The Hon Stephen Smith MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600

17 March 2007

Dear Mr Smith,

I am writing to you concerning the dangerously deteriorating situation in West Papua.

"Papuans still are subject to torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and unfair trials by the Indonesian authorities," said the World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for human rights, Christina Papazoglou in a 14 March oral intervention before the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is currently holding its seventh session in Geneva.

Jayapura – It appears that the police will show not tolerance to those who unfurled the Morning Star flag during a demonstration on grounds of the Manokwari Regional House of Representatives on Thursday March 13. The evidence, nine out of the 12 demonstrators arrested earlier by police are to be charged with rebellion.

Timika, Papua – Four Australian military attaches arrived at the Mimika district town of Timika on Wednesday for a two-day working visit in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua.

Jayapura – The controversial issues of using separatist symbols such as the morning star flag on any accessories has become one of Governor Suebu's concerns. According to the governor, the handling of the people's use of the separatist's symbols should be dealt persuasively and not repressively.

Indonesian police have arrested 11 people in Papua for raising the Morning Star flag.

Police broke up a rally in the west of the province when demonstrators held the banned flag aloft and called for a referendum on Papua's future.

The demonstrators could be charged with promoting separatism. Police have rejected claims that they beat several of the demonstrators.

Vidhyandika Perkasa, Jakarta – No significant progress has eventuated in Papua as far as sociocultural, political and economic dimensions are concerned.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A women's alliance has called the campaign against HIV/AIDS infection in Papua ineffective, citing the steep rise in cases in the last several years.

A number of Papuan women of the Women's Challenge Alliance held a demonstration to observe World Women's Day in Abepura on Saturday.

Washington, D.C.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Growing demands for a self-determination referendum show the Papuan people are fed up with corruption caused by the province's "special autonomy" status, an academic and informal leader said.

Biak – After having meetings with the DPRP, the MRP and the Papuan provisional government, a team from Komnas HAM visited Biak Numfor to seek opinions from local people about views for and against the satellite launch project.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The government will issue an emergency government regulation within the next two months to justify the formation of West Papua province, which has been a source of tension between Jakarta and Papua for the last five years.

Jayapura – Two Papuan students detained after a pro-Papuan independence demonstration were released after paying bail to the local police.

Zakaria Horota, chairman of the National Front of Papuan Students (FNMPP), said here Tuesday that Marthen Manggaprow and Frangky Inekep were released with a letter of summons.

Jayapura, Papua – Papuan members of the West Papua National Authority gathered Monday to demand the government hold a referendum, claiming that special autonomy has failed to raise the welfare of local people.

The group said a referendum is needed because any dialogue between the Papuan people and the government always ended in deadlock.

Adpara, Jayapura – An association of former Papuan fighters urged greater government efforts to publicize a regulation that prohibits regions from using secessionist flags.

A series of demonstrations calling for a referendum on Papuan self-determination have been taking place today in several main towns of Indonesia's Papua region.

However at least two of the rallies in Jayapura, Manokwari, Serui and Sarong, have reportedly been restricted by police who have deemed any demonstrations without a permit illegal.

The Papua People's Assembly, the MRP, says it's pursuing dialogue with Jakarta in an effort to stop the proposed formation of a new province in its region.

Joe Collins from the Australia West Papua Association said that "Mr. Debus is the 10th Federal Government Minister to visit Indonesia since the swearing in of the new Australian Government".

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Two senior campaigners of the Papua Free Movement (OPM) surrendered over the weekend with a statement praising the significant progress the province has achieved.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Residents of Papua's Pegunungan Bintang regency on Tuesday voiced their opposition to the proposed formation of a new province.

After five regents on Monday issued a joint statement in Jayapura for an autonomous province that would include Pegunungan Bintang, people in Oksibil, the regency's capital, staged a rally rejecting the plan.

Angela Flassy, Jayapura – Two Papuan intellectuals have expressed deep concern over a bill on the formation of four new provinces in Papua, which they said would benefit Jakarta and could sow conflict among tribes.

Congress of the United States
Committee on Foreign Affairs
U.S. House of Representatives
Washlngton, DC 20515

Telephone: (202) 225·5021

http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/

February 14, 2008

At least 100 people demonstrated Monday in Jayapura, Papua's capital city, to demand the dissolution of the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP), which they said failed to protect the rights of Papuans.

We

1. declared West Papua as 'Land of Peace' on the 5th February 2002.

