Foto pengibaran bendera bintang kejora. /ANTARA/Husyen Abdillah.
PIKIRAN RAKYAT – Sebuah laporan intelijen mengungkapkan pemerintah Australia memiliki bukti kuat bahwa militer Indonesia menembakkan peluru tajam tanpa pandang bulu ke sekelompok demonstran Papua Barat yang tidak bersenjata di pulau Biak pada 6 Juli 1998.
Peristiwa tersebut dikenal sebagai Tragedi Biak Berdarah. Biak berdarah merupakan salah satu kasus pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia (HAM) yang belum terselesaikan. Saat itu militer yang seharusnya menjadi garda depan pelindung masyarakat, justru membunuh masyarakat, dikutip dari komnasham.go.id, Selasa, 21 September 2021.
Menurut The Guardian yang menerima laporan intelijen itu, kelompok hak asasi manusia (HAM) mengatakan pengusutan tragedi Biak itu saat ini berada di tangan pemerintah Australia karena sudah mengetahui kekejaman militer Indonesia.
Meskipun ada seruan yang konsisten untuk penyelidikan independen terhadap pembantaianBiak, Australia tidak membagikan buktinya kepada dunia.
Laporan intelijen juga menunjukkan orang Papua Barat secara diam-diam menyerahkan bukti foto kekejaman kepada petugas intelijen Australia, meski ada risiko besar bagi keselamatan mereka sendiri.
Film ini didistribusikan ke pertahanan, tetapi tidak pernah diusut. Tampaknya bukti foto itu telah dihancurkan pada tahun 2014.
“Jika Pertahanan menghancurkan bukti foto dari dugaan pelanggaran maka itu tidak masuk akal dan harus ada tinjauan menyeluruh terhadap kebijakan tentang bagaimana bukti pelanggaran hak asasi manusia ditangani,” kata Pearson kepada The Guardian.
“Setiap bukti dugaan pembantaian harus dikumpulkan dan dilestarikan. Mengapa tidak dikirim ke Kantor Hak Asasi Manusia PBB jika Australia tidak akan menindaklanjutinya,” katanya.
Investigasi atas pembantaian di Biak itu dapat dilakukan oleh Kantor Hak Asasi Manusia PBB, sementara penyelidikan parlemen dapat menyelidiki tanggapan pemerintah Australia dan penanganan buktinya.
Menurut Guardian, Pemerintah Indonesia telah membantah atau meremehkan pembantaian di Biak, awalnya menyalahkan tsunami 1.000 km jauhnya ketika mayat-mayat yang dimutilasi mulai hanyut di pantai pulau Biak.
Australia hanya memberikan tanggapan yang diredam terhadap laporan kekerasan terhadap aktivis Papua Barat yang berkumpul di Biak hari itu, mengungkapkan keprihatinan tetapi tidak pernah mengeluarkan kecaman langsung atau menyerukan penyelidikan PBB.
Laporan intelijen yang baru dirilis, disusun oleh atase militer yang dikirim ke pulau Biak lima hari setelah serangan, menunjukkan bahwa pemerintah Australia memiliki bukti serius tentang kekejaman itu selama 23 tahun.
Laporan tersebut dirilis oleh Arsip Nasional Australia menyusul tindakan di Pengadilan Banding Administratif oleh juru kampanye Anthony Craig dan firma hukum Xenophon Davis.
Petugas yang menulisnya, Dan Weadon, membagikan bukti dari para saksi yang melihat “banyak darah dan mayat” dan mengetahui “setidaknya 20 orang yang terbunuh. Sekitar 200 demonstran (sisanya tewas atau terluka) kemudian ditangkap.”
Disimpulkan bahwa kemungkinan besar militer Indonesia telah menggunakan kekuatan berlebihan terhadap para demonstran, kemudian membersihkan lokasi dan mengintimidasi para saksi.
Pearson mengatakan Australia harus “mendesak Indonesia untuk menindaklanjuti janji Jokowi pada 2018”.
“Selama lebih dari 50 tahun, Indonesia secara ketat membatasi akses ke Papua dan Papua Barat untuk jurnalis asing dan pemantau hak asasi manusia sehingga sangat sulit untuk menyelidiki tuduhan pelanggaran hak asasi manusia yang serius,” katanya.
“Ada banyak laporan pembunuhan, penyiksaan, penahanan sewenang-wenang, dan pemindahan paksa yang tidak pernah dimintai pertanggungjawaban oleh siapa pun,” ujar Pearson.***
John Gratton Wilson has taken his message about the plight of the West Papuan people to the world. KATRINA LOVELL reports about his connection to a country he says few people know about.
Every day Warrnambool’s John Gratton Wilson will put on one of the 10 T-shirts in his drawer that contain slogans calling for freedom for West Papua.
Even if it is hidden under his jumper in winter, you can be sure he is probably wearing one.
The message emblazoned on the T-shirt sits right across his chest in a symbolic gesture towards a topic that he holds close to his heart. John is passionate about the issue and he is not afraid to tell anyone who will listen. “Some people call it an obsession,” he said. “I’m a 71-year-old activist.
