Tag: Australia

Universitas Melbourne gelar kuliah umum sikapi West Papua di Pasifik
Suasana kuliah umum West Papua, Indonesia, and Pacifik di Universitas Melbourne, Selasa (25/10/2016) – Jubi/AA
Jayapura, Jubi – West Papua, Indonesia dan Pasifik menjadi topik diskusi hangat dalam diskusi umum terbuka yang diselenggarakan oleh Universitas Melbourne, Selasa (25/10) di Sidney Myer Asia Centre Melbourne Australia. Diskusi tersebut membahas perkembangan politik di West Papua dan konflik ‘tak terdamaikan’ antara pemerintah Jakarta dan kelompok-kelompok perlawanan di Papua.
Perjuangan diplomatik antara pemerintah Indonesia dan United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) di Melanesian Spearhead Group dan Forum Kepulauan Pacific (PIF), menurut situs kegiatan Universitas Melbourne itu, juga disiskusikan.
Acara yang dihadiri sekitar 60-an peserta berlatarbelakang dosen, mahasiswa, pejabat, konsulat Indonesia, dan aktivis itu menghadirkan Nic Maclellan dan Dr. Budi Hernawan sebagai pembicara.
Mclellan adalah seorang jurnalis dan peneliti di Kepulauan Pasifik. Dia adalah koresponden untuk majalah Islands Business dan kontributor untuk beberapa media asing terkait tema-tema seperti pembangunan, dekolonisasi dan demiliterisasi di Pasifik. Sementara Budi Hernawan adalah peneliti dari Abdurrahman Wahid Institut dan pengajar di Universitas Paramadina yang cukup lama berkecimpuang di persoalan HAM Papua.
“Peserta yang hadir itu cukup besar untuk ukuran acara-acara kuliah umum Universitas, karena biasanya dihadiri 12 orang saja. Saya rasa ketertarikan ini meningkat karena situasi di Pasifik dan respon Indonesia saat ini terkait West Papua,” ujar Hernawan kepada Jubi, Kamis (27/10/2016).
Berdasarkan keterangan panitia penyelenggara, tema tersebut dipilih karena perkembangan yang semakin menarik di Pasifik terkait MSG yang menjadi satu-satunya forum resmi dimana rakyat Papua melalui ULMWP, dan pemerintah Indonesia duduk di meja yang sama. Namun di dalam proses itu pula pelanggaran HAM di West Papua terus berlanjut dan pendekatan keamanan pemerintah Indonesia masih memanen kritik baik di West Papua, Pasifik bahkan hinga ke PBB.
“Sekarang situasi Pasifik lagi dinamis, makin seru. Tetapi politik tidak linear, baik Indonesia maupun Papua punya tantangannya masing-masing,” ujar Hernawan melalui pesan singkat.(*)
October 27, 2016
New momentum towards decolonisation in Pacific
One of the peace rallies in support of the Pacific Coalition on West Papua representation at the UN General Assembly. Monday 19 September 2016. Photo: Supplied/ Whens Tebay
Radio NZ – West Papua specialist Dr Cammi Webb-Gannon said the unprecedented level of discussion about West Papuan self-determination and human rights at the recent UN General Assembly reflected a new momentum towards decolonisation in the Pacific.
Dr Webb-Gannon, from Western Sydney University’s School of Humanities and Communication Arts, said the Melanesian Spearhead Group chairman and Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare had been particularly pivotal.
“So he’s brought together a lot of Pacific Island countries who have just taken the West Papua issue to the UN but are also hoping to take it to the UN decolonisation committee. So more than ever before, West Papuans are getting their cause on the international radar and that’s really due to the incredible action that’s taken by other Pacific countries.”
Meanwhile, there are hopes among West Papuans that the new United Nations Secretary-General will help protect the human rights of Papua’s indigenous people.
Antonio Guterres, the former Portuguese prime minister, was been unanimously elected to take over the UN top job from Ban Ki-moon at the start of next year.
Antonio Guterres Photo: AFP
As Portugal prime minister, Mr Guterres played a key role in the UN intervention in East Timor shortly before it gained independence from Indonesia.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua’s Pacific regional ambassador, Akouboo Amatus Douw, said that unlike Portugal’s efforts to do the right thing by Timor, the Dutch have not met their moral obligation to Papuans.
