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Vanuatu 'sponsoring separatism': RI
Speaking up: Rayyanul M
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peaking up: Rayyanul M. Sangadji, an Indonesian diplomat from Ambon, Maluku, conveys the first right of reply by Indonesia during a general debate of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States, on Saturday.(Courtesy of webtv.un.org)
Indonesia sent a junior diplomat with Melanesian ancestry over the weekend to rebut Vanuatu’s latest call for the United Nations to investigate alleged human rights violations in Papua, just as thousands of residents from within the region flee violence following a week of deadly protests.
At the tail end of this year’s UN General Assembly (UNGA), after most of the world’s leaders had already taken turns to vent their frustrations and announce their global interests, Jakarta turned to Rayyanul M. Sangadji, an Indonesian diplomat from Ambon, Maluku, to read out the nation’s right of reply — a UN guarantee that Indonesia had used in recent years to deflect criticism over Papua.
Rayyanul, an official at Indonesia’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, the United States, described Vanuatu’s repeated attempts to internationalize the debate on Papuan self-determination as “state-sponsored separatism”.
He urged Vanuatu to get a better understanding of the legal and historical facts that enshrine Papua’s status as an inseparable part of “the unitary state” of Indonesia, and underscored the legitimacy it gained from the international community through UNGA Resolution No. 2504.
“We cannot help but wonder, how on Earth in this age of globalization, there is still a country [that] devotes its foreign policy to instill enmity and division on another country,” the diplomat said on Saturday, according to a televised recording by the UN.
In an earlier address during the UNGA general debate, Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas condemned alleged human rights violations on the indigenous people of western Papua and called on the UN to find a solution.
Rayyanul said Vanuatu’s claims were baseless and unfounded and Tabimasmas’ speech had been motivated by support for the separatist agenda, even though the leader had given the impression that his country was concerned about human rights.
“What Vanuatu does not realize is that its provocation has created empty hopes and even triggered conflicts — this is a very irresponsible act,” the 38-year-old diplomat said.
“Your provocation, Vanuatu, has resulted in [damaged infrastructure] that belong to everyday Indonesians. Hundreds of homes [were] burned, public facilities destroyed, and worst of all, innocent civilians also perished.”
The speech comes amid deepening conflict in Indonesia’s easternmost provinces, with at least 33 civilian lives lost and thousands fleeing the city of Wamena after rallies last week devolved into violence, with some protestors burning down government offices and shop-houses. Many of the deceased were found trapped inside.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto had accused the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB), an affiliate of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) separatist movement, of trying to spark outrage over the conflict in Papua, including Wamena.
Led by Papuan exile Benny Wenda, who now resides in the United Kingdom, the ULMWP was formed to campaign for Papuan independence in 2014 when Vanuatu hosted a unification summit for West Papuan representative groups.
The nation itself has doggedly raised the issue at the UNGA despite Jakarta’s intensive engagement and diplomacy in the South Pacific, a region with overarching ethnic and cultural affinities with the people of Papua and West Papua provinces.
The Papua issue was also brought up during the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu last month, when member countries "strongly encouraged" Indonesia to finalize the timing of a visit by the UN high commissioner for human rights to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Papua.
On the sidelines of the UNGA, Indonesia signed grant agreements with several Pacific nations, including one for a barge and a tugboat valued at US$2.5 million for Nauru, the construction of a conference hall for Tuvalu and post-disaster rehabilitation work on a school in Fiji.
Indonesia has repeatedly asked that all countries respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity and urged all not to interfere in the domestic problems of other countries.
