In 2020 the West Papua Womens' Office in Docklands coordinated the planting of sixty living memorial (trees) around the world to honour the work of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld on West Papua, and to increase awareness of the facts and the fictions behind Indonesia's claim of sovereignty. Plantings in 2021, until 18 September, include George Ivan Smith (so the 'Hammarskjöld-WestPapua-Ivan Smith Memorial'). George Ivan Smith was a remarkable Australian who was a trusted associate and close confident of the Sec-General. In 1982 he revealed to the veteran academic, Greg Poulgrain, the Decolonisation Program which the Sec-General had prepared for West Papua and planned to raise in the 1961 General Assembly. This post includes a 14-page photo-essay about the program and Greg Poulgrain's ground-breaking book ('JFK vs Allen Dulles: Battleground Indonesia') where this important development, which may have precluded the Indonesian occupation, is documented.
Department of Foreign Affairs Immigration and Trade
Jessie’s House of Needles, and West Papua’s Green State
FRWP Open Day on 14 March 2021 featured John Algate on writing 'Jessie's House of Needles' and Jacob Rumbiak introducing 'West Papua as an independent Green State'. Technical glitches marred the zoom-recordings of the day, so this post includes a 1000-word review of John Algate's fascinating account of the life and work of Jessie Williamson, the Australian missionary nurse who worked in West Papua from 1966 to 2001; and Jacob Rumbiak's powerpoint essay. It also the address by Fiji-Australian author Bernie Goldstein talking on her book (Children of the 12 Tribes) who has started a campaign for one of the book's authors, West Papuan student Roland Levy, to be released from prison in Jakarta.
Pig, symbol of justice and peace in West Papua
An engaging photograph, a short story, and two fascinating ABC-Radio interviews about the importance of pigs in the religious and social life of the highlanders of West Papua.
Courageous ULMWP upgrades to WP Transitional Government
FRWP Open Day on 6 December 2020 featured interviews with the President and the Prime Minister of the new West Papua Transitional Government, with Australian federal Greens Senator Janet Rice, and with Dr Joe Toscano (West Papua Rent Collective). It included a candle ceremony for Natalie Adadikam (founding member of WP Womens Office in Docklands) and a memorial for recent political martyrs in West Papua; conducted by Rev. Robert Stringer, with presentations by ULMWP Executive Jacob Rumbiak, Catholic Bishop Hilton Deakin, and Mr Clovis Mwamba from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The day concluded with the planting of a Kurrajong Bottle Tree on Melbourne City Council land at 838 Collins Street in remembrance of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld (1953-61) and his 1961 Decolonisation Program for West Papua.
ULMWP to AUS Foreign Affairs Minister Payne, 28/10/2020
Letter from Jacob Rumbiak (Spokesperson, United Liberation Movement for West Papua) to Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, which outlines the current situation in West Papua, includes some [devastating] Special Autonomy data, and outlines the rationale for Australia to encourage Indonesia to commence talks with the ULMWP under the auspice of a third party.
West Papua: brief overview, 2020
This fully referenced photo-essay, of thirty-six (A4) pages in PDF downloadable form, provides an overview of the West Papuan people and their unique environment, their Dutch colonial history-including the devastating impact of World War II and their industrious twelve-year period as a Non-Self-Governing Territory as they worked with Dutch personnel preparing for independence that had been legislated in Holland for 1971. The second half of the presentation documents the deleterious effect of the Indonesian occupation. The final pages outline what West Papuans are doing to liberate themselves from Indonesia, and how the non-Papuans of the world can help.
Natalie Adadikam, well lived, we will miss you (26 Dec 1963-28 Sep 2020)
On 5 October 2020, the West Papua Womens Office shared stories and memories of founding-member Natalie Adadikam who died, in her home, on 28 September 2020. Natalie was the heart and soul of the office; a warm and generous muma who made people feel comfortable and cared deeply for those who sought her assistance. Her faith and trust in Jesus, and her commitment to the freedom of West Papua moved and influenced everyone who came in contact with her.
ULMWP begs UN to warn Indonesia against war in Papua; Jokowi warns UNGA about ‘territorial integrity’
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua begs UN to discipline Indonesia against waging more war against Papuans, as Jokowi lectures General Assembly about ‘territorial integrity’
West Papua’s return to the UN: fulfilling Hammarskjöld’s legacy
This memorial for Dag Hammarskjöld and his 1961 Decolonisation Program for West Papua explores a complex global story of two UN peace-keeping undertakings in 1961 organised by the UN Secretary-General. The first inserted a UN peace-keeping military force into the Democratic Republic of Congo to de-escalate conflict over the new state’s mineral resources. The second was designed to deliver the West Papuans their right of self-determination and to prevent Indonesia from invading and taking over the Non-Self-Governing Territory. What was the outcome? First, the Secretary-General lost his life. Second, the new state of Congo nose-dived from a new democracy to a long-standing authoritarian state. Third, the Non-Self-Governing Territory of Dutch New Guinea (West Papua) was passed to Indonesia, an Asian state on the verge of political and economic collapse.
West Papua honours UN leader at international summit
An international online summit on Sunday 13 September 2020 commemorates the work of Dag Hammarskjöld, UN Secretary-General, 1953-1961—a global champion for the fair treatment of colonised and emerging states. Academics and political leaders based in Europe, the United States, West Papua, the Pacific and Africa will honour Mr Hammarskjöld’s inspiring leadership and work on decolonisation, in particular his work for the emerging state of West Papua, and his principle of ‘a peoples right of sovereignty over their land’.
What is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua?
"United Liberation Movement for West Papua ~ its mission, activities, achievements" was presented by Jacob Rumbiak to the International League of Peoples Struggle Webinar on 28 July 2020.
Tree-memorials for West Papua & UN Sec-General Hammarskjöld
On 13 September 2020, the WP Womens Office in Docklands and activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are planting a tree in honour of Dag Hammarskjöld, the UN Sec-General found dead on 18 September 1961 near the border of the DRC where he was mediating post-independence conflict. Hammarskjöld's death, which is still being investigated, precluded his presentation to the 1961 UN General Assembly of a Decolonisation Program for the Non-Self-Governing Territory of Nederlands-Nieuw Guinea (West Papua) that would have deterred Indonesia from invading the territory in 1962, and thus rendered unnecessary the so-called peace treaty (New York Agreement) that facilitated Indonesia's incorporation of the territory.
Dag Hammarskjöld, West Papua, and the United Nations
Since the 2015 publication of Greg Poulgrain's The Incubus of Intervention: conflicting Indonesia strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles we have known that Secretary-General Hammarskjöld was about to introduce a Decolonisation Program in Netherlands New Guinea whereby the West Papuan people would be recognised as the sovereign owners of their land, and UN officers would assist an independent West Papuan government for five years. Hammarskjöld intended to present the program to the 1961 General Assembly. His death just days before the opening of the Assembly meant the motion was debated without his authoritative and influential presence, and didn't garner the necessary two-thirds majority support. The UN’s failure to adopt a policy of self-determination for West Papua opened the way for an American diplomat—appointed by Acting Sec-General U Thant—to mediate an agreement that facilitated Indonesia’s incorporation of West Papua. And we all know the story after that.
What’s going on in West Papua behind COVID-19?
ULMWP Spokesperson Jacob Rumbiak reports on Jakarta's refusal to listen to its governor's COVID warning to halt flights from Jakarta to West Papua, and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto exacts his appointment-promise to exterminate and extinguish the Papuan independence movement.
