Thursday, April 30, 2015

16 KNPB activists arrested in Merauke

A google translate of posting at
http://suarawiyaimana.blogspot.com.au/2015/05/kepolisian-polres-merauke-menagkap-15.html

Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.


POLICE POLRES MERAUKE catch 15 KNPB ACTIVIST AND CHAIRMAN PRD MERAUKE
Written By SWP-NEWS PAPUA on Friday, May 1st, 2015 | Friday, May 1st, 2015






SECRETARIAT KNPB-PRD REGION HAA-nim, MERAUKE


KNPB Merauke News. Tonight on Friday the May 1, 2015, at 01:06 WPB, police from Merauke police entered the secretariat KNPB Merauke KNPB activists arrested 16 people with the Chairman of the PRD They Mrs. Panggresia Yeem.
They were arrested 01 hours a night in Merauke are:
1. MOTHER PANGGRESIA YEEM CHAIRMAN PRD MERAUKE
2. Gento EMERICUS DOP CHAIRMAN KNPB MERAUKE
3. Joseph Muyan MEMBERS KNPB MERAUKE
4. Joseph IMBANOP, PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN OF INTEREST Muju
5. CHAIRMAN KNPB SECTOR ONGKATMIT,
6. Zacharias Y SRAUN
7. EMANUEL MATEMKO
8. JOHN KAYOP
9. IBRAHIM DEWAP
10. JAN OBAKAM
11. IKNASIUS Wamin
12. THOMAS PISAKAI
13. FRANSISKU PISAKAI
14. Julian TABIET
15. ISFAS SOSOCHOM
Currently 15 people with Mother PRD leader is heading to. Merauke police. (KNPB AREA HAA-ANIM-MERAUKE)

FOLLOWING PHOTOS



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12 KNPB arrested

Google translate 


12 MEMBERS OF THIS REGION DOMBERAY KNPB-MANOKWARI ARRESTED POLICE INTELLIGENCE AND APPARATUS MANOKWAR
Written By SWP-NEWS PAPUA on Friday, May 1st, 2015 | Friday, May 1st, 2015


MANOKWARI, KNPB-News - Police arrested 12 activists Manokwari Police KNPB MANOKWARI. Manokwari KNPB arrests 12 activists this happened in front of the red light Manggeng manokwari market on Thursday at 12 noon. Police before making arrests before issuing shot 4 times.
They were arrested while distributing leaflets for a peaceful demonstration on 1 May the annexation.
Here are the names of the members of KNPB manokwari region, who was arrested while distributing leaflets, red dilampu Sanggeng, after firing 4 shots.
1.Sarpas. Misikmbo.- spokesman manukwar region
2. Yoram. Magai. -Sekertaris Two
3. Samuel. Mabel member was
4. Yerius. Wenda - members
5. Wainus. Karoba member was
6. Joben. Kum member was
7. Alex. Tebay member was
8. Stephen. Owagai - members
9. Keleopas. Bomai member was
10. June Murib member was / students smk
11. Ibe.magai member was / students smk
12. Demen. Dolame-members / students smp.
They are still in custody Manokwari police station.
More information about the circumstances facing them we still can not be sure, because of the KNPB, AND family had gone to ask for information but prohibited by the police station and other security devices.

Thus sinkat report revealed.

VERSUS VERSUS ...... .... AND AGAINST
SALAM REVOLUTION !!!


(KNPB AREA DOMBERAY-MANOKWARI)


Disposkan: Nesta Ones Suhuniap, Secretary General of the Central KNPB

1) Police Detain Papua Commander, Shoot Suspect in Legs

2) Editorial: Damage Is Done, So What Next?
3) Activists call on Indonesia to open Papua to journalists
4) West Papua Oil Palm Atlas – The companies behind the plantation explosion.
5) Australia and Indonesia: a turbulent relationship
6) LP3BH holds a meeting ahead of May 1st

