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Thursday, December 2, 2021

The Palestine that’s on our doorstep

 


I found it ironic that Malaysia was relieved of its position this week as host of the 2021 WSF Men’s World Team Squash Championship due in no small part to its refusal to accord Israeli athletes with visas.

Ironic because we are so gung-ho about supporting the cause of an occupied people in the Middle East, but absolutely silent about the situation in West Papua which is on our doorstep.

West Papuans are indigenous to their island but they have a colonial occupier.

It’s called Indonesia. Papuan activists are arrested and murdered and their homeland exploited for its vast national resources. This is another Palestine happening on our doorstep.

Today Dec 1 marks the 60th anniversary of the day West Papuans were granted their freedom by the Dutch.

Its people raised a new national flag and sang a new national anthem but a year later Indonesia, which had also been ruled by the Dutch, moved to annex the fledgling nation.

It was formally incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticised 1969 referendum which was conducted in an atmosphere of intimidation with just over 1,000 tribal chiefs selected and instructed to vote for West Papua to join Indonesia.

Since then, thousands of civilians - almost all of them indigenous tribal people - have been killed in this silent struggle.

Protest and oppression

Incidentally, flying the Morning Star flag, a symbol of Papuan independence, is banned in Indonesia and independence activist Filep Karma was convicted of treason after raising the flag publicly and spent 11 years in jail before his release in 2015.

It must be conceded that the Free Papua movement is not entirely blameless in its struggle and there were acts of violence carried out by the underground Organisasi Papua Merdeka, much like there are carried out by oppressed Palestinians.

Unlike Timor Leste (East Timor), a nearby territory which Indonesia invaded in 1975 and relinquished in 1999, the freedom movement in West Papua has failed to garner many headlines.

Two years ago, the situation flared up following the mass detention of Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, for bending a flagpole bearing the Indonesian flag in front of a dormitory on Indonesia’s national day, which was celebrated on Aug 17.

This resulted in the West Papua Uprising which swept across 22 towns in the Indonesian province of West Papua and 17 cities in other parts of Indonesia from Aug 19 to Sept 30, 2019, during which a total of 61 people lost their lives.

Activists also released photographs of burning villages and claimed the Indonesian military was pursuing a scorched-earth policy and terrorising the local population.

Indonesia also expelled foreign journalists and imposed an internet blackout on the region.

It is claimed by human rights activists that at least 22,800 civilians were displaced during the period of the Uprising, while around 6,000 West Papuan students in Java and elsewhere returned to their homeland.

During that period, thousands of Papua New Guineans also marched through its capital, Port Moresby, in solidarity with their West Papuan neighbours.

Last year, Papuan activist Buchtar Tabuni, a senior figure in the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), was sentenced to 11 months in prison, as were Agus Kossay and Stevanus Itlay of the West Papuan National Committee (KNPB).

Four university students - Alexsander Gobai, Fery Kombo, Irwanus Uropmabin, and Hengki Hilapok - were sentenced to 10 months each.

Maltreatment of detainees

Recently, Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, warned that the life of another activist Victor Yeimo was in danger and he required proper medical care to keep him from dying in prison.

He was imprisoned in May 2021 after providing information to the international media about human rights in West Papua in his capacity as international spokesperson for the KNPB and the Papuan People’s Petition (PRP).

Despite repeated requests from his lawyers for a delay on medical grounds, Yeimo went on trial in a Jayapura court at the end of August on charges of treason and incitement related to the 2019 protests.

“I’ve seen it before: States deny medical care to ailing, imprisoned human rights defenders, which results in serious illness or death. Indonesia must take urgent steps to ensure that fate does not await Mr Yeimo.”

“For months, Indonesian authorities have restricted his access to medical care, and now his health is critical and his life could be in danger,” she said.

Lawlor has also put the spotlight on a YouTube video on the alleged involvement of Indonesian army officials and retirees in plans to mine gold in Blok Wabu in Intan Jaya, Papua.

“The video was published by human rights defenders Fatia Maulidiyanti and Haris Azhar, who have worked with several civil society organizsations, including the NGO KontraS.

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan issued cease and desist orders against the two in August and September and followed up with a defamation complaint.

If charged, the pair could face up to six years in prison.

“These cases are part of a broader pattern where lawyers for government officials and companies use their broad powers as officers of the court to issue subpoenas and cease and desist demands, and then to follow up by referring human rights defenders to the police,” said Lawlor.

In yet another incident of intimidation, two years ago, lawyer Veronica Koman who represented the Papuan Students Alliance (AMP), went into hiding in Australia, after receiving threats.

There is no end in sight, no freedom on the horizon for the people of West Papua. But today, 60 years on from the raising of the Morning Star, let’s spare a thought for their plight. - Mkini


MARTIN VENGADESAN is associate editor at Malaysiakini.

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