To: The students of the Texas University in Austin

From: Grace Roembiak (pavo@worldaccess.nl), The Netherlands

Date: November 28, 1996

ref.: US - West Papuan support group

Dear Students of the Texas University in Austin,

Three weeks ago I read an article that was sent by our network contact Minewatch in London. It was an article in the Multinational Magazine (April 1996). The article mentioned that the students of your university and Professor John Clark, the SEA - Students for Earth Awareness and the students of the University of Loyola in New Orleans demonstrated against the giant American mine-company Freeport-McMoRan that operates in West Papua. On the same page they mentioned our foundation. The reason I write this long email, is to get in contact with the student group that are supportive of the West Papuan people. First of all I will introduce myself and will briefly tell you about our work in the international diplomatic field.

My name is Grace Roembiak, I am a West Papuan living and working in the Netherlands for the Foundation Study & Information Papuan Peoples (PaVo). I am also a representative of the political/diplomatic organisation West Papua Peoples Front (WPPF). The Foundation PaVo (NGO) has the aim to monitor the developments in West Papua on a permanent basis and to gather and disseminate knowledge on the situation of the Papuan Peoples. West Papua Peoples Front was established in 1982 by West Papuans living in exile in the Netherlands (they came in the early 60s). WPPF has lobbied the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples (populations) for twelve years now. Since 1995 some West Papuan youth (incl. myself) have taken over the diplomatic responsibilities and have been going to the UN in Geneva frequently to participate in the UN sessions of the Commission on Human Rights and her Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. In the last twelve years the WPPF has build up an international network. West Papua is a founding Member of UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation) which has an office in Washington. West Papua Peoples Front which represents the West Papuans peoples in many forums and international conferences, believes that the erosion of the heritage, the cultural and intellectual property of the indigenous peoples of West Papua must be stopped. To achieve this, West Papuans are struggling in and outside West Papua for their right to self-determination.

Brief country report on West Papua. West Papua is the name of the Western part of the island New Guinea, the world's second largest island. West Papua borders on the Moluccas in the West, Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the East, and Australia in the South. Its surface area is approximately 418,000sq. km. West Papua has a population of 1,800,000 of which approximately 900,000 are indigenous West Papuans and 900,000 are Indonesians. The West Papuan people are a Melanesian people, composed of at least 240 different peoples each with its own language and culture. Christianity was introduced in the 19th century. Animism is still practised today, while with the immigration of Indonesians, Islam is becoming more and more prevalent.

The Papuan people and culture existed on the island for thousands of years, until 1546 when the Spanish discovered the island and named it Nueva Guinea (New Guinea) because of the resemblance between the indigenous people and the people in Guinea (Africa). In 1828, with the establishment of Fort du Bus, the western half of the island became a Dutch Colony. In 1848 the border was drawn by the Dutch and the Germans. In 1963, the Indonesians took control of the territory with the understanding that after six years a referendum, known as the Act of Free Choice would be held, in which the West Papuans would decide their own status. The Act of Free Choice, what the West Papuans call the Act of No Choice, took place in July-August 1969 as scheduled, but the election was stage managed by the Indonesians, who used a combination of bribery and brute force to persuade the 1,025 local delegates to approve the continuation of the Indonesian occupation of West Papua. Ignoring the failings of the electoral process, the UN passed a resolution on November 19, 1969, endorsing the Indonesian occupation of West Papua. In 1973, West Papua was renamed Irian Jaya (West Papua) by the Indonesians, and up to this day the indigenous peoples are not allowed to call themselves West Papuans.

From the early 1960s, the Indigenous peoples of West Papua started resisting the Indonesian occupation, resulting in the founding of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM, the Free Papua Movement) in 1965. On July 1, 1971, the Independence of West Papua was proclaimed in Markas Victoria. Ever since, the OPM has continued struggling against the Indonesian oppression. Men and women organised as guerrillas are presently resisting the Indonesian army; 10,000 had to flee to the other side in 1984 and many are still living in refugee camps along the border with Papua New Guinea. Even in those camps, the refuges cannot be sure of their safety: the Indonesian army was reported to have crossed the border, many times while tracking down the OPM-fighters. The UNHCR is monitoring only 50% of all the refugees.

A severe and direct threat to the survival of the indigenous peoples of West Papua is presented by the Indonesian population transfer programs (transmigrasie). These programs consist of two components: the involuntary relocation of indigenous communities, and the transfer of immigrants from densely populated islands to the so-called outer islands. The influx of sponsored and of so-called spontaneous migrants threatens to create a situation in which the Indonesian settlers outnumber the indigenous populations and take their places in the economic and social sectors.

East Indonesia is the new focus of Jakarta's so-called development efforts. Jakarta is attracting foreign investors to the region to set up capital-intensive extractive industries. International funding agencies like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank, as major contributors to the Consultative Group for Indonesia (CGI), are supporting these programs, and thus the government's neo-colonial policies on West Papua. In 1995, the amount given by the CGI to Indonesia was US$ 5.3 billion. The outflow of resources from West Papua is far greater that the inflow, because of the neglect by the government of the socio-economic situation of the Papuan peoples.

Vast areas of West Papua have been granted as concessions to multinational, translational and Indonesian mining, oil an logging companies without consultation with, let alone approval of the indigenous peoples who have inherited these lands from their ancestors for forty thousand years. The indigenous communities are forcibly removed from their ancestral lands through intimidation, bribery and human rights violations, to make way for the exploitation of the natural resources of their lands.

The lands of the Amungme, for instance, have been mined for gold and copper since 1967 -even before the official recognition of he occupation by the UN- by a subsidiary of the US based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. Throughout the years the Amungme people have conducted a non-violent fight against the company. In April 1995, the Australian Council for Overseas Aid produced a report, denouncing the killing of 37 West Papuans by the Indonesian army while they were demonstrating peacefully. In August 1995, Bishop Munninghoff in Jayapura released a report with eyewitness accounts on the killing by the Indonesian army of sixteen civilians engaged in peaceful prayers.

Because of this silent genocide of the West Papuan people I write this email to you, students of the Texas University and Loyola University. It's not only an environmental issue to save one of the last beautiful paradises of the world but also to save the people who live in West Papua and take good care of this paradise.

I ask you therefore to organise a support group in the US for the West Papuan people. We are trying for several years now to get in contact with various environmental and human rights groups in the US. Unfortunately West Papua was unknown before the kidnap in Mapunduma this year. When the kidnap and the situation of the Amungme people was broadcasted on CNN it became world news. To keep up this level of publicity about the West Papuan issue we ask your support to organize a support group for West Papua in the USA. I tried a few times to get some email addresses for writing this letter and finally after our email was installed I found the email address of Mr. Boyer. Hopefully you understand my request for support. I will leave you with a question for the people who are struggling not only for human rights that are written in international law, but just the law of nature, the right to exist.

Do innocent men, women and children first have to use violence before they can stop violence?

George Washington; Freedom is a light for which many died in darkness

Our West Papuan quote; One People One Soul

with warm regards and out of solidarity,

Grace Roembiak/WPPF

office:
Foundation Study & Information Papuan Peoples           West Papua Peoples Front
P.O. Box 801                                            P.O. Box 75619
3500 AV Utrecht                                         1007 AX Amsterdam
The Netherlands
phone: **. 31. 30. 23 22 809
fax: **31. 30. 23 41 838
email: pavo@worldaccess.nl