“Most of the world wouldn’t have a clue where West Papua is.”
John will wear one of those T-Shirts, no matter where in the world he might be.
“I’ll go to other parts of the world to let the Indonesians know that we’re not happy,” he said. “I’ve been to Vanuatu, I’ve been to New Zealand, I’ve been to Washington, been to Prague.
“I go to the Indonesian embassies in those countries, fly the flag and wear the T-shirt.”
He said the T-shirts had attracted many positive reactions from the strangers he will pass by while on his travels, whether that be in Spain or Cuba. “I will often get the thumbs up,” he said.
Just three months ago when he was in Prague, he went to the Indonesian Embassy and stood on the footpath outside with his flag and was very vocal about calling for freedom for West Papua. John said he was just wrapping up his flag and getting ready to leave when the police turned up, followed by an intelligence officer a few minutes later.
“They speak Czech and I speak English. There was a bit of argy-bargy that went on – I was supposed to get a permit to demonstrate. Nothing came of it and I walked back home,” he said. John said somebody had to make the world aware of what was going on in West Papua.
In June, while he was visiting his daughter in Canada he took his flag down to the harbour where the cruise ships arrive, and for an hour or so for four days he raised the Morning Star flag on a stick and talked to anyone who would listen.
On his last day, after being told by security to move on, he stopped an elderly couple in their 90s and discovered the man had been a marine stationed in West Papua during World War II. “He said: ‘Bloody glad someone’s working to help the poor buggers we left behind,” John said.
“I mean damn it, these people helped our troops in the Second World War. They were also helping the Americans and the Dutch and the English stave off the Japanese invasion of Australia. They made a significant contribution,”
he said.
This year for the first time the south-west branch of the Australian West Papua Association marched in Warrnambool’s Anzac Day parade in honour of their efforts, and also participated in Rememberance Day.
John, who moved to Warrnambool about two years ago after living in Mortlake for 36 years, has the Morning Star flag permanently flying above his house. “I did the same in Mortlake, and it gets a bit tattered,” he said.
A new flag arrived in the mail late last month just in time to fly on December 1, the anniversary of the day the Dutch declared the country’s independence and its Morning Star Flag was first raised. John said people in West Papua were now not allowed to fly the Morning Star flag in their own country. “If they can’t do it, I’ll do it for them,” he said.
A gathering on the Civic Green on December 1 included a flag-raising ceremony and a choir sang the West Papua national anthem. He said the flag-raising ceremony had been taking place in Warrnambool for about two decades, and the south-west branch of the the Australian West Papua Association has about a dozen members who raise awareness of the plight of the people in West Papua.
John said he had written many letters and emails to Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, but had never received a reply. He said both major parties had ignored the issue.
Most of the world wouldn’t have a clue where West Papau is.
John Gratton Wilson
The group also raises money from selling T-shirts, badges and book stalls to send to West Papuan refugees who are in camps on the border in Papua New Guinea. The money goes towards helping the refugees with their health and education needs.
John said he only learned about the situation in West Papua after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami which killed 250,000 people, mainly in Sumatra and Aceh.
“We put our hand in our pocket, we didn’t have a lot of money. I think we gave $400 to the tsunami relief,” he said.
John said an Amnesty International report from about five years ago found that at least 100,000 people had been killed in West Papua since the 1960s. “That’s 40 people a week for 50 years,” he said, although he believes locals put that figure as high as 200 a week and consider it a genocide.
In 2011, John visited West Papua on a bird-watching trip to the Arfak Mountains.
“It was like Kokoda, it was very tough. On the first day of the trip the bird guide went into the bush, grabbed a stick and whittled this stuff on it with his machette, great big bush knife, and then came over to me and put it in front of me. And while he had his hand on it, I grabbed the stick and I said ‘Papua merdeka stick’ and his face lit up. Somebody else knew what was going on in his country,” he said.
Merdeka means Papua freedom, and the stick forms part of John’s collection of West Papuan items which also includes a whole shelf in his book case filled with books, DVDs and CDs.
John is also passionate about conservation and sustainabilty, and while he has an electric car it is also a chance to drive home his message about West Papua. The number plate reads: “WPAPUA”.
He has only been to West Papua once. “I don’t imagine they would let me in again,” he said, admitting that he didn’t expect to get a visa when he went in 2011 after he’d written so many letters to the embassy.
His passion for the West Papuan people increased after his visit, and fighting stage four prostate cancer that has metastisised and spread to the lymph sytem and bones hasn’t dampened his enthusiam.
John Gratton Wilson flies the Morning Star flag out the front of his Warrnambool home. Picture: Rob Gunstone
“Sooner or later it’s going to catch up with me. I just keep on. You can’t give up on these people.”
He said the United Nations was the only one who could fix the situation in West Papua after it gave the approval for Indonesia to take over the region in 1963 .
“For the locals it’s all been going down hill ever since,” he said. “It’s right on our door step. West Papua is closer to Queensland than we are to Melbourne. Apart from Papua New Guinea it’s our nearest neighbour and we look the other way.”
He said the country was rich in both copper and gold and was home to the world’s largest gold mine and third largest copper mine.