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1) Police Detain Papua Commander, Shoot Suspect in Legs
By Robertus Wardhy on 04:29 pm Apr 30, 2015
Jayapura. Papua Police arrested three members of the outlawed Free Papua Movement organization in the country’s easternmost province on Thursday, shooting a rebel commander in the legs and detaining two fighters.
Papua Police spokesman Patridge Renwarin told the Jakarta Globe that the police’s special task force had nabbed Leonardus Magai, a commander of Paniai chapter of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) at around 10.45 a.m. local time along with two other members.
Patridge said that police officers were chasing five OPM members in a car in Sanoba Atas village in Nabire district, Papua.
Police said Leonardus was shot in both knees after the men opened fire on police.
“We arrested Leonardus and his two other friends, but the remaining two members managed to get away,” said Patridge.
Leonardus is currently being treated at Nabire District Hospital for his injuries, Patridge said.
The OPM, which is seeking independence for Papua from Indonesian rule, has waged a low-level guerrilla war against state security forces since Papua was annexed in 1969.

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2) Editorial: Damage Is Done, So What Next?
By Jakarta Globe on 09:16 pm Apr 29, 2015
The execution has been carried out and the damage is done. We have to live with that. While we will unlikely feel any positive impact from the execution — nobody can say for certain that drug trafficking has miraculously gone done, or that drug traffickers are somehow spooked from operating in Indonesia — the negative impacts are already here and will be here to stay every time the world talks about execution for drug crimes.
Forget about the market reaction — the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index closed down 2.61 percent to 5,105.56, for a three-day slide — the memory of the country shooting eight people at the same will remain for a long time to come.
What President Joko Widodo may have accomplished by executing these eight people is to make the point that nobody should meddle in Indonesia’s affairs. But we don’t know what other world leaders think when they encounter Joko.
The government needs to launch a deliberate campaign of damage control.
We believe it’s time for Joko to scrap all plans to execute more convicts. Enough is enough. He should have learned the lesson from this unprecedented international fiasco. This is the biggest diplomatic fallout since Indonesia’s annexation of Timor-Leste.
Joko must now show the world that Indonesia is a nation with full respect for human rights principles — no more arbitrary killings in Papua, no more persecution of religious minorities, and no more murdering of drug convicts just to make a point.
Indonesia can also show Australia how sorry we are, committing that our relations with the country will remain strong. We laud Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s intention to maintain ties with Indonesia. We should humbly welcome his statement that he is a friend of Indonesia.
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3) Activists call on Indonesia to open Papua to journalists
  • Ryan Dagur, Jakarta
  • Indonesia
  • April 30, 2015

Dozens of activists from different NGOs staged “a silent rally” in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon, urging President Joko Widodo to open Papua to foreign journalists, who have faced difficulty reporting on the embattled region for half a century.
Sealing their mouths with black tape to symbolize the absence of freedom of expression in the region, the protesters — representing the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), National Papuan Solidarity (NAPAS), and Papua Itu Kita — held a banner reading “Presiden, Buka Akses Kemanusiaan untuk Papua” (President, Open Access to Humanity for Papua).
“The media blackout in Papua denies the Papuan people’s right to have their voices heard and allows human rights violations such as killings, torture and arbitrary arrests to continue with impunity,” Zely Ariane, coordinator of NAPAS, told ucanews.com during the rally. 
Similar rallies were organized simultaneously in 20 cities across the world. The UK-based TAPOL, an organization campaigning for human rights, peace and democracy in Indonesia, coordinated the rallies.  
In its statement issued on the same day, TAPOL said that for more than 50 years, access for foreign journalists seeking to report on Papua has been severely restricted. 
“Those who have entered Papua on tourist visas have been deported, arrested and even imprisoned. Just last year, two French journalists were sentenced to 11 weeks in detention under immigration charges,” the organization said. 
Thomas Charles Dandois and Valentine Bourrat were arrested on August 7 last year at a hotel in Wamena district with three suspected members of the Free Papua Movement. They were working for the Franco-German television channel Arte.
Andreas Harsono, an Indonesia researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, noted that the blackout “is against the 1999 Press Law”.
According to TAPOL, the de-facto ban on foreign journalists as well as NGOs and humanitarian organizations has contributed to the isolation of local journalists and made independent investigation and corroboration virtually impossible.
“It is extremely difficult to hold perpetrators of human rights violations to account, allowing them to continue to act with impunity,” the organization said.
Viktor Mambor, who heads the Jayapura branch of Alliance of Independence Journalists (AJI), added that in recent years journalists from the Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands have been deported for reporting on peaceful political events in Papua.
Many foreign journalists use tourist visas because of the stringent visa application process, which involves the unanimous approval of 18 separate government agencies known as the Clearing House Committee.
“When access for media is limited, such [human rights] cases can’t be publicly revealed,” said Marthen Goo from Papua Itu Kita.
“What is actually the main reason why this state treats us differently? We are repressed. It’s different from other regions in Indonesia.”

