Andra Jackson – The leader of the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers on Christmas Island has made a direct appeal to the Australian public for protection.
Herman Wainggai said he did not believe the Indonesian Government when it said that if the asylum seekers were returned, they need not fear for their safety. "They are a killer government, they are a terrorist government," he said.
The Papuan student resistance leader was speaking on a video made secretly on Christmas Island and smuggled out recently by Australian Greens senator Kerry Nettle.
Standing in front of a large West Papuan flag, he said members of the group feel safe now that they are in Australia. But with his fists tensing he implored: "We need protection from the Australian Government", a reference to the group's wait to find out if their asylum applications will be accepted by the Immigration Department.
Making an impassioned appeal for international support for West Papua, he said: "You have to understand what is happening now in West Papua.
"I am here because West Papua is fighting for independence from 1960 to 2006. In West Papua the Indonesian Government sends plenty of military to take out our place, so no freedom."
The video was shown at a public meeting organised by the Greens and the Free West Papua campaign at RMIT last night.
Mr Wainggai said: "In West Papua today, because of the situation with the military, West Papua people feel scared. They feel afraid." He said plenty of people had died in West Papua since 1960 and if the Papuan people didn't get help, more people would be shot and killed by the military.
The 43 asylum seekers – a group of activists and students – left West Papua because they feared for their safety, he said.
Holding his hand over his heart, he said they left their country "because we are targeted". He described how they made a traditional long boat and had to hide from the military as they brought it around from Jayapura in the northern part of the province to the south, to Merauke. From there they left for Australia.
For the first time he spoke of how they had expected to reach Australia in five days but it took seven "because we were facing big seas. We were late and slow in the sea so we just kept going."
He said the law of Indonesia could not solve the West Papuan problem – a reference to the so-called Act of Autonomy.
"We need international support especially from the Australian Government and the Australian people. If today we don't help the West Papuan people soon plenty of people will die by the military," he said.
Senator Nettle said the Reception, Truth and Reconciliation report on Indonesian atrocities in East Timor referred to the complicity of the Australian Government in sitting back and doing nothing. Never again should Australia sit back while its neighbours were being shot and victimised, she said.