WEST PAPUA AND THE INTERNATIONAL LAW: WHERE TO NOW WE’RE A MEMBER OF THE MELANESIAN SPEARHEAD GROUP? Open Day, West Papua Rent Collective SUNDAY 26 JULY 2015: 2-4pm DFAIT (Federal Republic of West Papua) Suite 211, 838 Collins St, Docklands…

PRAYING FOR THE MELANESIAN SPEARHEAD GROUP (MSG) ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, MELBOURNE MONDAY 15 JUNE 2015:5pm Three days before the Melanesian Spearhead Group Summit in Honiara (Solomon Islands), the Revd Heather Patacca is leading prayers at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. …

The Women’s Office of the Federal Republic of West Papua is hosting a Candle Light Vigil in City Square, Melbourne, on Friday 5 June 2015 (5.30-7.30pm). The ceremony is one of a suite of efforts by communities around the world to encourage the prime ministers of Papua New Guinea and Fiji to accept West Papua’s application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

The MSG is an intergovernment body comprised of PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Kanaky (New Caledonia) independence movement. West Papua’s application was prepared by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), and lodged with the MSG Secretariat by the Vanuatu Government on 4 February 2015.

The ULMWP was elected to prepare the application by West Papuan leaders during the Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders in Port Vila in December 2014. The Summit was inspired by the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (South Korea, 2013), supported by Gereja Kristen Injili (the most influential church in West Papua), sponsored by the Vanuatu Government, and moderated by the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu Christian Council, and Pacific Conference of Churches.

Rather than embrace West Papua’s application, PNG Prime Minister O’Neill and Fiji Prime Minister Bainimarama have pledged their nations’ support for an Indonesian-government application whereby a delegation of five Indonesian-state governors would become an Associate Member of the MSG.

O’Neill said his arrangement with Indonesian president Widodo was designed ‘to ensure peace, stability, and development for Melanesian people in Papua and West Papua’. Within days of the announcement, Indonesian police arrested seventy West Papuans participating in a peace rally in Manokwari, their use of tear gas forcing a school of kindergarden kids into hospital with breathing problems.

FRUIT OF THE VINE: a comprehensive deal between the Australian trade union movement and the Federal Republic of West Papua. On Friday 15 May 2015, the Australian Trade Union movement signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal Republic…

Friends of the Federal Republic of West Papua (FRWP) will gather at the DFAIT Office in Docklands on Sunday 3 May to celebrate twelve months of hard work and significant achievement. Two events will mark this special day.

Catholic Bishop Hilton Deakin, widely recognised for his support of East Timor’s liberation, will review Dr Greg Poulgrain’s ground-breaking research The Incubus of Intervention: conflicting Indonesian strategies of JF Kennedy and Allen Dulles. Dr Poulgrain is also the author of The Genesis of Konfrontasi: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia 1945 -1965, and lectures in Indonesian history at the University of the Sunshine Coast. His ‘incubus of intervention’, published in Malaysia in January 2015, casts even more shadows over Indonesia’s notorious acquisition of West Papua in 1962.

Richard Muggleton is showing and talking about his photographs of the equatorial glacier in West Papua (near the Freeport mine) for the first time. Mr Muggleton was the photographer for two teams of Australian scientists studying the retreat of the glacier in 1971 and 1973.

Friends and supporters, especially the West Papua Rent Collective, are urged to come and bear witness to the significant shifts in West Papua’s political milieu since the office opened twelve months ago. Office management will be happy to accept birthday presents in the form of new members of the Rent Collective.

The event begins with lunch cooked by the famous Papuan Chefs from the Women’s Office.

Sunday 3 May: 12 to 3pm

Department of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Trade (Federal Republic of West Papua)

Suite 211, 838 Collins Street, Docklands Victoria 3008

Tel: 03 9049 9590/9591; Email: frwpwomensoffice@gmail.com

Photo: Tommy Latupeirissa 2007

Supporting West Papua’s application to join Melanesian Spearhead Group in June 2015.

Since the Vanuatu Government’s ‘Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders’ in December 2014, the (elected) committee of West Papuans has drawn up and presented a comprehensive application for full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

The Summit in Port Vila was moderated by the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, the Pacific Conference of Churches, and the Vanuatu Council of Christian Churches. On 4 February 2015, the Vanuatu Government, surrounded by these powerful institutions, lodged the committee’s application with the MSG Secretariat.

Monday 2 February 2015
Suite 211, 838 Collins St, Docklands

The new West Papua Womens Office is hosting a DAY OF ABSTINENCE AND PRAYER to support West Papua’s application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

Foreign Affairs Office of the Federal Republic of West Papua (FRWP) commemorates 3rd anniversary this Sunday, 19 October 2014.

Special guests: Drs. Jacob Rumbiak, academic, diplomat, theologian, former political prisoner Black Orchid String Band Louise Byrne, Australia West Papua Association (Melbourne)

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