Search Results

Wild cassowaries follow Marind out of their homes in West Papua

Tribute to Kevin Buzzacott from West Papua

Kevin Buzzacott (b 1947), Aboriginal elder of the Arabunna nation and a highly valued supporter of West Papua's independence, died on 29 November 2023, and was buried in Alice Springs on 22nd December 2023. This entry (8 slides) is a record of his moral support and activism for what he insisted was Australia's 'responsibility to care for our brothers and sisters from across the water.'

Book Launch: Clovis Mwamba’s ‘The Meteorite Memos’

Launch of Clovis Mwamba's book of poems and essays 'The Meteorite Memos' during the West Papua Open Day in Docklands on 26 November 2023. Clovis, a teacher, activist, and politician in the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote the poems on flattened cigarette packets while he was a political prisoner in a secret military camp in Kinshasa in 1998-1999. The Meteorite Memos opens an archive of atrocity and is therefore a human rights document; but also points to a profoundly influential African initiate knowledge system. The post also includes video-excerpts of a Cabaret Burlesque 'West Papua & The Congo' performed to highlight the forces that create war and genocide in West Papua and The Congo. These two nations share the roots of most decolonizing struggles, but are also bound by the catastrophic effect of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarksjöld's death in the Congo on the unholy and illegal denial of West Papua's registration as a UN Non-Self-Governing Territory in 1961.

Cuba and Fiji for West Papua

This post contains biography of the two speakers at the West Papua Open Day on 17 September 2023: Laura Canet Mulén, from the Higher Institute of International Relations in Cuba, and Dr Robert Wolfgramm from Fiji, with a link to twenty articles about West Papua in the Fiji Daily Post between 2005 and 2006 when he was Editor-in-Chief. The post also includes documentation pertaining to our Memorial to Dag Hammarskjöld (1961), the Nieuw Guinea RAAD (1962), and Helena Grunfeld (2023). Hammarskjöld was the UN Secretary-General (1953-1961), the New Guinea RAAD was the parliament of West Papua's Non-Self-Governing Territory before the Indonesian occupation, and Helena Grunfeld was a Swedish-Australian activist who worked at the West Papua Womens Office in Docklands. The post also features photos of the beautiful works donated to Dr Toscano's Auction for the West Papua Rent Collective by Queensland visual artist Susan Zela Bissett and Victorian wood sculptor David McKenzie.

The Hammarskjöld-West Papua Files, 26 March 2023

During the first Open Day in 2023 in the Docklands office, Anglican Bishop Philip Huggins was presented with the Hammarskjöld-West Papua Living Memorial files, including sixty (two-minute) videos of the tree-planting ceremonies around the world. Bishop Huggins, the first Australian to plant a memorial, promised that the Anglican Communion Permanent Representative to the United Nations would personally present the files to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, UN Assistant-Director Gillian Triggs, and the UN 75 Committee. The documentation is designed to remind UN executives, bureaucrats and member-states of the mistake they made in 1961-1962 in transferring the administration of West Papua (then Nederlands Nieuw Guinea) to Indonesia. The entry includes videos of the presentations by Bishop Huggins and Jacob Rumbiak, descriptions and links to the papers in the package for UN Sec-General Guterres, and a link to all the 2-min videos of tree-planting ceremonies from around the world.

ULWMP, Situation Update, December 2022

1 December 1961

WP Open Day, 11 Dec 2022, Paul Stewart’s ‘All the Rage’

Photos, slides, videos, speeches and documents associated with the launch of Paul Stewart's book 'All the Rage' (Melbourne Books, 2022) at the West Papua Open Day in Docklands (Victoria) on 11 December 2022. Includes Paul's interview with publisher David Tenenbaum, and Jacob Rumbiak talking about Australia and America's unprecedented criticisms of Indonesia in West Papua on 9 November 2022 in the United Nations. Also links to historical media articles and other relevant documents.

Debate: Is Australia doing enough to help West Papua?

