JAKARTA LEAK/2 West Papuans returning to Indonesia
According to a radio report this morning from ABC's Geoff Thompson in Jakarta, after his meeting late last night with the Indonesian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Anike and Yunus Wainggai are returning to Indonesia 'to see Yunus' sick daughter in West Papua' but are still in the hands of Australian authorities.
The Australia West Papua Association believes that Yunus only has one daughter Anika. (However, his wife Siti has a 24-year old daughter in West Papua who has been sick for six or seven months).
Yunus and Anike disappeared from Melbourne on Saturday 115 November, and have not been seen since. Yunus has still not seen his lawyer David Manne, with whom he filed a permanent residency application two days before he and Anike disappeared. Yunus sent a message from his location last Friday that he would like to see his lawyer.
Concerns have increased that his and Anike's imminent departure from Australia has been coerced by Indonesian intelligence agents who are still operating with impunity in Melbourne and other parts of Australia. Both the Department of Foreign Affairs and Immigraiton are denying they know where the two are located.
Below is a letter of concern sent this morning to Stephen Smith (Minister for Foreign Affairs) from Louise Byrne (Australia West Papua Association-Melbourne)
6 November 2008
Hon. Stephen Smith MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Dear Sir,
You are, I believe, aware of widespread concerns about Yunus Wainggai and his seven year-old daughter Anike, two of the forty-three West Papuan asylum seekers. I attach my diary of events, which demonstrates their disappearance from Melbourne ten days ago, with the detention in Port Moresby, by PNG National Intelligence, of a delegation of the West Papua National Authority led by Drs. Jacob Rumbiak enroute to Vanuatu. Both operations, you will note, were instigated by Andy Ayamiseba in Vanuatu, a well known 'operator' in Port Vila, with Joanna Yumeri (from Canberra) and Paula Makabory (from Melbourne). That these three are West Papuans does not mask the imprimateur of Indonesian intelligence, and in fact the Indonesian government as well which has long been funding diplomatic and intelligence operations in Australia for the return of the asylum seekers (Please see my Statement of facts concerning Indonesian intelligence agencies campaign to discredit and harass Dr Jacob Rumbiak within Australia and overseas 2000-2007 which I wrote and distributed to Labor and Liberal politicians, all the justice agencies, and the most recent foreign affairs sub-committee into relations between Indonesia and Australia).
Yunus has most certainly been coerced into his and Anike's removal from their community in Melbourne. He is a simple fisherman, very sick and in pain most of the time, and has at times found it difficult to look after a lively seven-year-old while waiting for his wife Siti to arrive (via UNHCR family re-unification). However, he is an honest man, and I was first alerted to the possibility of Indonesia intelligence involvement by the web of lies and deceit around their disappearance on 15 November 2008, and the obsfucation of their whereabouts ever since.
Mr Smith, I fully appreciate the difficulties being experienced by the Department of Foreign Affairs in dealing with this case (viz a viz the Lombok Treaty). However, I do believe DFAT has the capacity, and perhaps also a moral obligation, to facilitate a meeting between Yunus and his lawyer, David Manne, and the West Papuan leader in Australia, Dr Jacob Rumbiak. As you will note in my diary, Yunus phoned Yohana Rumeri last Friday, asking to see his lawyer, and she relayed his message through an SMS which I have a copy of. Yohana refused, however, to reveal Yunus and Anike's location to the lawyer. Consequently this meeting has not taken place, and we have no assurances that Yunus is not free of pressures that Indonesian intelligence agents would be able to exert.
I believe that such a meeting would remove all suspicions that the Australian government is not fulfilling its duty to protect these high-profile asylum seekers (who two days before they disappeared met their lawyer and filled in their permanent residency applications!). We ourselves are unable to organise such a meeting, because we do not know where Yunus and Anike are. Yesterday an Indonesian intelligence officer at the Embassy in Canberra said “they are not in our embassy, they are with the Australian authorities”. However, numerous officials we contacted in our Department of Immigration deny any knowledge of their whereabouts, and more surprisingly are not offering us any assistance in finding them.
I am particularly driven to bring about this meeting, and the assurances it may (or may not) provide to an increasing number of concerned Australians and interested media, because I feel somewhat indebted to little Anike, whose infamous high-five with Steve Fielding brought about Prime Minister Howard's first defeat (the withdrawal of the Migration Amendment legislation from the Senate in 2006).
