Jakarta – The Presidential Staff Office says it regrets the raising of the Morning Star flag – which is identified with Papuan independence – at the Indonesian Consulate General (KJRI) in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday December 1.
Presidential Staff Office deputy for political, legal, security and human rights affairs, Jaleswari Pramowardhani, insisted that the area in and around the Consulate General must be respected.
Pramowardhani, who is known by her friends as Dhani, pointed to the stipulations in the Geneva Convention on respect for foreign consulates and international legal customs.
"The host country, in this case Australia, has an obligation based on international law to maintain security in the area of the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia", said Pramowardhani on Friday December 4.
"Above all breaking in or infiltrating without authorisation. So the incident which occurred at the Melbourne KJRI cannot be justified and conflicts with international law", she added.
Earlier on Tuesday, a video of the Morning Star flag flying over the Melbourne Consulate General when viral on Twitter. The owner of the Twitter account @Tbuch2, Tim Buchanan, shared a video of six people standing on the Melbourne Consulate General's roof.
Two of them are holding a banner with a picture of the Morning Star flag with the message "Free West Papua", while four others held a Morning Star flag and a poster with the message, "TNI [Indonesian military] Out, Stop Killing Papua".
Pramowardhani has asked the Australian government to take a firmer stand so that a similar incidents do not reoccur.
This is not the first incident of its kind. In 2017 a Free Papua Organisation (OPM) sympathiser also managed to climb the wall surrounding the Melbourne Indonesian Consulate General and raise the Morning Star flag. (dmi/bmw)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Bintang Kejora Berkibar di KJRI, KSP Sesalkan Sikap Australia".]