However, he hoped that Mr Guterres can similarly help Papuans facilitate calls by seven countries at the UN general assembly last month for an investigation into alleged rights violations in Papua.
Mr Guterres was also the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 10 years and his work in this role was acknowledged by Mr Douw.
Under Mr Guterres’s leadership, the UNHCR provided legal and humanitarian assistance for over 10,000 West Papuan refugees in PNG.
“In my rough estimation we have 30,000 Papuan political refugees all around the globe including myself,” said Mr Douw.
He said the main reason that Papuans have to flee Indonesian rule is the denial of their absolute rights of self-determination in their home country.
“As I was of 43 West Papua political asylum seekers who escaped from West Papua and landed in Australia in 2006, I have very positive thoughts on his (Guterres’) priorities in seeking to revolve core issues behind why these people became marginalised and suffered in all aspects.”
October 19, 2016
DLP calls for all political parties to join nation-wide Solidarity Day in support of West Papuans on December 1st
June 21, 2016 by admin
Click here for full media release: Premier Andrews called to support Solidarity for West Papuans
Excerpt below:
The Democratic Labour Party Member of Parliament, Dr Rachel Carling-Jenkins today introduced a motion into the Victorian State parliament calling for:
“the Government to show support for the plight of the people of West Papua by establishing a West Papuan Solidarity Day, including a public raising of the Morning Star Flag, commencing Thursday, 1 December 2016 and continuing on 1 December each year until the United Nations free vote is held.”
Dr Carling-Jenkins advised the parliament that: “West Papua was forcibly annexed by Indonesia in 1962 and since that time the West Papuan people have suffered from atrocities such as torture, murder, rape, oppression, forced removal of their children, and other crimes against humanity by the Indonesian authorities.
The Democratic Labour Party Federal Secretary, Stephen Campbell, states that the DLP believes there has been a decades long cover up by consecutive Australian governments who have turned a blind eye to the sufferings of the West Papuan people in return for favourable treatment by the Indonesian government.
“Surely history has taught us that no good can come by ignoring the sufferings of oppressed people” Mr Campbell stated.
“How can we, as Australians, deal with any nation who can invade a neighbouring country then treat the citizens of that country with the sort of inhumane treatment the Indonesians have handed out to the West Papuans? Has East Timor taught us nothing?”
The Democratic Labour Party is calling for all political parties to join them in their call for a nation-wide Solidarity Day in support of the West Papuans on December 1st.
“The DLP will be contacting every party in this country and asking for them to turn up with their supporters in every capital city in Australia on December 1st” Mr Campbell said.
“This is one time when party politics must disappear. None of us should seek anything except justice for the West Papuan people and the full compassion of the Australian people.”
Filed Under: Media Releases, News, West Papua
October 10, 2016
Speeches delivered at the Sydney March for West Papua: Speaker Julian Mckinlay King
Town Hall, Sydney City, October 2, 2016.
Speaker 1: Julian Mckinlay King.
________________________________________________
For those who aren’t fully aware, I’ll just go through the details of the history of West Papua.
It’s our closest neighbor with Papua New Guinea, just on the edge of our continent.
It was a former Dutch colony in the 1800’s and it was really on the road to independence right up until 1960.
The Dutch established the indigenous New Guinea council and they set up their own flag, the morning star flag, with the intention to become an independent country, they chose the name West Papua, They wrote their national anthem and a national seal. This was recognized and accepted by the Dutch on the first of December, 1961 when a ceremony was held in Hollandia, now Jayapura and other major cities around West Papua for the first time and the morning star flag was raised alongside the Dutch Netherlands flag.
After that we had the New York agreement where America stepped in supporting Indonesia to take control of West Papua.
What it did thou was transfer the colony of the Netherlands to the United Nations, so the United Nations set up an administration in Hollandia and then it gave that administration to Indonesia, So the legal framework of West Papua is still under the administration of Indonesia, and if you look at the United Nations resolutions, it’s illegal to transfer a colony from one colonizer to another colonizer. So we believe that West Papua is still a United Nations trusteeship territory and it’s the responsibility of the United Nations to put West Papua on that decolonization committee and report yearly on the status of West Papua.
