Indonesia wants Oz, PNG to halt OPM boat

JAKARTA. Reports over a plan by West Papuan activists from Australia to illegally sail to Indonesian territory came only a day after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appealed to nations to respect Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said on Sunday that Indonesian Military warships and jet fighters had been readied to intercept the boats. “I have asked the Navy and Air Force to standby and predict their route,” he said in a statement.

The minister also said that he had talked with Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriaty. “I told the ambassador that no nation should allow its soil to be used as a departure point for a movement aimed at disturbing another nation’s sovereignty. That is very clear,” Djoko said.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Saturday he had received information about the plan.“We will keep monitoring the information. We are also communicating with the Australian and Papua New Guinean governments,” he said

The minister said the activists’ boat was intending to sail to Papua New Guinea before entering the neighboring province of Papua.

Foreign media outlets reported that two boats would sail from Cairns, Australia, through the Torres Strait and on to Papua New Guinea, from where they hope to make the trip to Merauke, easternmost city in the Papua province.

The West Papuan Freedom Flotilla planned to “highlight abuses faced by West Papuans under Indonesian rule”, according to The Guardian.

The outlet said some 50 activists planned enter Indonesia without having Indonesian visas and permission to sail in Indonesian waters. They plan to land in Merauke within a fortnight.

Presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah said the government had also reminded its Papua New Guinean and Australian counterparts not to facilitate such a movement. “Such a move won’t be good for our bilateral relationships. Entering our territory is something that must be done accordingly, not through such an illegal way,” he said, adding that the Foreign Ministry had also talked to Australia’s and Papua New Guinea’s representatives in Jakarta.

Marty, meanwhile, reiterated that the governments of both Australia and Papua New Guinea had expressed their support of Papua’s position as an integral part of Indonesia.

In his state speech in regards to Indonesia’s 68th anniversary at the House of Representatives on Friday, Yudhoyono reiterated that Papua, where human rights watchdogs have often criticized Indonesia for state violence against Papuans, along with Aceh, was an integral part of Indonesia.

“Let us all, whether at home or abroad, avoid any propaganda or provocation that may undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia,” he said. “Thus far, we have always respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries. Therefore, we hope the same principle is reciprocated.”

Yudhoyono also said that Indonesia “would act decisively in dealing with any threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Indonesia”, adding that the government continued to prioritize development using the welfare approach in Papua and that the security and law enforcement was conducted “while considering the human rights and the specificity of the Papuans”.

Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said the President “was hinting that the sovereignty of this nation was non-negotiable.”

On Thursday, the Free West Papua Campaigns (FWPC) said that an official Free Papua Organization (OPM) was opened in the Netherlands, exactly 51 years after west Papua was annexed by the Indonesian Republic from the Dutch colonies based on an agreement signed in New York.

“The office in Netherlands will be stationed in The Hague,” FWPC coordinator Oridek Ap said as quoted by Suarapapua.com. He said that the OPM planned to give more information regarding the situations in Papua to the youth in the Netherlands.

“With the establishment of the office, we can explain to all interested stakeholders in the Netherlands why we think Papua needs to be fully independent,” Ap said

In May, the Indonesian government was angered by a move by the Free West Papua movement to open an office in Oxford, UK. Oxford Mayor Mohammed Abbasi, Oxford’s member of parliament, Andrew Smith, and former mayor Elise Benjamin were among those present at the ceremony to inaugurate the office.

Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador to Indonesia Mark Canning and filed a diplomatic protest against the British government over the incident.

Canning, however, reiterated the UK government’s support for Indonesia’s integrity, with Papua as a part of Indonesia. (Bagus BT Saragih and Ina Parlina)