Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
Statement 5 July 2024
26 years since the Biak massacre-Not forgotten
The 6th July marks 26 years since the Biak Massacre when the Indonesian security forces massacred scores of people in Biak, West Papua. The victims, included women and children who had gathered for a peaceful rally. They were killed at the base of a water tower flying the Morning Star flag. Other Papuans were rounded up and later taken out to sea where they were thrown off naval ships and drowned.
No Indonesian security force member has ever been charged or brought to justice for the human rights abuses committed against peaceful West Papuan demonstrators.
From the 2nd July activists and local people started gathering beneath the water tower, 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 6 July the Indonesian security forces attacked the demonstrators, massacring scores of people.
Joe Collins of AWPA said,
“what is outrageous is that the Australia Government knew of the Massacre but failed to condemn the Indonesian military”.
Shortly after the massacre took place, an Australian military attaché and intelligence officer, Dan Weadon, from the Jakarta embassy visited Biak. The officer was also handed photographic evidence by West Papuans on Biak. The photos were distributed to his superiors within defence, but they never saw the light of day.
New evidence suggests the photos have since been destroyed by the defence department despite consistent calls for a proper investigation into the atrocity. It is thanks to a West Papuan supporter, Anthony Craig who got a copy of the report under FOI laws that we know the photos were destroyed.
Joe Collins said, “ if Canberra was reluctant to raise the massacre with Jakarta 26 years ago, nothing has really changed in Canberra. There are ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua but Canberra remains silent on the abuses” and “there are no shortage of images of victims of human rights abuses in West Papua, but instead of distancing itself from the Indonesian military Canberra seems to be seeking closer ties and some recent foreign affairs opinion makers are suggesting an Australia‑Indonesia
military pact would be beneficial”.
The Biak Massacre is not an isolated incident. The latest Indonesian security force operation in the Bibida District, Paniai Regency in June resulted in large numbers of people from fleeing their villages.
In August the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting will be held in Tonga (26-30 August 2024).
At the Forty-Sixth Pacific Islands Forum held in Port Moresby in September 2015, "Leaders requested the Forum Chair to convey the views of the Forum to the Indonesian Government, and to consult on a fact-finding mission to discuss the situation in Papua with the parties involved."
Although Jakarta did invite a mission to West Papua by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, so far it has not occurred.
AWPA urges the Australian Government (a PIF member) along with the other PIF Leaders to continue to urge Jakarta to allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua to investigate the human rights situation in the territory. It’s one of the requests the West Papuans are asking for.
Ends
The Biak Citizens Tribunal
‘Killed like animals’: documents reveal how Australia turned a blind eye to a West Papuan massacre
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