IS AUSTRALIA DOING ENOUGH TO SUPPORT WEST PAPUA? A public debate sponsored by the Melbourne City Council in its glorious Yarra Room on 30 October 2022; convened by Fiji-Australian author Bernie Goulding, and summarised by Monash University’s China specialist Dr Jonathan Benney. West Papua is Australia's nearest neighbour, yet we have maintained a national silence on the atrocities endured by the Indigenous Melanesians of West Papua since 1962 when the United Nations illegally passed on the administration of its Non-Self-Governing Territory to Indonesia. Despite the republic's systematic racist policies and crimes-against-humanity, the West Papuan people have maintained extraordinary and inspiring resistance-and-nation-making, which was recognised in 2019 by the Pacific Islands Forum (including Australia and New Zealand), the Africa Caribbean Pacific Group and the parliaments of the United Kingdom, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain, the European Union.

2015 MSG in Honiara: West Papua out of the dark into the light, and what’s happened since

This entry recants the extraordinary development for West Papua facilitated by Solomon Islands Prime Minister's intervention at the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in Honiara in 2015, which as the West Papuans say 'brought us out of the darkness, into the light'. A 62-page photo-and-text essay demonstrates the intense lobbying by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) before the Summit; the pride of Pacific Island activists and politicians in pursuing their Melanesian kin's liberation project; the extraordinary courage of men, women and children in West Papua who chose to demonstrate their unity and support; prayers in churches around the world; Australian unions galvanising behind UN Principles to support the ULMWP application to join the MSG. The entry concludes with a summary of Australia and New Zealand's continuing support of Indonesia's colonisation of West Papua.

Letter Writing for West Papua

Join the WP Womens Office Letter-writing Competition to Australian politicians, especially members of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, urging them to (i) Persuade Indonesia to allow the UN fact-finding mission to West Papua which it agreed to in 2017, and ii) Shift Australia's policy from supporting Special Autonomy to voting 'yes' for a motion in the United Nations registering West Papua on the Decolonisation List.

One Small Step for Australia; One Big Leap for West Papua

This report outlines Dr Joe Toscano's policies (with costings) as an independent candidate for the Victorian Senate in Australia's 2020 Federal elections. Dr Toscano has been a political activist for as long as he has been practicing medicine, and is also a well known public broadcaster. He developed his suite of freshingly progressive policies during years of thinking about the world and being politically active within it. His policies include a commitment to pursuing an Independent Foreign Policy so that the Australian Government can support West Papua's self-determination and independence.

WP Open Day, 27 March 2022

Two West Papuans awarded 2021 Eureka Australia Medal

Two West Papuans from the WP Transitional Government, Prime Minister Edison Waromi and Parliamentary Chair Buchtar Tabuni, were awarded 2021 Eureka Australia Medals during a moving ceremony on 3 December 2021 at the historic site of Bakery Hill in Ballarat (Victoria, Australia) where the Eureka Oath was sworn and a flag modelled on the Southern Cross-the best known constellation in the Southern Hemisphere-was raised on 3 December 1854.

What’s going on in Intan Jaya?

West Papua’s Green State

Record of the presentations about West Papuans' Green State at the FRWP Open Day in Docklands (Victoria, AUS) on the 5 December 2021. Includes videos of the speeches by Raki Ap (the ULMWP Representative for Europe) and by Jacob Rumbiak (Minister for Foreign Affairs, West Papua Transitional Government). The entry also has the link to the video-recording of the launch of West Papua's Green State Vision on 4 November 2021 during the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow.

Situation in West Papua Apr-Jul 2021 by Markus Haluk, ULMWP

Poulgrain’s ‘JFK vs Allen Dulles, Battleground Indonesia’ changes our historical perspective

It took Greg Poulgrain decades of research and interviews to unravel CIA Director Allen Dulles' horrendous ‘Indonesia strategy’ of the Cold War. The most monstrous of Dulles' machinations were the murders of UN Sec-General Hammarskjöld and Congo Prime Minister Lumumba (in 1961) and US President Kennedy (in 1963); Indonesia’s usurpation of West Papua (in 1962); the replacement of Indonesian President Sukarno with the CIA-approved General Suharto (1965-66); the subsequent massacre of a million Indonesian ‘communist’ rice-farmers and consequent split of the Communist rivals China and the USSR. Students of West Papua need to ask (i) How the murder of UN Sec-General Dag Hammarskjöld was pivotal to Indonesia’s takeover of West Papua; and (ii) How a secret coup in Jakarta in 1965 and the subsequent massacre of a million Indonesian rice-farmers was pivotal to Freeport getting a licence to mine the gold in West Papua.