We believe that the United Nations with the support of Australia, America and the West in general has conspired to deceive the world about West Papua’s status.
The United Nations has the legal obligations under article 76 of the UN charter to promote independence but they’re failing to do so.
Instead what we are seeing in West Papua is the worst case, in the world’s history, of genocide. For fifty four years the atrocities of torture, intimidation, abductions, rape, distributing HIV and AIDS through the community, forced sterilization of women.
It’s been studied ( also a report) by the Yale University and there is a similar report by the center for peace and conflict studies at the University of Sydney where they detailed that what is going on in West Papua is, in fact, genocide.
Augustinus Aud is a young West Papuan in Sorong and on the 24th of September at 3am in the morning he was surrounded by at least ten plain clothes men whose faces were covered with scarves and claimed to be police officers. They banged on his door and windows shouting orders for him to come out. After some of the men smashed some parts of his windows, Augustinus Aud saw two men armed with M16 rifles. He managed to call his mates who came around to his house shortly after, after which the police left the premises.
This happened on the 24th of September, just a week ago, and this sort of thing is happening every day, day in day out of course media is not allowed into West Papua. It’s very hard to get these stories out.
And what are we doing? Australia? We’re supposed to be a democratic country, we’re supposed to be having wars against terrorism, we go and invade Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria under the guise that they are terrorists and right on our border we’ve got the worst atrocities occurring in this world.
The Indonesian military is a dictatorship. It always was and it’s still is. We’ve got the case of General Wiranto.
Wiranto was responsible for the deaths, the murders, the tortures in East Timor for years and years and years and now he is a minister, a member of parliament under the current Jokowi regime and here we have our glorious minister, our attorney general, Brandis shaking hands with this war criminal.
We train the Indonesian military; we train the police detachment 88 and this people cause the ongoing murder and oppression of our neighbors.
So who are the real terrorists?
And it’s not just West Papua; anyone who’s been to Indonesia knows the people are all suffering under the hands of this military dictatorship and our government supports them.
We’ve had surveys in Australia, We know that 75% of Australians support West Papua and yet our government supports the Indonesian occupation and the ongoing genocide.
West Papua is a microcosm of the world’s stage; the illegal invasion of East Timor, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Syria is all in breach of the Geneva Convention and the United Nations charter.
And what’s it about?
The only reason this is going on is so western corporations can steal the resources in the world.
West Papua is one of the richest areas per square meter of resources. It’s got Australian corporations, American corporations, European corporations, and UK corporations and let’s face it; it’s a lot easier to steal resources when you’re using a gun than dealing with a democratic country.
So please, tell your friends and try and encourage Australians to address this issue. We have to get rid of these so called government representatives that we have. They do not represent us; they represent the corporations of the world.
ENDS. SOURCE
- http://rememberwestpapua.org/
October 2, 2016
ROCKIN’ FOR WEST PAPUA: Global Peace Concerts Announced
Rockin’ For West Papua is a worldwide music, arts and cultural festival of events raising awareness of the genocide and human rights abuses on the indigenous people of West Papua, presented by Rize Of The Morning Star.
“We stand for the arts,
we stand for first nations people
and we stand for West Papua.”
#musicisaweapon
Rockin’ For West Papua gigs are being organised around Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Perth, Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Lismore, Newcastle and Arnhem Land with more shows to be announced in all corners of the globe.
