West Papuan leaders have declared awaiting government, whilst Indonesia’s contested province, because the United Nations says it is “plagued by increased violence” there, including the alleged killing of a child by security forces.
The province marks independence day on 1 December, the commemoration of West Papua’s declaration of independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1961, and the raising Morning Star flag now prohibited.
Protests flare up in Papua when students demand an independence referendum.
The Indonesian military took over the province in 1962, and since it has been the target of a struggle of fierce separatists.
The independence movement, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), has drafted a new constitution and nominated exiled leader Benny Wenda as interim president.
“Today, we honor and acknowledge all of our ancestors who fought and died for us by finally forming a waiting united government,” said Wenda, who is lives in Britain.
“Embodying the spirit of the people of West Papua, we are ready to run our country. As stipulated in our interim constitution, the future Republic of West Papua will be the world’s first green country and a beacon of human rights – the opposite of Indonesia’s bloody decades of colonization. Today, we are taking another step towards our dream of an independent, independent, and independent West Papua. “
Towards 1 December, the date often has significant riots and violence, a human rights office spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, said, We are disturbed by the increase of harshness over the last few weeks and months in Papua and West Papua provinces in Indonesia. And an increased risk of new tensions and violence.
Shamdasani said on one occasion, on November 22, a teenager was shot dead, and another teenager injuring in a police gun battle. The boy’s body was founded on Mount Limbaga in Gome district, West Papua.
He also cited the murder of church pastor Yeremia Zanambani, whose body is founding near his home in the Hitadipa district with bullets and stab wounds. Zanambani “may have been killed by members of the security forces,” said Shamdasani.
“Previously, in September and October 2020, there were a series of killings that troubled at least six individuals, including church activists and workers, as well as non-indigenous people. At least two members of the security forces also died in the clashes.”
Thirty-six protesters arrest in Manokwari and Sorong during pro-independence protests at the weekend.
Indonesian-controlled Papua and West Papua form the western part of the island of New Guinea.
The indigenous people of the province are Melanesians, where are ethnically distinct from other parts of Indonesia and more closely related to the people of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fijians, and New Caledonians.
The Dutch colony in Papua until 1961, the territory was militarily annexed by Indonesia in 1962, and officially incorporated into the Indonesian republic after a 1969 referendum called the Act of Free Choice. But the vote was widely condemned as fraudulent, with more than 1,000 selected Papuans forced, some threatened with violence, to vote in support of Indonesian rule.
Indonesia considers Papua and West Papua to be an integral and inseparable part of the Indonesian state and has consistently stated that it is working to develop the region.
