On Sunday (28/4), the freewestpapua.org page reported that the Mohammad Niaz Abbasi Lord Mayor of Oxford, Britain, accompanied by Benny Wenda, the coordinator of the Free West Papua Campaign (FWPC), Andrew Smith, a member of the British Parliament, and former mayor of Oxford, Elise Benjamin, officially opened a Free Papua Movement (OPM) representative office.
In relation to this, British Ambassador to Indonesia Mark Canning said
that this move by Oxford City Council to facilitate the establishment of
an OPM representative office was not representative of the government’s
policy because the council is not part of the government. Canning
stressed that Britain understood the sensitivity of the issue for the
Indonesian government. London recognizes that Papua is part of Indonesia
and wants it to be as prosperous and peaceful as other Indonesian
provinces.
The British government should have asked the mayor to
not attend any event held by the Papua separatists. Although the
presence of the mayor did not represent the stance of the British
government, it could be interpreted that the government did not respect
the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia. In addition, the mayor’s
support for the independence movement is not political behavior.
On
the other hand, the campaign Benny Wenda had to fight for Papuan
independence from Indonesia seems to be never ending. After failing to
win support from the Dutch government and the public, Benny tried his
luck in other countries with the hope that people would want to offer
backing.
Papua’s integration into the Republic of Indonesia is
final. There are no countries that recognize an independent Papua state.
Any efforts to keep the issue of Papua independence alive must be
confronted with diplomacy or politics.
T. Fachri
Samarinda, East Kalimantan
Comments:
Filippo / Tue, 07/05/2013 - 17:05pm
Hi T. Fachri, West Papuans are humans, they are native people
with strong links with their land, despite all the Indonesian attempts
to severe the link between native people and their land.
As such, West Papuans are entitled to self-determination, as stipulated
by the UN chart. Let them them express their opinions and let them
choose their future. Why is the Indonesian government so much opposed to
a popular referendum? Of course, I do not thin anybody can reasonably
affirm that the 1969 referendum was fair and representative of the West
Papuan people's will.
And I do not think that yu, an inhabitant from Samarinda, are entitled
to speak in he name of West Papuans. So your letter to the Jakarta Post
is just worth what it is: an irrelevant piece of writing.
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Brien / Tue, 07/05/2013 - 16:05pm
It will be final when West Papua has won Freedom from their colonialists. The Dutch handed a colony to Indonesia.
As an example the Germans had to hand the colony of Papua NG over to
Australia, and then later gave the colony (it was a colony under
Australian rule) Independence.
Do you not see the same parallel with East Timor? And they at least are the same race of people.