NUSA DUA, Indonesia, (PNA/Kyodo) — Three Papuan activists entered the grounds of the Australian consulate in Indonesia’s Bali early Sunday to underline their call for leaders of the 21-member APEC to urge Jakarta to release Papuan political prisoners.
Rofinus Yanggam, one of the activists, told Kyodo News he and two other activists from the easternmost Indonesian province Papua entered the premises of the consulate general in the Bali provincial capital Denpasar at 3 a.m.
Australian Embassy spokesman Ray Marcello confirmed the break-in, saying the activists “delivered a protest letter” in the morning but “left the consulate voluntarily before 7 a.m.”
He did not elaborate.
Yanggam said that the letter, directed to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders gathering at a Bali beach resort for their two-day summit starting Monday, calls for the release of Papuan political prisoners as well as access for international media to Papua Province without restrictions.
Now, foreign journalists who want to make coverage in Papua are required to get permission from some institutions in Jakarta, including the foreign ministry, the intelligence agency, police and others.
Indonesia cites security concerns as reasons for the ban.
“Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister (Tony) Abbott, U.S. State Secretary John Kerry and other world leaders in the APEC summit should call on the Indonesian government to release political prisoners in West Papua,” Rinto Kogoya, coordinator of the Alliance of Papuan Students, an organization of Papuan students studying on Java and Bali, said in a statement.
Indonesia took over the western half of New Guinea Island from Dutch colonialists in 1963 and incorporated the territory into Indonesia after a 1969 U.N.-sanctioned plebiscite.
Papua is home to some of the world’s largest gold and copper mines and also has extensive forest reserves.
Rebels of the Free Papua Movement, who are fighting for independence, have in the past kidnapped local citizens and foreigners and attacked government security personnel in an effort to gain international attention and support.