“LET WEST PAPUA VOTE FOR FREEDOM!” SAYS OXFORD MP
AS INDONESIAN MINISTERS VISIT LONDON,
ANDREW SMITH MP SAYS IT’S TIME FOR A WEST PAPUA INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM, IN LETTER TO INDONESIAN PRESIDENT


NOW, IN JANUARY 2007, IN THE JUNGLES OF NEW GUINEA, INDONESIAN SOLDIERS are burning down homes and churches and forcing thousands of innocent Papuan civilians to flee for their lives into the hills. Meanwhile in London tomorrow (31.1.07), Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett will hold talks with the Indonesian Foreign, Defence and Trade Ministers.

For Oxford East MP, Andrew Smith, the visit of the Indonesian Ministers to London is a vital opportunity to speak up for the rights of the West Papuans. As Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on West Papua, Mr Smith, a former Minister in Tony Blair’s Labour Government, has written to the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, calling on the Indonesian military to stop its attacks on Papuan civilians and for the Indonesian Government to respect the Papuans’ right to choose between staying in Indonesia or independence.

The letter (copied below) will be delivered to the Indonesian Ministers at the Foreign Office at lunchtime tomorrow by West Papuan independence leader & former political prisoner, BENNY WENDA, who now lives in exile in Andrew Smith’s Oxford East constituency.

The FREE WEST PAPUA CAMPAIGN, an Oxford-based group working with Benny Wenda for West Papuan independence, will also be holding a demonstration outside the Foreign Office tomorrow during the Indonesian Ministers’ visit.

ENDS

Editors’ note: West Papua, just 150 miles north of Australia, is the western half of the island of New Guinea and borders the independent state of Papua New Guinea. Following the 1962 Indonesian invasion, Indonesia staged a sham “referendum” (the 1969 “Act of Free Choice”) in which a mere 1,026 Papuans, out of a then population of 800,000, were forced at gun-point to vote 100% in favour of annexation by Indonesia.

PHOTO-OPPORTUNITY: 1.00pm, WEDNESDAY 31st JANUARY 2007: Benny Wenda, wearing traditional bird of paradise head-dress, with Andrew Smith MP’s letter and Free West Papua Campaign supporters, outside the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Whitehall.

For more information please contact Richard on 01865 241200, 07989 378828

House of Commons,
LONDON
SW1A 0AA
30th January 2007

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
President of Indonesia


Dear President Yudhoyono,

On the occasion of the visit by Indonesian Ministers to London I am taking the opportunity to write to voice my concerns about the situation in West Papua. I am the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on West Papua, which exists to promote understanding of the situation in West Papua and the human rights of the West Papuan People. I write in a personal capacity, but I am sure the points below will be shared by many colleagues with an interest in West Papua.

International awareness of the situation in West Papua is indeed reflected in growing concern here in the UK Parliament, as the recent debate in the House of Lords showed, that the West Papuan people were denied a proper or fair opportunity to exercise their right to self-determination because the so-called Act of Free Choice was not conducted in accordance with international democratic standards, and the UN has subsequently failed to uphold the West Papuans' rights.

In order to address this injustice, there is a powerful case for a new UN administered one-person, one-vote self-determination referendum for West Papua.

I was interested to see the conclusion arrived at by the new leader of the US House of Representatives sub-committee on Asia & the Pacific, Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, who in a recent AP interview (23 January 2007) stated his intention to champion the right of West Papua to stage a vote of "self-determination" about its future.

I appreciate that you have repeatedly stated your desire to resolve the conflict in West Papua "peacefully through dialogue" and that this has indeed been welcomed by Papuans. I do hope there will now be early opportunity to make this dialogue a reality, and without pre-conditions such as the exclusion of self-determination.

I am concerned at current reports that in Puncak Jaya, Indonesian military and police action has resulted in 3,000 civilians fleeing into the jungle, away from their homes and food supplies.

A peaceful approach on all sides would seem to offer the only basis for a lasting settlement consistent with democratic principles. This must include respect for human rights and the opportunity for Papuans peacefully to campaign for self-determination and independence, bearing in mind that as a signatory to the UN International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights, Indonesia has accepted under Article 1 (1) that "All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development."

It would be helpful if, as a first step, and as a sign of goodwill, Indonesia could release West Papuan political prisoners, including Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage, jailed for 15 and 10 years respectively for peacefully raising the West Papuan independence flag on 1st December 2004.

Access to West Papua is also a pressing issue. Currently access to West Papua for foreign journalists, human rights observers, religious groups, academics, diplomats and parliamentarians is as you will be aware either banned completely or highly restricted.

The Indonesian Government often complains that reports by international NGOs (which are currently barred from West Papua) about the human rights situation in West Papua are exaggerated or inaccurate. This could be resolved at a stroke by allowing open access to West Papua, including to areas of Indonesian military operations such as Puncak Jaya.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees ought also to be allowed to visit West Papuan internal refugees displaced by Indonesian military action, and international aid agencies must be allowed access to distribute urgently needed food and shelter to the Papuan refugees.

Democracy and democratic values are important to Indonesia, as more widely in the world, and I do hope you will respond positively to the points above, so that West Papuan people are enabled also to exercise full democratic rights.

Yours sincerely,

Rt Hon Andrew Smith MP