More public demonstrations expected in West Papua

Transcript

More public mobilisations are expected in Indonesia's Papua region amid growing international interest in West Papua's self-determination aspirations.

Last week's demonstrations by West Papuans in Indonesia's cities came three weeks after similar mobilisations and ended up in mass arrests.

As Johnny Blades reports, they coincided with increased international focus on West Papua.

It's traditional for West Papuans to demonstrate around  May 1, the anniversary of the transferral of administration in the former Dutch New Guinea to Indonesia in 1963. But this year they were also demonstrating support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua's bid to be a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, as well as the International Parliamentarians for West Papua summit held in London the following day. The London meeting, attended by MPs from the wider Pacific, Europe and Britain, made a declaration calling for an internationally-supervised vote on independence in West Papua. The Papua-based journalist Victor Mambor says people demonstrating this week support this call.

VICTOR MAMBOR: "They want a referendum, they want the right to self-determination. As far as I know the authorities never talk about that,. They didn't want to talk about that. They try to hold dialogue but we don't know what kind of dialogue that Indonesian authorities want to organise here."

Police said that the West Papua National Committee requested permission to hold this week's demonstrations and failed to meet the requirements, but they proceeded anyway. The demonstrations have gone wider, spreading even to Indonesian cities outside Papua, including Semarang and Makassar, with significant Papuan populations. A Papuan who works with political prisoners, Ruth Ogetay, says the demonstrations have had a common theme.

RUTH OGETAY: "All over our land, West Papua, in cities like Wamena, Jayapura, the expression of West Papuans has been in support of independence."

While there was a more restrained conduct of police forces in handling the demonstrations compared with past rallies, the number of arrests was massive, some local reports putting it near 1,700. In the wake of the arrests, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully, not for the first time, was pressed about the rights situation in West Papua.

MURRAY MCCULLY: "I have been following the reports of arrests with some interest. The government is concerned about these matters and the government wants to see an improvement in the situation in that part of the world. The government does not believe that megaphone diplomacy will serve that objective."

The demonstrations came just a day after Indonesia's President Joko Widodo visited Papua region to open a major port facility and preside over a new market construction designed to assist Papuans. His focus on economic development in Papua has been welcomed but for many West Papuans has not addressed the self-determination issue, nor ongoing human rights abuses by security forces. Peter Arndt led an Australian Catholic Justice and Peace Commission fact-finding team to Papua in February. The report, from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Brisbane, is called 'We will Lose Everything'. Papuans, Mr Arndt says, are desperate for the world to hear about their plight.

PETER ARNDT: "They are very worried that within a few years, the (Papuan) population will dwindle to a tiny percentage of the population in West Papua, it'll be dominated by Indonesian migrants, and that they will continue to be deeply marginalised economically and socially."

The Melanesian Spearhead Group - consisting of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia's Kanak peoples - has an upcoming leaders summit, expected in June. At the summit, they're due deliberate on the West Papua membership bid. As this draws near, more West Papuan demonstrations are likely.