Anthony Deutsch, The Hague – A key 1969 vote on the future of the Indonesian island province of West New Guinea was "a sham" orchestrated by Jakarta, a Dutch government-commissioned study has found.
That vote, which made the province part of Indonesia, has been followed by decades of abuse at the hands of the Indonesian military.
The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre expresses alarm and disgust at recent news that Australia has signed a new Security Treaty with Indonesia.
PCRC calls on Australia to sincerely rethink the consequence this Treaty will have on indigenous Papuans.
The 1969 Act of Free Choice, intended to be an act of self-determination by the people of Indonesian-occupied West Papua, was doomed to failure from the outset suggests a Dutch government-commissioned report released today.
Summary
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, strongly condemns the decision of the police in Jayapura to ban an action planned for tomorrow, 15 November, to welcome the launch in The Netherlands of a book by Dutch historian, Professor Drooglever on the 1969 Act of Free Choice.
A long-awaited report commissioned by the Dutch government into West Papua's controversial incorporation into Indonesia will be launched at the Institute of Dutch History in the Hague next Tuesday, 15 November.
Yesterday [10 November 2005], on the 4th anniversary of the murder of West Papuan independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay by Kopassus [Indonesian Special Forces], the West Papua Street Parliament led a protest involving over 300 hundred Papuan students.
Jakarta – Indonesia has greeted with a sigh of relief a decision by the United States Congress to omit references to Papua from the State Department Authorization Bill, saying it reflected the consistent support of both the US government and Congress for Indonesia's national integrity.
Papuans are reportedly forming their own assembly to counter the Papuan People's Council, or MRP, established by the Indonesian government to represent the province.
The 42-member MRP was set up last month despite strong public opposition to the election process.
By Richard Chauvel
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The newly elected members of the Papuan People's Council (MRP) took office on Monday in a ceremony that was notable for the heavy police presence.
Alastair Thompson – Timor-Leste Foreign Minister & 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jose Ramos-Horta knows more than most about independence struggles against Indonesian control.
Scoop took the opportunity of Mr Ramos-Horta's attendance at the 36th Pacific Island Forum to discuss the struggle for recognition by the independence movement from West Papua.
Yogyakarta – Today, Monday 31/10 One hundred Papuan Students who called themselves the Alliance of Papuan Students (AMP) Jogjakarta took part in a long march [in central Java] to protest against the inauguration of MRP members in Papua by the Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.
In an effort to accommodate fundamental rights for natives, the Indonesian government set up a people's assembly in the easternmost province Papua on Monday even though protesters say the body will only act as a Jakarta puppet.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The central government's plan to appoint all 42 members of the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) is against the law, undemocratic, and will create a puppet government of Jakarta, protesters in Jayapura say.
Lloyd Jones – Hundreds of people have rallied in Port Moresby to urge Pacific leaders meeting there to take West Papua's case for independence from Indonesia to the United Nations.
A rally will be held in the PNG capital Port Moresby tomorrow to highlight the push for independence in the Indonesian province of Papua. Papua was annexed by Indonesia in 1969 following the controversial act of free choice, and some Papuans have been fighting ever since for self rule.
In Papua New Guinea, hundreds of people have rallied in the capital Port Moresby to call for independence for the Indonesian province of Papua.
Some Papuans have been campaigning for self rule since Indonesia's annexation in 1969 under the vote of free choice.
The Australia West Papua Association (Sydney) believes it is now time for West Papua to be granted observer status at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum in PNG.
AWPA congratulates the Forum leaders for admitting French Polynesia as a Forum observer at last year's meeting in Apia, Samoa
West Papua has always been considered part of the Pacific Community.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A Dutch parliamentarian called on the international community to stop questioning the status of Papua as the territory's incorporation into Indonesia under the United Nations-sanctioned 1969 Act of Free Choice was final.
The Indonesia Human Rights Committee has sent an urgent fax to newly elected Prime Minister Rt Hon Helen Clark urging her to ensure that West Papua is highlighted at this year's Pacific Islands Forum.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government has delayed indefinitely the establishment of the much-awaited Papuan People's Assembly (MRP), blaming a dispute among local religious leaders and local authorities over the composition of the assembly.
Pradana Boy ZTF, Malang – The factors that have caused Papuans' desire to be free from Indonesia cannot easily be determined. Papua's desire is rooted in many different factors ranging from the issues of race, culture and socio-political rights to economic reasons.
Melanesian Solidarity National Facilitating Committee for Free West Papua, Papua New Guinea is calling on the Senior Official currently meeting in Suva, Fiji to put West Papua as a separate agenda on the Pacific Islands Forum agenda.
City Councillors took part in a protest on the steps of Oxford Town Hall to pledge their support for West Papuans fighting for freedom from Indonesian occupation.
