West Papua: The Genocide That Is Being Ignored by The World

18 Jan 2017 Posted by Darius Shahtahmasebi

If you need evidence that politicians and the mainstream media pick
and choose which oppressive conflicts to cover in order to further
geopolitical ambitions, you need only Google “West Papua.”

Ever heard of it? Have you ever been sitting at home watching CNN,
BBC, or Fox News and heard the news anchor mention West Papua?

It’s strange that this oppression receives little to no media coverage considering a recent fact-finding mission conducted by the Brisbane Archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission reported that West
Papua was experiencing a “slow motion genocide.” The report warned
West Papua’s indigenous population is at risk of becoming “an anthropological museum exhibit of a bygone culture.”

When you learn what fuels the conflict in West Papua, it becomes clear
why this issue receives hardly a blink from our peace-loving
politicians and media establishment.

West Papua is home to one of the world’s largest gold mines (and third largest copper mine), known as the Grasberg Mine. Grasberg is
majority-owned by the American mining firm Freeport McMoRan. It has
reserves worth an estimated $100 billion, and the company is
Indonesia’s biggest taxpayer.

Money and geopolitics usually beat out human rights. Since the Suharto dictatorship of Indonesia annexed West Papua in a 1969 U.N. referendum
– largely viewed as a land grab – an estimated 500,000 West Papuans
have been killed fighting to achieve independence.

Related Reading: War Crimes & Genocide: What You Aren’t Being Told
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Freeport McMoRan was given rights to Grasberg when the Indonesian
government signed the right to extract mineral wealth from the site in
1967. In order to preserve this quite literal gold mine, the
Indonesian military uses brute force against the local indigenous
population. Benny Wenda, a native Papuan who has campaigned his whole
life for independence, details the kinds of experiences the local
population has endured at the hands of the Indonesian military:

“Now, every morning on the way to their gardens, Benny and his
mother and aunties would be stopped and checked by Indonesian
soldiers. Often the soldiers would force the women to wash themselves
in the river before brutally raping them in front of their children.
Many young women, including three of Benny’s aunties, died in the
jungle from the trauma and injuries inflicted during these attacks,
which often involved genital mutilation. Every day Papuan women had to
report to the military post to provide food from their gardens, and to
clean and cook for the soldiers. Violence, racism and enforced
subservience became part of daily routine.” [emphasis added]

Australia, a country with a cozy, albeit confusing relationship with
Indonesia, plays its part in destroying any decent discussion on this horrifying issue. In November of last year, the Indonesian government
asked Australia to put pressure on the Pacific nations who have begun
to show support for West Papua’s campaign for independence,
effectively stopping these tiny islands from “interfering” in
Indonesia’s affairs. Australia has been quite complicit in this issue
to date, even providing the Indonesian military with the equipment
necessary to wreak havoc on the local population.

Lately, however, there has been some progress. The two countries
suspended military ties after an Indonesian military official found “offensive” material at an Australian military base, including
homework that suggested West Papua was part of Melanesia and should be
given independence.

Regardless, Papua has the highest poverty rate in Indonesia. It is
nearly three times the national average. It also has the highest
infant, child, and maternal mortality rates in Indonesia, as well as
the worst health indicators and the lowest literacy rates.

Imagine how greatly the West Papuans could improve their standard of
living if they were allowed to control their own resources without the Indonesian military forcibly destroying their lives.

Meanwhile, an American mining company continues to make hundreds of
billions of dollars at the expense of innocent natives.

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--
Steve Hayes
http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://khanya.wordpress.com

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