CONFIRMED DATES:
Friday 30 September – Sydney AUS: Waywards @ Bank Hotel, Newtown featuring Blackbreaks, The MisMade, The Black Turtles, MC Thorn
Saturday 1 October – Newcastle AUS: The Vault featuring Once Remained, Skinpin, Steinbrenner, The Grounds
Saturday 1 October – Edinburgh UK: Henry’s Cellar Bar featuring Rise Kagona, Samba Sene & Diwan Seneglese, Nawakyipo, Mariam El Sadr & more
Friday 7 October – Lismore AUS: Lismore City Hall Studio featuring Blakboi, The Humans Of Lismore, Atomic Monkey Chunks & Punks For West Papua doco screening
Saturday 8 October – Gold Coast AUS: Currumbin Creek Tavern featuring The Poor, Wartooth, Paging Jimi
Saturday 8 October – Brisbane AUS: Chardons Corner Hotel featuring Kold Creature, Monster Fodder, System Trashed, Kaosphere, Alice Lost Her Way, Locus Give It All
Saturday 8 October – Darwin AUS: The Chippo, 2 stages featuring Clever Monkey, Dave Garnham, Gored Matador, Acid City, Pole Top Rescue, Lungbuster, Ben Evolent, Brother Phoenix, Joy Greer
Saturday 8 October – Gauteng SOUTH AFRICA: Wunderbar @ German Club featuring Slash Dogs, Made For Broadway, Slippery When Wet, Chilean cuisine, Film Screenings
Sunday 9 October – Melbourne AUS: Bendigo Hotel featuring Liquor Snatch, Indigo Rising, DevilsMonkey, Mystic Trio, DJ LAPKAT, Long Holiday, Native Rain, New Age, Elf Tranzporter, MC Izzy Brown, West Papuan String Band and dancers
Saturday 29 October – Perth AUS: Railway Hotel, Fremantle featuring Yob Mob, The U-Nites reggae band plus DJ General Justice & Jah Wisdom Sound System, Potato Stars, Mental Pretzel, Fuzion
Facebook Event Page
MORE GLOBAL CONCERTS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON
Following the noise made and the funds raised by the ‘Punks For West Papua’ movement and documentary, more rockin’ artists are coming together for several weeks from September 30 to show the strength of music and help raise funds to assist the plight of the West Papuans, presented by global music & cultural movement Rize Of The Morning Star.
Leader of the ULMWP Benny Wenda said “Indonesia have tanks and guns. West Papuans only have guitars. Music is the only weapon we need for freedom.”
Whilst West Papuan music is outlawed by the Indonesian Military, Rockin’ For West Papua & Rize Of The Morning Star are inviting musicians, artists and anybody who wants to make a stand, to show their colours in the month of October by organising gigs, exhibitions, festivals or any social gathering or display of support to let Indonesia, USA, Australian and UK governments know that we are standing for West Papua.
Filmmaker Anthony ‘Ash’ Brennan who created the award winning documentary “Punks For West Papua” is coordinating the Rockin’ For West Papua shows. Returning from a stint in Rio behind the camera at the Olympic Aquatic Centre, he said “I have been very fortunate in my career in TV to have travelled to the four corners of the globe. I have seen the good and bad in every country. From Indian Slums, to Soweto in South Africa, and more recently the Rio favela’s. I have learnt that people who have the least, give the most. They open their hearts with music and art. And I have walked away richer for the experience. A very humbling experience, coming from such a privileged country. Music brings people together, empowers us, and gives us strength to overcome any adversity.”
The people of West Papua have been suffering under Indonesian occupation since 1963. Over 500,000 civilians have been killed, and thousands more have been raped, tortured and imprisoned. Foreign media and human rights groups are banned from operating in West Papua, so people rarely hear about the situation there. The Free West Papua Campaign is bringing the story of West Papua to the world and campaigning for freedom and justice in West Papua, to end the violence of the last 50 years.
Despite the growing global support of the United Liberation Movement For West Papua, in recent months over 800 West Papuan people were arrested and many tortured by Indonesian authorities simply for peacefully calling for full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). There has been a surge of human rights abuses as thousands of people joined mass rallies with hundreds arrested at passive demonstrations in West Papua and Indonesia. Even with the media ban, harrowing video evidence has emerged of the brutality that peaceful protesters were met with including children and students.
All funds raised go to Free West Papua.
