Green Left Weekly, January 25, 2006
West Papuan asylum seekers need our support
Sarah Stephen
On January 18, 43 West Papuans stepped onto Australian soil at Mapoon on the
west coast of Cape York Peninsula. Amazingly, they had traversed 425 kilometres at
sea in a 25-metre traditional dugout canoe fitted with an outboard motor. They were
flying the West Papuan flag, outlawed by the Indonesian government.
Early on January 13, Australia-West Papua Association convener Louise Byrne was
rung and informed from Merauke, West Papua, that a boat-load of independence
activists was leaving for Australia. "These are undoubtedly political activists", Byrne
told the January 18 Melbourne Age. "Their concern seems to be to preserve their
activism. The Indonesian authorities have been extraordinarily effective in getting rid of
people advocating independence for many years."
According to Byrne, the asylum seekers include student leaders from all over West
Papua's lowlands and highlands. Herman Wainggai, one student leader aboard the
boat, was imprisoned for treason last year in the provincial capital of Jayapura, having
previously spent long periods in jail for his activities. Wainggai comes from a political
family; his father died in Cipinang Prison in Jakarta, where he had been imprisoned
alongside leader of the East Timorese resistance Xanana Gusmao.
Byrne said the West Papuans were forced to undertake the journey by boat because
the usual means of escaping — crossing the border into Papua New Guinea — had
become increasingly difficult. "Although it hasn't been announced, I think the
Indonesian government has changed its policy and is now realising that ... autonomy
isn't working and I think they're about to implement a military solution."
The journey by the 30 men, six women and seven children was expected to take just
15 hours. The alarm was raised by AWPA on January 18 when the boat was three
day's overdue. By the end of that day, the boat had been found.
The asylum seekers had hung a huge banner which read: "Save West Papua people
soul from genocide intimidation and terrorist from military government of Indonesian.
Also we West Papuan need freedom peace love and justice in our home land.’‘ But
if not for photographer Damien Baker and the Cairns Post, which hired a helicopter,
we might never have seen the boat and its political message.
On January 19, Baker, a journalist from Torres News on Thursday Island, hired a
helicopter and flew through the "no-fly exclusion zone" set up by the police around the
West Papuan refugees. He found the Papuans huddled under a tree, but was
prevented from talking to them by police.
Justice needed now
Momentum is building for the asylum seekers to be released into the community on
bridging visas, rather than being detained while their claims are processed. This call
has been taken up by AWPA, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the
Greens, the ACTU and many others.
This is only the third boat of asylum seekers to reach the Australian mainland in four
years. Asylum seekers have to reach the mainland to be eligible to claim refugee
status after the federal government excised Australia's northern islands from the
migration zone.
ICJ Australia representative Justice John Dowd pointed out on January 19 that the
asylum seekers "should not be sent offshore processing camps in Nauru or Manus
Island as they are quite distinct from other boat arrivals as they have come directly
from the place where they were persecuted. The 1951 Refugee Convention requires
that states do not punish asylum seekers for illegal entry if they have come directly
from a place where their lives were threatened."
Nevertheless, late that day the asylum seekers were loaded aboard a C130 Hercules
army aircraft at Weipa airport, after undergoing health checks and processing, and
taken to Christmas Island.
A spokesperson for immigration minister Amanda Vanstone said that the Christmas
Island detention centre, which can house up to 800 people, was to be used for
"unauthorised boat arrivals who arrive in areas that are excised from the migration
zone and there's no plans to change that".
Those who arrive by boat on one of Australia's excised islands are not protected by
Australia's legal system.
Rumours of a policy change first circulated last April when Christmas Island mayor
Gordon Thompson said he had been told by the government's immigration detention
advisory group (IDAG) that the new 800-bed centre would house all asylum seeker
boat arrivals, including those who reached the migration zone.
The fact that the West Papuans, who made it to the Australian mainland, have been
taken to Christmas Island — in contradiction to the government's claims about the
regulations — suggests these rumours were true.
West Papuan struggle
The arrival of the West Papuan asylum seekers puts the spotlight on the deteriorating
political situation in West Papua. It also puts the Australian government in an
awkward situation: it supports the "territorial integrity" of Indonesia and hence
opposes the independence struggles in West Papua and Aceh. What's more, Jakarta
and Canberra are currently negotiating a security treaty that is set to include a pledge
by Australia not to interfere in provinces such as Papua.
Reports that the Australian government may have allowed Indonesian officials access
on January 19 to the 43 asylum seekers are therefore not surprising.
Yet popular sentiment in Australia lies firmly with the West Papuan's independence
struggle, a legacy of the movement in solidarity with East Timor's fight for
independence, which highlighted the brutality of the Indonesian regime under former
dictator Suharto.
Murdoch's Australian newspaper warned in its January 20 editorial that "there is no
case for the Australian government sticking its bib into Indonesia's business and
accepting [the 43 West Papuans] as freedom fighters while we accept its
long-established sovereignty over West Papua. It is never wise to jeopardise
international relations — especially between neighbours — with single-issue stances."
Joe Collins from AWPA Sydney said that the West Papuans should be treated as the
East Timorese were before they achieved their independence, by granting them
bridging visas with full rights and allowing them to live in the community while their
claims are assessed.
According to British-based TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, additional
troops were sent to Papua last November and stationed in villages to prevent people
from taking part in pro-independence activities.
"The Papuan people are being subjected to a closely coordinated operation by the
Indonesian police operating in the towns and the Indonesian army operating in the
countryside which could lead to a number of arrests and convictions under the
anti-subversion law."
Is it any wonder then that some pro-independence activists are seeking political
asylum?
From Green Left Weekly, January 25, 2006.
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