John said he has been heartened by the growing support for self-determination for the indigenous rightful owners of the land. He said while he was also concerned about the injustices towards other indigenous populations around the world, his focus was on West Papua because it is Australia’s closest neighbour.
Pada pertemuan yang berlangsung di Gedung Convension Center ini, selain Vanuatu, Marshal Islands menyatakan bahwa presidennya meminta negara negara ACP-EU segera mendukung kebijakkan Marshal mendukung perjuangan rakyat Papua Barat ke PBB. Wakil PNG mendesak pemerintah Belanda dan negara negara anggota EU harus bertanggung jawab terlibat langsung dalam masalah Papua Barat.
Utusan khusus Samoa menguslkan agar nemua negara anggota PIF segera mengeluarkan resolusi saat meeting di Samoa 6 September 2017 dengan sasaran utama membawa masalah Papua langsung ke PBB. Sedangkan wakil Portugal menjelaskan bahwa Perjuangan Papua identik dgn Timor Leste sehingga ACP-EU sudah ada gambaran jelas tentang masalah Papua Barat yang patut diselesaikan lewat prinsip PBB yg telah dilalui oleh Timor Leste terhadap Indonesia selaku regim penjajah asing di Timor Leste dan juga terhadap Papua Barat.
Isu West Papua akan menjadi satu bagian resolusi pertemuan ini.
Vanuatu seruhkan acp-EU makes a resolution about West Papua. Vanuatu requested:
– the parliament of acp-EU can voice their concerns and they can support Papua Rights, including the rights of the self-determination – as diseruhkan 8 Pacific countries for justice and respect to the right to determination.
– they can get the bodies between regional and global governments like the African Union, CARICOM and regional multilateral and other regional sub to provide resolution and limit commercial relationships and others with Indonesia.
– as a country member of the un-Country State of acp-EU can demand an international referendum (or at least re-registered to the territory without a government-Decolonization).
– support with one of the proposed resolution of the resolution-EU parliamentary meeting in October and also resolution about West Papua to be adopted at the council’s council meeting in November 2017.
– URGENT MEMBER OF THE ACP-EU Parliament to urgent governments to handle West Papua problems at multilateral level and help indonesia complete 54 years of this crisis.
A lifelong campaigner for a free and independent West Papua has issued a stark warning to New Zealand politicians as he visits the country this week.
Benny Wenda with wantok students at the Auckland University of Technology this week. Image: Del Abcede/PMC
Benny Wenda, a tribal chief of West Papua exiled to the United Kingdom by Indonesia, told Asia Pacific Report that time was running out for West Papua if governments such as New Zealand do not act.
“If we live with Indonesia for another 50 years, we will not be safe. We will not be safe with Indonesia.”
He said the purpose of his visit to New Zealand was to highlight the importance of West Papua returning to its Melanesian family.
“We really need Pacific Islanders, our sisters and brothers across the Pacific – particularly New Zealand and Australia – to bring West Papua back to its Pacific family. Then we can survive. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to survive with Indonesia,” he said.
Since Indonesia took over West Papua following a controversial Act of Free Choice – dubbed by critics as an “Act of no choice” – in 1969, Wenda said his people had suffered.
“Everyday someone is dead, or has been killed, and someone has been stabbed, but no one is brought to justice.”
Human rights violations
In its rush to claim former Dutch colonies in the Asia-Pacific region following West Papua’s self-declared independence from the Netherlands in late 1961, Indonesia has subjected West Papua to continued human rights violations.
Many West Papuans have been imprisoned for non-violent expressions of their political views and widespread allegations of torture have been consistently made against Indonesian authorities.
Raising West Papua’s flag – the Morning Star – can incur 15 years in prison.
Wenda, the 42-year-old founder of the Free West Papua Campaign, has himself been imprisoned, accused of inciting an attack on a police station — despite the fact he was not even in the country at the time.
With foreign media all but denied access to West Papua – despite apparent lifting of restrictions by President Joko Widodo in 2015 – much of Indonesia’s atrocities remain secret, hidden.
It is for these very reasons, Wenda said, that West Papua was fighting.
“We are fighting for our independence, but we are also fighting for our land, our forest, our mountains.”
“Lifelong” Free West Papua advocate Benny Wenda says New Zealand support is integral to the global campaign. Image: Kendall Hutt/PMC
New Zealand support sought Wenda is calling for the New Zealand government’s integral commitment to the campaign for a free West Papua.
He said this was because New Zealand had a duty, as a part of the Pacific, to raise awareness of the atrocities in West Papua.
“West Papua is a very close neighbour, so that’s why I hope the New Zealand government will speak more about the human rights situation in West Papua.”
Wenda said it was high time for New Zealand to pull away from its business, trade and investment focus with Indonesia and speak about Indonesia’s human rights abuses.
New Zealand “needs to do more” as a country, he said, because New Zealand is a country which is meant to value human rights, respect the rule of law, freedom of speech and the right to self-determination in other parts of the world.
It is therefore time for New Zealand’s foreign policy on West Papua to change.