#musicisaweapon
www.facebook.com/R4WP16
www.facebook.com/R4WP16/events
Additional info & Articles:
http://www.rizeofthemorningstar.com/
www.freewestpapua.org/2016/08/26/global-concert-for-west-papua/
https://wpan.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/herman-wainggai-long-journey-to-freedom/
http://edinburgh.carpediem.cd/events/783769-rockin-for-west-papua-musicisaweapon-at-henrys-cellar-bar/
Earlier this year:
TeenRock.com, UK – “10 Things We Learned From ‘Punks 4 West Papua’”
http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-03-10/how-the-aussie-punk-scene-fought-a-forgotten-war
Green Left Weekly, Aus – “Punks For West Papua: Indonesia’s West Papua Crimes Laid Bare In Award-Winning Doco”
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/61173
The Brag, Aus – “Five Minutes With Ash Brennan, Producer/Director of Punks For West Papua”
http://www.thebrag.com/arts/five-minutes-ash-brennan-producerdirector-punks-west-papua
For further media info please contact:
DEBORAH GANN – PUBLICIST
RESERVOIR PR+MGMT AUSTRALIA
T: 0481 264 077
E: ReservoirDeb@gmail.com
F: www.facebook.com/ReservoirManagement
September 28, 2016
Yeimo: PIF Leaders Dorong West Papua ke PBB
JAYAPURA, SUARAPAPUA.com — “Para pemimpin mengakui sensitivitas isu Papua dan setuju bahwa tuduhan pelanggaran HAM di Papua tetap menjadi agenda mereka. Para pemimpin juga menyepakati pentingnya dialog yang terbuka dan konstruktif dengan Indonesia terkait dengan isu ini.”
Ini bunyi poin 18 dari komunike bersama para pemimpin Pasifik yang tergabung dalam Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) pada Konferensi Tingkat Tinggi (KTT) ke-47 yang berlangsung di Pohnpei, ibukota negara federal Mikronesia, 7 hingga 11 September 2016.
Hal ini senada dengan pernyataan Sekretaris Jenderal PIF, Dame Meg Taylor yang berbicara sebelum KTT ini berlangsung. Menurutnya, isu Papua dianggap sensitif oleh beberapa pemerintah di Pasifik walaupun isu tersebut tetap masuk dalam agenda untuk dibahas.
Victor F. Yeimo, tim kerja ULMWP yang juga ketua umum Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB), mengatakan, perjuangan bangsa Papua makin menggema di tingkat internasional dengan dukungan dari negara-negara Pasifik.
“Satu langkah kita, negara-negara Pasifik sudah membulatkan tekad untuk dorong masalah hak penentuan nasib sendiri dan persoalan pelanggaran hak asasi manusia ke PBB,” demikian Yeimo kepada suarapapua.com melalui keterangan tertulis, malam ini.
Tentang komunike PIF ke-47 tahun 2016, sedikitnya 46 poin terbagi dalam 19 bagian yang dihasilkan di akhir KTT kali ini.
Ia menyebutkan tiga poin penting bagi Papua Barat dari komunike bersama para pemimpin negara-negara Pasifik.
Pertama, negara-negara Pasifik mengakui sensitifitas masalah politik West Papua.
Kedua, PIF menyetujui agar tetap menempatkan masalah HAM dalam agenda.
Ketiga, menjaga untuk melakukan dialog konstruktif dengan Indonesia.
KTT dihadiri pemimpin negara dan pemerintahan Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republik Nauru, Selandia Baru, Papua Nugini, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu dan Vanuatu.
Solomon Islands diwakili Deputi Perdana Menteri, sedangkan Fiji, Niue dan Republik Papau diwakili menteri luar negeri. Kiribati diwakili utusan khusus.
Selain anggota, KTT kali ini dihadiri pula anggota associate, yaitu French Polynesia, Kaledonia Baru dan Tokelau yang diperkenankan turut dalam sesi-sesi resmi.
Peninjau di KTT PIF adalah The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, Timor Leste, Wallis dan Futuna, Bank Pembangunan Asia, the Commonweath Secretariat, PBB, the Western and Central Pacific Pacific Fisheries Agency (PIFFA), Pacific Power Association (PPA), Secretariat of Pacific Community (SPC), Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) dan the University of the South Pacific (USP).
Sesuai keputusan, KTT PIF tahun depan akan diselenggarakan di Samoa, sedangkan KTT PIF 2018 di Nauru dan 2019 di Tuvalu.
Salah satu keputusan penting dari KTT PIF ke-47, diterimanya French Polynesia dan Kaledonia Baru sebagai anggota penuh. Di mata sementara kalangan ini sebuah keputusan berani karena French Polynesia dan Kaledonia Baru adalah wilayah kekuasaan Prancis, yang pada KTT ini diwakili dua organisasi yang berjuang untuk menggelar penentuan nasib sendiri.
