The following is a speech about the situation in West Papua made by Lord
Harries to members of the House of Lords in the British Parliament last
week.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/100526-0013.htm

My Lords, several thousands of miles away, in a country most people have
never heard of, in the remote highlands of that country, people have
been celebrating. Dressed in the local costume, they were filmed holding
up a large poster of David Cameron. The reason is that the new Prime
Minister has met Benny Wanda, a West Papuan leader who was granted
political asylum in this country, and because of this meeting these
desperate people have raised their hopes.

We know from this debate that the new Government have many very serious
issues facing them on their foreign policy agenda, but I hope that they
will not forget minority groups and indigenous peoples, including the
people of West Papua, whose hopes have been so raised by the election of
David Cameron.

I remind noble Lords, if I may, of the situation of these people. West
Papua, which is the western half of the island whose other half is Papua
New Guinea, was once under Dutch control. At the end of 1961, West Papua
held a congress at which its people declared independence, and raised
their new flag, the Morning Star. Indonesia then invaded and, to cut the
story short, held a forced vote. This so-called act of free choice
consisted of 1,026 people being forced at gunpoint to vote for
integration with Suharto's Indonesia, and that being taken as the voice
of the people. In a historic statement in this House, the then Minister,
the noble Baroness, Lady Symons, acknowledged that,

"there were 1,000 handpicked representatives and that they were largely
coerced into declaring for inclusion in Indonesia".-[Hansard, 13/12/04;
col. 1084.]

That crime has not been forgotten, even though many would like to forget
it, because Indonesia is rightly seen as a relatively stable and vital
partner in the struggle against terrorism. Furthermore, West Papua is
rich in natural resources, which are being exploited to the benefit of
Indonesia and the large international companies that are operating
there, although not to the benefit of the West Papuan people themselves.

A brief word is necessary about the name. The Indonesian Government, on
the old principle of divide and rule, have divided the country into
three provinces, one of which they have called West Papua. But for the
indigenous people, West Papua is what they call the country as a whole.

There are other reasons why so little is heard of West Papua in the rest
of the world. One is that journalists and human rights observers are not
allowed into the country, so little of the abuse gets reported. But it
has been estimated that since 1969 more than 100,000 West Papuans have
been killed and there are now some 9,000 refugees in Papua New Guinea.
The Catholic Church's Papuan Peace and Justice Secretariat reported that
students who had been arrested after a peaceful demonstration had been
interviewed without access to legal representation and had suffered
physical and mental torture.

There are more than 100 political prisoners there, including Filep Karma
and Yusak Pakage, who were jailed for 15 and 10 years respectively for
raising the West Papua national flag, the Morning Star, on 1 December
2004. They have been recognised by Amnesty International as
international prisoners of conscience. More recently, Buchtar Tabuni and
Victor Yeimo have been imprisoned for exactly the same offence.
Expressing their desire in an entirely peaceful manner means that they
are liable to 10, 15 or 20 years imprisonment. In the highlands at this
very moment, there are sweeping military operations in which villages
are burnt, people killed and livestock destroyed.

Another feature of the situation that is very distressing to the
indigenous population is the way that the island is being repopulated.
Apparently, the city's hotels and shops are now being dominated by
people who have been brought in from outside.

Despite the clampdown on news, the world is gradually becoming aware of
what is happening. Amnesty International is campaigning. This very
afternoon, I handed in a petition on its behalf at the Indonesian
embassy in Grosvenor Square with more than 3,000 signatures. The embassy
received us very graciously. There are now two significant bodies in
existence, the International Lawyers for West Papua and the
International Parliamentarians for West Papua.

The new Government believe in freedom. I very much hope that they will
carry that conviction with them into the international sphere and in
their dealings with minority groups and indigenous peoples, particularly
the people of West Papua. A significant step would be to press for
proper access to West Papua and elsewhere for journalists and human
rights workers so that the world can become fully aware of what is
happening. I am well aware of the necessity of realpolitik when there is
a significant moral dimension. But there is a historic wrong. A people
who made it clear that they wanted self-determination were denied it in
1969 and are still being denied it today. As a result, they are still
trying to make their voices heard and are being suppressed. A large
poster of David Cameron, our new Prime Minister, has been raised in the
remote highlands of West Papua. I hope that the voices raised there will
be heard in Downing Street and the Foreign Office.