Jakarta – Activist and human rights lawyer for Papuan affairs, Veronica Koman, has met with Australian parliamentarians in Canberra. She said that during the meeting she asked the government of the Kangaroo Country to play a more active role in ending the bloodshed in Papua.
“The Land of Ngunnawal (Canberra), 15-16 October 2019. Accompanied by Amnesty International Australia, I explained the latest human rights developments in Papua at the Australian parliament”, wrote Koman in a status update on her Facebook page on Thursday October 17.
“We asked the Australian federal government to do more in helping to end the bloodshed in West Papua”, continued Koman.
Koman stated that she met with and gave a report to the parliament’s Human Rights Sub-Committee as well as senators and parliamentary members from the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the National Party and the Greens.
“They included [members of the] government which is currently in power as well as the opposition. They were all enthusiastic and asked many questions in response because as it turns out they had indeed heard that there were riots [in Papua] but they did not know the details”, wrote Koman.
Koman added that a Papuan student, Nuevaterra, who is currently studying in Australia, also attended the meeting.
The Papua Students Association (AMP) lawyer has been declared a suspect by Indonesian police on charges of incitement and disseminating fake news about the incident at the Papuan student dormitory in Surabaya, East Java. The East Java regional police have also included her on a wanted persons list (DPO).
Indonesian police have cited Koman as being behind several of the riots in Papua which were triggered by the raid on the Papuan student dormitory in Surabaya in August.
She is alleged to have actively incited the riots by disseminating information about the Papua riots through her personnel Twitter account @VeronicaKoman.
Koman has not responded despite being twice summoned by police. The Indonesian police have also asked that if the public knows the whereabouts of the 31-year-old women that they immediately report the information to the authorised party.
The East Java regional police along with the Indonesian police’s international relations division (Divhubinter) have also submitted a request for an Interpol red notice. Koman is currently residing in Australia with her husband. (ayp/ayp)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Veronica Koman Temui Parlemen Australia Bahas Persoalan Papua”.]
