TUTUVATU

Since 1969, the Indonesian Government has used “sovereignty” as an excuse to suppress West Papuans’ demands for self-determination, commit human rights violations, murder hundreds of thousands of indigenous West Papuans, dispossess them from their lands, and thwart international discussions about the issue.  For Jakarta, the fate of the peoples and landscapes of the western half of the island of New Guinea was sealed by the Act of Free Choice of 1969.  The Indonesian Government ignores the fraudulent process that led to the Act of Free Choice, and the international community is largely indifferent to the injustices this process produced.  It was a process characterized by intimidation and a lack of legitimate representation.  Of the estimated 800,000 indigenous West Papuans at the time, only 1,025 were hand-picked by the Indonesian administration led by the  Tentara Nasinol Indonesia (TNI) (Indonesian military) and coerced to vote for union with Indonesia.