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INFO PAPUA : Editorial/ Opinion : Interviews

WEST PAPUA: Cry Freedom: Letter from Benny Wenda (Oxford Times [UK]) 4 REPORTS for 45th anniversary of Indonesian occupation
By Free West Papua Campagin U.K
May 3, 2008, 04:50

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1) Cry Freedom: Letter from Benny Wenda (Oxford Times [UK])
2) Petition handed in (Oxford Mail [UK])

3) West Papuan activists mark 45 years of occupation by Jakarta (RNZI)

4) British PM to get petition on 45th anniversary of Papua occupation by Indonesia (RNZI)

1)

The Oxford Times (UK)
Letters to the Editor


2 May 2008

http://www.theoxfordtimes.net/search/display.var.2236479.0.cry_freedom.php

Cry freedom

Sir - May 1 is a very sad day for my people. 45 years ago today, Indonesia occupied our beloved homeland West Papua. Many tears will be shed by my people today.

Indonesia put me in prison for 25 years just for peacefully raising our independence flag, but I escaped and came to the UK. Now I am living with you in Oxford. I am so far from my people, but my spirit is still with them. I am carrying with me the bones of thousands of West Papuans killed by Indonesia. They started killing us from the very first day they invaded our land on May 1, 1963, and they are still killing, torturing, raping, intimidating and imprisoning us to this day. Indonesia never cared about us human beings. They only wanted our gold, copper, gas and our trees.

For 45 years we have been crying for freedom, but no one heard us. But today we Papuans also have hope that one day we will be free! So I want to say thank you to all the people of Oxford and all the United Kingdom who are now giving my people strong support, solidarity, respect and love.

I always say that Oxford is now my village because we have so many friends here! Andrew Smith MP and Evan Harris MP are both speaking out for West Papua in Parliament and in Oxford City Council we have strong supporters from all parties, especially Green councillor Matt Sellwood and our Lord Mayor from the Labour Party, councillor John Tanner.

Every year they raise our freedom flag from the roof of Oxford Town Hall. This means so much to my people. So I just want to say thank you Oxford!

Benny Wenda
Free West Papua Campaign, Oxford

2)
The Oxford Mail (UK)

2 May 2008

Petition is handed in

OXFORD: Oxford East MP Andrew Smith and the former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries, have called on the international community to support the indigenous West Papuan people.

Yesterday, West Papuans marked 45 years of Indonesian military occupation.

Mr Smith, Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on West Papua, said: "The international community owes an outstanding debt to the people of West Papua; now 45 years' overdue. The West Papuans’ right to self-determination - shamefully over-ridden by a previous generation - must now be fulfilled."


Yesterday, West Papuan Benny Wenda, who now lives in Oxford, along with Lord Harries, handed in a petition to the British Government.


3)
Radio New Zealand International

01 May, 2008

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=39496


West Papuan activists mark 45 years of occupation by Jakarta


The West Papua National Coalition of Liberation says Indonesia can point to little in the way of progress in the Papua region since its occupation in 1963.


West Papuan activists around the world are using May 1st, the 45th anniversary of Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua, to renew their call for international dialogue on Papuan self-determination.


The Coalition, which represents a wide range of Papuan political and civil society groups, has ruled out pushing for independence in the foreseeable future.


But the Coalition’s spokeswoman Paula Makabori says they’ll keep lobbying for dialogue because under Indonesian rule, Papuans’ fundamental rights have never been respected.


“The only thing showing on the ground is the human rights abuses increasing since back to the year when they take over West Papua. Today the West Papuans are trying to manage themselves and say, look, here we are and we’re ready to take you to the international arena to solve the problems in fair and respectful, peaceful dialogue.”

Paula Makabori


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4)

Radio New Zealand International


01 May, 2008



http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=39492


British PM to get petition on 45th anniversary of Papua occupation by Indonesia


The British-based Free West Papua Campaign plans to deliver a Petition to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown to mark May 1st, the 45th anniversary of Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua.


The petition is calling on the British government to push for dialogue on West Papuan self-determination in the international community.


It has the support of two senior British parliamentarians: Former Labour Cabinet Minister, Andrew Smith, and the former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Richard Harries, who is an independent MP.


The campaign’s Co-Director, Richard Samuelson, says that momentum for their cause is building in Britain where they are holding events each week.


“A lot of people are finding out about West Papua for the first time and their question is always What can we do to help get the pressure on the British government to do something? Because for most of the 45 years of the Indonesian occupation, the British government has known exactly what’s going on, but they aren’t expecting members of the British public to be raising it with them.”

Richard Samuelson


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Richard Samuelson
Free West Papua Campaign, Oxford, UK.
www.freewestpapua.org

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