Groups Respond to Mystery List of Papua Supporters

A list is currently circulating on the internet which purports to list international supporters of the OPM (Organisasi Papua Merdek) in West Papua. (See for example, http://politik.kompasiana.com/2012/07/08/daftar-organisasi-pendukung-gerakan-papua-merdeka-di-luar-negeri/.) This list includes our organizations among others. We speak here only for our own groups and not necessarily for any others listed.

We do not know who created the list or when. It is full of typos and other errors, including groups that no long exist and may never have existed. The list includes the original name of one of us; ETAN changed its name in 2005.

Lists like these seek to blame others for problems created by the Indonesian government’s and security forces' own policies and actions. Indonesia must take responsibility for its failures in West Papua.

The list seems to confuse support for the rights of the people of West Papua with support for a particular West Papuan organization, the OPM. Our organizations work on issues and do not take sides among local organizations. We do this out of respect for the right of the Papuan people to organize themselves.

Lists like these (see here for another example: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/peace_conflict/docs/Anatomy_for_print.pdf) seek to blame others for problems created by the Indonesian government’s and security forces' own policies and actions. We saw this in East Timor, where instead of acknowledging the depth of the local opposition to its occupation, Indonesian officials insisted resistance came from a handful of East Timorese, emboldened by international supporters. Indonesia must stop blaming outsiders and seeing enemies everywhere. It must take responsibility for its failures in West Papua. It is these failures which our organizations seek to address.

The implication of the list is that expressing concern about West Papua is interfering in matters internal to Indonesia. We strongly reject that.

First, much of our advocacy is in response to pleas for help from within West Papua.

Second, we are urging that Indonesia adhere to its international responsibilities by following the UN Charter and human rights international conventions and treaties, many of which Indonesia has signed or ratified.

Moreover, much of our advocacy is focused on our own countries, addressing the roles of our own governments and the international institutions to which they belong, as well as the impact of multinational corporations active in the territory. We work to change our own governments' policies so they support human rights and justice. We seek to limit our governments' support for Indonesia's security forces which regularly violate the rights of West Papuans. By doing so, our governments can contribute to a lessening of violence and peaceful solutions to West Papua's problems.

East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), USA
Tapol, the Indonesian Human Right Campaign, UK
Australia West Papua Association (Sydney), Australia
Indonesia Human Rights Committee, Auckland, New Zealand
Peace Movement Aotearoa, New Zealand
Medical Association for Prevention of War (NSW), Australia
Australia West Papua Association, South Australia
Foundation Pro Papua, The Netherlands
Disarmament and Security Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand
Pax Christi Aotearoa-New Zealand
Swedish Association For Free Papua
Down to Earth
Survival International
West Papuan Women Association in the Netherlands (Vereniging van Papua Vrouwen in Nederland)
West Papua Courier, The Netherlands

see also

The West Papua Report