Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The West Papuan people have come out in their thousands to celebrate their National
Flag Day. The 1st of December is West Papuan National Day or National flag day .
Forty seven years ago on the 1st of December 1961, in the then Dutch colony of West
New Guinea, The West Papuan flag, called the Morning Star was flown for the first
time officially beside the Dutch Tricolor. At that ceremony, as the Morning Star
flag was raised, Dutch and Papuan military and police saluted and accompanied by a
marine band playing the national anthem, “My Land Papua”. The Dutch were finally
about to give the West Papuan people their freedom. However it is one of the great
tragedies that at their moment of freedom it was cruelly crushed and West Papua was
basically handed over to Indonesia in 1963. After 6 years administration of the
province, Indonesia held a sham referendum called the “Act of Free Choice” under UN
supervision. Only 1022 handpicked voters, one representative for approximately
every 700 West Papuans were allowed vote, and under coercion, voted to "remain with
Indonesia. The Papuans call this the “act of no choice”.
In West Papua (where the security forces were out in a show of force) celebrations
and rallies took place in Jayapura, Manokwari, Nabire , Sorong and the Mimika
district to celebrate the 1st December.
In Nabire up to 2500 held a rally and prayer meeting in the heroes cemetery watched
by up to 1000 military and police.
In Manokwari 2000 people marched through the centre of town carrying banners and
calling for independence from Indonesia. The Media reported that one man was
arrested and struck repeatedly by police after being caught carrying the banned
Morning Star flag. The police also questioned protesters who were carrying bags or
wearing T shirts with the Morning Star symbol on them.
In the highlands outside Wamena the OPM raised the Morning Star flag in celebration
and in the town of Wamena itself, West Papuans dressed in their best clothes or
covered themselves in mud as a symbol of mourning and walked about town.
In Jakarta West Papuans also protested demanding independence for Papua The
Demonstration in Jakarta was led by students some dressed in traditional attire.
They gathered in Central Jakarta, then marched on to the State Palace. They
chanted, “Free West Papua,” “independent West Papua,” “red and white (Indonesian
flag) no, “Morning Star” ,yes,” In their speeches they stated that they wanted
independence and accused Indonesia of colonizing West Papua and of committing
serious human right abuses against the Papuan people. (Other actions are reported
to have taken place in major centers in Java, Bali and Sulawesi).
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In Australia solidarity groups came out in support of the West Papuan people. In
Sydney the West Papuan flag was raised on 3 local town Halls. AWPA (Sydney ) thanks
the Marrickville and Leichhardt Council for their support for the West Papuan
people. The flag was raised by Rex Rumakiek, Patianus Kogoya , Councillor Max
Phillips of Marrickville Council and Mayor Jamie Parker of Leichhardt Council. A
representative of AWPA (Sydney) and IPAHR also attended. AWPA (Newcastle) also
arranged for the Newcastle Council to fly the Morning Star on their town hall. This
is the third year that Newcastle Council has flown the flag. In Melbourne a protest
took place outside the Indonesian Consulate where West Papuan community member
Richard Rumbiak spoke . (Apologises if anybody left out)
Other News
Papuans facing subversion charges: journalists warned not to report the case
From Tapol Jayapura, Monday Jawa Pos, 27 October 2008
According to a report in Jawa Pos, the local deputy police chief in Jayapura has
prohibited journalists from reporting anything about investigations into a
subversion case. The police officer warned that if journalists persist in pursuing
this case, they could be the victims of an accident on their way home (bisa
mengalami kecelakaan saat pulang). The warning came as TV journalists were in the
office of the director of criminal investigation of the Papua police. The
journalists were intending to follow the questioning of several persons as
witnesses in the case of the head of the Dewan Adat Papua, Forkorus Yoboisembut, the
general secretary of the Dewan Adat, Leonard Imbiri, and the chairman of the
committee for International Parliamentarians for West Papua, Buchtar Tabuni. 'Dont
investigate this question in the area of Polda (local police force). Your motorcycle
could end up having a crash.' said Borent, the deputy director. The journalists have
been seen sitting together, trying to decide how they should respond to this threat.
The head of public relations of the police, Agus Rianto has expressed his apologies
if anything untoward happens to any journalists.
------------
We have also seen the heading of a report in Jawa Pos as follows: Two persons are
declared suspects on charges of subversion in Papua, but have not be able to access
the full reports.