City of Moreland joins Yarra and Ballarat Councils on West Papua’s self-determination

On 14 August 2021, the City of Moreland joined the Yarra Council and the Ballarat Council in recognising the principle of self-determination for West Papua. Mayor Mark Riley plants a Hammarskjöld Memorial Tree for West Papua in Balfe Park in Brunswick East (Victoria, Australia). In September 2021 a video-recording of the ceremony will be presented to UN Sec-General Guterres along with the videos of the sixty other Hammarskjöld-WestPapua memorial plantings in 2020-21.

Land of the Morning Star, a documentary by Mark Worth

This entry has a lot of information, with references, about the film, Land of the Morning Star, its director Mark Worth, and the political and cultural aspects of the Morning Star on the West Papuans' independence flag.

George Ivan Smith and what he did for West Papua

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 include George Ivan Smith (so the 'Hammarskjöld-WestPapua-Ivan Smith Living 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.

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.

WW2 in West Papua

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’.

Professor Amien Rais Address, September 2020

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.

Indonesia pressured to begin negotiating with ULMWP

As Defense Minister (and former general) Prabowo Subianto escalates Indonesia’s war against West Papuans, the Jokowi government is under pressure to respond to the recommendation of its provincial government to negotiate peace and self-determination with the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.

West Papua 1942-2022: the legals, politics, and only way forward

West Papua 1942-2022: the legals, politics, and the only way forward is a succinct but comprehensive image-and-text study guide of the West Papuans’ experience of World War II, and as a progressive UN Non-Self-Governing Territory during the 1950s; of the UN's failure in November 1961 to uphold its founding principle, self-determination, in the context of the West Papuans' rights, Dag Hammarskjöld's assassination, the belligerence of the Indonesian Republic, and the self-interest of the CIA's Allen Dulles and the JFK administration. It includes legal commentary on the New York Agreement (1962—69) and a detailed rebuttal of the claims Indonesia used to justify its colonisation of the Papuans’ 459,412 kms2 of richly resourced territory. The final section outlines West Papuans’ most recent resistance and nation-making, including being listed on the UN Decolonisation Agenda (the motion which UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was about to present to the 1961 UN General Assembly).

Two important legal documents: West Papua: real-politik v international law; & Papua’s right to self-determination under international law

The legal papers in this post set out the principles of International Law relating to the New York Agreement (1962-1969) by which Indonesia, the Netherlands, and the United Nations, all pursued by the United States of America, aborted the decolonisation project of the Non-Self-Governing of Netherlands New Guinea, via UNGA Res. 1752 (XVII) in 1962 and UN Res. 2504 (XXIV). UN Res.2504 in 1969, passed unanimously by the UN Member States (84,0) formally "noted" but did not formally reject the result of the "Act of Free Choice" which was not an act of self-determination, but a web of intrigue, bribery, duress by threat, and coercion by propaganda and fraudulent promises in which 1025 carefully selected, indoctrinated and controlled members of West Papua's indigenous population of almost 800,000, under the close scrutiny of armed Indonesian security personnel, agreed unanimously to commit their peoples to integration of their homeland with the State of Indonesia.

West Papuans implore Australian support after 1 Dec brutalities

Indonesian military-police, and intelligence in civilian clothes, violated the universal tenets of freedom of expression and assembly during a suite of operations against indigenous Melanesian West Papuans honouring their historic national day on 1 December.

