Pes Yanengga, Jayapura – On Monday September 30 Papuan Student Solidarity held a protest action on Jalan Kamwolker in Jayapura, Papua, in which they expressed their rejection of the 1962 Rome Agreement.

Action coordinator Bonni Salla stated that while the Rome agreement determined the future of the Papuan people, the agreement did not involve representatives of indigenous Papuans as political and legal subjects.

"The Rome agreement, 62 years ago was illegal. The governments of Indonesia, the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Nations must be held responsible for their unilateral decisions in the Rome agreement", Salla said in a speech.

The Rome agreement was signed by Indonesia, the Netherlands and the United States on September 30, 1962. The agreement followed the New York Agreement on August 15, 1962, which regulated the transfer of power over the land of Papua from the Netherlands to Indonesia.

The demonstrators took turns giving speeches condemning the Rome agreement. They also unfurled banners containing opposition to the agreement.

The demonstrators also demanded that the Indonesian government immediately withdraw all organic and non-organic troops from the land of Papua and stop the theft of customary land. They also urged the UN to give Papua the right to self-determination as a democratic solution for the Papuan nation.

The protest action, which began at around 8.30 am local time, was marred by tensions with the police. Officers from the Jayapura municipal police (Polresta) hemmed in the demonstrators so they were forced to protest on the road leading to the Cenderawasih University (Uncen) entrance gate.

"We consider that the actions by the security forces have curbed democratic space for Papuans. They always carry out actions like this at every action conveying an opinion in public", said one of the protesters, Markus Busub, who is also the secretary of the Student Executive Board (BEM) at the Uncen Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Mahasiswa Papua Serukan Penolakan Terhadap Perjanjian Roma".]

Source: https://jubi.id/polhukam/2024/mahasiswa-papua-serukan-penolakan-terhadap-perjanjian-roma/