Good afternoon to all our brothers, sisters, and supporters here in America. And hello to our brothers and sisters back home in West Papua Melanesia and to all our brothers and sisters in the Pacific, including Pacific Island leaders all over Oceania.
Greetings from America! I’m standing here in front of the US Congressional building in Washington, D.C., after attending meetings at the US Congress. We held talks with staff members about things that are going on back in our homeland, West Papua Melanesia.
Recently, we read in the news from the Indonesian embassy website here in Washington, D.C., which stated that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be heading to Indonesia and other Asian countries as part of the US Indo-Pacific agenda.
We talked about our views on West Papua and Indonesia with some of the staff members of the US Congress today and shared with them our views. We urged the Indonesian government to allow a UN investigative team to visit west Papua. In fact, it was a pledge by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, as a presidential candidate, to open up West Papua to the world. However, West Papua remains closed to the world. There’s no international organization or human rights organization visiting West Papua because they are not allowed in by the Indonesian government. We continue to receive word from our home that West Papua is still closed. We also received word back home of an increasing Indonesian military buildup all over West Papua—the Indonesian military is in every corner of West Papua; from the highlands all the way down to the coastal areas. Human rights violations continue in West Papua.
We call on the US government and Secretary Austin to talk to the Indonesian government to allow the UN investigators to visit West Papua. We hope the secretary will do the right thing.
Thank you