ULMWP Pilgrimage to Canberra, 9/9/19

On 9 September 2019 the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) travelled to Canberra with a petition of 17,000 signatures asking the government to vote for motions supporting West Papua's self-determination in the UN General Assembly. Jacob Rumbiak and Ronny Kareni, with members of Australia West Papua Association (Melb) and FRWP Womens' Office (Docklands) started the pilgrimage at the Netherlands Australia War Memorial to honour the nation's Dutch colonial heritage, crossed Lake Burley Griffin to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy to acknowledge Indigenous Sovereignty, and concluded at Parliament House with a Media Conference during which Andrew Wilkie MP and Greens Senators Richard di Natale and Janet Rice were handed the box of signatures. Later in the day Senator di Natale tabled the petition in the Senate. Three days later Nadine Rutter, who organised the petition, presented it to Herman Wainggai (ULMWP'S UN Representative) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Jacob Rumbiak, Religious Freedom Institute, Bangkok, November 2019

'The Case for Freedom of Religion in West Papua's struggle for Self-determination' by Jacob Rumbiak for the Religious Freedom Institute Conference in Bangkok, 4-6 November 2019. Eleven informative powerpoints, including bibliography, with a PDF for downloading.

Letter from ULMWP Spokesperson to Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, October 2019

Letter to Senator Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australian Parliament, from ULMWP Spokesperson Jacob Rumbiak, requesting her help to dissuade the Indonesian Republic from its aggressive nationalist performance and Syria-like development in West Papua by establishing a quiet dialogue with the new Vice-President Ma'ruf Amin. Vice-President Amin, as Chairman of the Ulema Council of Indonesia, is the republic’s most powerful Muslim cleric, and has the moral and political authority to successfully argue for the recall of Indonesia's Islamic militia from West Papua.

West Papua Cartoon Exhibition

An exhibition of twenty-nine works by Australia's most gifted and beloved cartoonists published in 2006 after the arrival of forty-three asylum seekers from West Papua.  The cartoons narrate and amplify the war-of-words between Canberra and Jakarta, and between Australian politicians, over the refugees' claims of genocide and Indonesia's racist militarized rule.  That Australia's media moguls published their employees' works suggests that they too believed it was time to question Australia's long-standing support of the Indonesian colonial occupation.

West Papua splits Indonesia: Jokowi to talk to ULMWP, Wiranto flies in troops

As rallies and fires mark the end of colonial authority in West Papua, Indonesian President Jokowi agreed to formal dialogue with the United Liberation Movement for West Papua. At the same time the Minister for Political, Legal & Security Affairs (former military-general Wiranto) flies hundreds of Indonesian soldiers into West Papua and hundreds of Indonesian civilians out.

Global Petition to Parliament House, Canberra, 9 Sept 2019

Today thousands of Australians join with the thousands of West Papuans who in recent weeks have taken to the streets demonstrating against racist abuse, calling for the UN to be allowed access to West Papua and asking for a supervised referendum on independence.

ULMWP Statement: Parliament House, Canberra, 9 Sep 2019

The ULMWP presented an official statement as a petition from thousands of Australians is presented to politicians in Canberra at a Press Conference in Parliament House.

Dutch guerilla’s memoir of WWII in Netherlands (West) Nieuw Guinea

'We fought in the Jungle: my guerrilla struggle in New Guinea in the Second World War' is the English translation of em>Vij Vochten in het bos a WWII memoir by Sergeant Maurits Christiaan Kokkelink, which was published in Amsterdam in 1956 but never reprinted, and was found in a second-hand bookstore in Ljouwert, capital of the far northern province of Friesland.

West Papuans mourn the passing of Rev. Dr Neles Tebay

West Papuans mourn the passing of Rev. Dr Neles Kebadaby Tebay—Catholic priest, prolific author and journalist, peace facilitator, and indigenous champion of Peace, Truth, and Justice.

ULMWP begs for UN intervention as 2,650 Indonesian commandos wreck highland villages

West Papuans beg for UN intervention as 2,650 Indonesian commandos hunt down freedom-fighters and the Jakarta government blocks emergency food water and medical supplies to highland villagers.

Vanuatu sponsors West Papua hearing with UNHR Commission

Jakarta’s mephistophelian behaviour in Papua condemned

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) asserts security for Papuan and Indonesian civilians is now worse than it was for East Timorese during the referendum period in 1999.

Threatened species in West Papua

Thirty-one colourful informative slides prepared by Dr Jemima Amery-Gale of some of the wondrous indigenous flora and fauna facing increasing threat of extinction from mining, logging, conversion of rainforests to palm oil plantations, and the black market trade in West Papua.

