Meet at Indonesian Embassy this Wednesday for International Human Rights Day to draw attention to the human rights abuse in West Papua.
Location: 72 Queens Rd, Albert Park.
Time: 10am.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Letter in THE AGE, December 2, 2008
We have failed Anike. Pray for her
IT IS staggering beyond belief that Australia's duty of care to seven-year-old Anike Wanggai has failed to protect her from returning to Indonesian territory following her three-year stay on a temporary protection visa ("Papuan refugees want to go back", The Age, 28/11).
Anike has been at the forefront of demonstrations holding aloft the Morning Star Flag, which, in her birthplace of West Papua, brings a 15-year jail sentence. While unaccompanied minors were prevented from being involved in political demonstrations by Department of Human Service rules, Anike was with her father, Yunus Wanggai. They went missing on November 15, and, a week later, were in the company of Indonesian officials in Canberra.
Recent events don't make sense to those who knew them well, such as their signing up for permanent Australian citizenship, the acceptance of their wife and mother, Siti Pandera Wanggai, for a family reunion in Australia, Anike's joy at school, Yunus' medical care.
Despite denials from the Indonesian embassy, there is a whiff of coercion. This story needs to be told and those responsible held to account. Anike is an extraordinary child and will be sadly missed by all her friends across Australia. We pray for her future safety.
Frances Walton, Ivanhoe
IT IS staggering beyond belief that Australia's duty of care to seven-year-old Anike Wanggai has failed to protect her from returning to Indonesian territory following her three-year stay on a temporary protection visa ("Papuan refugees want to go back", The Age, 28/11).
Anike has been at the forefront of demonstrations holding aloft the Morning Star Flag, which, in her birthplace of West Papua, brings a 15-year jail sentence. While unaccompanied minors were prevented from being involved in political demonstrations by Department of Human Service rules, Anike was with her father, Yunus Wanggai. They went missing on November 15, and, a week later, were in the company of Indonesian officials in Canberra.
Recent events don't make sense to those who knew them well, such as their signing up for permanent Australian citizenship, the acceptance of their wife and mother, Siti Pandera Wanggai, for a family reunion in Australia, Anike's joy at school, Yunus' medical care.
Despite denials from the Indonesian embassy, there is a whiff of coercion. This story needs to be told and those responsible held to account. Anike is an extraordinary child and will be sadly missed by all her friends across Australia. We pray for her future safety.
Frances Walton, Ivanhoe
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Radio New Zealand International reports......
Wainggai and daughter were coerced to return to Indonesia, says West Papuan
Posted at 07:24 on 01 December, 2008 UTC
A member of Melbourne’s West Papuan community says that two asylum seekers who have left Australia to return to Indonesia have been coerced into the move.
Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has confirmed that two of the group of 43 Papua asylum seekers who fled to Australia in 2006, Yunus Wainggai and his daughter Anike, have returned home.
Earlier, supporters of the two Papuans voiced concern that the pair had gone missing following a recent interview with Australian Federal Police.
Melbourne-based Papuan student, Richard Rumbiak, says the pair were taken in by Indonesian agents and coerced to leave.
“That’s what all the West Papuans here in Melbourne, we believe: they’ve been forced to return to West Papua by the Indonesian government, and the intelligence services here in Melbourne, that’s why they disappeared for two weeks before they left.”
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has denied that there was force involved in their decision to return home, but says Mr Wainggai was promised money and a job.
+
+ an apology for mixing poetic sense
with real dangerous sitch
what i trying to get across
is we're just looking out for our sis
and have to cut through a lot of non$ense
dead sure someones got their big business
mixing up all this shit
after you've read through all of this
can you really think
they were taken by consent?
with real dangerous sitch
what i trying to get across
is we're just looking out for our sis
and have to cut through a lot of non$ense
dead sure someones got their big business
mixing up all this shit
after you've read through all of this
can you really think
they were taken by consent?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The Canberra TImes Reports on Yunus and Anike
Claims refugees want to return to Papua disputed
28/11/2008 1:00:01 AM
TWO refugees who were among 43 Papuans who ignited an international diplomatic row when they were granted asylum in 2006 are seeking to return to Indonesia.
Yunus Wanggai is believed to be negotiating with Indonesian authorities in Canberra for him and his daughter to be re-united with his wife, Siti Pandera Wanggai, who has disappeared in Vanuatu.
But Papuan activists fear Indonesia may have put pressure on Mr Wanggai to return for "propaganda purposes" to discredit Australia's protection visa regime, and quash concerns about the persecution of pro-independence groups in Papua.
It is understood Mr Wanggai has not been in touch with his lawyer for two weeks, and his decision to return is at odds with recent moves to become a permanent resident in Australia.
Mr Wanggai and his daughter, Anike, now seven, were among 43 asylum seekers who arrived at Cape York in January 2006, and were found to have well-founded fears of persecution.
