NZ parliament ban on activist draws attention to West Papua
question
Posted at 07:18 on 18
February, 2013 UTC
visit to New Zealand
by a leading West Papuan activist has drawn attention to the festering issue of
self-determination for the indigenous people of Indonesia’s Papua region.
Benny Wenda is touring
an international campaign for West Papuans’ right to self-determination which
he says has been denied to his people ever since the 1960s.
It’s unlikely that his
visit to New Zealand would have gained as much media coverage as it did, had it
not been for the decision by the Speaker of Parliament to ban Benny Wenda from
speaking at parliament.
Johnny Blades reports:
Benny Wenda has been
living in the UK since escaping from Indonesia in 2003 after being arrested for
promoting West Papuan independence.
In 2011, Interpol issued
a red alert on him at the request of Indonesia but, after an investigation, it
was removed last year.
Free to travel again,
Benny Wenda had been touring widely, sharing his people’s experiences of rape,
torture and murder by security forces and the militarisation of his homeland.
“I never go back to
West Papua. If I go back (now) I’m a dead man so (I’ll wait) until my people
are free and I’m free. I just want to go a free man and see my people.”
Touring with Benny Wenda
is the international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, known for her work
representing Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.
Ms Robinson had been
working in Papua a decade ago when she met Mr Wenda, incarcerated in solitary
conditions as a political prisoner.
Inspired by his and
other West Papuans’ commitment to freedom in the face of ongoing violence in
the Indonesian region, Ms Robinson helped establish the International Lawyers
for West Papua movement.
She says calls for West
Papuan self-determination have a sound legal basis and cannot be silenced.
“Of course Indonesia
has avoided any sort of international ajudication on the issue because they
know that they’re in the wrong. Legally speaking, West Papua is in the right,
and has the right to self-determination that was denied to them in 1969.
International law is on their side. The difficulty is getting it into an
international forum where that matter can be decided.”
That difficulty was
demonstrated in the New Zealand context when the country’s new speaker of
parliament refused to allow Mr Wenda the chance to speak about the plight of
West Papuans at parliament.
David Carter’s refusal
stems from advice he says he received from government officials deeming the
Wenda visit inappropriate.
Subsequent fallout from
the speaker’s decision meant that the West Papua question has had unprecedented
exposure in New Zealand mainstream media.
The Green MP, Catherine
Delahunty, accused the Speaker of going against the spirit of Parliament.
“It’s not good enough
to just say well you can do this in your caucus room. I wanted to hold a forum
which included other political parties where they have shown an interest in
this issue. This is an issue which basically is the dirty secret of the Pacific
that no one wants to talk about. The facility called parliament belongs to all
parliamentarians and, without fear or favour, we should be able to hold events
in this facility.”
Another opposition MP,
Labour’s Maryan Street, was also disappointed.
“He is a
representative of West Papuans. He is recognised internationally as that. He
has been a guest of the UK parliament, the European Union parliament and a
guest at the United Nations. Why can’t he be hosted at the New Zealand
parliament even if the government does not agree with his position? The issue
of independence of West Papua from Indonesia is very sensitive for Indonesia.
It’s like talking about Tibet for the Chinese. I’m very aware of those
sensitivities. But there’s no reason why this man’s perspective should not be
heard in parliament which is meant to represent multiple voices, not just the
voice of government.”
New Zealand Foreign
Minister, Murray McCully, denies he advised the Speaker to place the ban on
Benny Wenda.
Mr McCully says his
office advised a couple of MPs of the ruling National Party against
co-sponsoring the proposed event but the new Speaker, David Carter, was not one
of them.
“We’ve worked very
hard over some years now to insure that the human rights agenda is moved
forward in Indonesia, particularly in West Papua. We have quite an active
dialogue with the Indonesian authorities about human rights issues and I want
to engage in that sort of diplomacy, not megaphone diplomacy - and that’s what
I think was being suggested here.”
Benny Wenda ended up
giving his address on West Papua at the Victoria University Law School, just
across the road from parliament.
After their speeches, he
and Jennifer Robinson fielded questions.
Amid those contributing
to some heated discussion was Indonesia’s ambassador in New Zealand Antonius
Agus Sriyono.
The ambassador told the
audience that reports of violence in Papua were exaggerated.
Referring to the dubious
UN-sanctioned Act of Free Choice under which West New Guinea was incorporated
into Indonesia in 1969, Sriyono said that the world cannot turn back the clock
and change history.
Indonesian officials
claim outside access to Papua is restricted because of the dangers posed in a
region where separatism and tribal conflict demand a military presence.
Benny Wenda claims
Jakarta tries to discredit Papuan groups actively pushing for
self-determination as willing participants in ongoing violence.
“Only this is the safe
way to campaign for peace and the world could hear our cry for freedom so
that’s why when they come out in their peaceful way, Indonesia creates violence
to discrimenate them, (label them) this violent group or this terrorist group,
whatever. But actually not. It’s Indonesia which is creating then violence in
West Papua.”
Jennifer Robinson claims
there is increasing international awareness of Papua despite an effective ban
on foreign media and a crackdown on civil society operations in the region.
“But unfortunately for
Indonesia, it’s counter-productive for them to cut off information. They
continue to assert that these allegations of human rights violations are
exaggerated or overstated. If that’s the case, then let international
organisations and journalists verify the fact, that can only improve the
situation.”
Murray McCully says
Indonesia has made great progress in addressing human rights issues, but
there’s still work to be done in Papua.
However the Minister has
been urged by the New Zealand based Indonesian Human Rights Committee to send a
multi-party fact finding mission to Papua.
It says there is a clear
precedent with a similar group, led by a National Party MP, visiting East Timor
in 1994 when it was still under Indonesian occupation.
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