Sorong to Samarai: West Papua independence day events in PNG
25 November 2013
MARTYN NAMORONG | Namorong Report
WEST PAPUAN INDEPENDENCE leader Benny Wenda will launch a series of events today to mark West Papua‘s forthcoming Independence Day celebrations in Port Moresby.
On 1 December 1961, the people of West Papua were granted their freedom and nationhood by the departing colonial power, the Netherlands.
On this historic occasion, the West Papuan Morning Star flag was raised for the first time, the first West Papuan legislature was convened, the national anthem of the West Papuan people was sung and all the trappings of a West Papuan nation were demonstrated internationally.
However, a year later, in 1962, the Indonesian military invaded and annexed the predominantly Melanesian-peopled West Papuan nation. This illegal act is well-documented and is the subject of growing demands for the revisitation of the role of all parties involved in this scandal.
In collective resistance against the Indonesian colonial rule in West Papua, Papua New Guineans will join their West Papuan brothers and sisters next Sunday to raise the Morning Star in various locations around the country.
As part of the Sorong to Samarai campaign, the day itself will be a reminder of the injustices committed against the West Papuan people and the urgent need for Papua New Guinean and Melanesian solidarity in raising the profile of West Papuan self-determination on the international stage. The PNG media is invited to participate in this endeavour.
The final week of November 2013, leading to the main event of December 1, 2013 will include a series of activities in the Free West Papua campaign. These include today’s launch of events by West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda, a regional meeting of Melanesian and Pacific Island members of International Parliamentarians for West Papua on Thursday and a Freedom Walk in Port Moresby on Sunday.
As a Lutheran Missionary's son, I remember the fear we all had that Indonesia would try to also claim Papua New Guinea wrongly, just as Indonesia wrongly claimed West New Guinea that had first declared its sovereignty and independence under Dutch colonialism.
The 1 May Indonesian military occupation of West New Guinea by President Sukarno was an illegal military occupation lead by a WWII Indonesian war criminal who aided the Japanese Imperial military invasion of the island of New Guinea and he was forced by the Allied Military Forces to surrender New Guinea with his boss the Emperor of Japan - "unconditionally".
Indonesian President Sukarno had no International legal claim to West New Guinea in 1961,1962,1963 or even in 1969 when Indonesia used its military to threaten 1,026 hand picked voters with death and torture if they dared to vote for the Independence their tribal members wanted by a predetermined majority population certified as fact in a 1967 US Embassy cabal/message to the US. Secretary of State.
The message indicated that an IndonesIan official confided to the US Ambassador that at least 97 percent of the Papuan Melanesian trIbes wanted independence.
Posted by: Kurt S Spehr | 02 December 2013 at 08:32 AM