A Peace-making Ceremony for West Papuan leaders at Fatumaru Bay on 1 December 2014, before the Solidarity March to the Malvatumauri National Council of Chief’s Nakamal in Saralana Park. The ritual was led by Maraki Vanuariki Peace-Chief Masato and Chief Morris Kaloran, whose formal relationship with West Papua began in November 2002 with the Sanap Waintaim Ceremonial on Australian Aboriginal land in Maribyrnong and All Saints Anglican Church in St Kilda (Melbourne). The two nations’ Kastom and Faith based relationship deepened with the Unity Declaration in Port Vila on 1 December 2007 by the West Papua National Authority, Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs. The ritual in 2014 was pivotal to the success of the Vanuatu Government’s ‘Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders’ and the formation of a united representive body to draw up West Papua’s application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group in June 2015
On 28 Novembe 2014, the Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs renewed its kastom and political relations with Federal Republic of West Papua executives in a village ceremony organised and managed by the Women’s Group. The Council represents the Tongoa-Shepherd Islanders within the SHEFA Province of Vanuatu. Chief Morris Kaloran initiated the relationship in November 2002 on Australian Aboriginal land during the Sanap Wantaim Ceremonial in Melbourne. Relations deepened during the Council’s Summit for West Papua in December 2007, which concluded with the signing of the Unity Day Declaration in Port Vila by the West Papua National Authority, Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and the Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs. The ceremony in 2014 was marked by the donation of $1,000 (for the Federal Republic of West Papua to buy a pig) by a single mother in South Korea, with money she had been saving for her childrens’ education.
A Procession of Gifts within a Solidarity March opened the Vanuatu Government’s ‘Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders’ in December 2014. During the Summit, a committee of West Papuans in exile was constituted to draft West Papua’s application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group. The Committee (United Liberation Movement for West Papua) was constituted in response to the MSG demand that a united representative body underwrite the application. (Sec-Gen Octo Mote and Jacob Rumbiak are from Federal Republic of West Papua; Leonie Tanggahma and Rex Rumakiek are from West Papua National Coalition for Liberation; Spokesperson Benny Wenda is from the West Papua National Parliament). The Summit was moderated by the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu Christian Council, and Pacific Conference of Churches. On 4 February 2015, the Vanuatu Government, surrounded by these influential institutions, lodged the application with the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila. .
The Committee (United Liberation Movement for West Papua) was constituted in response to the MSG demand in June 2014 that a united representative body underwrite the application. (Sec-Gen Octo Mote and Jacob Rumbiak are from the Federal Republic of West Papua; Leonie Tanggahma and Rex Rumakiek are from the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation; Spokesperson Benny Wenda is from the West Papua National Parliament).
The Summit was moderated by the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu Christian Council, and Pacific Conference of Churches, and on 4 February 2015, the Vanuatu Government, surrounded by these influential institutions, lodged the application with the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila
West Papuan independence leader Jacob Rumbiak has queried Australia’s ongoing financial support and military relations with Indonesia after the Red-White Coalition (Suharto’s New Order) garnered all the leadership positions in the Indonesian Parliament.
Gallery of photos from the Unity Day Port Vila Vanuatu Declaration in Vanuatu, 29 November 2007. credit; Tommy Latupeirissa
VANISHING TRIBES: UNHEARD VOICES FROM WEST PAPUA is an interactive, illustrated, EBook that tells a fictional story based on real events in West Papua. It is a tribute to the Melanesian people of this island nation and their unstoppable determination to be free of a corrupt and brittle state. The main character is Vivi, a Papuan teenager, who wants to join her brother in the fight for survival against the modern Indonesian Republic. The authors, illustrators, and technicians of this EBook are sophisticated political activists, and their production is informative, colourful, logical, artistic, accessible, and FREE. Students (and their teachers) will find the EBook’s own WIKI helpful in understanding why Papua’s indigenous people are steeped in misery as involuntary Indonesian citizens. Their story is a modern history of realpolitik, militarism, self-determination theory v practice, and even how not to be a good neighbour.
(http://www.vanishingtribes.net/vtribes-web-browser.html)
Captioned photographs by Tommy Latupeirissa and David Waingai of the opening of the FRWP Department of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, and Trade in Docklands (Melbourne) on 23rd June 2014.
The Indonesian government has claimed it is releasing the President and Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of West Papua (FRWP) on Monday 21 July 2014. President Forkorus Yaboisembut and Prime Minister Edison Waromi were convicted of treason, along with Selfius Bobbi, Agus Karar, and Domiinikus Sorabut, after the 3rd Papua Congress established the independent state of West Papua on 19 October 2011.
“No justice, No peace, No autonomy in West Papua”
Anglican priest returns from war-zone
Peter Woods, Anglican priest and regular visitor to West Papua, said he was appalled by the militarism and the grinding poverty that he found in Manokwari last week, eighteen months after his last visit.
Councilor Amanda Stone from the Yarra City Council is cutting the ribbon on the Federal Republic of West Papua’s new office in Docklands (Melbourne) on Monday 23 June 2014. This is despite the Lombok Treaty, signed by Australia and Indonesia in 2006, which outlaws any demonstration of the Indonesian colony’s independence.
From Abepura Prison Edison Waromi calls on international support to end the Republic of Indonesia’s colonial occupation of West Papua.
