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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

We strongly condemn the statement by Syamsir Siregar, the head of BIN (Badan Inteligen Negara - State Intelligence Bureau) and the Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono, alleging that local

John McBeth, Jakarta – The pretext may have been demands for the closure of Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg copper and gold mine, 500 kilometers away across Papua's rugged central highlan

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

Jakarta – Indonesia's government Thursday threatened legal action against US mining giant Freeport unless the company improved the environmental record of its massive gold mine in Papua

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

The Uniting Church in Australia has called for dialogue and calm in the Indonesian province of Papua, in the wake of a violent demonstration which left four Indonesian security personne

Jakarta – Indonesia's Papua remained tense with hundreds of students hiding in the jungle to evade a police manhunt, reports said, as the death toll from riots over a US-run mine rose t

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta – The accusations by Syamsir Siregar, the head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), that local West Papuan non-government organisations (NGOs) in Papua sponso

Rob Taylor, Jakarta – Indonesia's defence minister wants to blacklist Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle from travelling to Papua, saying her presence could stir more violence in th

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Thousands of students are staying away from their dormitories in Abepura, fearing further reprisals after the killing of four security personnel last Thur

Israr Iskandar, Padang – Like an irresistible piece of chocolate cake, Freeport has become an issue politicians are eager to talk about.

Rob Taylor in Jakarta – Indonesia's intelligence chief has accused an Australian-backed aid group of being behind clashes in the province of West Papua in which four security officers w

The Asia Pacific Solidarity Coalition (APSOC) demands an independent investigation into the cases of Indonesian police brutality in West Papua reported after last week's protests from l

Jakarta – The National Intelligence Agency (BIN) has accused non-government organisations (NGOs) of sponsoring the bloody incident in Abepura, West Papua.

Deadly clashes in Papua, in which four security officers were killed by demonstrators, were planned as a stepping stone to full independence for the restive province, Indonesian authori

Jayapura/Jakarta – Heeding public pressure, the National Police moved Sunday to stop retaliatory measures by ordering its Mobile Brigade (Brimob) in Papua to return to their barracks in

Jayapura – Paramilitary police in Papua pulled people from cars Saturday and beat them, an official said, two days after a mob bludgeoned to death four security officers during protests

Mark Forbes, Jayapura – Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has called for restraint following the brutal murder of four security officers by Papuan demonstrators.

A military crackdown is under way in Indonesian controlled West Papua in the wake of the violent end of a Jayapura demonstration against the Freeport McMoran mine two days ago.

Hon Alexander Downer MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

18 March 2006

Dear Mr. Downer,