Scores of Papuans from the Coalition for Human Rights in Papua demonstrated in
Jayapura to reject the presence of the Indonesian military in Papua. The
demonstrators consisted mainly of youths as well as students from several
universities in Jayapura. They carried a single banner with the slogan: 'Stop
Praktek Militerisme di Papua: No space for Democracy in Papua.' When they arrived in
the capital, they encircled the fountain, shouting slogan and holding up their
banner. They then said prayers and listened to speeches. They call for space for
democracy in Papua and protested in particular against the actions taken by the
military and police against their action on 20 October. They were concerned about
the arrival of yet more troops in Papua, and went to the DPRP office (regional
assembly) to ask whether this was a policy taken by the regional council. 'We want
to know whether the DPRP is in agreement with the arrival of an unlimited number of
troops.' 'There are not that many of us here today because we were blocked by the
troops and the police on 16 October.' One speaker said that the presence of all
these troops did not make people feel calm. 'We reject the arrival of troops in
Papua. Why are so many of them coming here? Is there a war going on here?' asked
Buchtar Tabuni, one of the speakers.
They were very concerned about the repressive activities of the security forces on
16 October. [This was a demonstration welcoming the launch of the International
Parliamentarians for West Papua, which was held in London on 15 October.] The
Chairman of the DPRP, John Ibo spoke to the crowd and said that it was his intention
to hold a forum for a heart-to-heart talk with the people about this question of the
troops now in Papua. He was not able to say when this forum would be held as it
depended on the ability of the commander of the XVII Military Command in Jayapura to
attend.
Buchtar Tabuni initially questioned the decision to hold a forum but in the end he
agreed with the idea. A statement that was read out during the demonstration made
the following six points:
1.Put an end to the arrests and repressive actions of the security forces against
peaceful actions by the Papuan people2. Stop armed forces intervention into the
university campus.3. Take action against those responsible for the shooting of
Opinus Tabuni on 9 August last and the beatings of Buchtar and his colleagues on 20
October.4. Stop the legal processes now under way against the chairman of the Dewan
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Adat Papua, Forkorus Yaboisembut and other members of the board of the Dewan Adat.5.
Immediately halt the sending of both organic and non-organic troops to Papua.6. Call
for international intervention from a peace-keeping force from the UN, to help solve
the conflict in Papua.
Another committee member, Hanna S. Hikoyabi, said bridging the gap by engaging in
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more intense dialogue would serve everyone's interests better than passing
ineffective legislation on regional autonomy. "Don't let our feeling of trusts and
hope toward Indonesia diminish. That's why we're asking for dialogue," said Hanna,
who is also vice chair of the NGO Papuan People's Assembly. Another seminar speaker,
Yenny Rosa Damayanti of the Association of Indonesian Legal and Human Rights Aid
(PBHI) said problems Papuans face could not be detached from how the rest of
Indonesia regards Papuans. "Because we have different skin color and hair, we feel
they are 'the others', not brothers," she said. Such a view, she said, was clearly
manifested in how the army was operating in Papua. The majority of Indonesians
oppose military measures to solve conflicts, but they somehow applied a different
standard when it comes to matters involving Papuans. She proposed Indonesians
redefine what constitutes Indonesianness. "Is it only the Malay race? Is it only
Muslims?"
Special autonomy fails to help native Papuans: Seminar November 27, 2008
Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The special autonomy law has been in force for seven years in resource-rich Papua,
but has made little difference to the socio-economic and political conditions of its
indigenous people, a seminar concluded here Wednesday. The forum cited the influx of
migrants from outside the country's most eastern province as a factor which keeps
the indigenous people marginalized. Quoting a 2007 study by an Australian
researcher, Lea Kanisia Mekiuw, of the Merauke Archbishop's Justice and Peace
Secretariat, said the growth of the native Papuan population has fallen compared to
that of the newcomers, sparking concerns that the indigenous people could lose their
homeland to the latter. The study, conducted by Sydney University's Center for Peace
and Conflict studies research fellow Jim Elmslie, said that the annual growth rate
of native Papuans is only 1.67 percent, much slower than that of the non-native
Papuans, which is 10.5 percent.
In 1971, the indigenous Papuans constituted 96 percent of the province's total
population of 923,000 people. But in 2005, the proportion changed significantly to
59 percent of 2.65 million people.
If the growth rates of the two groups continue at the same pace, Elmslie projected
that in 2020, the ratio of native to non-native Papuans would stand at 30:70, and in
2030 the gap could be at 15:85. Frederika Korain of Jayapura Bishopric's Justice and
Peace Secretariat, speaking at the same event, said there was no official data on
the proportion of native to non-native Papuans. This could be an attempt by the
local and central governments to conceal the real conditions of the native Papuans,
she added. She said the special autonomy law, enacted in 2001, also had failed to
improve the social and cultural lives of indigenous Papuans. Eighty percent of
native Papuans are living below the poverty line, with most local jobs granted to
migrants instead of the typically poorly educated indigenous people, Frederika said.
