Anton Aprianto/Heru Triyon, Jakarta – Two Papua residents who had asked for political asylum in Australia came to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) office for protection.

The two Papuans, Yubel Kareni, 22, and Hana Gobay, 23 said they received threats from people against Papua's integration with Indonesia. "If we insist on returning to Indonesia, they threatened to kill us because we were considered as traitors," Hana said at the Komnas HAM office yesterday.

Yubel and Hana said that on May 2004, they left for Australia along with 43 other Papuans, sailing on a traditional boat through Merauke, Papua. On January 2005 they arrived on Australia shores. Hana – who was a student at Manado University – said the 43 people were lured by the promise to receive free education in Australia. Each of them had to pay Rp 7 million to Herman Wainggai – later known to be the main leader of the Free Papua Movement (OPM).

In Australia, besides political asylum, they were also promised funding from the Australian government amounting US$450 every two weeks plus free housing. They later discovered that they were to be politically indoctrinated to support Papua's separatist movement from Indonesia. Yubel didn't even know until recently that he was categorized as a refugee seeking asylum. "We felt deceived," said Yubel, who was a senior at Serui High school in Papua.

Komnas HAM has sent a letter to the Papua governor and the Papua Regional Police. The letter, signed by commissioner Johny Nelson Simanjuntak, requested that the two youths be given protection and given their rights, especially in the field of education.