Editorial board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta ● Wed, July 21, 2021
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https://www.ulmwp.org/interim-president-benny-wenda-western-powers-must-give-vaccines-direct-to-west-papua-now
2) Interim President Benny Wenda: Western powers must give vaccines direct to West Papua now
July 20, 2021 in Statement
As the Interim President of the Provisional Government of West Papua, I have today written to the foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the US asking for urgent humanitarian assistance in the form of direct vaccine supply to West Papua. I have also written to the President of the European Commission, the WHO and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the escalating Covid-19 situation in our land. This new crisis is a further existential threat to my people.
As we have warned, Indonesia has caused a double crisis for the people of West Papua by launching military operations in the midst of the pandemic. Just yesterday, villagers from the West Moskona District were attacked by troops after attending a peaceful worship session against ‘Special Autonomy’, fleeing to the forests and the city of Bintuni. Woman and children are afraid to return to their villages in case the military and police arrest or attack them.
Over 50,000 have been displaced in Nduga, Puncak and Intan Jaya over the past two and a half years. Their homes have been destroyed, their churches burned and their schools occupied by soldiers. They are left in internal displacement camps, where the virus will spread rapidly. Already in the cities, patients are being turned away or treated in cars outside the hospital.
Western countries and the WHO have an urgent moral obligation to give vaccine doses direct the local Papuan government for distribution. As the 2018 Asmat health crisis showed, Jakarta cannot be trusted with the health of the West Papuan people. Over nearly 60 years of colonisation we have seen a chronic failure to develop health facilities in West Papua, leaving us dying on top of the natural riches Indonesia is extracting. If Jakarta is allowed to hold the reigns of vaccine development, my people will further suffer.
These events are part of the continued genocide against my people. Our forests have been torn down, our mountains decapitated, our way of life destroyed. Indonesia restricts healthcare and enforces a colonial education whilst killing anyone who speaks out for self-determination. Launching military operations in the middle of a pandemic is a policy designed to further wipe out our population. We need urgent international assistance, direct to the local Papuan government, not through the colonial occupier.
Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP Provisional Government
Some of those arrested and taken away were reportedly in the process of giving speeches.
Earlier, the liaison officer for the group told Suara Papua that in the 20 years of special autonomy (Otsus) in Papua it has not brought any significant changes, whether it be in terms of education, the economy or healthcare.
Moreover, under special autonomy there has been no protection or empowerment for the people in Papua.
"Otsus has been unable to protect the human rights of the Papuan people who are said to be the object of Otsus itself. If we look at the era of special autonomy, it has been proved that many human rights violations have been committed by the Indonesian state through its military, such as killings, rapes, coercion, shootings and sexual harassment against Papuan women", wrote the group in a release received by Suara Papua on Sunday July 18.
Then, the group continued, racial discrimination in the legal, political and social sectors still often occurs in a way that is structured and massive. But all of these problems are born out of special autonomy which has been covered up by the government by development masked as welfare in Papua.
"The government always lies to the Papuan people about the success of Otsus through the government media which is specifically used for propaganda in order to convince the Papuan people about Otsus which has actually failed", they asserted.
Special autonomy was given to the Papuan people as a sweetener to contain the real wishes being articulated by the Papuan people. Then the ones who enjoy the substance of special autonomy are the Jakarta elite and the national bourgeois and oligarchy with interests in Papua.
"The new revisions to the Otsus Law in Papua represent the wishes of the national bourgeois to pursue their economic and political interests in the land of Papua. If we were to agree with Otsus Chapter Two, then we ourselves would carry the future of the nation, our grandchildren and [next] generation towards to the precipice", they said in conclusion.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Polisi Angkut Sejumlah Demonstran dari FRP Tolak Otsus di Sorong".]
Source: https://suarapapua.com/2021/07/19/polisi-angkut-sejumlah-demonstran-dari-frp-tolak-otsus-di-sorong/
Jakarta – As many as 714,066 Papuans and 112 organisations which are part of the Papuan People's Petition (PRP) are said to reject the enactment into law of revisions to Law Number 21/2001 on Papua Special Autonomy (Otsus). They believe that special autonomy is not the answer to resolving the problems in the land of Papua.
"There's no such thing as Otsus in the Papuan people's dictionary. The Papuan people are asking for the right to self-determination", said Rawarap from the group West Papua Youth and Student National Solidarity (Sonamapa) during a PRP event broadcast on the Suara Papua TV YouTube channel on Friday July 16.
Rawarap believes that special autonomy is a product conceived out of an illicit affair between the political elite in Papua and Jakarta. According to Rawarap, the policy has not accommodated the Papuan people at all.
"Otsus is like an illegitimate child conceived during a sex party between the Papua elite and the Jakarta elite. We explicitly reject Otsus because Otsus is an illicit product. It's the result of an illicit affair", he added.
Rawarap said that the decision by the House of Representatives (DPR) to ratify the revisions into law will not in any way make Papuans feel proud. Because over the 20 years of its implementation special autonomy has been proven to have failed to bring prosperity to the Papuan people.
"The fact also is that many have already explained that over the 20 years Otsus has been in force in the land of Papua, there are still many mama-mama[traditional Papuan women traders] who sell on the side of the road. Still using cardboard, sacks as mats, sitting on the road selling areca", he said.
"The fact also is that there are still many Papuan children who drop out of school and cannot continue their studies at tertiary institutions because education is expensive, yet there is money from Otsus. But, the fact is that many Papuan children drop out of study or do not continue school, the unemployment rate is high, what's to be proud of with Otsus?", he asked.
He then touched on the findings of the National Statistics Agency (BPS) which says that the Human Development Index for Papua and West Papua provinces are the lowest in the country despite Otsus being in place for two decades.
"Sonamapa along with the 112 organisations involved in the Papua People's Petition reject Otsus, we explicitly state that we reject Otsus Chapter II resulting out of secret revisions [to the Otsus Law] by the [DPR's] special committee", he asserted.
PRP spokesperson Sam Awom said that group rejects all forms of compromise with any deliberations on special autonomy which fail to involve the ordinary Papuan people. He also asked policy makers to return a mandate to the Papuan people to determine their own future.
"We demand the imitate return to the Papuan people [the right] to choose and determine their own future on whether they accept Otsus or independence as a country", said Awom in reading out a statement.
Awom declared that they will hold a national strike if the demands of the Papuan people are not followed up.
"If the petition [against Otsus] is not followed up, then we will hold a national, peaceful civil strike throughout the territory of West Papua", he asserted.
Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Mahfud MD has stated that the government will prioritise dialogue with separatists in Papua and use law enforcement against armed criminal groups (KKB).
"On the Papua issue the government will use an approach prioritising prosperity which is comprehensive and covers all aspects. In confronting separatism, the government will prioritise dialogue", he said in a press release received by CNN Indonesia on Friday. (ryn/pmg)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "714 Ribu Orang dan 112 Organisasi Diklaim Tolak Otsus Papua".]
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