“West Papua’s hope is Australia and New Zealand. This is a regional issue, this will never go away from your eyes and this is something you need to look at today. Review your foreign policy and look at West Papua.”
‘We are the gatekeepers’
“Australia and New Zealand need West Papua. We are the gatekeepers, and for security reasons, West Papua is very important,” Wenda said.
Catherine Delahunty, a Green Party MP who has campaigned strongly for West Papua on New Zealand’s political front, echoed Wenda’s views.
“They are insistent – the New Zealand government – that West Papua is part of the territorial integrity of Indonesia, so we can’t get past that critical issue.”
She said she therefore did not have much faith in the current government to step up and was looking for future leadership, such as through the Labour-Greens alliance, to move the campaign for West Papuan self-determination forward on the home front.
AUT doctoral student Stephanie Sageo-Tupungu of Papua New Guinea makes a presentation to Benny Wenda on behalf of the Pacific Media Centre. Image: Kendall Hutt/PMC
“I really do think we need a different government that actually has some fundamental commitment to human rights over and above trade and being part of the US military complex around the world. We have to have change to get change. It’s not going to happen through these guys.”
In her eight years in Parliament, Delahunty said the situation in West Papua was the toughest she had had to face.
“This issue, for me, has been one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever worked on. It’s been one of the most horrible and one of the most powerful examples of the cynical use of power and the way in which people can just completely close their eyes.”
Mainstream media role
Both Wenda and Delahunty said in light of the resounding silence surrounding West Papuan media freedom during Indonesia’s hosting of World Press Freedom Day last week that raising awareness of West Papua was key for the world to finding out about the atrocities there.
The mainstream media had a large role to play in this, both acknowledged.
“West Papua really needs the media in terms of the publicity. Media publicity is very important,” Wenda said.
Wenda said it was time for New Zealand’s mainstream to pick up the baton from smaller, independent news agencies and carry stories of West Papua’s atrocities themselves.
“I really hope the mainstream media here carries this. It’s very important. We need more mainstream media. They really need to pick up on this issue.”
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has reported that it was not unusual for both local and foreign journalists in West Papua to be threatened anonymously or by authorities. Data by the Alliance for Independent Journalists (AJI) has revealed there has been an increase in the number of assaults on journalists in the region over the past two years.
There were 78 violent attacks on journalists in 2016, up from 42 attacks in 2015 and 40 in 2014.
The AJI found only a few attackers from those 78 attacks had been brought to justice.
‘Everything swept under the carpet’ Wenda said there was deep-seated inaction on Indonesia’s part because of its prejudice in prosecuting people who have attacked and tortured and beaten both West Papuans and also West Papuan journalists.
“Indonesia is getting away with impunity. Nobody is brought to justice. Everything is swept under the carpet.”
Delahunty reflected, however, that the world was seeing the lack of free and frank reporting play out in West Papua.
“We see the consequences of nearly fifty years of no honesty about West Papua and it’s just up the road. It breaks my heart, but it also fires me up because I really believe there are some very, very brave young people, including journalists, who are committed to this issue and I guess it’s that thing: if you have a voice, use it.”
Wenda highlighted a “united” Pacific was key in raising awareness of the “Melanesian genocide” occurring in West Papua.
Benny Wendy with wantok students…representing a “united” Pacific for West Papua. Image: Del Abcede/PMC
‘United’ Pacific key
He called on his “brothers and sisters”, but was deeply thankful of the support given already by several Pacific nations for West Papua’s cause.
These nations raised grave concerns regarding human rights violations in West Papua at the 34th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in March.
Recent declarations by both the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu were also acknowledged by Wenda.
“We cried for 50 years, but then these countries sacrificed to take on this issue.”
Wenda told the Solomon Islanders and the people of Vanuatu gathered they should “be proud” and that their action was something to “take away in your head and heart”.
Wenda also told the remainder of his audience it was “ordinary people” and “mostly young generations” who were needed to continue the fight, with social media being their greatest tool.
Delahunty added people power and the growing solidarity movement across the globe were also central.
“The only way they’ll speak and respond to this issue at all is if we have growing public pressure and that’s the job of all of us, both inside parliament and outside parliament to raise the issue and to make it something people will feel accountable for, otherwise we just ignore the plight of our neighbours and the killing, torture, environmental desecration and human rights abuses continue.”
Wenda and Delahunty both closed their interviews with a clear message for Indonesia: “Start talking, start listening, and stop thinking that you can ever brow beat people into the dust because you want their resources because in the end, the human spirit doesn’t work like that and these people will never give up. It’s up to us to support them.”
Kendall Hutt is contributing editor of Pacific Media Watch.
Free West Papua advocate Benny Wenda presents Pacific Media Centre Professor David Robie with a traditional “bilum” for his journalism about West Papuan freedom. Image: Kendall Hutt/PMC
International support for West Papuan self-determination cause is growing, according to a Papuan independence leader.
Benny Wenda is in New Zealand this week, raising awareness about the Indonesian-administered region of Papua, or West Papua, which he fled in 2003.
New Zealand MPs pose with the West Papua Freedom Movement’s Benny Wenda after signing the International Parliamentarians for West Papua Declaration.
