By REG RENAGI
The
The Australian and the Indonesian government also need to be brought into this three-way negotiation on what can we do now for the people of
The so-called ‘Act of Free Choice’ was a total farce by
This act was a violation of West Papua’s legal right to self-determination, a violation of the ‘sacred trust’ under Article 73 of the UN Charter and a breach of
This action cannot justify Indonesian sovereignty over
The struggle for West Papua 'self determination' will continue whether
Many more of our Melanesian people will die in future.
The Papuans are fighting for their future survival.
Countries like
Tragically,
It is very sad and unfortunate that, with her great influence and clout in the international arena, all
It clearly failed to do anything in
Does
Not really, but anything to do with
This sticky issue will not go away for
The plebiscite took place sometime between 14 July and 2 August 1969; the Indonesian government holding its so-called ‘Act of Free Choice’ in
Indonesian authorities took 1,022 Papuan tribal representatives to eight locations – one for each region of
Many Papuans walked from very-remote areas for three days to their designated locations leaving behind their wives and children in the ‘care of the Indonesian government’.
These 1,022 Papuans were given two choices: either remain with
What resulted from this rigged political event is now history.
But the question still remains: what does the UN and the
Additionally, any future negotiations will prove very difficult with the transmigration program going on for many years now to redistribute its growing population eastward towards PNG.
This is another foreign policy challenge for
But PNG must be always on guard, and keep watch over its western border at the going down of the sun, lest it be surprised one fine day.
Will
Who knows.
This should be a big worry for Prime Minister Michael Somare who's about to leave the political scene one of these days soon.
Source: malumnalu.blogspot.com
