Tag: Australia

Australia committed to military cooperation with Indonesia
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Melbourne, Australia – Australia says it will continue to provide military training, conduct joint exercises and export weapons to Indonesia despite increased violence and allegations of human rights abuses in West Papua, in the far east of the archipelago, where conflict has been rumbling for decades.
The Australian Department of Defence confirmed in a statement to Al Jazeera that Anthony Albanese’s government, which was elected in May, would continue to supply arms to Indonesian forces and provide them with military training.
“Indonesia is one of Australia’s most important partners. Australia will continue to conduct joint exercises, provide military and policy training, and – consistent with appropriate legislation – export military equipment to Indonesia,” the statement said.
Despite some rocky patches, Australia has had a longstanding military relationship with Indonesia, including joint training and weapons supply, with Thales Australia selling three Bushmaster troop carriers to Kopassus, Indonesia’s elite forces, in 2014.
Military units, such as Kopassus, conduct joint training exercises with the Australian SAS, the country’s special forces, while Detachment 88 — also known as Densus 88, a counterterrorism force set up in the wake of the 2002 Bali Bombings — gets funding and training from both Australia and the United States.
Such initiatives have been credited with reducing the threat from hardline groups, but Indonesian forces remain under scrutiny over allegations of serious human rights abuses in West Papua, where Indigenous people have been fighting for independence for 50 years.
Indonesia moved into the resource-rich region in the early 1960s, formalising its control through a controversial, United Nations-approved referendum in 1969.
“Indonesia is one of Australia’s most important partners. Australia will continue to conduct joint exercises, provide military and policy training, and – consistent with appropriate legislation – export military equipment to Indonesia,” the statement said.
Despite some rocky patches, Australia has had a longstanding military relationship with Indonesia, including joint training and weapons supply, with Thales Australia selling three Bushmaster troop carriers to Kopassus, Indonesia’s elite forces, in 2014.
Military units, such as Kopassus, conduct joint training exercises with the Australian SAS, the country’s special forces, while Detachment 88 — also known as Densus 88, a counterterrorism force set up in the wake of the 2002 Bali Bombings — gets funding and training from both Australia and the United States.
Such initiatives have been credited with reducing the threat from hardline groups, but Indonesian forces remain under scrutiny over allegations of serious human rights abuses in West Papua, where Indigenous people have been fighting for independence for 50 years.
Indonesia moved into the resource-rich region in the early 1960s, formalising its control through a controversial, United Nations-approved referendum in 1969.
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October 20, 2022
Laporan Intel: Australia Punya Bukti Kejamnya Militer Indonesia Bantai Demonstran di Papua Barat
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.
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Meskipun ada seruan yang konsisten untuk penyelidikan independen terhadap pembantaian Biak, 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.
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“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.
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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”.
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“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.***
Source: https://www.pikiran-rakyat.com/
September 21, 2021
Pursuing freedom for West Papua
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.
Source: http://www.standard.net.au/
December 20, 2017
Anthony Craig: I am told to ease off. Never.
To all my West Papuan friends and Supporters
I made a commitment to your people when i visited west Papua in Aug 15. The doors remain shut on the truth about the ongoing extermination of the west papuan people. Its being covered up by both the indonesian and Australian governments.
I plan to use a hammer to knock down the door.
I cannot sit back and continue to see photos of woman being raped and murdered, children torture and mass murder.
I am told to ease off. Never.
As bishop belo once said over the slaughter of East timorese by the Indonesian military.
When I see my people suffering I am not going to be silent. Sometimes you have to speak up loudy and forcefully.
Anthony craig national leader Free west papua party Australia established because the indonesian military is exterminating the west papuan people covered up by both the indonesian and Australian governments
April 20, 2017
Aboriginal elder determined to keep advocating for West Papua
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.
March 16, 2017
Disappearance of controversial West Papua friendship mural creates a stir in Darwin
RadioNZ – Updated earlier today at 8:18am
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.
Bindi Bryce
March 16, 2017
Aborigin Pertama Jadi Menteri Australia Minta Referendum
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.”
Editor : Eben E. Siadari
March 14, 2017
Bishop visit to West Papua welcomed cautiously
RedioNZ – The United Liberation Movement for West Papua has cautiously welcomed news that Australia’s Foreign Minister is to visit Indonesian-ruled Papua region this year.
Julie Bishop gave an undertaking to visit later this year, during talks in Jakarta this week with Indonesia’s government which has been touting a policy of openness about Papua.
This comes amid ongoing calls by Pacific Island governments for the United Nations to probe reports of widespread human rights abuses against West Papuans.
The matter is highly sensitive to Jakarta which opposes any outside interference in what it considers domestic affairs.
Last month, Australia’s prime minister Malcom Turnbull reassured Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo of Canberra’s support for Indonesian sovereignty over Papua.