The decision to issue the Papuans with protection visas provoked a furious response from Indonesia; the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, recalled his ambassador in protest.
Four months later Mrs Wanggai, who stayed in Papua, was at the centre of a media storm when she said she was coerced by an Indonesian intelligence officer into making a false appeal for the return of her daughter.
She escaped to Papua New Guinea and then Vanuatu and had applied to be reunited with her family in Australia through the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR. However, it is believed she disappeared from Vanuatu in October after becoming frustrated by delays in the process.
The leader of the 43 Papuans, Herman Wanggai, said he had had no contact with Yunus and Anike for 10 days. "I am really concerned about their safety. My concern is particularly related to my niece, Anike," Mr Wanggai said. "I don't believe they want to go back to Indonesia … Maybe Indonesia tried to pressure him to use for propaganda to criticise the legal system in Australia."
Frances Walton, the Melbourne foster mother of four of the Papuans, said Yunus had a well-grounded fear of returning to Indonesia as the Wanggai family had a history of involvement in the independence struggle for Papua. "Many members have been jailed for 15 years for raising the Morning Star flag, a symbol of freedom from Indonesian rule," Ms Walton said.
The latest developments come two months after two other Papuan refugees, Hana Gobay and Yubel Kareni, returned to Indonesian voluntarily. The pair reportedly told Indonesian media they came to Australia for a university education and not to flee human rights abuses.
In August the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, told the Herald their return would be "good for both Australia and Indonesia".
A spokesman for Indonesia's embassy in Canberra, Dino Kusnadi, said he was unable to comment. "My guidelines say that I should respect the rights of Yunus Wanggai to not engage in the media," he said.
Mr Wanggai's lawyer, David Manne, had no comment.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/world/world/general/claims-refugees-want-to-return-to-papua-disputed/1372481.aspx?storypage=0
Monday, December 1, 2008
1st of December; West Papua Independance Day.
TODAY
1st of December- West Papua Independance Day
protest 11am Indonesia Consulate. 72 Queens Rd, Melbourne
Media release, 1st Dec.
West Papua independence day: Government hands back Papuan refugees to Indonesia.
West Papua Independence day, Dec 1, this year marks a sad and angry time following reports that refugees Yunus Wainggai and 7 year old daughter Anike arrived in Jakarta following their disappearance from their Collingwood home on Sat 15th November.
Mr Wainggai and his daughter are two of 43 West Papuan refugees who escaped West Papua under Indonesian military control by canoe and landed on the shores of Cape York in 2006 seeking asylum. They were granted temporary refugee status, and filed their application for permanent residency in Australia just two days before their disappearance.
West Papuan community member Richard Rumbiak, who will be speaking on this day,
states; “We believe they have been coerced by Indonesian sources who operate here and manipulate West Papuans here. Myself as Indigenous West Papuan am very concerned about that, even overseas, in Australia. “
No one from the community has heard from Mr Wainggai (whose phone has been disconnected), as well as his lawyer, despite claims Mr Wainggai asked to speak with him.
Where: Indonesia Consulate. 72 Queens Rd, Melbourne. 11:00 am.
“Dec 1 marks a celebration of the anniversary of the morning star, the independence movement of West Papua and to reinstate our commitment for Papua independence. The four of the 43 who have returned for their personal reason have probably been coerced by the Indonesian government and their Papuan agents, and will not change the situation in West Papua, which has always driven our independence movement.“ Richard Rumbiak.
Contact Richard Rumbiak 0413 534 224
West Papua independence day: Government hands back Papuan refugees to Indonesia.
West Papua Independence day, Dec 1, this year marks a sad and angry time following reports that refugees Yunus Wainggai and 7 year old daughter Anike arrived in Jakarta following their disappearance from their Collingwood home on Sat 15th November.
Mr Wainggai and his daughter are two of 43 West Papuan refugees who escaped West Papua under Indonesian military control by canoe and landed on the shores of Cape York in 2006 seeking asylum. They were granted temporary refugee status, and filed their application for permanent residency in Australia just two days before their disappearance.
West Papuan community member Richard Rumbiak, who will be speaking on this day,
states; “We believe they have been coerced by Indonesian sources who operate here and manipulate West Papuans here. Myself as Indigenous West Papuan am very concerned about that, even overseas, in Australia. “
No one from the community has heard from Mr Wainggai (whose phone has been disconnected), as well as his lawyer, despite claims Mr Wainggai asked to speak with him.
Where: Indonesia Consulate. 72 Queens Rd, Melbourne. 11:00 am.
“Dec 1 marks a celebration of the anniversary of the morning star, the independence movement of West Papua and to reinstate our commitment for Papua independence. The four of the 43 who have returned for their personal reason have probably been coerced by the Indonesian government and their Papuan agents, and will not change the situation in West Papua, which has always driven our independence movement.“ Richard Rumbiak.
Contact Richard Rumbiak 0413 534 224
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
