BRISBANE archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) has brought a United States academic and expert in West Papuan affairs to south-east Queensland in a bid to improve conditions for the troubled province’s people.
Dr Eben Kirksey, during his visit from October 16-20, met with Federal MPs and senators to discuss ways to improve access to West Papua for journalists, non-government organisations, humanitarian organisations and MPs from other countries.
Among his speaking engagements was a talk at St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace, on October 17 in conjunction with the publication of his new book Freedom in Entangled Worlds – West Papua and the Architecture of Global Power.
Dr Kirksey’s involvement with West Papua began in 1998 when, as a college exchange student visiting there, he witnessed the massacre of more than 150 civilians by Indonesian troops at Biak Island.
CJPC executive officer Peter Arndt, who organised Dr Kirksey’s visit, said it was important that Australians were aware of the plight of indigenous West Papuans as they struggled for human rights and independence “right on our doorstep”.
“Eben’s main message was West Papuan people are struggling for recognition of their hopes and dreams for a better life in their homeland and recognition of their rights in the face of severe repression by Indonesian security forces,” Mr Arndt said.
“Despite this oppression, these people are maintaining a very hopeful stance.
“Our support should mirror their hope.”
While in Brisbane, Dr Kirksey met with Federal Member for Ryan Jane Prentice, also a member of Parliamentary Friends of West Papua, as well as Senator Claire Moore and Federal Member for Moreton Graham Perrett.
Senator Moore and Greens Senate candidate Adam Stone also met with Mr Arndt and Dr Kirksey for several hours of discussion at Justice Place, Woolloongabba.
“As a result of discussions, it was agreed to look at ways to pass information from our network of communications on the ground in West Papua to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs where possible,” he said.
“The value of these contacts was shown last October when Indonesian security forces attacked crowds gathered for the Third Papuan People’s Congress in October 2011.
“However, thanks to outside networks of communications, the Indonesian Government was able to be contacted and encouraged to get their security forces to back off.
“It was a clear example of where contacts can be of benefit in saving people’s lives and to stop dreadful things happening to West Papuans.”
Mr Arndt said the CJPC through the West Papua Solidarity Group had also been pushing for improved medical treatment and adequate legal representation for political prisoners.
“We’ve been sending money to the Franciscan office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation in Jayapura,” he said.
“So far, we’ve provided funding for medical treatment for a member of Jayapura Five who had kidney problems.
“There was also a 28-year-old man who had a stroke and wasn’t getting adequate medical care.”
Mr Arndt said Dr Kirksey’s visit had given additional impetus to the CJPC’s efforts to support the people of West Papua.
Locally, the campaign will continue with the planned raising of the West Papuan people’s Morning Star flag on a south-east Queensland university campus on December 1, the anniversary of the date the flag was first raised in 1961.
Dr Kirksey, a lecturer in Environmental Humanities at the University of NSW in Sydney, is due to return to the US in several weeks. He is expected to return to the Brisbane area in mid-2013.
For a video of his talk on his book Freedom in Entangled Worlds, visit http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/26256272
