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Text your say: Free West Papua office
Your comments on the governmentâs statement objecting to the establishment of the Free West Papua (OPM) office in Oxford, UK, on April 28, although the UK government said it did not represent the countryâs policy:The government has been so busy dealing with political parties nowadays and West Papua has been out of talks
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strong>Your comments on the government's statement objecting to the establishment of the Free West Papua (OPM) office in Oxford, UK, on April 28, although the UK government said it did not represent the country's policy:
The government has been so busy dealing with political parties nowadays and West Papua has been out of talks. It seems we will be missing another part of our land.
Robinson Elohansen
Your editorial is right in that some of the problems in West Papua are because of the exploitation of the natural resources with little or no benefit to the West Papuan people and Jakarta should be ashamed by the chronic poverty and lack of education available to West Papuans.
However, your editorial misses the point in stating 'the solution to the nagging problem of Papua rests solely with policymakers here in Jakarta'.
It should actually rest with the Papuan people. In West Papuan history they have never had a real say in their own affairs.
The so-called act of free choice was a farce and the New York Agreement was between Indonesia and the Netherlands.
The problems in West Papua won't be solved by another version of the autonomy package, which is simply a bid by Jakarta to stave off the Papuans' aspirations for self-determination.
It rests in the empowerment of the Papuan people to decide their own future. It's time for Jakarta to hold dialogue with representatives of the West Papuan people.
Joe Collins
Sydney
The Indonesian government's reaction to the opening of the OPM office in Oxford and the subsequent support it got from some political corners of British society is, as usual, a sign of the government's double standards regarding issues of 'separatism'.
The Indonesian government puts all its diplomatic forces at its disposal to support the Rohingya Muslims, accusing the Myanmar government of discrimination or the Israeli government of Palestinian oppression.
Maybe we should recall the Dutch Parliament's reaction and their stance when Indonesia proclaimed and fought for its independence in 1945 to realize how that colonial mindset has gripped the Indonesian politicians of today.
If in their own country they can be intimidated, persecuted, tortured and killed for political beliefs it is no wonder they will seek a country that allows them to speak freely about their beliefs and political wishes.
Indonesia purposefully avoids labeling calls for an Islamic state an act of treason against the state because that would mean ending up putting millions of 'Indonesians' on trial.
It is 'safer' to put some GAM, OPM, RMS flag fliers in jail for decades than tackling the more obvious and numerously supported rot this country is experiencing.
The Indonesian government would do well to listen closely to its own citizens, especially those in remote areas with flags of their own, so to speak, where more and more are convinced of their status of secondary citizens when it comes to origins and religion.
Asher Tauran
Jakarta
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