Last night in Wellington he addressed a group of MPs, after which eleven members signed a declaration by the International Parliamentarians for West Papua.
This international organisation of MPs is calling for an internationally supervised self-determination vote in Papua.
Mr Wenda said momentum was being driven by the Pacific Coalition on West Papua, chaired by the Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare.
New Zealand MPs sign the International Parliamentarians for West Papua declaration as Benny Wenda the head of the West Papua Freedom Movement looks on. Wellington 10-05-2017. Photo: RNZI/ Koroi Hawkins
“So the Manasseh Sogavare leadership is bringing a big impact on the West Papua issue. And the seven countries (of the coalition) I joined. It is bringing the West Papua case in United Nations level,” he said.
“So this is a big thing to change now. So we also got support from African, Carribean and the Pacific. So this is a growing number and solidarity around the world.”
Mr Wenda said West Papuans as a people had been through many grave challenges in the last five decades of Indonesian rule, but that they remained ever hopeful.
A growing solidarity network in the Pacific was giving them hope.
“The parliamentarians today…. Catherine Delahunty (New Zealand Green Party MP) lead a lot of MPs, bringing them in to sign their support.
“This is the best medicine, I think, for the people of West Papua. That’s why their spirit is alive even (though) they’re suffering under the Indonesian illegal occupation.”
New Zealand MPs pose with the West Papua Freedom Movement’s Benny Wenda after signing the International Parliamentarians for West Papua Declaration.
According to Mr Wenda, West Papuans were united under the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.
Indonesian government officials have characterised the Liberation Movement as a group of Papuans living abroad which lacks legitimacy to represent Papuans.
Mr Wenda dismissed this, pointing out that the leadership of the Liberation Movement is based both in and, out of necessity, outside Papua.
West Papuan grassroots support for the organisation within Papua was massive, he said.
Anggota parlemen Selandia Baru, Catherine Delahunty. keempat dari kanan, bersama sejumlah anggota parlemen Selandia Baru lainnya, seusai penandatanganan deklarasi mendukung penentuan nasib sendiri Papua. Tampak juga hadir Benny Wenda, juru bicara ULMWP (Foto: akun Facebook Catherine Delahunty)
WELLINGTON, SATUHARAPAN.COM – Sedikitnya sembilan anggota parlemen Selandia Baru (New Zealand) menandatangani deklarasi untuk menyerukan dan memberi dukungan bagi penentuan nasib sendiri rakyat Papua.
Penandatanganan itu dilaksanakan di Wellington, Rabu (10/05), disponsori oleh anggota parlemen dari Partai Hijau Selandia Baru, Catherine Delahunty. Penandatanganan tersebut disaksikan oleh Benny Wenda, juru bicara United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), organisasi yang menjadi wadah berbagai elemen rakyat yang pro-referendum Papua.
“Tadi malam diam-diam sejarah terjadi di Parlemen Selandia Baru, seiring dengan sembilan anggota parlemen menandatangai Deklarasi Westminster bagi referendum Papua yang diawasi oleh PBB,”
tulis Delahunty lewat akun Facebooknya, Rabu (10/05).
Ia juga menerangkan bahwa dirinya senang Benny Wenda dapat hadir dan turut meluncurkan acara itu.
“Saya sangat bangga dengan anggota parlemen kita dari Partai Hijau, Partai Buruh, dan satu dari (partai) Nasional yang menandatanganinya tadi malam, dan juga Marama Fox dari Partai MÄori dan Aupito S’ua William Sio, yang tidak dapat hadir tetapi telah menandatanganinya hari ini,”
lanjut Delahunty.
Delahunty tidak menyebut secara rinci siapa saja para anggota parlemen Selandia Baru yang menandatangani deklarasi. Namun di laman FB-nya ia menampilkan sejumlah foto acara penandatanganan itu. Belakangan berdasarkan siaran pers Green Party, diketahui nama-nama anggota parlemen yang menandatangani adalah Catherine Delahunty, Barry Coates, Mojo Mathers, Jan Logie dan Steffan Browning dari Green Party; Louisa Wall, Carmel Sepuloni dan Adrian Rurawhe dari Partai Buruh; dan Chester Burrows dari Partai Nasional. Deklarasi juga ditanda tangani Co-leader dari MÄori Party, Marama Fox, dan anggota parlemen dari Partai Buruh lainnya yang menanda tanganinya keesokan harinya, Aupito S’ua William Sio.
Deklarasi Westminster pertama kali diluncurkan di London tahun lalu. Ketika itu sejumlah anggota parlemen dari negara-negara Pasifik dan Inggris turut menandatangani deklarasi yang menyerukan dilakukannya referendum rakyat Papua.
Benny Wenda yang sedang beranda di Selandia Baru beberapa hari terakhir, mengatakan dukungan terhadap penentuan nasib sendiri Papua terus tumbuh dari berbagai kalangan. (Berbeda dengan data Delahunty, dia menyebut ada 11 anggota parlemen NZ yang menandatangani deklarasi).
Menurut dia, salah satu pemicu pertumbuhan itu adalah upaya Pacific Coalition for West Papua yang terdiri dari tujuh negara Pasifik, yang dipimpin oleh Perdana Menteri Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare.