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4) West Papua Oil Palm Atlas – The companies behind the plantation explosion.
By ADMIN 
Indonesia’s oil palm industry is moving east. With large tracts of land increasingly difficult to find in Sumatra and Borneo, plantation companies are now focussing their attention on Indonesia’s eastern frontier: the small islands of the Maluku archipelago and especially the conflict-ridden land of West Papua.
In 2005 there were only five oil palm plantations operating in West Papua1. By the end of 2014 there were 21 operational plantations. This rapid expansion is set to continue with another 20 concessions at an advanced stage of the permit process, and many more companies that have been issued with an initial location permit. If all these plantations were developed, more than 2.6 million hectares of land would be used up, the vast majority of which is currently tropical forest.
Almost without exception, these plantations have caused conflict with the local indigenous communities who depend on the forest – lowland Papuans are mostly hunters and gatherers to some degree. The conflicts have centred around community’s refusal to hand over their land, demand for justice in the cases where they feel the land has been taken from them by deceit or intimidation, horizontal conflicts between neighbouring villages or clans, action by indigenous workers who feel they are exploited, or aggression by police or military working as security guards for the plantation companies.
The West Papua Oil Palm Atlas, published by awasMIFEE, Pusaka and six other organisations, is an attempt to provide a picture of this developing industry. Who are the companies involved? Where are they operating? Which areas will be the next hotspots? The aim is to be part of a process to push for more open and accessible information about resource exploitation industries in West Papua – currently local administrations and companies are often reluctant to share information about permits, meaning that communities often know nothing of plantation plans until a company shows up, trying to acquire their land.
Indonesian law does recognise communal land rights for indigenous customary communities, but in reality those communities often face considerable pressure to give up that land, and are rarely given more than US$30 per hectare in compensation. It is hoped that this publication can become a tool for indigenous peoples and social movements who wish to understand the oil palm industry and defend their forest against these land grabbers, as they themselves should be the ones to determine what kinds of development will benefit their communities.
For environmentalists and supporters of indigenous struggles around the world, we hope that this will also be a useful insight into the dynamics of the plantation industry and the threats it is causing in the third largest tropical forest in the world. Using the excuse of the conflict around the independence movement, the Indonesian government makes it very difficult for international observers to access West Papua, and this has probably also resulted in a lack of awareness internationally about the ecological threats. Yesterday (29th April) human rights groups throughout West Papua, Indonesia and in over 22 cities around the world held demonstrations for open access to Papua, which has long been a demand of many Papuan movements. Publishing this Oil Palm Atlas is also an attempt to break the isolation of Papua, by focussing attention on the issue of indigenous land rights, in a context where local communities which choose to oppose plantation companies often feel intimidated by state security forces which back up the companies.
Download the atlas here: [English] [Indonesian]


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5) Australia and Indonesia: a turbulent relationship

By the numbers
Total merchandise trade: $12 billion (10th largest trading partner for each)
Australia’s biggest exports: wheat, live animals
Indonesia’s biggest exports: petroleum, metal structures
Australian investment in Indonesia: $11bn
Indonesian investment in Australia: $1bn
Australian services sales: $1.3bn (chiefly students)
Indonesian services sales: $2.6bn (chiefly tourism to Bali)
Indonesia population: 248 million
Indonesia GDP growth 2014: 5.2 per cent
GDP per person 2014: $4260 (ASEAN average $5000)
Highs and lows
1947: Australia raises Indonesia’s decolonisation at the UN; waterside workers ban Dutch ships taking arms and equipment to Indonesia
1949: Australia, under PM Robert Menzies, is among the first to recognise the new republic
1975: Five Australian journalists killed in East Timor town of Balibo, PM Gough Whitlam assures Jakarta that Australia would not interfere in Indonesian takeover of East Timor
1994: First Indonesia-Australia Ministerial Forum held, under Paul Keating’s government
1999: Australia leads a peacekeeping force in East Timor after the people there vote for independence
2002: A bomb attack by Islamist terrorists kills 202
in Bali, including 88 Australians
2004: Australia gives a $1bn aid package after the Indian Ocean tsunami
2006: Indonesia withdraws its ambassador after Australia accepts 42 asylum-seekers from West Papua
2011: Australia under PM Julia Gillard bans live cattle exports to Indonesia after a TV documentary on cruelty in Indonesian abattoirs
2013: US intelligence renegade Edward Snowden reveals Australia listened to phone calls made by Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife Kristiani Herawati, 
promoting the recall of Indonesia’s ambassador
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6) LP3BH holds a meeting ahead of May 1st

