Dear Editor – This letter serves to clarify a misunderstanding to an article captioned “Judas of Papua reportedly here” by Charley Piringi of Solomon Star newspaper published yesterday, Sunday 10th May 2015.
The statement quoted a telephone interview with me on Friday 8th May. I quote “President of the Forum Solomon Islands International (FSII) Redley Raramo, who was behind the West Papuan Solidarity Freedom movement said; We met with ULMWP, the only trusted and recognized body for the freedom of Papua. We understand that there are other three groups of West Papua formed by the Indonesian government to disturb this ULMWP movement for membership in the MSG” end of quote.
For your information, I resigned being the President of FSII on December 2014 and now working for the Parliamentary Opposition.
Hence, my response from the interview published in this paper does not represent the office of the President of FSII, but is solely based on me being a member of the Solomon Islands Solidarity Movement for West Papua and of course falls under my official jurisdiction within the opposition office.
Whilst saying, FSII remains a strong supporter of ULMWP and freedom for the West Papuan people since it made its commitment in 2012 to advocate for the humanitarian issues and self-determination of West Papua.
A further correction in relation to the name ‘West Papuan Solidarity Freedom Movement’ being the group I am supporting as quoted above.
It has to be made clear that the right name for the West Papuan advocacy group that seeks for the membership in the MSG is called the “United Liberation Movement for West Papua” (ULMWP) headed by Benny Wenda, a West Papuan independence leader and an international lobbyist for the independence of West Papua from Indonesia. ULMWP representative overseeing Solomon Islands is Jacob Rumbiak who is currently in the country at the moment.
I hope this statement has put the record in order.
Redley S. Raramo
Former FSII President