The Oxford-based Free West Papua Campaign is calling for a referendum on the country's future.
A delegation of Papuan church ministers is flying out to America this week to lobby the United States Congress to investigate Indonesia's legal claim over their province. The US House of Representatives has passed a bill questioning Papua's incorporation into Indonesia.
Green Euro-MP Caroline Lucas has joined calls for the UN to hold an independence referendum in West Papua after the Green Party adopted a policy motion condemning the UN-sponsored 'sham' Act of Free Choice which led to West Papua formally joining Indonesia in 1969.
36th Pacific Islands Forum, Papua New Guinea, 25-27 October 2005
Netty Dharma Somba, Jakarta, Jayapura – The ongoing formation of Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) has drawn strong opposition from Papuan tribal leaders and churchmen, who feel disappointed with what they say are the central government's confusing policies in the resource-rich province.
Indonesia's defence minister, Juwono Sudarsono, has denied media reports that Indonesia's National Defence Forces have deployed a large number of military personnel to Papua province.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government promised on Monday to install the members of the much-awaited Papua People's Assembly (MRP) early next month and to refrain from making any strategic decisions on the troubled province pending the establishment of the local body.
A Swiss journalist who witnessed the Abepura incident in 2000 in Indonesia's Papua province says a police commissioner acquitted of charges in connection to the incident was responsible for fatal beatings.
Australia West Papua Association (Melbourne) welcomes the National Party's Resolution No. 11 calling on the Liberal Party, its coalition partner in government, to investigate human rights abuses in West Papua. The motion was put to the National Party's national convention today in Canberra by Wendy Duncan, President of the National Party (WA).
Washington – Thirty-five members of the US Congress have called on Indonesia to lift travel restrictions to West Papua and halt the military buildup in the province where a rebellion has simmered for decades.
The UK-based Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) has denounced last week's ruling by an Indonesian Human Rights Court that ended up acquitting two senior police officers accused of serious human rights violations.
Jakarta – The acquittal of two senior police officers from all charges of gross human rights violations in Abepura, Papua province, drew public condemnation on Friday.
Jayapura – Seventeen activists grouped in the Papuan Solidarity for Abepura group continued their hunger strike on Wednesday as part of the efforts to seek justice for the victims of the Abepura incident.
Today's acquittal of two senior Indonesian police officers, accused of allowing the killing of three Papuan students and the torture of over a hundred others, is a worrying illustration of Indonesia's security forces again being allowed to escape justice.
Alan Ramsey – Stuart Rees is the director of Sydney University's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. On July 29 he emailed Labor's Kevin Rudd about a new 60-page report on the "systematic violence, rape, torture and military corruption" by Indonesian forces in West Papua.
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A group of prominent figures established a forum on Tuesday to increase public participation in the efforts to resolve the problems of Papua, which has been affected by human rights abuses and secessionist sentiment for decades.
Students and residents claiming to be from the Papua Solidarity for the Abepura Incident staged a protest in Jayapura on Monday, demanding the death penalty for two police officers charged for their roles in human rights abuses four years ago in Abepura.
Tony Hotland and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The House of Representatives has warned the government to take all possible measures to block a US Congress bill that questions the status of Papua province, and called for a more effective lobbying effort in the US.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's military will be looking to reap even more riches from rebellious Papua province now that it has been forced to withdraw thousands of troops from Aceh, observers say.
Jakarta – The Indonesian army will send an additional three battalions of troops to Papua. "The reason being, to provide security on the border," army spokesman Brig-Gen Hotma Ngaraja Panjaitan, told Tempo yesterday.
Nethy Dharma Somba and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) has raised her concern over the alleged arrival of troops in the troubled province of Papua, saying that local people are feeling ill at ease.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – After the Helsinki peace deal that brought peace to Aceh, the central government has been urged to focus more on resolving the problems in Papua.
Carmel Budiardjo, London – The historic agreement concluded this week between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been widely welcomed, both in Indonesia and abroad. It was also highlighted by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), in his Aug. 16 address to the nation to mark the 60th anniversary of Indonesian Independence Day on Aug. 17.
Tom Allard – The Indonesian military has murdered independence activists, raped women and razed villages in Papua, a report by University of Sydney researchers alleges.
Citing witness accounts and testimony from church groups and other activists, the report, Genocide in West Papua?, has renewed calls for a change in attitude from Australia.
Ivy Susanti, Jakarta – Indonesia expressed displeasure over a report from a group of Australian researchers, who accuse the Indonesian Military (TNI) of committing genocide in Papua, and condemned the study as "baseless".
The Indonesian military has been blamed for systematic violence, including rape, arson and torture, in the province of West Papua, according to a new report by Australian researchers.
The Australian Democrats have criticised the federal government for ignoring the human rights abuses to avoid upsetting Indonesia.