"Freeport (the U.S.-based copper and gold mine company operating in Papua) has been
the country's biggest taxpayer since 1967, but 80 percent of native Papuans still
live in absolute poverty. Poverty pockets are evenly spread throughout almost all
Papua regencies," she said at the seminar, which was titled, Building a National
Support Constituency for the Fulfillment of Papuan Women's Rights, and organized by
the National Commission on Violence Against Women. Lea warned that millions of
hectares of forests have been and more would soon be destroyed due to the operations
of large mining, forestry and plantation firms.
She also said that the 2007 split of the region into Papua and West Papua provinces
had brought more negative impacts than benefits to the native Papuans, with many
locals being forced to compete with one another to find food to eat instead of
sharing an area. Other speakers in the seminar, all who came from Papua, also spoke
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of the poor education and health services in the province, as well as the conditions
of the local women. Many cases of physical and sexual abuses were reported against
native Papuan women, they added. They urged both the central and local governments
to be serious in implementing the 2001 specialautonomy law on Papua, including
giving the indigenous people the right to earn a better living.
From Tapol
Kompas, 21 November 2008
The mortality rate of mothers and babies is very high in the provinces of Papua and
West Papua because of a serious shortage of midwives, according to the director of
the Mothers' Health Department of the Indonesian Department of Health, Bagus
Sukasuara.
According to the Bureau of Statistics, in 2006 the death rate of mothers who had
given birth to live babies was 396 of 100,000, while 52 babies had died. The reason
is the lack of midwives and other trained personnel. In order to provide an adequate
service in the various villages, there is a need for 300 up to 1,500 people. And
moreover, he said, in Papua, these people need to wear good shoes and have strong
legs.
He said that he had made provision for a budget for 200 midwives for the area but no
midwives wanted to go there because conditions there are very different from other
parts of Indonesia.'The number of midwives has been declining from year to year,
because they have to move to other places with their husbands most of whom are
working for the police or the army. Without the provision of midwives who originate
from the area, things will continue to be very difficult. Something needs to be done
to deal with this problem,' he Another health worker said that one major factor was
the low level of access by key professionals. 'In Indonesia, the mortality rate for
mothers and babies is below 75%, which means that many mothers give birth with the
help of traditional practitioners. Although these practitioners are very
experienced, they are not trained to handle situations where complications may
occur. Professionals can be of assistance to the women's husbands and other members
of the family in planning for the moment of birth and dealing with complications to
ensure that both mother and child come through safely.
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The availability of primary and secondary school education is very fragile indeed
in Papua because of the absence of teachers in the kampungs, according to Governor
Barnabas Suebu. 'Teachers are all concentrated in the towns and cities. Whereas in a
town, there may be twenty teachers working in each school, the number goes down to
one per school in the kampungs. This is why education is so poor. He said that it
was not an easy thing to ensure an even spread of educational workers throughout
Papua, even though everyone says they want to see the availability of good quality,
cheap educational facilities. Many district chiefs are very enthusiastic about
opening universities but they pay little attention to primary and secondary
education, he said.
BHP's walkout follows noise in June from the Indonesia Investment Co-ordinating
Board that an investment deal, including a $US4.8 billion smelter, was about to be
announced.
Since June, nickel prices have continued to slide to levels that make the
Ravensthorpe laterite nickel operation in Western Australia unprofitable, while
global financial woes have worsened substantially. The Gag development has been
opposed by environmental groups due to the island's diverse marine life. In 2003,
television identity Andrew Denton attended BHP's annual general meeting in Melbourne
to protest against the company's proposed development on the island. BHP first
looked at mining on Gag in 1996, but the project stalled in 2000 when the Government
introduced forest protection legislatio
The local Government in the Indonesian province of West Papua has announced a bill
that would require some HIV patients to be micro-chipped. The Papuan Legislative
Council is proposing a new bylaw, targeting what they call "sexually aggressive"
people with HIV. Under attack from human rights groups, the council defended the
bill, saying it could help curb the viruses rapid increase. It's estimated that 2
percent of the population in West Papua suffer from the disease. Joe Collins is the
Secretary of the Australian West Papua association, and he condemns the use of
micro-chipping. Featured in story: Joe Collins: Secretary of the Australian West
Papua Association and Anne Noonan: NSW coordinator for the Medical Association for
the Prevention of War.
http://www.thewire.org.au/daydetail.aspx?SearchDay=2008-11-25
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