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| Photo: Tommy Latupeirissa, outside the Parlaiment House, Canberra |
In recent months, Indonesian military and police have carried out assaults on non-violent activists. On Thusday 7 June 2012, TNI soldiers and DENSUS 88 commandos joined BRIMOB and local police in brutal operations against the villages in Angkaisera, Mantembu, Kamanap and Menawi in Yapen Island. Extra security from Kelapa Dua in Jakarta were sent in to back up the operation against the unarmed citizens.
Hundreds of houses were burned, forcing an estimated fifteen hundred people to abandon their homes and flee to the city (Serui). David Kaiba, a civil servant and District Officer for the Federated Republic of West Papua, was shot and tortured, but was able to escape detention.
Hundreds of houses were burned, forcing an estimated fifteen hundred people to abandon their homes and flee to the city (Serui). David Kaiba, a civil servant and District Officer for the Federated Republic of West Papua, was shot and tortured, but was able to escape detention.
The recent lethal rampage by the Indonesian military in the West Papuan town of Wamena where soldiers murdered unarmed civilians and set fire to buildings, is but one of many such brutal attacks that have occurred since Indonesia's violent take-over of West Papua in the 1960s, 'legitimised by a sham referendum called the 'Act of Free Choice' but known by West Papuans as the 'Act of No Choice.'
The UN has an obligation to protect, and also an obligation to right past injustice by sending UN monitors to West Papua and putting pressure on the Indonesian government to arrange a fair, UN monitored referendum. The Indonesian Government needs to allow unhindered access to international journalists and end impunity for their security forces. Australia, as a member of the UN has an obligation also to help put an end to atrocities such as the one that has occurred in Wamena.
There will be a peaceful demonstration organized by Australia West Papua Association ( AWPA ) and secretariat of Foreign Affairs Office of Federated Republic of West Papua coming up on June 15 outside Indonesian Consulate general in Melbourne and a continuation on June 28 outside the Parlaiment House in Canberra, to call for attention to the situation in West Papua.
Free West Papua! Bebaskan Papua Barat !!!!