut District.
Picture 5 : A villager’s house that was also torched by the Indonesian military in Yarmukum, Tingginambut District.
Note – this image does not show any clear evidence of arson)

Freeport Mine in West Papua secretly producing uranium

News items from Bintang Papua, abridged in translation

Shocking news has been received about Freeport-Indonesia, namely that this company which operates one of the largest copper mines in the world has for the past eight months been secretly producing and exporting the most sought after mineral, uranium, which is the basic requirement for nuclear reactors and for the production of nuclear weapons.

This is in breach of its contract of work, which covers the mining of copper, whereas the mining of other minerals such as the mining of gold, coal and non-petroleum products was made public during the 1990s.

‘This is clearly a case of theft because the mining of uranium is not mentioned in the contract of work,’ Yan Mandenas, chairman of the Pikiran Rakyat group in the Papuan provincial legislative council, DPRP. told Bintang Papua.

‘We are closely following the mining of uranium with the help of informants within the Freeport company as well as in the district administration, and from NGOs and  the general  public,’ said Mandenas.

Mandenas said that since Freeport is located within the territory of the province of Papua, the government of West Papua and the DPRP cannot take any action against this massive company.

‘It is very difficult for us to enter the area because of the highly complex bureaucracy, while the products are transported through pipes.’  Nevertheless, the DPRP is using all resources as its disposal  to keep an eye on the company.

It should be recalled that the conflict between Iran and America which is now before the UN Security Council is focused on Iran’s possession of uranium. As is known there are two functions for uranium, one for peaceful purposes and one for the production of nuclear bombs.

Attempts to contact the manager for corporate communications of Freeport, Budiman Moerdijat were not successful.

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