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
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
April 24, 2024
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day 2024. Praising the courage and ... <a title="OPM leader’s open letter condemns Australia’s ‘treachery’ over Papua" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/04/24/opm-leaders-open-letter-condemns-australias-treachery-over-papua/" aria-label="Read more about OPM leader’s open letter condemns Australia’s ‘treachery’ over Papua">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
September 16, 2023
Asia Pacific Report The Free Papua Organisation (Organisasi Papua Merdeka-OPM) has sent an open letter to the United Nations leadership demanding that “decolonisation” of the former Dutch colony of West New Guinea, the Indonesian-administered region known across the Pacific as West Papua, be initiated under the direction of the UN Trusteeship Council. The letter accuses ... <a title="OPM calls for decolonisation of West Papua, condemns UN ‘collusion’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/09/16/opm-calls-for-decolonisation-of-west-papua-condemns-un-collusion/" aria-label="Read more about OPM calls for decolonisation of West Papua, condemns UN ‘collusion’">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 9, 2023
By Singgih Wiryono in Jakarta Indonesia’s former National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) chairperson Ahmad Taufan Damanik says it is difficult to expect Komnas HAM to play a role in freeing the New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens held hostage in West Papua. According to Damanik, who was chair 2017-2022, this is because the current Komnas ... <a title="Jakarta’s rights commission criticised for ‘failure’ over NZ pilot hostage case" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/07/09/jakartas-rights-commission-criticised-for-failure-over-nz-pilot-hostage-case/" aria-label="Read more about Jakarta’s rights commission criticised for ‘failure’ over NZ pilot hostage case">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
July 2, 2023
SPECIAL REPORT: By Yamin Kogoya The name Vanuatu has taken on a sacred significance in Papuan liberation consciousness. The Free Papua Movement (OPM) elders ignited this consciousness after the declaration of West Papua’s independence on 1 July 1971. The declaration was an act of revolution to reclaim Papuan sovereignty, stolen by Indonesia. General Seth Rumkorem ... <a title="Vanuatu – West Papua – MSG: An epic saga of messianic hope, betrayal, tragedy and resurrection" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/07/02/vanuatu-west-papua-msg-an-epic-saga-of-messianic-hope-betrayal-tragedy-and-resurrection/" aria-label="Read more about Vanuatu – West Papua – MSG: An epic saga of messianic hope, betrayal, tragedy and resurrection">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
June 5, 2023
Asia Pacific Report The president of a West Papuan advocacy group has appealed to the militants holding New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens hostage to free him unconditionally and unharmed, describing him as an “innocent pawn”. United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) president Benny Wenda said he held “deepest concern” for the life of Mehrtens, ... <a title="Wenda calls on Papuan rebels to free NZ pilot ‘unconditionally’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/06/05/wenda-calls-on-papuan-rebels-to-free-nz-pilot-unconditionally/" aria-label="Read more about Wenda calls on Papuan rebels to free NZ pilot ‘unconditionally’">Read more</a>