Members of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) appear in front of media in the jungles of Indonesia’s Papua province on July 25, 2009. (AFP Photo / Banjir Ambarita)
Activists slammed the Indonesian government for weak statesmanship after a Papuan separatist group opened an office in Oxford, England.
“The fact that the government could not act more decisively against an individual diplomatic effort by a person like Benny Wenda shows how weak our diplomacy is,” Girindra Sanino, the secretary general of the Indonesian Citizenship Union (SAKTI), said on Saturday, referring to the Papuan exile who founded the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
Benny established an OPM office in Oxford on April 23, and the opening ceremony was reportedly attended by Oxford’s mayor and a member of parliament.
Girindra also criticized the British government for allowing Benny to set up such an office.
“By letting representatives of the OPM to open an office in the United Kingdom, the British have violated Indonesian sovereignty. The government should send a complaint to Britain immediately,” he said.
Girindra suggested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should change its soft diplomacy and strictly respond to any international support for the separatist movement. He added that such lax handling of situations like this are why separatist groups still exist in Indonesia.
At the same time, he said, the Indonesian government must accelerate welfare programs and infrastructure development for people in Papua to thwart separatism.
Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, said in a text message that the British government and the opposition did not support the OPM’s decision to open an office in Oxford.
“The British government still formally recognizes the supremacy of the NKRI [Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia] over Papua,” he said.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will summon the British ambassador to Indonesia, and the Indonesian Embassy in London will also arrange for a meeting with the British Foreign Affairs Ministry …” he added.
Comments:
Wong Edan • 2 days ago
Papua will be free one day - but will it be before or after Indonesia collapses?
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Markus Hagenauer • 2 days ago
Indonesia does not allow Papuans to express their opineon in their own land, and now they want to do so in the UK too. And still they want to be called a democracy?
The rest of the world can´t be blinded forever. While the UK government officially supports Indonesian rule over Papua (as they want to make benefitical bussiness with Indonesia) dozens of MPs have already juined the International Parlamentarians for West Papua. And not only in Great Britain the people begin to reccognice whats going on in West Papua. Medias in Austalia, New Zealand, Vanuatu and other Melanesian countires report about the human rights abuses by the Indonesian military and police and even in Germany, the goverment was heavily criticised for selling tanks to the Indonesia, despite the warnings of various human rights organisations .
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Muffinman • 3 days ago
Seemes like there is still a long way to go for 'democracy' in Indonesia when the state still determines which minority groups can 'exploit' their freedom of speech and which groups can't.
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blightyboy Muffinman • 3 days ago
It seems everybody outside of java wants to be free.
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blightyboy • 3 days ago
Unfortunately for Indonesia, a desire to be free, to be independent, not to be controlled by a foreign island, an alien culture that tries to impose it's own through aggressive oppression, and to state such a desire out aloud, is not against the law in some countries. Along with other fundamental entitlements, it's called human rights, which may well be recognised as usually being stringed together here with the word 'abuses'.
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Elias Bat • 3 days ago
The Papuan people want to be free. No matter how much the Jakarta wants to own Papua the Papuan people do not want to be owned by Indonesia or anyone else. Why can't Indonesia see this? They are doing the same to Papua as what isreal does to palestine. The OPM is not just military it is also political. It is the representation the Papuan desire for freedom. Everyone in Papua dreams of OPM, Papuan freedom. People have OPM clocks and stickers on their car. The moma's there are all OPM. I've been there. I've met them. This photograph is of the OPM-TPN. The armed groups. 95% of OPM is unarmed civilians, the Papuan population. The OPM was founded in 1965. 10 years before Benny Wenda was born.
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methu badii • 3 days ago
We want independence, the country has long been threatening the earth and colonize Indonesia Papua and Papuans.
Read this:
Oxford
mayor, Mohammad Niaz Abbasi, accompanied coordinator Free West Papua
Campaign (FWPC), Benny Wenda, a member of the British Parliament, Andrew
Smith, and former Mayor of Oxford, Elise Benjamin, officially opened a
representative office in the United Kingdom Papua Merdeka, Sunday (28/4 / 2013) yesterday.
"We are very pleased to have officially opened a representative office in Oxford Papua Merdeka. It
aims to meet the demands of the campaign, "said Benny Wenda, as quoted
by the official website FWPC, freewestpapua.org, yesterday.
According to Wenda, cooperation offices in Oxford with the Free Papua Papua
Merdeka other offices, especially those located in Port Moresby, PNG,
also will continue to be improved.
Meanwhile, Andrew Smith, on the occasion welcomed the official opening of the
representative office of the Free Papua Movement in Oxford, and he
promised to continue to help Papua through the International Parliament
of Papua which has been set up two years ago.
"Lord Mayor of Oxford also provide support and messages before the ribbon
cutting marks the opening of this office before," Smith said in his
speech.
On the occasion, also attended Paul Aiton, National Rugby Player of Papua
New Guinea, Jennifer Robinson and Charles Foster, of the group
internasinal lawyers for West Papua, a student of the University of
Oxford, Papuans in the Netherlands, as well as the Free Papua Movement
supporters in the UK. (Ac )
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webmaster west-papua.nl • 3 days ago
Girindra Sanino doesn't understand democracy I assume?
Stupid reaction, and even more in the direction of the British Government.
"...Violated Indonesian sovereignity.....?" on British territory?
You let me laugh!
I advice to start studying democracy before you make yourself even more ridiculous!
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