West Papua is a land like no other. Located on the western rim of the Pacific, bordering independent Papua New Guinea, West Papua is merely swimming and walking distance from Boigu and Saibai islands, the northern extent of Australia’s boundary. It is a wild and rugged country. A place where it is possible to stand on the summit of a 5000m peak, surrounded by ice and snow and look down on alpine valleys across to an endless expanse of tropical rainforests and island studded equatorial waters glistening in the sun far below. A land that is home to ancient cultures, including the oldest continually cultivating society in existence and around 300 distinct indigenous nations, each with their own language.
West Papua is also a land in crisis. West Papuans believe that their very future survival is under grave threat. The former Dutch colony was handed over to a transitional administrative Indonesian authority in 1963 by the United Nations who went on to supervise a sham act of self-determination in 1969. This failed decolonisation process was officially branded the Act of Free Choice but quickly became known to West Papuans as the Act of NO Choice. Under the gaze of the international community and with the active collaboration of the United Nations, Indonesia scraped the accepted ‘one-person-one-vote’ system and forcibly selected 1022 tribal elders, less than one percent of the population, to participate in a process of that would decide the fate of an entire people. Interned in camps, isolated from friends and family, those handpicked by the Indonesian military to participate in the so called ‘referendum’ were given a stark choice: to vote for Indonesia or to have their tongues cut out. Not surprisingly, in this climate of fear, intimidation and outright violence, 100% ‘choose’ integration.
The failure of the international community to support a genuine act of self-determination was deliberate and a violation of the 1962 New York Agreement signed by the United Nations, Indonesia and Holland, which provided the framework for self-determination. One British diplomat summed up the international community’s position with the words: "I cannot imagine the U.S, Japanese, Dutch or Australian Governments putting at risk their economic and political relations with Indonesia on a matter of principle involving a relatively small number of very primitive people." Since Indonesia took over human rights violations have been a daily occurrence. In truth no one knows for sure how many have died, but the genocide has been on such a scale as to threaten the obliteration of a people.
West Papua is a land of extraordinary natural resource wealth. Companies like the military backed transnational mining corporation, Freeport McMoRan and their partner Rio Tinto are literally moving a mountain in search of gold and copper. In the process they are leaving a legacy of social dislocation, gross human rights violations and environmental destruction. In 1967, two years before the question of sovereignty in West Papua was even resolved and after forcibly removing the highland Amungme people to the lowland where they lacked resistance to malaria, the company began operations. Now two highland valleys are filled up with rock waste. Over one hundred thousand square kilometers of rainforest have been destroyed by tailings dumped into the Ajkwa river at the staggering rate of over 200,000 tonnes per day.
More than 220 West Papuans (and recently 1 Indonesian and 2 U.S. schoolteachers) have allegedly been murdered by the Indonesian military, which is contracted by the mine to provide security. The 100% Australian owned Cairns based company, International Purveyors Incorporated, supplies Freeport, sending the boat Java Sea to the mine every ten days. BHP-Billiton and BP are also poised to begin large-scale mining operations in West Papua.
West Papua is a place where for over forty years people have struggled for dignity, freedom and justice. Although they have toiled far from the gaze of the international media, they have never given up. One such person, West Papuan leader Chief Tuarek Narkim, who has been forced to eek out a living in the shadow of the giant Freeport mine, rhetorically asks: "Why has God created such beautiful mountains, valleys and rivers, rich in minerals, and placed us – the indigenous people – here in this place that attracts so many people from around the world to come, exploit our resources and kill us?"
Chief Narkime continues: "I know Freeport and the military have created so many problems for us. But our minds and hearts have to be as clean and white as the Nemangkawiarat (White Arrow, the Amungme name for the glacier capped mountain known as Carstenz) when you fight for truth and justice for your people and land."
Narkime’s words and actions exemplify the best elements and principles of the West Papuan’s struggle: integrity, nonviolent direct action and compassion. In the face of ruthless repression and intense exploitation the peoples of West Papua continue to search for ways to realise their aspirations. But their struggle will only succeed with the support of people like you. Intervention by outside individuals and organisations is needed to defend human rights, restrain the military, hold corporations accountable, protect the environment, realise self-determination and
achieve a just peace.
As human rights defender and West Papuan civil society leader John Rumbiak observes, the struggle of West Papuans is a challenge for all those who consider themselves civilised: "It is a struggle for dignity, justice and peace for all. This is not the struggle of Papuans alone, but also of those – no matter who they are or where they are in the world – who share similar values, who believe in respect for other human beings and their cultures and in respect and reverence for this beautiful natural planet on which we all depend for life." This c.d communicates something very special: the culture of West Papua and the spirit of a courageous and determined people.
We hope you enjoy it.
For more information about West Papua visit:
ELSHAM Papua Barat, Jayapura – Papua: www.geocities/elshamnewsservice.com/ (Indonesian language site)
Papua Resource Center – New York: www.papuaresourcecenter.org
Free West Papua Collective – Melbourne: www.freewestpapua.com
Australia West Papua Association – Sydney: www.zulenet.com/awpa/
Australian West Papua Association – Brisbane: www.geocities.com/awpab
Australian National University, Cendrawasih University and UNIPA – (The State University of Papua)
resource site for West Papua: www.papuaweb.org
Friends of People Close to Nature (FPCN): www.fpcn-global.org
Office for Justice and Peace - www.hampapua.org
