Hugh White – Australia's debate over Papua in the past fortnight has fallen into the ruts worn in our national consciousness by East Timor.

M. Wahid Supriyadi – The granting of temporary protection visas to 42 West Papuans has given new ammunition to anti-Indonesian activists.

Jayapura – Papuans seeking for political asylum in Australia are a bunch of traitors, a Papua youth leader said Sunday.

Tom Hyland – "There is sensitivity in Indonesia about her sovereignty over West Papua, a sovereignty which Australia has never disputed and a sovereignty which Australia fully respects

Tom Hyland – Papuan refugees given asylum in Australia claim they are victims of a secret war carried out by undercover Indonesian forces aimed at destroying the independence movement.

Sydney – Australia Sunday has signalled a tougher line on refugees from Indonesia's troubled province of Papua as it faced what the foreign minister called a "crisis" in relations with

Tom Hyland – Efforts are under way to start peace talks aimed at settling the growing dispute over control of the Indonesian province of Papua.

Hamish McDonald – Thirty years ago I met a Papuan man called Imser in a place called Valley X, high in the mountainous spine of the Indonesian half of New Guinea.

Mike Carlton – Some background for you on the story of those 42 refugees from Papua who were given asylum in Australia last month, provoking that torrent of protest from Indonesia.

Tom Allard – In the sad, bloody history of Papua, there have been fleeting moments of optimism, the last of which, dubbed the Papuan Spring, occurred in 2000.

Louise Dodson, Mark Forbes in Jakarta and Craig Skehan – The Immigration Department may be forced to consider Australia's interest, not just humanitarian concerns, when deciding who is

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono says that he has the names of six to seven non-government organisations (NGO) that are manipulating the Papua issue.

Andra Jackson – Exiled West Papuan independence leader Jacob Rumbiak is well placed to challenge the credibility of Indonesian assurances that 43 West Papuan refugees could have been sa

Mark Baker – It is now evident the chorus of cheers that greeted the Immigration Department's prompt and uncharacteristic decision to grant temporary residence to 42 West Papuan asylum

Michelle Grattan, Canberra and Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – John Howard says most Australians do not want West Papuans seeking refuge here.

Canberra – Indonesia's respect for human rights in its Papua province has improved and Australia shouldn't encourage the region's independence, the Australian prime minister said, despi

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Papua's first directly elected governor has warned Indonesia must deliver "justice, equality and prosperity" or face the prospect of more violence and an exodus o

The search continues for a boatload of Papuan asylum seekers thought to have mistakenly landed on an island in Papua New Guinea in their quest to get to Australia.

Responding to comments made today by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, the Free West Papua Campaign strongly criticised any plans to interfere with the process by which visas are g

Abdul Khalik and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesia may end up breaking its own laws if it keeps trying to secure the return of 42 Papuan asylum seekers recently granted temporary visas

Indonesian importers have called for a boycott of Australian goods as anger grows over Canberra's decision to grant temporary visas to 42 Papuan separatists who arrived in Cape York in

Parliamentarians, union leaders and academics have been included on an Indonesian government list of prominent Australians supporting Papuan separatism.

Michael Davis – The leader of a group of Papuan refugees granted interim asylum in Australia fears a genocide similar to East Timor if the international community does not intervene to

Canberra – Prime Minister John Howard assured Indonesia Sunday that he does not support the separatist movement in Papua after an Australian newspaper crudely lampooned the Indonesian p

Jane Bunce – An Australian Anglican minister says at least 10 people have disappeared in military reprisals since a violent demonstration in Papua.

Jakarta – Indonesia has described as "tasteless" a caricature in an Australian newspaper depicting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a dog.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A recent graduate of Cendrawasih University in Papua was shot Tuesday evening by two unidentified assailants, in the latest incident following a bloody cl

Lloyd Jones, East Awin, Papua New Guinea – At the age of five, Donatus Kaenop was carried through the jungle and across the border into Papua New Guinea by his refugee parents escaping

One of Indonesia's biggest-selling newspapers has depicted John Howard and Alexander Downer as a pair of sex-crazed dingoes, dragging media outrage over the Papua visa row down to a new

Sarah Stephen – On March 23, the immigration department announced that 42 of the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers who arrived in Australia on January 18 and have been held on Christmas Isl

Kerryn Williams – After police attacked a protest outside the Cendrawasih University in the West Papuan capital Jayapura on March 16, several police officers and an Indonesian military

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Fears that Canberra is stoking support for Papua to break away from Indonesia sparked Jakarta's strong reaction last week to Australia granting visas to Papu

Greg Roberts, Kiunga, Papua New Guinea – Muslim extremists from The Philippines and elsewhere are claimed to be setting up bases in Papua with the blessing of elements of the Indonesian

Canberra – Australia tried to soothe ties with Indonesia on Monday after granting asylum to 42 boat people from the country's troubled Papua province and as media reported more Papuans

Harold Crouch – Indonesians have reacted with outrage at the Australian decision to grant temporary protection visas to 42 of the 43 Papuans who reached Cape York in an outrigger canoe

Damian Kingsbury – Australia's decision to grant 42 West Papuan asylum seekers temporary protection has put the relationship with Indonesia under its most serious strain since the East

Andra Jackson – An anglican minister from Victoria witnessed a confrontation in West Papua between protesters and Indonesian police, who fired rifles and tear gas into the air before ch

Tony Blair MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA

26 March 2006

Dear Prime Minister,

Your visit to Indonesia: Concerns about West Papua

Carmel Egan – Relying on nothing more than the word of a good friend and their faith in God, the West Papuan 43 turned their dugout canoe south and made for Australia.

Tom Hyland – It's unlikely that Alexander Downer believes what he says about the new row that has erupted between Australia and Indonesia over 42 Papuan asylum seekers.

Jakarta – The Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) has responded angrily to a government official's allegation that churches have been used as a medium to spread anti-government pro

Sydney – The Australian government must take the issue of Papua's right to self-determination to the United Nations, the Greens say.

Jakarta – Although disillusioned and even threatened with losing its relevance, the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) remains the best available channel to address grievances in the provin

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Indonesian security forces continued to hunt for students in hiding in Papua's jungles yesterday.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Hiding in a tattered hut in West Papua's dense jungle and existing on food brought by sympathetic villagers, university student Everistus Kayep is confused by the

Greg Sheridan – Is there another boat on the way? This is the question now in Australia-Indonesia relations after the granting of temporary protection visas to 42 West Papuans.

Jayapura – Papuan community leaders, smarting at the refusal of a minister to meet with them last week, have accused the central government of arrogance and an "unwillingness" to addres

Jakarta – Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Australia amid a furore over Canberra's decision to grant temporary visas to 42 asylum seekers from restive Papua province.

Rob Taylor and Heru Rahadi, Jakarta – Australia's decision to grant temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers is an "unfriendly" act and Indonesia must protest, a senior Indonesian MP

Peter Cave – Up to 1,200 students are reported to be hiding in the hills around Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's Papua province, fearful of revenge attacks by members of the Indones