Statement by the Executive-Director of LP3BH-Manokwari

  Today, Thursday, April 30th. the LP3BH organised a discussion on the subject, Papua's Integration with the Republic of Indonesia on 1
May 1963: A Blessing or a Disaster? Fifteen people  took part in the discussion. including community leaders, academics, activists, LP3BH
staff members and several other people.
One of the important points that was discussed is the immediate necessity for Papuan people to come together and express their full
support for the international campaign which is urging the Indonesian government to immediately allow access to Papua for journalists as
well as Indonesian and international human rights organisations.

  Those attending the discussion agreed that it is very important for the Papuan people to set up  a local political party to provide a
means of communication to support the efforts of the Papuan people in accordance with the provisions in the Special Autonomy Law for Papua.

  They agreed  on two points  that should be discussed in another discussion which is to be held next week.

  During today's discussion, we received a report from a colleague in Nabire saying that special police units there had arrested a
journalist, Yohanes Kuaya, from an online publication 'selangkah.com' who was reporting on a shooting incident that occurred outside the
Nabire Hospital at noon, today.

  According to the LP3BH contact in Nabire, this colleague was arrested because he was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words:
Free West Papua (Papuan Students Alliance) and was accused  of entering a restricted area wearing this T-shirt. After being
interrogated for about an hour, he was released and ordered to change his T-shirt which the police regarded as being completely
unacceptable. He subsequently changed his T-shirt and went home.

  During the discussion organised by the LP3BH today, the chairman of the KNPB (National Committee of West Papua) Alexander Nekemen, who was also present at today's discussion, left the meeting before the
discussion it had ended, in order to check the situation of several members of the KNPB who were handing out leaflets to people in the
streets, calling on them to take part in a peaceful action that is due to take place on May 1st.

  As far as we know at the moment, several of these KNPB members are still being held by the chief of police of Manokwari and we have not
yet heard about what is happening to Alex and the other local KNPB
members.

Peace!

Yan Christian Warinussy, Executive-Director of LP3BH.

Translated by Carmel Budiardjo

Media release - 1 May. The day the international community betrayed a people

Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)


Media release 30 April 2015
The day the international community betrayed a people 

Fifty-two years ago on the 1 May in 1963, the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) transferred administration of the Dutch colony of Netherlands New Guinea to Indonesia. From the moment Indonesia took over the administration from UNTEA, the oppression of the West Papuan people began and 52 years later the oppression continues and so does the struggle of the West Papuan people for self-determination.  
Joe Collins of AWPA said, "If anybody doubts that the West Papuan people are still struggling for their right to self-determination all they have to do is look at the banners West Papuans continue to carry in their rallies protesting Indonesian rule".
"We never accept Indonesia in West Papua"
"Let us Freedom"
"We want a referendum" 
However, successful campaigning by the West Papuan people supported by civil society organisations, NGOs' church groups is  finally forcing governments to pay attention to what is actually going on in West Papua.  The West Papuan people are using all avenues to progress their cause,  including the UN and in our region the MSG. 
At a historic meeting of West Papuan leaders in Port Vila in December 2014, a new organisation called the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) was formed. The new uniting group submitted their application for membership to the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila, at the beginning of February 2015.  The West Papuan people believe that membership of the MSG will increase their voice and credibility with the international community and in their ongoing struggle for self-determination.
The people of the MSG countries are encouraging their leaders to bring West Papua into the Melanesian family at the MSG. Hopefully the MSG leaders will listen to their people.
The  West Papua National Committee (KNPB) has called on the people of West Papua   to  take  the streets on the 1 May to protest the handover by the UN to Indonesia. 
"Joe Collins said , "the KNPB has been a particular target of the Indonesian security forces in recent years. Lets hope the security forces  allow the rallies to go ahead peacefully".
ends




