MEDIA RELEASE, 30 JULY 2014
Old song, New singer: will Jokowi liberate West Papua?
During his two terms, outgoing Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono maintained the status quo with West Papua. West Papuans are hoping president-elect Widodo’s reign will be different.
With last week’s release of five West Papuan political prisoners, and with more foreign media shining a light on the human rights situation in West Papua, Indonesia is under increasing pressure to open the region to the outside world.
International law, as well as the Indonesian constitution, support the right of peaceful protest, but Indonesia’s arbitrary detention of peaceful political activists in West Papua contradicts this. Many West Papuans have been and continue to be jailed for what Indonesia calls makar (treason) and sentenced for up to 15 years in jail. Filep Karma, who peacefully raised West Papua’s Morning Star independence flag in 2004, was sentenced to 15 years after a conviction of makar. Forkorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waromi, who were among the five released last week, were jailed in 2011 after convictions of subversion for reading out a “declaration of independence”.
The crime of subversion, which accounts for so many West Papuan political prisoners, is an old Dutch law that President Sukarno reconstituted on 1 May 1963 — the day the United Nations gifted the territory and people of West Papua to Indonesia. Many West Papuans — and even their relatives — are arrested by Indonesian authorities for simply attending political demonstrations, being politically active or joining political organizations, or for engaging in civil resistance activities. Today there are at least 71 Papuan political prisoners.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s two terms in office have demonstrated the futility of Jakarta’s policies and practices in West Papua. Well-placed Indonesians in Jakarta claim Yudhoyono believes West Papua should be free but he doesn’t want to stand charged with violating his state’s long-standing policy of “territorial integrity”.
Jacob Rumbiak, a West Papuan academic who spent years in Indonesian jails, said: “The Indonesian state demands absolute loyalty from its citizens, and its institutions have always been charged with defending its territorial integrity.”
Most civil society groups in West Papua welcome Jokowi’s win and his campaign-declaration to allow foreign journalists into the region, but Rumbiak believes he will be as bound by centralism and territorial integrity as previous presidents.
“The big challenge awaiting Jokowi is tackling the underlying grievances of West Papua’s political status and international pressure on human rights abuses. Until these are addressed, the common saying in West Papua remains: ‘An old song sung by a new singer’”.
Rumbiak was speaking from the new West Papua office in Docklands. “West Papuans have always rejected the New York Agreement that rendered us Indonesian. It was drawn up by foreigners — principally the US, Netherlands, Indonesia, Australia — and set up the genocidal conditions for Melanesian West Papuans that are now, finally, being reported on” he said.
“The state we raised in 2011 is what West Papuans have determined they want. It stands on UN principles, not the machinations of a few unprincipled foreign governments. That’s why so many Australians are paying the rent on our office in Docklands — they believe in us, and the future of West Papua” he added
Peter Woods, who regularly visits West Papua, insists Australia’s national interest — and relationship with Indonesia — would be better served if Australian politicians addressed rather than ignored the Federal Republic of West Papua. “East Timor is a good example. Indonesia’s illegal occupation was accommodated by successive Australian governments, but eventually overthrown by the East Timorese people and the good citizens of the world. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be isolated in the region again. Australia should use its position in the UN Security Council to undo the travesty wrought upon West Papuans 52 years ago.”
