WEST PAPUANS WALK FOR PEACE: “Thou Shalt Not Kill”

WEST PAPUANS WALK FOR PEACE: “Thou Shalt Not Kill”

~ the value of trust as a noble door to the solution of Indonesia’s primary problem in West Papua ~

10 June 2011 - In the distinguished tradition of non-violence, West Papua National Authority’s rally in Manokwari on Friday 10 June begins with a three-mile jigjog—from the Sanggeng soccer stadium to the government’s provincial office—with five-to-ten thousand Papuans chanting ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill”.

The Authority’s rally position is the release of Papuan political prisoners. According to rally organizers, lawyer Abraham Wainarisi SH and security co-ordinator Matheus Maryen, these political prisoners are local leaders required by their village communities to negotiate their security with unprecedented levels of Indonesia military and intelligence agents.

The release of political prisoners was the first of five trust-building conditions Jacob Rumbiak placed on the table during his visit to Jakarta in February 2011. There has been no response to The Authority’s encouraging demands.

The other four conditions which The Authority believes are pre-conditional for creating trust between the two nations are:

The government’s guarantee of safe and secure conditions for a conference of Papuan leaders that would include those living in the jungle and others domiciled abroad

The government’s dismantling of regulations whereby Melanesian West Papuans living abroad and in exile needing to visit family and relatives are treated as ‘foreigners’

The government’s implementation of policy and regulations banning use of the word ‘separatist’ which enrages security forces bound by oath to defend the ‘territorial integrity’ of the republic.

The government to return all Military and Intelligence units in West Papua to Jakarta

ENDS

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