1) The Other Victims of State Sanctioned Murder In Indonesia


2) Australia cannot respond meekly to Indonesian executions
3) Protests held over Indonesia’s media blackout of West Papua
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29 Apr 2015
1) The Other Victims of State Sanctioned Murder In Indonesia
The brutal determination of Joko Widodo to kill two Australian citizens comes as no surprise to West Papuan independence activists, who say they share Australia's pain. Amy McQuire reports.
A West Papuan independence activist, who has been in exile for 12 years after escaping the Indonesian-controlled province, has called on the Australian government to look on “in [and] sympathy in pain” for his own people, who are being “killed like animals” following the execution of two Australians.

Last night Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran – along with six others from Nigeria, Brazil and Indonesia – were executed by firing squad on Nusakambangan Island, east of the capital Jakarta.
Mary Jane Veloso from the Philippines was spared after being given a last minute stay of execution to testify in the trial of an alleged drug trafficker. Another man – Serge Atalaoui from France – was also scheduled to be executed but last week received a temporary reprieve.
The killing of two members of the Bali 9 – Chan and Sukumaran – has sparked an emotional response across Australia.

Amnesty International’s Crisis Campaigner Diana Sayed labelled their deaths “senseless, tragic and wasteful act of state-sanctioned murder”.
“Hundreds of thousands of people came out to show their support for Andrew and Myuran and all of those on death row, signing letters, online petitions and hosting events. They respectfully called on the Indonesian government to stop the executions and to show mercy,” Ms Sayed said.
“These efforts have served to strengthen the global campaign to end the death penalty putting the spotlight clearly on Indonesia.”
West Papuan leader Benny Wenda today called on Australia to also pay attention to his own peoples’ plight, with an estimated 500,000 Indigenous West Papuans killed under Indonesian occupation of his homeland.
Mr Wenda today sent his condolences to the families of those killed, and said his people shared their pain.

“I would like to remind the world that this is exactly what the Indonesian government is doing to my people. Over 500,000 West Papuans have been systematically killed by Indonesia ever since [it] illegally invaded our country in 1963,” he said in a statement.
In 1969, about 1,000 Papuans out of a population of 800,000 were hand-picked to vote in the “Act of Free Choice”, which is commonly referred to as the “Act of No Free Choice”.
There are concerns they were threatened or coerced into voting for West Papua to become part of Indonesia.


Since then there have been constant concerns over human rights violations in the province and brutal and violent crackdowns on peaceful demonstrations. Because of a notorious ban on international media, the atrocities have largely flown under the radar.
Mr Wenda said a photo, currently the subject of an Australian government complaint, showing an Indonesian police chief from Bali posing on a plane with Andrew Chan as he is transported to the island in preparation of his execution earlier this year, was similar to the photos taken by Indonesian security forces who pose with tortured West Papuans.
He compared it specifically with a photo of Indonesian soldiers holding the body of West Papuan independence activist Yustinus Murib, who was killed by military forces in 2003.

“I feel that these photos show the world the kind of attitude the Indonesian authorities have towards anyone who opposes them,” Mr Wenda said.
“So many West Papuans like Yustinus Murib are also escorted by smiling and sadistic Indonesian soldiers and police officers, only to be killed like animals at the command of the Indonesian government.”
He called on Australia and the world to understand the pain felt by West Papuans under Indonesian control.
“I know that the Australian government is launching an official complaint about the photo…. I hope that the Australian government as well as others throughout the world will also look with the same sympathy and pain at the humiliation and suffering of my people under the Indonesian authorities as well,” he said.
“People all around the world can see the similarity with these sadistic looking photos.”
“…My deep sympathy and pain is with all those who are facing execution by the Indonesian government. Myself and my people know exactly what it is like to face seemingly imminent death at the hands of the Indonesian military.”

