Pacific and NZ leaders urged to consider West Papua’s indigenous voices
Octo Mote, exiled vice President for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua at Parliament for a talanoa led by Green MP, Teanau Tuiono
Photo/ Ala Vailala
Octovianus Mote was a child when Indonesian troops occupied his homeland, sparking the beginning of his lifelong fight for the independence of West Papua New Guinea.
Mote is now the vice president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua and hasn’t been back home in over two decades, after fleeing the country due to his line of work.
“When I was a journalist I was covering a story and I saw how Indonesia slaughtered our people when university students conducted a peaceful demonstration in Abepura.
“I tried to rescue one of the students in 1998. He was shot and I asked the students to put him in my car and then I drove him to the hospital. His body was covered in blood, I'm driving my car, students standing behind and I rushed to the hospital. I knew he would die.
“Witnessing how young students fight against colonialism that really changed my entire narrative of being a journalist. To report about it and channel all this violence and through my stories.”
West Papuans have been seeking independence since the 1960s following the controversial transfer of the region to Indonesia by the United Nations.
Now a province of Indonesia, West Papua New Guinea’s indigenous people continue to endure significant challenges such as human rights violations, forced displacement, resource exploitation and cultural suppression.
Mote and his young family sought refuge in the United States but his advocacy continued despite the distance, and attended the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting in Tonga a few weeks ago.
“I respect the Pacific Island leaders. Every year they will discuss a human rights issue… they will discuss West Papua.
“When it comes to the approach, that's where my criticism comes from.
“When they [PIF] lobby with Indonesia and talk with Indonesia they have to include our opinion. Ask our realities that we are facing so that they know what's happening you know. They have to recognise us.”
Last year, PIF appointed Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape as special envoys to West Papua.
The duo, who are also part of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, had their mission to West Papua delayed due to busy schedules, but had expressed their desire to meet with incoming Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto.
Subianto has been accused of war crimes and is due to be inaugurated next month, something Mote said has triggered a heightened military presence.
“The West Papuans are facing this new president Prabowo. In a presidential debate, the first question was about, if you are elected as president, how you will deal with the West Papua issue.
“Two said it is a justice issue so we have to deal with it, the other said we need to dialogue with them and Prabowo said no ‘this is a partisan issue I will face them as a separatist’, which is military and he's doing it now.
“It's a roadway now where you know he'll expand the military operation that already exists from 2018 up till today, entire highlands are under military operation.”
He said the outsourcing of natural resources from West Papua by Indonesia continues and is a contributing factor to the current tensions in the area.
Despite this, Mote is highly optimistic when it comes to the independence of West Papua and plans to take action with the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“We're aiming to table the resolution which is so important because Indonesia since 2015 doesn't respect the Pacific Island Forum's calling for entry for the Pacific Island Forum's human rights assessment group into West Papua.
“Later in 2018 they [PIF] called Indonesia to allow the UN Human Rights Commissioner to West Papua and up till this day Indonesia ignored it.
“What we are trying to do by next year really is to level up this condemnation from many countries around the world about Indonesian behaviour into a resolution where Indonesia will be accountable and I believe that's a solution that should be passed easily… I’m hoping that New Zealand will stand up and support us as they always have been.”
Green Party list MP Teanau Tuiono said the New Zealand government could be a lot more direct with Indonesia about the need to respect indigenous peoples.
Tuiono attended a talanoa in Auckland to discuss community responses to support West Papua.
“My message to our Pacific community in New Zealand is we need to take care of the whole neighbourhood. What happens in one part of the Pacific, impacts all of us.”
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