While Ms Bishop’s visit is not being described as a human rights fact-finding mission, the Liberation Movement says it is important that other governments find out more about the situation in Papua.
The secretary-general of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Octo Mote (centre) talks to New Zealand MPs, including Steffan Browning (right). Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
The Movement, which has observer status in the Melanesian Spearhead Group, urges Indonesia’s government to allow Julie Bishop unfettered access to West Papuan community groups.
According to a spokesman for the Movement, a short and restricted visit to Papua by MSG Foreign Ministers in 2014 was evidence that Jakarta had so far failed to allow foreign governments open access to the region.
Indonesia is accused by the Movement of waging slow-motion genocide in Papua.
The West Papuan representative group cites evidence of simmering armed conflict, unrest, extra-judicial killings and jailings of Papuans, and marginalisation of their culture.
March 10, 2017
West Papua flag mural in Darwin remains intact despite criticism from Indonesian Consul
Photo: West Papua independence activist Piter Elaby touches up a mural in Darwin’s CBD on Australia Day, 2016. (ABC News: Felicity James)
The Indonesian Consul to Darwin, Andre Siregar, has denied he pressured the owner of a wall to paint over a mural which features the West Papuan flag, but said he had reported its existence to Jakarta.
“It is something that we respect, we have to respect, but please note that it, itself is offensive to us,” Mr Siregar said.
Mr Siregar said as the Indonesian Government’s representative in Darwin he had conveyed Indonesia’s position on West Papua.
“Of course that is a flag of a separatist group — they want West Papua to be their own country,” Mr Siregar said.
“They ignore the 2.5 million Papuans who have gone to the election and voted, and the 3.9 million Papuans that live there.
“So as the government representative in Darwin I have conveyed this situation to the NT Government, [and] we don’t want them to be ill-informed.”
Mr Siregar told the ABC he was the last to find about the “external pressure” and urgency to remove the mural.
“I guess I found out last, that someone feels pressured, and someone wants their walls clean, someone had to choose someone to blame,” Mr Siregar said.
Mr Siregar said the building’s owner — Carlo Randazzo, the honorary Vice-Consul to Italy — had contacted him about the issue last week.
“He just said ‘we’re going to clean it up’, I said ‘it’s your wall, it’s your wall’ — and he just gave me some updates regarding where it’s been with those people who have painted on it,” Mr Siregar said.
“I’ve also casually spoken to Peter Styles about this, and he as the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, would take note of that. But again I have not really followed up on this discussion.”
Photo: The mural depicting the West Papuan Morning Star flag was painted in June 2015. (ABC News: Stephanie Zillman)
Issue flared after ‘external pressure’
The issue of the large depiction of the West Papuan flag in the city’s centre flared after the artists who painted it in June 2015, were told to paint over it by an employee of Randazzo Properties.
The email to the artists cited “external pressures” as the reason for the sudden, urgent removal of the mural.
The mural itself also depicts the Aboriginal flag, and was painted as a symbol of solidarity between the two groups.
Mr Siregar said the Indonesian Consulate respected freedom of expression in Australia, and he had explained to visiting Indonesian officials the West Papuan flag mural did not necessarily reflect the position of Australians.
“Now after eight months there are many Territorians who also came to me and asked me ‘what’s with that flag?’,” Mr Siregar claimed.
Mr Siregar also said Indonesia was working at improving its human rights record.
“If there’s some concerns about human rights, as a developing country we’re all striving to make sure there’s no more human rights violations, even if there were violations, we are committed to rectifying those mistakes.”
Photo: The Indonesian consul was blamed for the “external pressure” to remove the mural. (ABC News: Stephanie Zillman)
March 5, 2017
Gee James Lambie: The situation in West Papua has improved over recent years?
Free West Papua Party of Australia
Free West Papua Party of Australia
To all my West Papuan friends and supporters and the wider community
Ive had no response from the Attorney General to requests made for information on West Papua. In a letter to my local member Andrew Gee James Lambie Chief Of Staff stated “the situation in West Papua has improved over recent years”.
See Attached Letter below
I requested proof and received deadly silence.
I have lodged an application with the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal to obtain information under ( freedom of Information Legislation).
I will keep you posted on the outcome. Some interesting resources to view
Dreyfus and Attorney-General (Commonwealth of Australia) (Freedom of information) [2015] AATA 995 (22 December 2015)
Birch and Attorney-General ‘s Department [1994] AATA 528 (3 June 1994)
Bienstein and Attorney-General (Commonwealth of Australia) and Anor [2008] AATA 7 (4 January 2008)
See what BS they come up with and the cover ups.
Cheers
Anthony G Craig
National Leader
Free West Papua Party of Australia
Lithgow NSW
Australia
http://freewestpapuaperthaustralia.blogspot.com.au/
March 1, 2017

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