Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
PO Box 28, Spit Junction, NSW 2088
19 years since the Biak Massacre
It is now 19 years since the Biak Massacre which took place on the 6 July 1998 in West Papua.
No security force personal were ever charged over the killings.
Joe Collins of AWPA said, "The tragedy of the Biak massacre reminds us of the ongoing suffering of the West Papuan people. On the 1st May this year alone up to 200 people were arrested by the Indonesian police in Sentani as they commemorated the tragic event in their history when the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) handed the administration of West Papua to Indonesia on the 1st May in 1963. On the 31 May another 77 members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) were arrested in Merauke. The oppression of the West Papuan people continues
Background
On the 2 July in 1998, the West Papuan Morning Star flag was raised on top of a water tower near the harbour in Biak. Large numbers of people gathered beneath it singing songs and holding traditional dances. As the rally continued, many more people in the area joined in with numbers reaching up to 500 people.
On the July 6 the Indonesian security forces attacked the demonstrators, massacring scores of people. The victims included women and children who had gathered for the peaceful gathering. They were killed at the base of the water tower. Other Papuans were rounded up and later taken out to sea where they were thrown off naval ships and drowned.
Searching for the truth about a massacre in West Papua
The Biak Massacre Citizens Tribunal
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