The Indonesian Generals have always seen West Papua as their personal fiefdom. The removal of Suharto, the butcher, as dictator of Indonesia almost two decades ago made no difference to West Papua. Maybe the Indonesian military chief should be offended by the record of the Indonesian Military in West Papua. During the last 50 years over 500,000 West Papuans have died from a population of 1.5 million as a direct consequence of Indonesia’s military takeover of West Papua. The Indonesian military has over seen a transmigration program that has made the West Papuans a minority in their own country. This isn’t something to be proud of. The Indonesian Commander of the Armed Forces, General Gatot Nurmantyo unilaterally (he told President Joko Widodo and Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu when the cat was let out of the bag) had halted military ties with Australia because he was offended by a little bit of homework given to an Indonesian Special Services Officer at an Army base in Perth that obliquely raised the question of West Papuan Independence highlights the extent of the Indonesian’s military sensitivity about their role in West Papua. The Indonesian military has always seen West Papua as their personal property. Little, if any, of the riches dug out of the ground in West Papua ever reach the Indonesian Treasury.
As expected, both the Turnbull led Liberal/Nation Party Coalition and the ALP (Alternative Liberal Party), masquerading as the Australian Labor Party, said all the right things to placate the Indonesian military.
The issue of West Papuan independence is beginning to gain international traction. Hopefully it will be successfully raised in the United Nations over the next 12 months.
You may or may not know that I am Convenor of the West Papuan Independence Movement Rent Collective. For almost 3 years extraordinary Australians (not ordinary) who are sick and tired of the fact the question of West Papuan independence is never, never, never raised in the Federal Parliament, have banded together to PAY THE RENT for the only West Papuan Independence Office in the world.
The office is located at:
Suite 211 - 838 Collins St. DOCKLANDS VIC 3008
Office hours: Monday to Friday - 10:00am – 4:00pm
Tel: 03 9049 9590 03 9049 9591
Web: www.dfait.federalrepublicofwestpapua.org
The office acts as the international hub for the West Papuan Independence Movement.