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INFO PAPUA : Awareness : Talks & Shows

Oxford Symposium on Justice and Self-determination in West Papua
By WPNews
Feb 11, 2010, 16:40

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Living for Independence
Seminar on the Act of Free Choice
Oxford

Benny Wenda

My name is Benny Wenda. I am the Chair of the Koteka Tribal Assembly which represents all of the indigenous peoples of West Papua. I am the leader of the independence movement for West Papua. I am also a political refugee.

I was arrested in Indonesia for leading a peaceful demonstration in support of freedom. The Indonesian forces imprisoned me. They tortured me. They threatened to kill me. I escaped. I came to England. I did not know English – I said only one word. Asylum.

I want to thank the Government of the United Kingdom for giving me asylum in 2005. I want to thank the people of this country for helping me and my family. But I cannot be free until my people are also free.

This is a seminar on self-determination and the act of free choice. I thank Professor Drooglever for inviting me to speak today. Professor Drooglever has written a book on the Act of Free Choice. This book tells the story of how Indonesia took over my country. For more than 40 years Indonesia has hidden the truth. But now this book gives me hope because it says what happened in those terrible years when Indonesia took over. This book gives my people hope because it tells the story of how we were betrayed.

I say thank you to Professor Drooglever. I say thank you to Juliet Mabey and the publishers One World.

I ask you to read Professsor’s Drooglever’s book. I ask you also to read John Salter’s book which tells the truth about what happened.

I bring you today the tears and cries of my own people, the Lani of the
Central Highlands of West Papua.

I bring you the tears and cries of the people of all 252 tribes which
together make up my country — WEST PAPUA.

I bring you today our demand for self-determination. We have a right to be free people. We have a right to self-determination.

Our country was stolen by Indonesia. Our country was stolen through the Act of free choice. We, West Papuans, call it the ACT OF NO CHOICE. Because we had no choice.

In 1969 there were one million Papuans in West Papua. This is the UN estimate.

But for the act of no choice, the Indonesians chose 1026 individuals. How can 1026 people make a decision for one million people? This is not universal adult suffrage.

These Papuan representatives were not allowed to vote. They were forced to say that they wanted to be a part of Indonesia.

I ask you to think about this. I ask you to understand that my people have never voted to be a part of Indonesia. Never. Indonesia would not let us vote because they know we want to be free. That is why they stole our country from us in the so-called act of free choice.

This act of no choice was not a genuine act of self-determination. Many international lawyers have said this act of no choice was illegal. It was a violation of West Papua’s right to self-determination.

Today I have come to remind you that we have a right to be self-determination. We, the indigenous and tribal peoples of West Papua have the right to make a free and informed choice to be a free and independent nation.

Today West Papua is an Indonesian colony. We are an occupied people. We have been suffering for a long time under the Indonesian military regime in West Papua. My village was bombed by the Indonesian military when I was a small child. My leg was broken. I hid in the jungle for 5 years. My leg did not heal properly. Today I have to walk with a stick.

This is an academic conference on self-determination. But self-determination is not an academic issue for me.

My people are dying. The Indonesian military has killed at least one hundred thousand of my people. This number comes from Amnesty International.

My people are being tortured. This is in the report made by the UN Special Rapporteur who visited Indonesia in 2007.

As long as Indonesia is in control of West Papua, my people will suffer.

We want to be free. We want to live with dignity in our own country. We want to live peacefully.

My people have lived in harmony with our land for thousands of years. The earth is our mother. Maybe you think we are primitive. But we know how to take care of the earth. We respect the balance of nature. We have done it for thousands of years.

But today Indonesia is destroying our forests. Our mother the earth is being raped and destroyed by multi-national companies.

My people are dying. And our land is also dying.

I ask you to hear my peoples cries. I ask you to hear our plea for self-determination. We want our freedom. We want our country. We were once a free people without any Dutch rule, without any Indonesian rule. We want to be free again.

Today in Oxford you can speak freely about self-determination. But in Indonesia it is not possible to talk about self-determination.

Filep Karma raised our flag the Morning Star, peacefully. He was sentenced to jail for 15 years. Yusak Pakage raised the Morning Star peacefully. He was sentenced to jail for 10 years. Buchtar Tabuni has been sentenced to 3 years in jail because he used the word referendum.

So when you speak about self-determination, I ask you to remember what happened to us.

I ask you to remember that in 1969 Indonesia cheated us in the act of NO choice. The act of no choice was not self-determination.

I ask you to understand that we are being cheated again in the law for special autonomy. Autonomy is not self-determination.

My people are asking you to respect international law and West Papua’s right of self-determination.

My people are asking for a referendum in accordance with international law.

We ask for a referendum based on universal adult suffrage.

We ask for the UN to supervise this referendum.

We ask for a free vote without interference from Indonesia.

And we ask for Indonesian troops to leave our country so that we can live in peace.

I thank you for inviting me to speak today.

And I ask you to understand that I have to leave because I will not share a platform with representatives of the Indonesian Government.

© Copyright by w@tchPAPUA

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