INFO PAPUA
Australia's National Party Resolution on West Papua
By WPNews Europe
Sep 18, 2005, 00:43

Australia West Papua Association (Melbourne) welcomes the National
Party's
Resolution No. 11 calling on the Liberal Party, its coalition partner
in
government, to investigate human rights abuses in West Papua. The
motion was
put to the National Party's national convention today in Canberra by
Wendy
Duncan, President of the National Party (WA).

The National Party¹s concern for West Papuans is timely. On Friday 9th
2005,
West Papua university students from all over the Indonesian archipelago
gathered in Manado (North Sulawesi/Celebes) to demonstrate against the
acquittal of two Indonesian generals who¹d been charged with the murder
of
sixteen students in Abepura on 7 December 2000. Central to the
students¹
demands was a manifestation of true democratic values rather
simulations
designed to appease the international community. Early this morning,
after
high-level intimidation by Indonesian police from Jakarta, Makassar,
and
West Papua, the students¹ cancelled their conference.

International concern for the security problems posed by the Indonesian
occupation of West Papua is escalating. Recently the House of
Representatives in USA passed Resolution 2601, calling on the Bush
government to do its duty and investigate human rights abuses in West
Papua,
evaluate Special Autonomy, and review the Act of Free Choice (1969).
The
European Union recently called for a United Nations Peacekeeping Force
to be
installed in West Papua.

These spotlights of awareness and concern are seriously undermining the
confidence of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono¹s government, whose policies in
the
resource-rich province have reached a state of paralysis. Recently he
moved
the headquarters of the East Indonesian Airforce from Makassar to Biak
Island (off the north coast of West Papua), and is now moving the
headquarters of the Indonesian Navy from Surabaya (East Java) to Sorong
(on
the west coast of West Papua). In the past months, thousands of TNI
troops
have been secretly landed throughout West Papua.

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