The Australia West Papua Association (SA) inc

Invite you to celebrate

The 63^rd   Anniversary of West Papua’s Declaration of Independence 

At a Melanesian Feast

 To be held at 99 Day Terrace , West Croydon  

On Sunday   1^st December  from 12.00 -3 p.m.

For catering purposes you need to  let us know if you are  coming by Thursday 29^th Nov

BYO  drinks   Food will be provided .

to    dave-arkins@bigpond.com or phone 0408345593

Hope you can come !!

For those interstate details of local events will soon be available   

On Australia’s door step we have a situation very similar to what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank of Palestine.

Stop the militarisation of West Papua

Stop the Colonial Transmigration Program to West Papua

Stop the Land Grab

Stop travelling  to Bali in protest !

The new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has deepened the occupation of West Papua .

He has sent in the army of soldiers and workers to achieve this by force.

Indonesia has continued to divide West Papua by dividing it from one province into 6 smaller provinces

each with hand picked local Government and by situating an additional  Military command bases in every one , indeed in nearly every village .,

President Subianto  has  reopening the Ministry of Transmigration to facilitate  after it had ceased in the year 2000  when Special Autonomy was brought in.

Thousands of Immigrant workers from various parts of Indonesia  are being chosen  to work on the massive Food estates  in Merauke in the Southern part of Papua .

The land will be used to grow rice , Sugar and Palm oil   

Over 200 bulldozer have already arrived and work is moving at a rapid pace .

Over 10,000 new The Indonesian Army  Tentara Negara Indonesia TNI  forces have been sent there .

They are now constructing a new highway over 135 kilometres and cleared one kilometer wide  to transport the food.

There has been no consultation with the Indigenous owners about this.

The project has been deemed  to be in the National interest good as it will provide  food security for a rapidly expanding Indonesian  population in the time of climate change .

“We told him the destruction and impact that we suffered from the project. We already complained to him but he did nothing. So, we are appalled whom he protects? We reject the corporation, but they already bulldoze our forest, dig up our water fountain, drive away fish, deer, kangaroo, pigs and other animals. So, we came here to Jakarta to raise our concerns to the government ministries here.”

Vincent, another landowner from Jagegob District, continues, “In my area, they plan to grow sugarcane. My clan has already rejected the project. We are a bit better off than Mama Sinta’s situation because we did not deal with the [military] troops. We only deal with Bintara Pembina Desa (Babinsa, low ranking army officers) who go around door to door to tell off people to give up their land. This [action] has caused tension and rift within families. For some families, where brother agrees to receive compensation, his sister opposes or vice versa so they have family fight.”

Simon, the Coordinator of Forum Solidaritas Merauke (Solidarity Forum of Merauke), narrated his story. “Around June-July 2024, we saw a luxury cruise with five decks and helipad belongs to Haji Ihsam harboured in Mariana strait. Towards the end of July 2024, some 100 excavators arrived, and they are now clearing the forest aiming to construct 135 km road with 1 km wide straight from District Ilwayap in the West to District Muting in the East [see the long orange line in the middle of Figure 1]. The excavators are so cruel. They just killed deer by crushing them with their claws just like that. Meanwhile, the army are flying around with choppers and shoot dead at any deer they see are running away from the excavators. Then they collect and bring them to the camp to eat. They never ask for our permission.”