The Leader of Opposition, Hon. Matthew Wale condemns in the strongest term revelations that the Indonesian government intends to remove the indigenous people of West Papua out from their motherland.
This follows revelations in a Bahasa speaking television show where one of Indonesia’s former Army Generals who was interviewed and translated into English, talking about a state conspiracy to remove the Melanesians of West Papua out from their lands and shifting them to Manado island.
Manado Island is in the Northern Sulawesi, a region known to have a history with the Indonesian Authorities, and lowly regarded still, to this day.
Hon. Wale says this revelation confirms the evil legacy that has been passed on from generations of Generals within the Indonesian military force. History revealed that in 1963, General Ali Moertopo said the Papuan people should be transferred to the moon. Decades later, General Luhut Panjaitan said the Papuans should be transferred to the Pacific, supposedly because they were originally Pacific islanders. And just this week, General Hendropriyono said the 2 million Papuans should be transferred to Manado.
In the translated interview, the former General described the West Papuan Melanesian race as a subhuman species, not deserving to be treated as equals and with dignity.
Hon. Wale went on to add that, “Such intentions if true certainly run contrary to all the human rights principles and values that all democratic countries must uphold and defend and only demonstrates the evil intentions on the part of Indonesian leaders driving the agenda against the Melanesian people of West Papua”.
He says the intentions announced in this interview are clearly of ethnic cleansing. All Melanesian countries, and in fact of members of the Pacific Islands Forum must be very concerned by this.
“I, therefore, call on the PM to condemn this racist ethnic cleansing agenda in the strongest terms, as someone who had always been outspoken on this issue and had also taken the plight of the Papuan people, to the United Nations General Assembly.
“These racist sentiments betray the arrogance of the ‘deep state’ of the Indonesian government and must not be brushed aside or swept under the carpet. West Papuans continue to live under fear and the oppression of the Indonesian military and government and should be given the right to choose their own future political destiny.
“I am calling on the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Pacific Islands Forum, and United Nations Human Rights Commissioner to take more proactive steps regarding the West Papuan situation. I further call on the Prime Minister to ensure that the Solomon Islands raise this matter in the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“Solomon Islands must stand and give voice to the issues facing West Papuans. We must do so, not only when it is politically beneficial, but as a matter of principle and human and Melanesian solidarity.
“These revelations offer an opportunity for governments in the region to review their positions on the fight by the indigenous people of West Papua to be given their right to determine and govern their own destiny. A right that was stolen from them over 5 decades ago,” the Opposition Leader further adds.