Menurut Benny Wenda, inisiatif Sogavare telah membawa isu Papua hingga ke level PBB.
Koalisi negara-negara Pasifik itu terdiri dari Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru, Palau dan Marshall Islands.
Tahun lalu, tujuh negara ini menyampaikan pernyataan di Sidang Majelis Umum PBB yang mendesak pemerintah RI membuka pintu bagi pelapor khusus PBB ke Papua terkait pelanggaran HAM yang terjadi di pulau paling timur RI itu.
Awal bulan ini, tujuh negara tersebut juga mengeluarkan pernyataan bersama di Brussels, dalam pertemuan tingkat menteri kelompok negara yang tergabung dalam African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP). Dalam pernyataan bersama itu mereka menyatakan keprihatinan atas pelanggaran HAM di Papua serta mendukung penentuan nasib sendiri.
“Jadi terjadi perubahan besar saat ini. Kami juga telah mendapat dukungan dari African Carribean and the Pacific (ACP). Telah terjadi pertumbuhan jumlah dan solidaritas di seluruh dunia,” kata Benny Wenda, dikutip dari radionz.co.nz.
Benny Wenda mengatakan dukungan anggota parlemen Selandia Baru “adalah obat terbaik bagi rakyat PApua. Itu yang membuat semangat mereka tetap hidup….”
Ia juga menegaskan bahwa rakyat Papua bersatu dibawah ULMWP.
Di kalangan elit Papua belakangan ini juga terjadi perkembangan baru. Bila selama ini pengakuan terhadap ULMWP tidak begitu jelas dinyatakan secara resmi, kini mulai terungkap secara terbuka.
Gubernur Papua, Lukas Enembe, Rabu pekan lalu seusai bertemu dengan Dubes HAM Belanda, dikutip oleh berbagai media berkata bahwa untuk menyelesaikan masalah Papua harusnya dilakukan seperti penyelesaian konflik Aceh.
Dia menjelaskan kasus di Papua mirip dengan Aceh karena ada kelompok United Liberation Movement for West Papua New (ULMWP) maupun Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB) maupun TPN/OPM yang memperjuangkan kemerdekaan Papua.
“Konflik yang terjadi di Papua sama seperti Aceh, karena ada kelompok United Liberation Movement for West Papua New (ULMWP) maupun Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB) maupun TPN/OPM yang memperjuangkan kemerdekaan Papua sehingga sering terjadi konflik dengan TNI/Polri,” ujar Enembe.
“Jika ingin menyelesaikan persoalan di Papua, maka perlu dilakukan seperti di Aceh. Di mana, hadirkan semua kelompok-kelompok yang berseberangan dengan pemerintah Indonesia seperti ULMWP maupun KNPB,” kata Lukas Enembe.
Komentar Enembe ini merupakan sebuah tahap baru, karena tahun lalu ketika media meminta komentar Enembe tentang ULMWP, dia berkilah bahwa dirinya tidak memikirkannya. Enembe yang saat itu berada di Istana Presiden di Jakarta, mengatakan tugasnya adalah meningkatkan kesejahteraan rakyat Papua sehingga tidak mau membuang waktu memikirkan soal-soal seperti ULMWP.
Dukungan terhadap dialog Jakarta dengan ULMWP juga dikatakan oleh kalangan parlemen Papua. Anggota Komisi I DPR Papua, komisi yang membidangi pemerintahan, politik, hukum, HAM dan hubungan luar negeri, Kusmanto, mengatakan pemerintah perlu berdialog dengan ULMWP, wadah yang selama ini gencar menyuarakan berbagai masalah Papua di kancah internasional.
Ketika membacakan laporan komisinya dalam sidang paripurna ke IV DPR Papua terhadap LKPJ Gubernur Papua tahun 2016, Selasa (09/05), Kusmanto mengatakan pemerintah harus duduk berunding dengan ULWMP.
“Persoalan HAM di Papua, bukan rahasia lagi. Sudah menjadi pembahasan di dunia internasional bahkan sampai ke PBB. Pemerintah pusat, pemerintah Provinsi Papua, harus duduk bersama mencari solusi,” kata Kusmanto, sebagaimana dikutip dari Tabloid Jubi.
Komisi I, menurut dia, mendukung komitmen atau pernyataan gubernur, meminta pemerintah berdialog dengan ULMWP.
Lukisan karya Adele O’Conner berjudul Mama Yosepha versus the TNI – Katalog pameran
Jakarta, Jubi – Benny Wenda, juru bicara United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) akan mengunjungi Aotearoa, Selandia Baru dari tanggal 8 hingga 16 Mei mendatang.
Dilansir voxy.co.nz (19/4) kunjungannya kali ini selain untuk tetap meminta dukungan keadilan politik dan sosial terhadap rakyat West Papua, juga secara khusus hendak meminta agar pemerintah Selandia Baru mendukung inisiatif bangsa-bangsa Pasifik yang mendorong isu West Papua di PBB.
