Statement by the Executive Director of the LP3BH

22 January, 2016

The Chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), Menasseh Sogovare who is also the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands has said that he is now considering  a move to bring together the Government of Indonesia and the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) in order to hold a dialogue.

Mr Sogovare said in a press release that it was his intention to bring the two sides together to begin a dialogue  and hopes that the MSG will be willing to sponsor the dialogue and hopes that the two sides will together draw up an agenda for this face-to-face meeting.

Mr Sogovare also said at a meeting with a delegation from the ULMWP on Thursday, 21st January in Honiara that he hopes that the MSG would also be willing to help tin making the preparations by finding several  moderators to assist in the discussions between the two sides.

I myself, a Lawyer and Human Rights Defender in the Land of Papua, consider that  the move that has been taken by the Chairman of the MSG, Mr Sogovare who is also the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands is a progressive movement that should be supported by all forces in the Land of Papua as well as in Indonesia and in the international community, in particular those states which are members of the MSG and the Pacific Islands Forum.

This is because the resolution of the conflict in Papua and an end to the many human rights violations that have been perpetrated would also resolve the differences of opinion regarding the integration of Land of Papua into the United State of the Republic of Indonesia which until now has resulted in a continuing conflict in which armed weapons have been used that has been going on for more than fifty years.

The idea of resolving this conflict peacefully by means of a dialogue is very appropriate to solving the problem and would put an end to the killings that have been going on between those who are armed with weapons.

Mr Sogovare also said that the results of this dialogue would help the MSG to understand  the views of the Government of Indonesia regarding  the issues that have been of very great concern to the Papuan People  and the ULMWP up to this this very moment.

The offer to help that has been made by the MSG thhrough the intermediary of Mr Sogovare to resolve the social and political conflict in the Land of Papua would also be very much in accord with the wishes of Ir. H. Joko Widodo, the President of Indonesia.

This will certainly get the political backing of the many countries that have good relations with the Republic of Indonesia, as has been stated by the US and British ambassadors  during their recent visits to the Land of Papua.

Peace!

Yan Christian Warinussy, Executive Director of the LP3BH – Institute of Research, Analysis and Development of Legal Aid, Recipient of the John Humphreys Freedom Award in 2005 in Canada and Co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission, Manokwari

[Translated by Carmel Budiardjo, Recipient of the Right Livelihood Awaard, 1995]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/civil-resistance-in-west-papua/5501113

 Civil Resistance in West Papua

By Jason Macleod Global Research, January 13, 2016

West Papua is a secret story. On the western half of the island of New Guinea, hidden from the world, in a place occupied by the Indonesian military since 1963, continues a remarkable nonviolent struggle for national liberation. 

In Merdeka and the Morning Star, academic Jason MacLeod gives an insider’s view of the trajectory and dynamics of civil resistance in West Papua. Here, the indigenous population has staged protests, boycotts, strikes and other nonviolent 

This is the first in-depth account of civilian-led insurrection in West Papua, a movement that has transitioned from guerrilla warfare to persistent nonviolent resistance. MacLeod analyses several case studies, including tax resistance that pre-dates Gandhi’s Salt March by two decades, worker strikes at the world’s largest gold and copper mine, daring attempts to escape Indonesian rule by dugout canoe, and the collection of a petition in which signing meant to risk being shot dead.

Merdeka and the Morning Star is a must-read for all those interested in Indonesia, the Pacific, self-determination struggles and nonviolent ways out of occupation. [Order the book by clicking on the image of it on the right]

West Papuans Testify

Continue reading →

Since 2009 there has been a fundamental shift in the way that the Pacific Island states engage with regional and world politics. The region has experienced, what Kiribati President Anote Tong has aptly called, a ‘paradigm shift’ in ideas about how Pacific diplomacy should be organised, and on what principles it should operate. Many leaders have called for a heightened Pacific voice in global affairs and a new commitment to establishing Pacific Island control of this diplomatic process. This change in thinking has been expressed in the establishment of new channels and arenas for Pacific diplomacy at the regional and global levels and new ways of connecting the two levels through active use of intermediate diplomatic associations.

The New Pacific Diplomacy brings together a range of analyses and perspectives on these dramatic new developments in Pacific diplomacy at sub-regional, regional and global levels, and in the key sectors of global negotiation for Pacific states – fisheries, climate change, decolonisation, and trade.

http://press.anu.edu.au/titles/pacific-series/the-new-pacific-diplomacy/

The New Pacific Diplomacy

Edited by Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte

ISBN 9781925022810 (Print version) $33.00 (GST inclusive)
ISBN 9781925022827 (Online)
Published December 2015

Citation url: http://press.anu.edu.au?p=328371

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The New Pacific Diplomacy – Whole Book (PDF 2.2 MB)

• Preliminary Pages
• Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• List of Contributors

Overview

1. The ‘New Pacific Diplomacy’: An introduction – Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte
2. ‘Charting its Own Course’: A paradigm shift in Pacific diplomacy – H.E. President Anote Tong

The Regional Diplomatic System

1. Towards a New Regional Diplomacy Architecture – Kaliopate Tavola
2. The Future of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Framework for Pacific Regionalism – Dame Meg Taylor
3. The New Framework for Pacific Regionalism: Old kava in a new tanoa? – Claire Slatter
4. Civil Society and the Political Legitimacy of Regional Institutions: An NGO perspective – Maureen Penjueli
5. A New Pacific Regional Voice? The Pacific Islands Development Forum – Tarte
6. The New Pacific Diplomacy at the United Nations: The rise of the PSIDS – Fulori Manoa

Fiji’s New Diplomacy

1. Fiji’s Emerging Brand of Pacific Diplomacy: A Fiji government perspective – Litia Mawi
2. Fiji’s Foreign Policy and the New Pacific Diplomacy – Makereta Komai

Geopolitical Context

1. The Strategic Context of the New Pacific Diplomacy – Michael O’Keefe
2. New Zealand and Australia in Pacific Regionalism – Nicola Baker

Sub-Regionalism

1. The Renaissance of the Melanesian Spearhead Group – Tess Newton Cain
2. Negotiating the Melanesia Free Trade Area – Sovaia Marawa
3. Micronesian Sub-Regional Diplomacy – Suzanne Lowe Gallen

Climate Diplomacy

1. Marshalling a Pacific Response to Climate Change – Nicollette Goulding
2. Establishing a Pacific Voice in the Climate Change Negotiations – George Carter

Tuna Diplomacy

1. How Tuna is Shaping Regional Diplomacy – Transform Aqorau
2. The New Pacific Diplomacy and the South Pacific Tuna Treaty – Jope Tarai

Negotiating Trade and Decolonisation

1. Negotiating Power in Contemporary Pacific Trade Diplomacy – Wesley Morgan
2. Pacific Diplomacy and Decolonisation in the 21st Century – Nic Maclellan

Appendices

• Thinking ‘Outside the Rocks’: Reimagining the Pacific – Hon. Henry Puna
• Melanesian Spearhead Group: The last 25 years – Sir Michael Somare
• Index

 
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