Jakarta’s nightmare: Indonesians raising Morning Star flag on 1 Dec

Jakarta’s worst nightmare: Indonesians raise Morning Star flag across the republic on 1 December.

West Papuans demand MSG reviews Indonesia’s status

The ULMWP demands the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) reviews Indonesia’s status after yesterday’s unwarranted arrest and incarceration of ULMWP Executive Director Markus Haluk, and dozens of students during a commemorative prayer meeting in Jayapura.

Indonesia bleeding-out in Papua

Indonesia bleeding-out in West Papua as Jakarta moves to shut down three ‘resistance’ faculties at Cenderawasih University in Jayapura

Papuans want UN Decolonisation Agenda; Indonesia rolls out tanks

Majority support for listing West Papua on UN Decolonisation Agenda despite the Indonesian government rolling out tanks, commandoes and police onto the streets of Manokwari and Jayapura

Vanuatu appoints Lini Special Envoy for West Papua

ULMWP Executives Benny Wenda and Jacob Rumbiak are in Vanuatu to celebrate the Pacific nation’s 38th year of independence.

Vanuatu renders Solomonic appointment for West Papua

The Government of Vanuatu has appointed Ms Laura Lini as Special Envoy for West Papua. Laura is the daughter of Walter Lini, the founding father of the Pacific Island republic.

Strafing a village from a helicopter isn’t democracy

Strafing a Papuan village from helicopter gunships isn't democracy. Indonesia fire-bombs a heritage highland village where indigenous Papuans have lived for thousands of years

ULMWP advises Jokowi to remove Indonesia from Security Council

ULMWP Executive Jacob Rumbiak advises President Jokowi to remove Indonesia from UN Security Council

Indonesia fouls its membership of UN Security Council

ULMWP Executive claims Indonesia fouls its membership of UN Security Council

Indonesia continues to hunt Papuan soldiers and civilians

Indonesia continues to hunt Papuan soldiers and civilians in high-mountain forest

Deakin University academic on palm oil in West Papua

A presentation by American anthropologist Dr Eben Kirksey to FRWP Office in Docklands on 8 April 2018, which included drone-footage of the huge area of the Marind tribes' land that is being deforested for palm oil plantation. Eben explained its devastating effect on the fragile environment, and demonstrated how palm-oil based products is mostly consumed by populations in non-palm-oil producing countries.

Vanuatu gifts West Papuans block of land in Port Vila

West Papuans shining with reviewed hope and strength after Vanuatu leaders gift them a block of land in Port Vila

West Papua increases its legal arsenal with publication of ‘State responsibility in international law’

This legal paper affirms that States have a responsibility to protect all those within their territory; that third States have a right and obligation to complain of wrongful acts committed by a sovereign State; and finally, that sovereignty comes under question where a people within a sovereign state are subject to alien subjugation or serious violations of their human rights. The 24,000 word paper (100 x A5 pages) is downloadable (below) and can be quoted providing the usual creditations are incorporated.

Federal Republic of West Papua publishes important new book

This book traces the shift in international law during the twentieth century from states' rights to people's rights, and how the norms of jus cogens (rules that cannot be derogated from) have broadened to include self-determination, genocide, slavery, torture, murder and the disappearance of individuals. It brings together all the UN resolutions, and principles, and rules that have been applied, or ignored, in the case of West Papua’s occupation, and analyses the relationship between occupied West Papua and international law. The booklet (160 x A5 pages) is downloadable (below) and can be quoted from providing the usual creditations are incorporated.

MSG: Bring West Papua in, kick Indonesia out

On 29 April 2016 a large peace rally in Port Vila concluded at the Secretariat of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, with thousands calling on the inter-governmental summit to invite West Papua to become a full member in 2016.

