Namah backs call for a free West Papua

 VANIMO-Green MP Belden Namah rallied behind Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in his support for a free West Papua.

Namah said former prime ministers had ignored the issue which affected their neighbours. He called for more dialogue with the Indonesian Government because the West Papua issue was sensitive.

“There is a widespread systematic massacre of the West Papuans going on,” he said. “They are Melanesians and are a different race from all the people in the entire Indonesian archipelagos.” 

Namah said O’Neill and Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbik Pato should take the West Papua issue up to the United Nations, similar to what Vanuatu Prime Minister Joe Natuman did. Namah said the West Papuan issue could be solved diplomatically without straining diplomatic relations with Indonesia.

O’Neill said during the Leaders’ Summit two weeks ago in Port Moresby that PNG must speak out strongly against the brutality and oppression faced by the people of West Papua. 

Meanwhile, Namah condemned the frequent incursion of Indonesian soldiers into PNG territory. He called for more officers to be deployed along the PNG-Indonesian border.