Locke returns from West Papua with request that Papuan rights be put back on Pacific Islands Forum agenda
Green MP Keith Locke returned today from a three-day trip to West Papua conveying a request from Papuan leaders that New
Zealand champion their cause at the Pacific Islands Forum.
"I received a clear message that West Papua's 'special autonomy' is not helping the people or protecting them from the
Indonesian military," said Mr Locke, Green Party Foreign Affairs Spokesperson. "The people's desire for independence
from Indonesia is as strong as ever.
"The Papuan Parliamentarians I met are frustrated that four years of 'special autonomy' has produced so little for their
people. They welcome President Yudhoyono's recent initiative that an indigenous Papuan People's Council be part of the
provincial structure, but are concerned that it could end up being a toothless advisory body.
"The political strings are still being pulled in Jakarta, and Papuans who challenge that are suffering at the hands of
the military. I saw real fear when I visited the highland town of Wamena. 'Special autonomy' has not stopped the
military killing, arresting and harassing people there.
"The military are no longer confronting an armed rebellion. The leaders of the Papuan Presidium Council, the main
representative body of the Papuan people, assured me that they are pursuing a peaceful path towards independence."
Papuan leaders asked Mr Locke if New Zealand could put their issue back on the agendas of the Pacific Island Forum and
the United Nations.
"The hopes for 'special autonomy' expressed in the Forum communiqué two years ago have not been realised, and Pacific
leaders need to return to the issue when they meet in Port Moresby later this year.
"We also need to take up the West Papuan cause at the United Nations, which bears a moral responsibility for overseeing
the forced incorporation of the territory into Indonesia in the 1960s. Papuans want the UN to review the bogus 1969 'Act
of Free Choice' and set in train a new process of self-determination for the West Papuan people."