INDONESIA: WE ARE VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE

Agu Bu Oji · (#1 (**permalink**))

[align=center]----- Original Message ----- From: Benny Wenda <bwenda@infopapua.org>
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 10:59 PM
Subject: [wp] INDONESIA: WE ARE VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE, SAYS PAPUAN LEADER

INDONESIA: WE ARE VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE, SAYS PAPUAN LEADER.

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[align=center]http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_En...1178&par=0[/align]
Jakarta, 9 March (AKI) - A leader of the movement for independence of the
Indonesian province of Papua has said that the Papuan people are in danger
of being wiped out because of Indonesian rule. "We are at risk of genocide,"
said Benny Wenda, a Papuan independence leader in an interview with
Adnkronos International (AKI) from Britain where he lives in exile. "I fear
that in 30 years the Melanesian race will be wiped off Papua. The
international community must force Indonesia to stop its military operation
and leave Papua," he said.

Papua is the eastern most province of the Indonesian archipelago. Papua,
formerly known as Irian Jaya, has been a scene of secessionist violence
since Dutch colonial rule formally ended in 1962 and Indonesia formally took
control after a referendum conducted in 1969.

The pro-independence movement - mostly peaceful and led by activists and
religious leaders - calls for historical reassessment and a new referendum.
According to some estimates, some 20,000 to 100,000 people in the province
have been victim of abuse by the Indonesian military. The Indonesian
government does not allow foreign journalists and human rights organisations
to enter the province.

The Reverand Socrates Sofyan Yoman, leader of the Baptist church of Papua,
said that the risk of "genocide" also comes with the flow of immigrants that
continue to arrive from other parts of Indonesia.

"Genocide is also seeing our culture and religion disappearing with the
arrival of migrants," the religious leader told AKI.

The Papuans are made up of 312 tribes of ethnic Melanesian people and
Christians are a majority among the populations. The immigrants from other
parts of Indonesia are of various ethnicities and are mainly Muslim.

At the time that Jakarta took over control of the province, Papuans made up
almost the entire population. Today, it is estimated that they only account
for half of the population.

Up until 2000, Jakarta had imposed a programme of internal migration, aimed
at bringing those from more populated provinces such as Bali and Java, to
Papua and other less populated islands. Today, voluntary migration
continues.

Neles Tebay, a Catholic priest and local accademic said that the presence of
immigrants is evident everywhere.

"There are mosques at every corner. Migrants are by far the majority in the
main cities of the region," Tebay told AKI.

A 2003 study conducted by Yale University, said that the migratory flow of
people towards Papua could be considered "an act of genocide".

The Indonesian government has denied these accusations. Jakarta has said
that with respect to human rights, the situation in Papua has significantly
improved in the last few years and that the desire for independence is not
shared by most in the population. The government also said that the
provinces in the Papua region - Papua and West Irian Jaya - are ruled by
Papuans, as stipulated by a special statute giving these area provincial
autonomy in 2001.

The government also said that in Indonesia, citizens can move freely from
one island to another.

Fsc/Aki)
Mar-09-07 16:26
============
Benny Wenda
West Papuan independence? leader?& Chair of?the Koteka Tribal Assembly
P.O Box.656,Oxford,OX3 3AP England UK
Mobile:+44(0)7791629782

bwenda@infopapua.org

http://www.infopapua.org

http://www.freewestpapua.org

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