koteka

"Where it cuts across the island of New Guinea, the 141st meridian east remains one of colonial cartography's more arbitrary yet effective of boundaries."1

On July 9, 2011 another irrational colonial border that demarcated Sudan was consigned to history when South Sudan achieved independence. In the process an often seemingly irrevocable principle of decolonisation, that boundaries inherited from colonial entities should remain sacrosanct, has been challenged once again. Indeed, a cautious trend in international relations has been to support greater self-determination for `nations' without awarding full statehood. Yet Kosovo is another state whose recent independence has been recognised by most major players in the international community.2 In West Papua's case, the territory's small but growing elite had been preparing for independence from the Netherlands in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and Dutch plans envisaged full independence by 1970. However, in 1962 Cold War realpolitik intervened and the United States engineered a transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia under the auspices of the United Nations. To Indonesian nationalists their revolution became complete since West New Guinea had previously been part of the larger colonial unit of the Netherlands East Indies, which had realised its independence as Indonesia in 1949. In West New Guinea, most Papuans felt betrayed by the international community and have been campaigning for a proper referendum on independence ever since.

Protests in North Africa have sparked
renewed interest in citizens' rights - and media coverage has helped. So why do
we still overlook serious government oppression just a few hundred kilometres to
our north? Marni Cordell reports

"In my opinion, what's happening in West Papua amounts to
genocide, both physical and cultural," says Akihisa Matsuno, a professor at the
Osaka School of International Public Policy who specialises in Indonesia. "At
the very least we have to say this is a crime against humanity in terms of a
systematic annihilation of the civilian population that is intentional,
widespread and ongoing."

As YouTube evidence of Indonesian soldiers burning the genitals of the West Papuan Tunaliwor Kiwo received its 50,000th viewer, the Indonesian military (TNI) was exposed holding a cynical mock trial to try to cover up systemic violence.

WITH popular uprisings turfing out rulers in Tunisia, Egypt and perhaps elsewhere in the Arab world, a lot of analysts have focused on fears of "contagion" in other regions, notably on China's censorship of news reports about the protest wave in the Middle East.

Yet the Middle East event that might have the most far-reaching effect is not the awakening of the Arab "street" against authoritarian rulers, but the vote in a United Nations supervised referendum a month earlier.

The largely African people in the south of Sudan voted overwhelming to secede from their Arab-dominated country and form a new nation - a result accepted by the Khartoum government and its main foreign backers, including China.

"We are Melanesian, not Indonesian!" and "Free Filip Karma!" chanted a group of West Papuans from around Australia - some refugees, some studying in Australia on scholarships - who had gathered in front of the Indonesian embassy in Maroubra, Sydney, on February 22, 2011. This demonstration urging Indonesia to free West Papuan political prisoners kicked off a week of events in Sydney bringing together academics and other advocates to focus on the status of West Papuan human rights.

International Lawyer for West Papua (ILWP) kata dia, dibackup oleh 50 ahli hukum dunia. "Proses ini bahkan telah ditangani langsung oleh Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa (PBB), ini sesuai dengan pernyataan dari Sekjen PBB pada tanggal tujuh di New Zealand," katanya.

Ideologi Bintang Satu itu sudah jelas, tanya kepada teman-teman dari pesisir pantai, "Apa artinya bintang Satu, Bintang Fajar itu saat mereka melaut?" Jangan masukkan kitab-kitab lain mengartikan bintang! Itu ajaran sesat! Ideologi pembodohan! Ideologi pemandulan sebuah bangsa. Ideologi tanpa akar. Makanya dia mau bikin kongres untuk coba-coba berakar ke bawah setelah dia bertumbuh. Entah tidak tahu dia bertumbuh di atas tanah mana atau di udara mungkin? Ini ilmu alam ajaib yang orang Papua sedang mainkan, tanaman bertumbuh di udara, lalu kemudian mencari tanah untuk berakar. Logikanya bagaimana dia sudah tumbuh padahal tanpa tanah? Tentu saja menurut logika itu dia ditanam di tanah lain, dia berakar di sana, tetapi sekarang mau dicangkokkan ke dalam Tanah Papua, bukan?

The military of Indonesia generate and reproduce the conflict and then attack those targeted civilians to justify their covert military and military operations.