Mr Wenda said it was time for his people to be independent, and that they would continue to campaign in the face of military intimidation.
“We West Papuans cannot live under a regime which continues to kill us all the time and happily hold up our dead bodies like animal trophy kills. We will struggle on for the independence of our nation through the fulfilment of our right to self-determination. No matter how many of us are executed, we will continue to campaign to be at last free from this military occupation and terror.
“…Please look to my people’s suffering against the brutality of the Indonesian government. We must not let Indonesia get away with executing people any longer.”


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2) Australia cannot respond meekly to Indonesian executions

  • 8 HOURS AGO APRIL 30, 2015 9:50AM



OPINION
Australian taxpayers spend millions of dollars every year training Indonesian military and police officers.
Many of these men, including former president General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, return home to distinguished military and political careers. They become the custodians of Indonesia’s inhumane capital punishment laws.
Human rights and the rule of law are key aspects of the Australian training courses, but given the record of the military and brutal units such as Kopassus special-forces, many of the messages fall on deaf ears.
During the past half century Indonesia’s Javanese dominated military force, known as TNI, has only been used to kill its own citizens in places such as West Papua, East Timor and Ambon. It has been a brutal and uncompromising domestic security force.
Strong friendships have been forged between Australian and Indonesian officers who have joined each other in their homes, on golf courses in both countries or in Jakarta’s famous karaoke bars.
Senior Australian officers sing the praises and the importance of relationships established during the courses, but when true friendship is required — such as during the “cruel and unnecessary” Chan/Sukamaran execution crisis — they apparently count for little.In addition to the training places, Indonesian troops last year participated in 11 multilateral exercises with Australian military forces.
Dozens of senior Indonesian police also attend training courses in Australia and the bonds between counterterrorism officers in both nations have also become very close.
At present there are 23 Indonesian officers training at Australian military academies and universities.
During the past year more than 150 places were offered to Indonesian military personnel and 70 were taken up at a cost to Australia of $2.5 million.
The funds come from the Defence Cooperation Program that last year devoted $3.7 million to Indonesia. That is the highest figure for all South-East Asian countries from a total budget of $17 million.
This money is on top of the annual $600 million in foreign aid that taxpayers devote to Indonesia in areas such as health, education and governance. And then there is the $1 billion Australian dollars provided in assistance following the Asian Financial Crisis and another billion in the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami.
Australia has rightly been a very good friend of Indonesia through thick and thin.
It is now time to take stock.
We cannot afford to over react and hurt the people we are trying to help but equally we cannot be seen to be a meek diplomatic pushover. We must do more than just recall our ambassador and cease ministerial contact.
These gestures may be unprecedented but they will be seen as timid by many Australians and most Indonesians.
We don’t want to go to war over a single act of barbarity sanctioned by a weak, compromised president Joko Widodo, but our response must reflect the anger of millions of Australians who are dismayed by the brutal torture and state sanctioned murder of two Australian citizens in a foreign field.
There needs to be a tough, tangible and visible response otherwise Australia will be seen as weak and that could have far greater ramifications down the track.

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3) Protests held over Indonesia’s media blackout of West Papua
Mitchell Bland | 30th Apr 2015 1:19 PM
DOZENS of protesters gathered at Brisbane's King George Square last night as part of a global day of action against Indonesia's media blackout of West Papua.
Similar demonstrations were held in New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, West Papua, the United States and England as part of a globally coordinated effort for the free and open access to Indonesia's most secretive region.
West Papua has been closed to journalists since Indonesia's contested annexation of the resource rich province in 1963, allowing numerous human rights atrocities to go unreported.
Reading a statement on behalf of human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, a leading member of international lawyers for West Papua and legal adviser to Julian Assange, Richard Gifford, said that opening West Papua was vital for free speech, transparency and accountability.
"The fact that Indonesia places special restrictions on travel and reporting in West Papua is a red flag to the world that something is wrong… if you [Indonesia] want to be seen as one of the world's largest democracies then you need to act as such," he said, quoting Jennifer Robinson.

Queensland Greens candidate for Ipswich Pat Walsh, who also spoke at the Brisbane demonstration, said silence on West Papua from Australia represented a failure in Australia's democracy and press.
"How can we as a population tolerate what's going on in Papua so close to our borders?" he said.
"We tolerate it because we lack integrity in our politics ... and there are vested interests at play."
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