Yours sincerely,
Louise Byrne
Australia West Papua Assoc—Melbourne
Tel 04329 24 212
The Australia West Papua Association believes that Yunus only has one daughter Anika. (However, his wife Siti has a 24-year old daughter in West Papua who has been sick for six or seven months).
Yunus and Anike disappeared from Melbourne on Saturday 115 November, and have not been seen since. Yunus has still not seen his lawyer David Manne, with whom he filed a permanent residency application two days before he and Anike disappeared. Yunus sent a message from his location last Friday that he would like to see his lawyer.
Concerns have increased that his and Anike's imminent departure from Australia has been coerced by Indonesian intelligence agents who are still operating with impunity in Melbourne and other parts of Australia. Both the Department of Foreign Affairs and Immigraiton are denying they know where the two are located.
Below is a letter of concern sent this morning to Stephen Smith (Minister for Foreign Affairs) from Louise Byrne (Australia West Papua Association-Melbourne)
6 November 2008
Hon. Stephen Smith MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Dear Sir,
You are, I believe, aware of widespread concerns about Yunus Wainggai and his seven year-old daughter Anike, two of the forty-three West Papuan asylum seekers. I attach my diary of events, which demonstrates their disappearance from Melbourne ten days ago, with the detention in Port Moresby, by PNG National Intelligence, of a delegation of the West Papua National Authority led by Drs. Jacob Rumbiak enroute to Vanuatu. Both operations, you will note, were instigated by Andy Ayamiseba in Vanuatu, a well known 'operator' in Port Vila, with Joanna Yumeri (from Canberra) and Paula Makabory (from Melbourne). That these three are West Papuans does not mask the imprimateur of Indonesian intelligence, and in fact the Indonesian government as well which has long been funding diplomatic and intelligence operations in Australia for the return of the asylum seekers (Please see my Statement of facts concerning Indonesian intelligence agencies campaign to discredit and harass Dr Jacob Rumbiak within Australia and overseas 2000-2007 which I wrote and distributed to Labor and Liberal politicians, all the justice agencies, and the most recent foreign affairs sub-committee into relations between Indonesia and Australia).
Yunus has most certainly been coerced into his and Anike's removal from their community in Melbourne. He is a simple fisherman, very sick and in pain most of the time, and has at times found it difficult to look after a lively seven-year-old while waiting for his wife Siti to arrive (via UNHCR family re-unification). However, he is an honest man, and I was first alerted to the possibility of Indonesia intelligence involvement by the web of lies and deceit around their disappearance on 15 November 2008, and the obsfucation of their whereabouts ever since.
Mr Smith, I fully appreciate the difficulties being experienced by the Department of Foreign Affairs in dealing with this case (viz a viz the Lombok Treaty). However, I do believe DFAT has the capacity, and perhaps also a moral obligation, to facilitate a meeting between Yunus and his lawyer, David Manne, and the West Papuan leader in Australia, Dr Jacob Rumbiak. As you will note in my diary, Yunus phoned Yohana Rumeri last Friday, asking to see his lawyer, and she relayed his message through an SMS which I have a copy of. Yohana refused, however, to reveal Yunus and Anike's location to the lawyer. Consequently this meeting has not taken place, and we have no assurances that Yunus is not free of pressures that Indonesian intelligence agents would be able to exert.
I believe that such a meeting would remove all suspicions that the Australian government is not fulfilling its duty to protect these high-profile asylum seekers (who two days before they disappeared met their lawyer and filled in their permanent residency applications!). We ourselves are unable to organise such a meeting, because we do not know where Yunus and Anike are. Yesterday an Indonesian intelligence officer at the Embassy in Canberra said “they are not in our embassy, they are with the Australian authorities”. However, numerous officials we contacted in our Department of Immigration deny any knowledge of their whereabouts, and more surprisingly are not offering us any assistance in finding them.
I am particularly driven to bring about this meeting, and the assurances it may (or may not) provide to an increasing number of concerned Australians and interested media, because I feel somewhat indebted to little Anike, whose infamous high-five with Steve Fielding brought about Prime Minister Howard's first defeat (the withdrawal of the Migration Amendment legislation from the Senate in 2006).
Yours sincerely,
Louise Byrne
Australia West Papua Assoc—Melbourne
Tel 04329 24 212
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