Pewarta: Mary Monireng
September 12, 2016
Pacific Journalism Review raises bar on West Papua, corruption issues
By PMC Editor – July 26, 2016
PMC chair A/Professor Camille Nakhid launches PJR with the editor, Professor David Robie, in the background. Image: Del Abcede/PMC
Pacific Media Centre chair Dr Camille Nakhid has praised the latest edition of Pacific Journalism Review with a launch coinciding with the Fourth World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC) in Auckland.
She said it was a popular journal globally as well as in the Asia-Pacific region, and noted the presence of many international contributors to the latest edition at the launch.
“This journal has progressed through the persistence of Professor David Robie, Dr Philip Cass and Professor Wendy Bacon with support of the wonderful production efforts of Del Abcede and proof reading of Susan O’Rourke,” said Dr Nakhid, who is an associate professor in AUT’s School of Social Science and Public Policy at Auckland University of Technology.
She said this latest issue of the journal, the only one regularly publishing New Zealand journalism research, was timely as it coincided with the WJEC conference and an Australian and Pacific Preconference.
There had been much attention on alleged corruption in New Zealand under the current government, particularly in reference to the Panama Papers, and ongoing corruption in the Pacific and wider Oceania region.
“This issue of the journal covers articles by those journalists and media researchers who have brought these issues to light,” she said.
“The articles also discuss the lives of journalists and their risks and dangers, our damage to the environment and many other issues.
“We need young journalists to live to become old journalists and so we very much welcome this journal and the launch of this current issue theme titled ‘Endangered Journalists’.”
July 26, 2016
West Papua independence activists accuse Indonesia of using students as spies
LatelineBy Hamish Fitzsimmons , ABC Net Australia
West Papuan independence activists and their supporters in Australia have accused Jakarta of using students to spy on them.
Lateline has been told postgraduate students are providing information to Indonesian intelligence about Australian citizens and has obtained photos that are claimed to be of some of the student spies.
The pictures were taken in June when the self-proclaimed Federal Republic of West Papua (FRWP) opened an office in Melbourne, as the West Papuan community and its supporters celebrated what they saw as a landmark in their long-running campaign for independence from Indonesia.
The celebrations were interrupted when three men, who had never been seen at any independence movement events, were seen recording the proceedings on smartphones.
The “foreign minister” of the FRWP, Jacob Rumbiak, confronted one of the men and was told they were there to gather information for the Indonesian government.
I think that the photos they took were sent to the Indonesian government by intelligence.
Jacob Rumbiak of the Federal Republic of West Papua.
“He’s explained that he’s studying a PHD at a Melbourne university and that also he works in the (Indonesian) department of foreign affairs. So he works in the government of Indonesia,” Mr Rumbiak said.
He said the man explained he would be reporting back to Indonesian authorities.
“Another two also came and they took photos of this office. I think that the photos they took were sent to the Indonesian government by intelligence,” Mr Rumbiak said.
Photo: Jacob Rumbiak said he confronted men he accused of spying on the celebration.
The ABC has indentified and contacted one of the three Indonesian men who attended the opening of the office and asked for his version of events, but he has not responded.
The man is a post-graduate economics student at a university in Melbourne, and his Facebook page lists his employer as the Indonesian finance ministry.
The Indonesian embassy rejects the claims.
“The Indonesian Government does not assign its students studying in Australia, or anywhere, to collect/gather information from any sources,” the embassy said in a statement.
“The possibility of Indonesian students’ presence at open-to-public events, including Papua-related ones, might relate to their studies or personal interests.”
Melbourne-based independence movement hacked and harassed
The West Papuan independence movement is strongest in Melbourne.
They said aside from low-level harassment, their office website has also been hacked twice. They claim they were able to trace the IP addresses of the computers threatening the website to addresses in Jakarta and Melbourne.
“We are faced with Jakarta. I do believe that’s them and we also have a monitoring system so we can know from which county and the address,” Mr Rumbiak said.
It’s well known amongst the activist community that this does go on. It seems overt and not very subtle.
Reverend Peter Woods
The Indonesian Embassy in Canberra denied the attack originated from its foreign affairs offices.
“We can confirm that the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not involved in that website hacking incident, as the ministry does not have a policy nor intentions to hack other institutions.”
Anglican minister Peter Woods, who has long campaigned for an independent West Papua, said incidents like this are becoming more frequent and blatant.
“It seems to be very blatant. It’s well known amongst the activist community that this does go on,” he said.