Terakhir kunjungannya ke Selandia Baru pada tahun 2013, Wenda sempat dicekal oleh Juru Bicara Parlemen David Carter untuk tidak berbicara di hadapan parlemen negeri itu.
Namun saat ini kelompok-kelompok yang cukup beragam hingga anggota-anggota parlemen lintas partai mulai makin luas mendukung West papua dan memberikan jaminan bahkan sambutan hangat terhadap tokoh pergerakan kemerdekaan West Papua itu.
Wenda akan disambut di Orakei Marae saat ketibaannya dan diundang resmi untuk memberikan sambutan pada Ngati Whatua Orakei whanau. Sejumlah jadwal pertemuan yang cukup padat menantinya di Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, dan menyusul Te Tai Tokerau.
Seperti diketahui, tujuh bangsa-bangsa Pasifik di negara Vanuatu, Kepulauan Solomon, Tonga, Tuvalu, Palau, Kepulauan Marshall, dan Nauru secara kolektif menyarakan situasi hak azasi manusia di West Papua di hadapan sidang umum PBB tahun lalu serta sidang Dewan HAM PBB baru-baru ini.
Hal ini telah memulai momentum baru bagi keterlibatan badan-badan tertinggi PBB untuk menetapkan kemungkinan resolusi baru bagi hak-hak rakyat West Papua.
Diharapkan pemerintah Selandia Baru tidak berdiam diri dan berada dipinggiran, melainkan member dukungan kepada bangsa-bangsa Pasifik tersebut untuk mendorong isu West Papua dan membantu perjuangan keadilan di wilayah itu.
Wenda akan bertemu gelombang aktivis peduli West Papua, Maori dan Pasifika, yang baru di berbagai wilayah Selandia Baru, termasuk anggota-anggota International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP).(*)
RadioNZ– An Aboriginal artist says she will continue advocating for West Papua’s independence despite a mural she created being destroyed without explanation.
Larrakia elder June Mills painted the mural onto a large wall in Darwin in 2015 and says it represented the solidarity between indigenous Australians and West Papuan people.
However the mural, which depicted both the Aboriginal and West Papuan flags and two hands reaching out, was painted over on Sunday.
June Mills says it’s not clear who is responsible and she’s upset and surprised by what she describes as skulduggery and a clandestine approach.
However she told Amelia Langford that she’s determined to continue advocating for indigenous West Papuans and their battle for independence from Indonesia.
An Aboriginal artist says she will continue advocating for West Papua’s independence despite a mural she created being destroyed without explanation.
Larrakia elder June Mills painted the mural onto a large wall in Darwin in 2015 and says it represented the solidarity between indigenous Australians and West Papuan people.
However the mural, which depicted both the Aboriginal and West Papuan flags and two hands reaching out, was painted over on Sunday.
June Mills says it’s not clear who is responsible and she’s upset and surprised by what she describes as skulduggery and a clandestine approach.
However she told Amelia Langford that she’s determined to continue advocating for indigenous West Papuans and their battle for independence from Indonesia.
June Mills surrounded by supporters in front of her mural that was later painted over. Photo: June Mills
Transcript
JUNE MILLS: We want to help in whatever way we can. To me it’s just a simple friendship mural, but the way that it’s created such controversy within the community was not expected, put it that way.
AMELIA LANGFORD: How did it feel to see the mural painted over like that?
JM: Oh very upsetting. It was a beautiful, beautiful mural. it took a lot of hard work. People actually loved the mural. I don’t know if you had an image of it, but people would come specifically to take a photo. Id joke about it with my mates, I’d say ‘listen we really have to get a really good photo of this and turn it into a postcard saying ‘greetings from Darwin’,’ you know. And that didn’t actually eventuate, but this was a well-loved mural, but there was an element in Darwin that hated it and wanted it gone. And that’s been going from the first day really, and they got their way.
AL: What would you like to see happen from here in this situation?
JM: Put up another mural! Repaint it.
AL: So you’d like to get the opportunity to repaint it?
JM: I don’t believe that’s going to happen, however, we certainly have plans to paint other murals. But the amazing thing is the incredible skulduggery that’s come to the fore throughout this. i must admit I was caught by surprise a bit to the extent of it. But, you know, I suppose if we really pulled it to pieces the thing is that our community and myself are very concerned about the plight of the West Papuan people – that will never go away until something happens and they get their referendum and the call for independence or the violence stops in West Papua. There is incredible violence as we speak. Until that’s resolved we are not going to stop bringing to the attention to the world community about the plight of the West Papuan people. And whether that’s posters, whether that’s murals, whether it’s talks, whether it’s forums we are going to continue.
That’s Aboriginal elder and artist, June Mills, from Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.
A wall in Darwin that was adorned with a controversial street art mural promoting solidarity with the Free West Papua movement is now blank after it was painted over by contractors.
There’s been no official confirmation yet of who made the decision to blot out the work of Larrakia aboriginal elder June Mills, which showed hands from the Morning Star and the Aboriginal flags reaching out to one another.
The mural has drawn criticism from the Indonesian consulate in Darwin, and its loss has members of the Free West Papua movement and the Indigenous community asking plenty of questions on social media.