Australian Army officer fuses glass for West Papua’s Sampari Art Exhibition

This extended essay is about two unique Australians and the startling symbols they employed to demonstrate their support of West Papuans right to self-determination. Army Officer (ret.) Barbara Tipper's fused-glass sculpture of a baby turtle in the Raja Ampat Islands was a feature of the 2015 Sampari Art Exhibition for West Papua. Dr Jon Kozeniauskas, who bought the sculpture, is a Collins St dental specialist. In October 2000 used his Giallo Moderno Ferrari to carve out media space for West Papua which the Australian government had surreptitiously shut down after East Timor's independence in 1999. In 2001 he bought a baby pig for independence leader Jacob Rumbiak, which in a few months changed the delusory perception of West Papuans as Indonesians of Southeast Asia to West Papuans as Melanesians of the Pacific.

Vigil at St Paul’s Cathedral for West Papua’s application to join the MSG

On 15 May 2015, on the eve of the Melanesian Spearhead Group Summit in Honiara (Solomon Islands), Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, joined Revd Heather Patacca and the FRWP Women’s Office in a sunset Prayer Vigil for West Papua. This photo-essay includes the glorious images taken by acclaimed Australian photographer Dean Golja during the moving prayer service.

Reviewing ‘The Incubus of Intervention: conflicting Indonesia strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles’ by Greg Poulgrain

Bishop Hilton Deakin, who is well known for his support of East Timor's liberation from Indonesia, launched Greg Poulgrain's new research 'The Incubus of Intervention: Conflicting Indonesia strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles' at the Federal Republic of West Papua office in Docklands on 3 May 2015, and at Trades Hall on 15 May 2015 during an assembly of the Australian trade union movement to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Republic of West Papua. Bishop Hilton's review is reproduced here in audio and transcript formats, along with photos from the launch at the Melanesian Spearhead Group Seminar in Honiara (Solomon Islands) on 15 June 2015.

Maraki Vanuariki Peace-making Ritual for West Papuan Leaders, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 1 Dec 2014

A Peace-making Ceremony for West Papuan leaders at Fatumaru Bay on 1 December 2014, before the Solidarity March to the Malvatumauri National Council of Chief's Nakamal in Saralana Park. The ritual was led by Maraki Vanuariki Peace-Chief Masato and Chief Morris Kaloran, whose formal relationship with West Papua began in November 2002 with the Sanap Waintaim Ceremonial on Australian Aboriginal land in Maribyrnong and All Saints Anglican Church in St Kilda (Melbourne). The two nations' Kastom and Faith based relationship deepened with the Unity Declaration in Port Vila on 1 December 2007 by the West Papua National Authority, Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs. The ritual in 2014 was pivotal to the success of the Vanuatu Government's 'Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders' and the formation of a united representive body to draw up West Papua's application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group in June 2015

Vanuatu renews kastom and political relations with West Papua, 28 Nov 2014

On 28 November 2014, the Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs, representing the Tongoa-Shepherd Islanders from the SHEFA Province of Vanuatu, renewed its kastom and political relations with the Federal Republic of West Papua in a welcome ceremony organised by the council's women's group. Chief Morris Kaloran initiated the renewal in 2002 on Australian Aboriginal land during the Sanap Wantaim Ceremonial in Melbourne. Relations deepened during the Council's Summit for West Papua in Port Vila in 2007, which concluded with the Unity Day Declaration by the West Papua National Authority, Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs. This ceremony in 2014 opened the West Papua Leaders Summit on Reconciliation & Unification (hosted by Vanuatu’s National Malvatumauri Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu Government, Vanuatu Christian Council of Churches, Pacific Conference of Churches) that oversaw the formation of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

Procession of the Gifts, West Papua in Vanuatu, 1 Dec 2014

Photo-essay of the Procession of Gifts and Solidarity March that opened the Vanuatu Government's 'Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders' on 1 December 2014. The ground-breaking Summit concluded with the establishment of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), a representative coordinating body of West Papuans tasked with underwriting their nation's application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). The Summit was sponsored by the Vanuatu Government and moderated by the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu Christian Council, and Pacific Conference of Churches. On 4 February 2015, the Vanuatu Government, surrounded by these influential institutions, lodged the application with the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila.

