The vice-chairman of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation says it is a legitimate organisation which represents the aspirations of the indigenous people of Indonesia's Papua region.
The coalition's formal Melanesian Spearhead Group membership application was deferred following at last week's MSG Leaders Summit in Noumea.
Fiji's Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola is among those to have questioned whether the coalition, which is led by mainly exiled West Papuans, is truly representative.
But Dr John Ondawame says Ratu Inoke is confused.
"He is ignorant about the whole situation of what we are doing. The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation is representing 29 organisations: resistance movement, social movement and traditional organisations. So we fully get support from the wider community inside West Papua, inside the jungle and abroad."
Dr John Ondawame.
