/* Written 12:08 PM Jan 13, 1996 by apakabar@access.digex.net in igc:reg.indonesia */
/* ---------- "IN/IRJA: AWPA-Sydney on Hostage Dra" ---------- */
From: John MacDougall <apakabar@access.digex.net>
Subject: IN/IRJA: AWPA-Sydney on Hostage Drama
/* Written 8:55 AM Jan 12, 1996 by gn:tapol in igc:reg.westpapua */
/* ---------- "AWPA-Sydney on hostage drama" ---------- */
AWPA-Sydney release on OPM hostage drama
The following release was issued by the Australia-West Papua
Associationin Sydney on 12 January 1996:
In remote West Papua, resistance leader Kelly Kwalik and a
group of freedom fighters are taking on the might of the
Indonesian military, one of the best-equipped and well-
financed armies in the Asia-Pacific region.
Kwalik, a former Catholic seminarian and secondary school
teacher until the 1970s, was studying and working in the
provincial capital, Jayapura until 1974. He took to the
mountains around Jayapura, where the OPM conducted
military training and became an officer in the movement. In
1976 he and his colleague Bonny Anaya walked from the
north to the south of the province over several months to
avoid detection. They then carried out the OPM's operational
orders in the mountains around Kwalik's traditional home
after the inhabitants of his village were forcibly moved by the
Indonesian military. The presence of the villages posed an
obstacle to the operations of the US-owned Freeport mining
company.
A traditional land-owner of the Amungme tribe, Kwalik first
led an action against Freeport in 1977. He is now the leader
of the Nemang Kawi Command of the Tepenal - the national
liberation armt of the OPM.
During 1995, five members of Kwalik's family were killed by
the Indonesian armed forces and Freeport security. He has
managed to elude the surveillance of the military and ABRI's
well-trained ground and air forces.
The primary objective of Kwalik's group in recent peaceful
protests [a clear reference to recent flag-raisings] and in the
current hostage drama is to gain international attention and
sympathy. The following demands need to be urgently
addressed:
* respect for and recognition of the land of the Amungme
and Komoro people and the people of West Papua in general;
* demand for compensation, not only for the loss of
traditionally-owned land and environmental damage but also
for thr 43,000 lives lost due to Indonesian military activity;
* social justice, educational equality, health care and
employment opportunities;
* participation in the decision-making process affecting the
West Papuan people;
* an end to the on-going forced removal of 2,000 Amungme
and other tribal people to coastal areas;
* a commitment to end the environmental devastation in
West Papua, not only in the rivers around the Freeport mine
but in other rivers affected by mining activity;
* a commitment to cease environmentally unsustainable and
unregulated logging activity on its present massive scale in
West Papua.
The OPM believe that the governments and parliaments of
the western countries concerned should demand the
government of Indonesia:
*demiliterise the Freeport area;
*allow international mediators, including Amnesty
International, the International Commission of Jurists, the
UN Human Rights Sub-Commission and the Indonesian
Human Rights Commission to monitor the future of the
hostages;
*negotiate a peaceful solution to the issue;
*address the root cause of the issue, that is, the denial
of the Melanesian people to self-determination and the
military occupation of West Papua by the Republic of
Indonesia;
*implement processes of international law and seek a
United Nation sponsored resolution to the crisis.
Kelly Kwalik and his supporters across West Papua know
well the type of repression and intimidation that his current
actions will invite from the Indonesian authorities. They have
taken a gamble that hostage taking will at least gain
international attention, despite the possible negative reaction
that these actions may also attract in the West. It can only be
hoped that with western civilians involved, Indonesia may be
more disciplined in its use of indiscriminate force.
However, judging from past experience, it can be guaranteed
that the Indonesian armed forces will use whatever force
necessary to bring the bow and arrow-carrying natives of
West Papua under control. The question is, how many
innocent people will be killed in achieving this.
Contact: John Ondawame on 02 357 3886 or 387 5475.
Fax: 386-1497