West Papua A Longing for Freedom

What are the changes that happened in the past 50 years that West Papua has been ruled by Indonesia? Why do I reflect on my personal journey and write this? Because this has been the reality of the lives of the Papuan people under the Indonesian military system since the 1st of May, 1963 and since the so called Act of Free Choice in 1969 when West Papua through military and political pressure was unjustly integrated into Indonesia. We [West Papuans] have maintained our dignity in the face of oppression, insult and prejudice. So many of our people have suffered and died, and they will continue to suffer and die under the military regime of Indonesia. This is why we cannot stop our struggle for justice and freedom.

WP leader questions Australian support of revisionist Indonesia

West Papuan independence leader Jacob Rumbiak has queried Australia’s ongoing financial support and military relations with Indonesia after the Red-White Coalition (Suharto’s New Order) garnered all the leadership positions in the Indonesian Parliament

West Papua Summit, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 16 Nov-1 Dec 2007

This photo-essay (30 slides) is of a two-week summit in Vanuatu that culminated with a ground-breaking ‘Unity Day Port Vila Vanuatu Declaration’ signed by the Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs, the Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and the West Papua National Authority on 29 November 2007. The declaration differed from previous iterations between the two peoples in that it was organised by influential Vanuatu chiefs, not elected politicians, and by the West Papua National Authority with its own history of political struggle (as distinct from human or cultural rights). The declaration set the long-term agenda for foreign support of the West Papuan struggle, because it rendered the Vanuatu Government responsible for sponsoring West Papua onto the UN Decolonisation List, for listing West Papua with the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Pacific Islands Forum and the Africa Caribbean Pacific Group, and for hosting a peace conference between Indonesia and the West Papua National Authority.

Vanishing Tribes: Unheard Voices from West Papua

VANISHING TRIBES: UNHEARD VOICES FROM WEST PAPUA is an interactive, illustrated, EBook that tells a fictional story based on real events in West Papua. It is a tribute to the Melanesian people of this island nation and their unstoppable determination to be free of a corrupt and brittle state. The main character is Vivi, a Papuan teenager, who wants to join her brother in the fight for survival against the modern Indonesian Republic. The authors, illustrators, and technicians of this EBook are sophisticated political activists, and their production is informative, colourful, logical, artistic, accessible, and FREE. Students (and their teachers) will find the EBook's own WIKI helpful in understanding why Papua's indigenous people are steeped in misery as involuntary Indonesian citizens. Their story is a modern history of realpolitik, militarism, self-determination theory v practice, and even how not to be a good neighbor. (http://www.vanishingtribes.net/vtribes-web-browser.html)

Gallery of Photographs, DFAIT Office-Opening Ceremonies, 23 June 2014

Captioned photographs by Tommy Latupeirissa and David Waingai of the opening of the FRWP Department of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, and Trade in Docklands (Melbourne) on 23rd June 2014.

Letter from President Yaboisembut to President Obama, Nov 2012

This letter explains Mr. Forkorus' request to President Barrack Obama to assist in negotiating peace and justice between the Federal Republic of West Papua and the Republic of Indonesia.

President Yaboisembut to Chair of MSG, 7 Jun 2013

Letter from President of the Federal Republic of West Papua, Forkorus Yaboisembut to Chair of MSG, Mr Victor Tutugoro, dated 7 Jun 2013, from inside the Abepura Prison, Jayapura, West Papua

Note from Prime Minister Edison Waromi

A note from FRWP Prime Minister, Edison Waromi, calling for a unity among West Papuans and to join hands together to have a coordinative resolution agenda to bring the people of West Papua to enjoy a peaceful, free and full sovereignty.

FRWP Executives to be Released from Prison

The Indonesian government has claimed it is releasing the President and Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of West Papua (FRWP) on Monday 21 July 2014. President Forkorus Yaboisembut and Prime Minister Edison Waromi were convicted of treason, along with Selfius Bobbi, Agus Karar, and Domiinikus Sorabut, after the 3rd Papua Congress established the independent state of West Papua on 19 October 2011.