Joe Collins from the Australia West Papua Association said that AWPA is still concerned about the ties with the Indonesian military that the Lombok Treaty commits us to. The treaty came into force on Thursday at a ceremony in Perth which was attended by the foreign ministers of Australia and Indonesia.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Papua needs a mediating force to oversee an effective implementation of special autonomy, similar to that in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, a religious leader in Jayapura said Friday.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) and the Papuan Legislative Council (DPRP) have rejected a proposal by the House of Representatives (DPR) to divide Papua into four provinces.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Threats and intimidation against rights defenders increased in Papua and West Papua provinces in 2007 while efforts at military reform stalled, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday in its global report on human rights.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday gave extraordinary praise for former dictator Suharto's role in the brutal military operation in Papua which killed thousands of tribesman.

A religious leader in Indonesia's Papua has called for Jakarta lawmakers to consult with Papuans before going ahead with their plan to split their region into four new provinces.

Last week, Indonesia's House of Representatives endorsed its own plan to create eight new provinces, including adding four provinces to the two in its Papua region.

Neles Tebay, Abepura, Papua – Since the fall of Soeharto's regime, Indonesia has apparently begun to move toward democracy. Indonesian citizens have found space to exercise their rights and duties without fear, pressure and intimidation from the state.

A London-based Papuan activist has criticised the Governor of Indonesia's Papua for upholding a ban on the Morning Star Flag.

It may not look very scary to you or me, but to the Government of Indonesia it is a dangerous threat to the "unity of the nation". No, it's not an assault rifle or a pound of high explosives, or even a bow and some arrows ....it is a BAG.

Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu said Wednesday the province would uphold a newly issued government regulation that bans the use of separatist attributes as regional symbols, a move in line with the province's status as part of the unitary state of Indonesia.

Neles Tebay, Abepura, Papua – Papua Province has been the only Indonesian province still rebellious against the Jakarta-based central government.

Jayapura (UCAN) – Religious leaders in Papua have discussed violations of a six-year-old autonomy law for their province and sent recommendations to various levels of government to rectify the situation.

American Samoa Congressman Faleomavaega has written to the Indonesian President expressing his disappointment over a recent trip to Papua, and saying until he can visit Papua properly, he can't advocate support for the Special Autonomy Law in Congress.

Neles Tebay, Abepura, Papua – Papua holds one of the largest areas of forest in the Asia Pacific region. It is also both a home and the grounds for a livelihood for some of the world's most culturally diverse indigenous peoples.

Congressman Eni F. H. Faleomavaega
Territory of American Samoa
US House of Representatives

Angela Maria Flassy, Jayapura, Papua – State prosecutors seized Friday 60 copies of a book they say could divide Papua politically, while critics have accused them of robbing local people of their freedom of expression.

A Papuan human rights campaigner has been formally charged with insulting Indonesia's president in a series of mobile phone SMS text messages.

Gede Suardana, Denpasar – The United States' stand in refusing to reduce emissions in order to overcome global warming has received a strong reaction with hundreds of students demonstrating in Bali on Monday December 10.

Although the 7 December 2000 Abepura case is now closed according to the law, victims of this bloody incident are not satisfied. On Friday this week they went to the DPRP building to seek justice.

Mark Forbes – Papua will ban all log exports from next month, in a radical move to preserve one of the world's largest remaining tracts of untouched forests.

Governor of the Indonesian province, Barnabas Suebu, told The Age that the Bali climate change conference should endorse funding the anti-logging moves, due to its impact on reducing global warming.

Jayapura – The case of the hoisting of the Kejora flag on 1 December in Timika is being intensively handled by the Mimika police with back-up from the police force in Papua.

Chief of Police in Papua, Drs. Max Donald Aer said that this case is being pursued. Yesterday, the number of suspects increased by one to seven people.

Ellie Simmonds – Campaigners showed solidarity with their fellow countrymen by raising the West Papuan flag over Oxford Town Hall.

Exiled countryman Benny Wenda joined Oxford's Lord Mayor John Tanner and other local campaigners to mark West Papua's National Day on Saturday.

Indonesia's military is exploiting prejudices against indigenous Papuans so it can remain in the impoverished region, an Australian researcher said.

Jakarta – Police released 14 people they arrested after a ceremony to mark the anniversary of West Papua's declaration of independence from Indonesia, a report said Sunday.

Another six people detained as the group raised its outlawed "Morning Star" separatist flag on Saturday remained in police custody, the Detikcom online news portal reported.

More than 20 people were reportedly arrested in Indonesia's Papua as they raised the outlawed "Morning Star" separatist flag.

A spokesman for the United Front of West Papuan People's Fight, says the group was making the anniversary of their declaration of independence.

Jayapura, Papua – The Morning Star flag of Free Papua Movement (OPM) was raised illegally at Kwamki Baru region in Mimika district town of Timika to commemorate independence by OPM separatists opposed to the region being part of Indonesia.