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The Free
West Papua Campaign hopes that by opening a new office in the Netherlands, it
will shed light on part of the countrys history that it says the Dutch
government has been hiding for years.
Earlier
this year the Campaign opened an office in the British city of Oxford.
Indonesias
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa voiced disappointment that the British
government was unwilling to take steps against the office.
The Free
West Campaigns Oridek Ap says the new office in the Hague will be opened on
August 15th, the 51st anniversary of the New York Agreement between the
Netherlands and Indonesia under which control of the former Dutch New Guinea
was ceded.
Johnny
Blades asked him if theres much awareness about West Papua in the Netherlands:
ORIDEK AP:
Our support is still growing we still have a lot of work to do because if you
go out on the streets nobody knows West Papua, we need to tell the story from
the beginning, its time we made people on the street. But we are grateful if
we can tell the story to one person and if that one person is willing to help us
that is a victory for us and that one person can make some changes here in the
Netherlands. I think step by step we will reach a stage here in the
Netherlands, we will put pressure on the government by telling the story
theyve been hiding for so many years. So it is our task to inform the youth in
the Netherlands about their own story, about our history, the West Papuan
story. Thats why we think it will be more efficient by opening an office so
people will know that there is an office where we can give people to get more
information about the situation in West Papua about why the people in West
Papua are struggling for freedom.
JOHNNY
BLADES: Have you encountered any difficulties in setting up the office in terms
of the government?
OA: Not
yet but theyve been asking questions but I think true democracies we have the
right to open an office so the government can not stop us you know, its our
democratic right to open an office in the Netherlands, we can do it openly and
freely.
JB: What
do you imagine that the office will be doing on a day to day basis?
OA: It
will be there for people to come for information and for advice. We want people
to visit our office when they have plans to go to West Papua. We want to give
them advice and inform them about the situation over there about the ongoing
struggle in West Papua. I think on the same day we will also launch our new
campaign, our Visit West Papua campaign. By launching this campaign we will
also invite people to travel to West Papua to see with their own critical eyes
about what is really happening in West Papua and this is also one of our
starting campaigns and everything will be co-ordinated from this office.
Source: Radio New Zealand International