CoveragePost
November 19, 2024
By Duncan Graham An alleged plot involving firearms and threatening the life of New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens when held hostage in Papua this year is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police. The case involves “advancing a political cause by the separation of West Papua from Indonesia . . . with the intention of ... <a title="Kiwi pilot kidnapping in West Papua leads to police raids in Australia" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/11/19/kiwi-pilot-kidnapping-in-west-papua-leads-to-police-raids-in-australia/" aria-label="Read more about Kiwi pilot kidnapping in West Papua leads to police raids in Australia">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
October 23, 2024
By Victor Mambor in Jayapura With Prabowo Subianto, a controversial former general installed as Indonesia’s new president, residents in the disputed Papua region were responding to this reality with anxiety and, for some, cautious optimism. The remote and resource-rich region has long been a flashpoint for conflict, with its people enduring decades of alleged military ... <a title="Prabowo’s presidency sparks fear and faint hope in Indonesia’s contested Papua" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/10/23/prabowos-presidency-sparks-fear-and-faint-hope-in-indonesias-contested-papua/" aria-label="Read more about Prabowo’s presidency sparks fear and faint hope in Indonesia’s contested Papua">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 9, 2024
By Victor Mambor in Jayapura and Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta Indonesian human rights groups have called for an independent investigation into the death of a New Zealand helicopter pilot in a remote part of Papua province earlier this week. The pilot, identified as Glen Malcolm Conning, was reportedly killed by an armed group shortly ... <a title="Indonesian human rights groups seek independent probe of NZ pilot’s death in Papua" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/08/09/indonesian-human-rights-groups-seek-independent-probe-of-nz-pilots-death-in-papua/" aria-label="Read more about Indonesian human rights groups seek independent probe of NZ pilot’s death in Papua">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 7, 2024
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance movement OPM has blamed the tragic death of a New Zealand helicopter pilot in a remote part of the troubled Melanesian region on Indonesia’s security forces and “every nation supporting barbarity”. In a statement today, the OPM (Free Papua Organisation) chairman-commander Jeffrey Bomanak claimed his movement had undertaken ... <a title="OPM blames Indonesia over tragic death of NZ helicopter pilot" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/08/07/opm-blames-indonesia-over-tragic-death-of-nz-helicopter-pilot/" aria-label="Read more about OPM blames Indonesia over tragic death of NZ helicopter pilot">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 3, 2024
Asia Pacific Report A West Papuan resistance leader has condemned the United Nations role in allowing Indonesia to “integrate” the Melanesian Pacific region in what is claimed to be an “egregious act of inhumanity” on 1 May 1963. In an open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Organisasi Papua Merdeka-OPM (Free Papua Organisation) leader Jeffrey ... <a title="OPM’s Bomanak accuses UN of failing to uphold decolonisation role over West Papua" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/05/03/opms-bomanak-accuses-un-of-failing-to-uphold-decolonisation-role-over-west-papua/" aria-label="Read more about OPM’s Bomanak accuses UN of failing to uphold decolonisation role over West Papua">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 27, 2023
Asia Pacific Report A West Papuan leader has condemned the Melanesian Spearhead Group for abandoning the West Papuan cause in favour of a “corrupt alliance” with Indonesia. Jeffrey P Bomanak, chairman of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM), declared last week’s MSG Leaders’ Summit ruling on West Papua a “betrayal” of the Papuan people and called ... <a title="OPM accuses Melanesian group of taking Jakarta’s ‘blood money’ at expense of West Papuan justice" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/08/27/opm-accuses-melanesian-group-of-taking-jakartas-blood-money-at-expense-of-west-papuan-justice/" aria-label="Read more about OPM accuses Melanesian group of taking Jakarta’s ‘blood money’ at expense of West Papuan justice">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 9, 2023
Asia Pacific Report The leader of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) has called for the establishment of a “United Indigenous Nations” for global justice and an end to Indonesia’s ‘malignant’ colonisation of West Papua. Today — August 9 — is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, as declared at the inaugural UN Working ... <a title="OPM leader calls for ‘world indigenous UN’ – end to Papuan colonisation" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/08/09/opm-leader-calls-for-world-indigenous-un-end-to-papuan-colonisation/" aria-label="Read more about OPM leader calls for ‘world indigenous UN’ – end to Papuan colonisation">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
July 6, 2023
Asia Pacific Report An Australian human rights author and poet has accused successive federal governments of “deliberately aiding and abetting” the 1969 annexation of West Papua by Indonesia and enabling the “stifling” of the Melanesian people’s right to self-determination. In reaffirming his appeal last May for a royal commission into Australia’s policies over West Papua, ... <a title="Author condemns Canberra ‘collusion’ with Jakarta on West Papua atrocities" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/07/06/author-condemns-canberra-collusion-with-jakarta-on-west-papua-atrocities/" aria-label="Read more about Author condemns Canberra ‘collusion’ with Jakarta on West Papua atrocities">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
June 2, 2023
There are parallels between Indonesia’s Aceh where an Australian surfer faced a flogging, and West Papua where a New Zealand pilot may be facing death. Both provinces have fought brutal guerrilla wars for independence. One has been settled through foreign peacekeepers. The other still rages as outsiders fear intervention. By Duncan Graham in Malang, East Java ... <a title="Duncan Graham: Compromise worked in Aceh – why not West Papua? " class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/06/02/duncan-graham-compromise-worked-in-aceh-why-not-west-papua/" aria-label="Read more about Duncan Graham: Compromise worked in Aceh – why not West Papua? ">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 28, 2023
Asia Pacific Report Free Papua Organisation (OPM) leader Jeffrey Bomanak has appealed for Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape to become a “neutral intermediary” to negotiate between the Indonesian government and the West Papuan rebels holding a New Zealand pilot hostage for his release. He has called in a statement today for the safe ... <a title="OPM call for PNG’s James Marape as negotiator for NZ pilot’s safe passage" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/05/28/opm-call-for-pngs-james-marape-as-negotiator-for-nz-pilots-safe-passage/" aria-label="Read more about OPM call for PNG’s James Marape as negotiator for NZ pilot’s safe passage">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
July 5, 2022
COMMENTARY: By Benny Wenda We celebrated the 51st anniversary of the independence declaration of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) at Markas Victoria on July 1, 1971. The declaration, signed by Seth Rumkoren and Jacob Prai — who sadly passed away last month — was a direct rejection of Indonesian colonialism. It sent a powerful message ... <a title="OPM day – celebrating the 1971 Papuan ‘independence proklamasi’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/07/05/opm-day-celebrating-the-1971-papuan-independence-proklamasi/" aria-label="Read more about OPM day – celebrating the 1971 Papuan ‘independence proklamasi’">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
April 2, 2021
By Arjuna Pademme in Jayapura The Indonesian government appears to be at a loss about how to quell the struggle of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) with its plan to designate Papuan independence organisations as “terrorist” groups. Democracy Alliance for Papua (ADP) director Latifah Anum Siregar says that the Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) should rethink ... <a title="Designating OPM as terrorists will ‘increase tension, rights abuses’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2021/04/02/designating-opm-as-terrorists-will-increase-tension-rights-abuses/" aria-label="Read more about Designating OPM as terrorists will ‘increase tension, rights abuses’">Read more</a>