3rd Papuan National Congress, Declaration

On 19 October, Prokorus [normally spelt Forkorus] Yaboisembut was elected President of West Papua, and the evangelist Edison G. Waromi was elected Prime Minister. Following the elections, Prokorus Yaboisembut read out the Declaration of a new state—the Federal State of West Papua, the symbol of the state—the Mambruk Bird, the currency—the guilder, the national anthem—Hai Tanahku Papua, the national languages—Pidgin, Indonesian Malay, Papuan languages, and English, and the geographic territory. The Declaration stated: “On this day, 19 October 2011, we proclaim the full independence and sovereignty of our state, and therefore the State of Indonesia must speedily end its occupation of Papua. All components of the leadership elected at the Third Papuan People's Congress shall immediately discuss the basic principles of the State of West Papua”.

Anglican priest returns from war-zone

Peter Woods, Anglican priest and regular visitor to West Papua, said he was appalled by the militarism and the grinding poverty that he found in Manokwari last week, eighteen months after his last visit.

Drs Jacob Rumbiak, Speech, Opening, FRWP Dept Foreign Affairs, Immigration & Trade, Docklands, 23 June 2014

Drs Jacob Rumbiak, Speech, Opening of the FRWP Dept of Foreign Affairs, Immigration & Trade, 23 June 2014

Briefing Paper for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon

This paper was developed by the West Papua National Authority, in consultation with the OPM, the Papua Presidium Council, tribal leaders, Church leaders, NGO’s, women leaders and student organization. It addresses common misunderstandings about the West Papuan liberation struggle, and answers questions commonly posed by journalists, diplomats, and politicians about an issue usually considered in terms of political sovereignty and human rights, but which has become central to the security and defence of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

West Papua’s Right to Self-Determination

In this five-thousand word paper for the 2001 Festival of Ideas in Adelaide, Jacob Rumbiak examines three international agreements and three Indonesian regulations, via which over-rode Dutch-funded self-determination policies and projects, and the West Papuans right to be consulted, and independence, were consciously ignored.

West Papua Independence Policies; Tensions in the Transition

This paper sets out the infrastructural priorities adopted by the West Papua National Authority (WPNA) in the transition from Special Autonomy (2001—2010) to an independent nation-state on the western border of Melanesia Pacific. Published February 2011

Federal Republic of West Papua opens office in Docklands

Councilor Amanda Stone from the Yarra City Council is cutting the ribbon on the Federal Republic of West Papua’s new office in Docklands (Melbourne) on Monday 23 June 2014. This is despite the Lombok Treaty, signed by Australia and Indonesia in 2006, which outlaws any demonstration of the Indonesian colony’s independence.

Melanesian Spearhead Group briefing May 2013

Outlining the institutions, strategies, political priorities and social objectives of the Federal Republic of West Papua before the meeting of the MSG secretariat meeting in Kanaky.

Solving the Political Problem of West Papua by Peaceful Means

Prepared for Act of Free Choice Seminar, Institute for Dutch History, Royal Library in The Hague, 15 November 2005

Submission to Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade

“Building a relationship between Australia and Indonesia (that includes West Papua) based on the classic principles of Justice, Peace & Love" 24 October 2002

Knowing and understanding how the West Papuans were robbed of their right to independence

Paper presented at 'West Papua at the Crossroads: A conference on the prospects for peace and conflict resolution in West Papua' University of Sydney. 19th April 2000.

Open Letter from Yaboisembut and Waromi to International Leaders

The President and Prime Minister adress world leaders attending the Jakarta International Defense Dialogue in 2012

Statement from the 5 accused at Congress treason trial

STATEMENT BY FIVE PAPUANS WHO WENT ON TRIAL IN JAYAPURA ON 30 JANUARY 2011. Published in West Papua Media, translated by Carmel Budiardjo.

Letter To President Barrack Obama

President Fokorus Yaboisembut writes from Abepura Prison to request President Barack Obama's assistance in negotiating peace and justice with the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

Indonesia has proved, beyond reasonable doubt, that it has no place in Papua

Edison Waromi criticises Australia in particular for riding on the rhetoric generated by President Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Natalegawa about Indonesia’s ‘normative’ commitment to dialogue and the republic’s effort to ‘wage peace aggressively’.

Reflections from behind the Iron Bars of Indonesia

A moral appeal on behalf of the Jayapura Five, first published in West Papua Media.

Prime Minister calls for International Support

From Abepura Prison Edison Waromi calls on international support to end the Republic of Indonesia’s colonial occupation of West Papua.