“It seems overt and not very subtle.”
Australian security services aware of student spies: academic
At a talk Reverend Woods gave in Melbourne last month describing his most recent trip to West Papua, he asked two men of Javanese and Timorese origin to leave before he started as he believed they were there as informants.
Photo: Activists wave flags during a celebration for the opening of a Melbourne Federal Republic of West Papua office.
“I was about to speak and we noticed that there were two non-Papuans there and we spoke to them and realised that they were agents doing surveillance. We asked them not to be there,” he said.
Lateline has spoken to several academics who all believe it is not uncommon for Indonesian post-graduate students to also provide intelligence to their country’s consulates or embassy.
“A number of students have been found to have been reporting to the consulate in Melbourne over the years,” said Damien Kingsbury from Deakin University.
“As academics, we deal with these students and we know what they are doing. They often tell us what they’re doing so we do know they report to their consulates. They do act as spies.”
Mr Kingsbury was an adviser to the Free Aceh and Timorese independence movements, and said Australian agencies are aware of this sort of intelligence gathering, but overlooked it due to it proving a comparatively low threat to Australia’s interests or security.
“The Australian security services see this as low level activity. They don’t see this as more formal espionage and a lot of the information that’s being picked up is open access anyway,” he said.
However, he said he does believe boundaries are being crossed.
“They also report on private conversations, so that is of more concern,” he said.
In the coming weeks a crucial meeting to garner support from Pacific nations for the West Papuan movement will be held in Vanuatu.
Indonesia’s president-elect Joko Widodo has indicated he is not opposed to dialogue with the independence movement about their desire for more autonomy, but Jakarta remains firm that independence is off the table.
Watch the full report on Lateline at 10.30pm on ABC TV.
October 8, 2014
Jika DOP Papua Diteruskan, Gubernur Pilih jadi Warga Negara Australia
Jayapura, 15/4 ( Jubi) – Pemekaran, kata Gubernur Papua, bukan solusi untuk menjawab persoalan dasar di Papua, justru sebaliknya akan membawa dampak yang buruk bagi rakyat asli Papua.
Gubernur Provinsi Papua, Lukas Enembe menyatakan keinginannya untuk menjadi warga negara Australia, jika Pemerintah Pusat meloloskan permohonan pemekaran sejumlah daerah otonom baru ( DOB ) di Provinsi Papua. Hal itu diungkapkan Gubernur Papua, ketika melakukan pertemuan terbatas dengan para Bupati/Walikota se- Papua, yang berlangsung di Hotel Aston, tadi malam.
“Kalau sampai terjadi banyak pemekaran di Provinsi Papua, maka saya memutuskan lebih baik menjadi warga negara Australia, karena saya tidak ingin melihat persoalan dan dampak yang terjadi dari pemekaran itu. Saya tidak mau dengar dan ikuti perkembangan Papua nanti. Lebih baik saya tidak tahu,”
ungkap Gubernur Papua.
Gubernur Papua terlihat cukup prihatin dengan banyaknya usulan pemekaran Daerah Otonom Baru yang diperjuangkan oleh orang-orang Papua dari sejumlah daerah di Papua, bahkan dirinya tidak habis pikir, sampai daerah yang sudah tidak layak dimekarkan, masih saja diperjuangkan oleh warga di daerah tersebut untuk tetap dimekarkan.
Karena menurut Gubernur Papua, pemekaran bukan solusi untuk menjawab persoalan dasar di Papua, justru sebaliknya akan membawa dampak yang buruk bagi rakyat asli Papua.
“Orang Papua hanya sedikit orang, jadi kalau kalian mekarkan Kabupaten, itu sama saja membuka ruang bagi orang dari luar untuk datang ke Papua dan menguasai Papua,” tandas Gubernur.
Menurut Gubernur, jika melihat kondisi rakyat Papua saat ini, usulan pemekaran daerah otonom baru di Papua akan mengancam eksistensi orang asli papua di atas tanahnya sendiri.
“Menurut saya pemekaran itu sama dengan kematian. Bapak-Bapak Bupati bisa terjemahkan sendiri bahasa saya ini,” ungkap Gubernur Papua, Lukas Enembe. (Albert/Jubi )
April 15, 2014

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