The Morning Star Shines Bright – Solidarity with the West Papuan Liberation Movement
Dan Kelly
02/12/2021
This year marks 60 years that West Papua has suffered under the tyranny of Indonesian colonialism. In this time, they have borne the brunt of attempted social, cultural and physical genocide – reduced to an over-policed minority in their own land. Despite this, the brave West Papuan people maintain their fight for independence and freedom. Groups such as the Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (FRI-WP), the Papuan People’s Petition (PRP), the Papuan Students Alliance (AMP) and the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) and more maintain the struggle as they face a crackdown from an unrelenting Indonesian military state.
This struggle ranges from peaceful appeals based on human rights discourse to outright guerrilla war with the military of the colonising forces. An example of the former is a 2017 petition for West Papuan self-determination that received some 1.8 million signatures in support, more than 70 per cent of West Papua’s population. Yet, for daring to express their right to freedom of political expression, 57 people were arrested for supporting the petition, of whom all but three were tortured by Indonesian forces. This civil rights movement has been followed by waves of protest in both 2019 and 2021.
These peaceful expressions of self-determination have been repeatedly met with severe repression. Recent events of note include the alleged use of white phosphorous in bombing dissenting West Papuan towns by Indonesian armed forces, while attendees of protests have been harassed, kidnapped and murdered. Likewise, the leaders of the movement have been abducted, abused and even assassinated in targeted campaigns by the Indonesian state. This is seen in the murder of Arnold Ap, the assassination of Theys Eluay and the pursuit of Benny Wenda into exile.
There is a duty to fight for the living and the dead – for fallen freedom fighters like Kelly Kwalik who paid the ultimate price for their people. The ongoing brave military campaign by West Papuan forces in the face of overwhelming odds is a sign of this commitment. In May of this year, Papuan forces attacked and killed regional intelligence chief Brigadier General I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugrah. In September 2020, militants of the West Papuan National Liberation Army attacked Indonesian military outposts in Maybrat and killed four soldiers using arrows, machetes and other weapons. In response, heavily armed Indonesian Military forces launched punitive retaliatory expeditions throughout the area leading 2000 Papuan civilians in the Aifat district to flee to safety. In daring to fight for their freedom against the occupying colonial forces, the Papuan people are subjected to the same barbaric colonial practices reminiscent of decades past, while the international community enforces silence over their plight.
No current issue highlights the travesty of the situation more than that of Victor Yeimo. The spokesman for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) was shamefully charged with treason against the occupying Indonesian state, and incitement over his alleged role in anti-racism protests in 2019. For daring to organise a peaceful protest in his home country against the illegal Indonesian occupation, he was arrested and held in isolation for 108 days in a Special Forces prison. During this period, he was repeatedly denied medical treatment despite repeated requests by his defence team. Eventually, his defence team pressured the Indonesian authorities into admitting him into hospital, where it was revealed that he was suffering from bronchitis, acid reflux disease and, possibly, tuberculosis. Despite the media blackout on the West Papuan occupation, the #freevictoryeimo campaign has achieved international proportions. However, back in West Papua, protests in support of his release have been forcibly and violently quashed by Indonesian forces, under the guise of Covid restrictions. This whole fiasco highlights the need for international pressure to aid the West Papuan liberation struggle.
Despite this crackdown, international solidarity with the West Papuan people is growing. Figures such as Benny Wenda are helping to broadcast this struggle to the West. Similarly, and more importantly, there has been a staunch home-grown movement with the Pacific solidarity campaign leading the charge, as seen with the solidarity actions of Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. The movement has resonated to all corners of the world, as seen with Free West Papua Campaign South Africa and the Campaña por Papua Occidental España. But here in Australia, a stone’s throw away from one of the fiercest anti-colonial struggles of the era, what is our duty to our neighbours?
Our Duty As Australians
At the official level, a small number of our politicians have signed on to the Westminster Declaration to express their support for a vote on self-determination for the people of West Papua. Outside of the official realm, there was the Freedom Flotilla in 2013 where Indigenous Australians crossed the strait to have discussions with West Papuan leaders about their respective liberation struggles from colonial oppression. Another example involved an Australian man who was arrested on charges relating to his attempt to join the liberation struggle as a mercenary. So where can we best channel our energies to help the liberation movement?
“Leading Australian defence and intelligence officials were made aware of the massacre, but higher-ranking members covered it up and later destroyed evidence for the crime that Indonesia still refuses to recognise”
When we approached Make West Papua Safe for a statement on what direction Australian solidarity must take, they said they were currently ‘targeting the Australian Federal Police who train and actively work with the Indonesian National Police, including officers involved in arresting Victor Yeimo. Our taxes are being used to create more effective human rights abusers. Join us in stopping foreign government support for the Indonesian police in occupied West Papua.’ In relation to this statement, we were disgusted this month to see that the AFP has just renewed its Defence Cooperation Arrangement with Indonesia, with our own arch-fascist Peter Dutton meeting with known war criminal Prabowo Subianto.
Additionally, this month evidence emerged highlighting Australia’s role and complacency in facilitating and covering up of the 1998 Biak massacre of West Papuan citizens. Leading Australian defence and intelligence officials were made aware of the massacre, but higher-ranking members covered it up and later destroyed evidence for the crime that Indonesia still refuses to recognise.
On a diplomatic level, the Australian government must be forced to join the 83 other states that are calling for the UN High Commissioner to visit West Papua and investigate the abuses occurring there. But outside of that, we on the left have a duty to spread the word on the genocide and national liberation struggle occurring in West Papua. We must be loud, we must be militant. Our brothers and sisters to the north are dying in their fight for freedom. The least we can do is broadcast their struggle and hold our warmongering leaders to account. We must project our voices as loud as we can, until the Australian presence in West Papua becomes not a force of oppression, but a force of solidarity and assistance. As Markus Haluk, executive director of United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) emphatically stated ‘we’ve already entered the path. The road to freedom lies ahead. There’s no going back now’. The only way is forward. We will stand by our West Papuan comrades in their struggle, and support the demands in this statement on behalf of left organisations in the Asia-Pacific:
1. Stop the repression of West Papuan activists and protesters and release all those detained during the protests, including Surya Anta.
2. Respect the right to self-determination of the Papuan people by agreeing to an internationally monitored referendum on independence.
3. Immediate withdrawal of military forces from West Papua.
4. Stop racism and systemic racist discrimination against the Papuan people.
5. Restore internet access in West Papua.
6. Allow international journalists access to West Papua.
All power to the West Papua Liberation Army and the West Papuan freedom fighters.
The Morning Star is rising once again.
Links
To support Victor Yeimo in his struggle for freedom, you can lend your voice to the following petition:
https://action.amnesty.org.au/act-now/indonesia-release-peaceful-anti-racism-protester-victor-yeimo
References:
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-13/freedom-flotilla-completes-west-papua-mission/4955976
https://www.ulmwp.org/west-papuan-peoples-petition-signed-1-8-million-west-papuans-handed-un-ulmwp
https://thediplomat.com/2021/09/indonesian-soldiers-killed-during-papuan-separatist-raid/
https://newint.org/features/2021/07/15/road-freedom-lies-ahead-west-papua