But the artist herself says she certainly wasn’t consulted about the mural’s removal.
Ken Wyatt, orang Aborigin pertama yang jadi menteri di Australia (Foto: @getty)
CANBERRA, SATUHARAPAN.COM – Untuk pertama kalinya seorang warga negara Australia berlatar belakang suku asli, Aborigin, dilantik menjadi menteri pemerintah federal bulan lalu. Namanya Ken Wyatt. Ia menjadi menteri federal untuk urusan usia lanjut dan kesehatan penduduk pribumi.
Dia seorang pendukung diadakannya referendum nasional untuk mengakui keberadaan rakyat Aborigin dalam konstitusi Australia, sebagai bagian dari upaya mengubah salah kelola yang telah menjadi sejarah panjang.
Para pendukung referendum yang dimotori sejumlah partai politik dan kelompok pribumi, berupaya untuk melenyapkan satu bagian dari pasal yang memperbolehkan negara-negara bagian mendiskriminasi penduduk asli berdasarkan ras. Namun, proses ini berjalan lambat karena adanya perbedaan tentang seberapa luas cakupan perubahan hukum yang akan dilaksanakan. Sebagian kelompok pribumi Australia bahkan mulai mundur dari tuntutan mengamandemen konstitusi dan memilih bentuk perjanjian dengan pemerintah saja.
Wyatt termasuk tokoh yang tetap menuntut referendum lewat pendekatan konstitusi.
“Kesepakatan hanyalah perjanjian formal yang bisa dilanggar, dikesampingkan atau dihormati dengan cara yang minimalis,” kata pria berusia 64 tahun ini kepada Financial Times.
“Saya percaya bahwa memasukkan pengakuan (akan hak Aborigin) di dalam konstitusi seperti memahat kata-kata ke dalam pondasi batu. Ini akan membentuk dasar yang dengannya keputusan Pengadilan Tinggi akan dicapai di tengah tantangan hukum di masa depan. ”
Hanya saja rencana menggelar referendum yang diusulkan dilaksanakan pada bulan Mei — tepat pada ulang tahun ke-50 dari referendum tahun 1967 yang memberi masyarakat asli hak-hak yang lebih besar tampaknya akan batal. Wyatt mengatakan pelaksanaan referendum pada tahun 2018 adalah yang paling mungkin saat ini.
Dia memperingatkan hasil “No” pada referendum akan berisiko merusak yang telah dicapai pada referendum 1967 dan permintaan maaf pemerintah atas generasi yang hilang pada tahun 2008.
“Itu akan memundurkan kembali hubungan harmonis yang terjalin antara kita semua dan berdampak pada bagaimana Australia dipandang di seluruh dunia,” kata dia.
Siapa Ken Wyatt
Ken Wyatt, yang ketika dilantik jadi menteri bulan lalu mengenakan jubah Kanguru, lahir di rumah misi di Roelands, bekas rumah untuk anak-anak pribumi yang dipaksa dipisahkan dari orang tua mereka selama era “generasi yang dicuri” di Australia.
“Ibu saya dan semua saudara-saudaranya dimasukkan ke dalam rumah misi dan mereka dipisahkan – sehingga kontak mereka dengan kakek dan nenek saya terbatas,” kata Wyatt.
“Saya punya file Departemen Kesejahteraan Penduduk Asli nenek saya dan ada suratnya yang dia tulis sendiri yang mengatakan ia ingin bertemu dengan anak-anaknya.”
Dalam wawancara dengan Financial Times, ia mengatakan bertekad menangani kalangan berkebutuhan khusus dan melawan rasisme institusional yang mempengaruhi masyarakat asli, yang jumlahnya 3 persen dari penduduk Australia yang 24 juta.
Wyatt berpendapat bahwa pemerintah sebelumnya tidak bekerja dengan masyarakat Aborigin sebagai mitra sejajar. Rekaman video yang dirilis pada bulan Desember menunjukkan penganiayaan dalam tahanan polisi atas seorang wanita Aborigin berusia 22 tahun, yang kemudian meninggal. Ini, menurut Wyatt, adalah pengaruh rasisme institusional yang berlangsung di hampir seluruh layanan negara.
Dia kemudian mendirikan sebuah kelompok kerja untuk melihat determinan sosial dalam kesehatan masyarakat, termasuk rasisme institusional.
Ketika ditanya mengapa begitu lama bagi pemerintah federal untuk menunjuk seorang menteri urusan penduduk asli, Wyatt menjawab bahwa “orang-orang non-pribumi selama bertahun-tahun telah meragukan orang pribumi untuk bisa melakukan pekerjaan ini.”
“Saya pikir adalah fakta bahwa telah terjadi pola pikir bahwa kita [orang Aborigin] memiliki tempat,” katanya. “Saya mendasarkan ini pada seorang guru yang pernah berkata kepada saya: ‘Anda adalah anak Aborigin. Anda harus meninggalkan sekolah dan mendapatkan pekerjaan di sebuah peternakan, karena Anda tidak akan pergi jauh.”
John said he only learned about the situation in West Papua after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami which killed 250,000 people, mainly in Sumatra and Aceh.
