By Martyn Namorong (Namorong Report)

“I want to be free like you, with my people,” says West Papuan Independence Leader, Benny Wenda. Dressed in his trademark tribal headdress, Wenda addressed journalists at a press conference held in Port Mort Moresby. He is in PNG to set up the PNG Chapter of the global Free West Papua Movement.

In 1969, Indonesia took control of West Papua and set forth a chain of events that involved resistance and bloodshed as the indigenous Melanesians resisted Indonesian annexation. Amnesty Internationall has since estimated that around 400 000 West Papuans have been killed.

The resistance evolved from an ad hoc guerrilla campaign to a more Ghandian approach as embodied by the rise of Filep Karma and Benny Wenda who both led a peaceful resistance movement in the 2000s.

In December 2004, Filep Karma was arrested for raising the West Papuan Flag, the “Morning Star”. Wenda faced a similar fate but managed to escape from prison in 2002. Karma is now serving a 15 year sentence for raising the Morning Star.

According to Wenda, he was caught by PNG Customs Officers when he tried to cross the PNG-Indonesia border. He then asked the officers why the bird of Paradise was free to fly across the border but human beings weren’t free to do so.

Wenda later moved to the United Kingdom where he was granted political asylum by the British Government. Wenda has upset Jarkata with independence movement, with senior Indonesian politicians raising sovereignty concerns. In 2012, Interpol was forced to remove him off its wanted list after it was found that the case against him by Indonesia was political in nature.

He is now the face of the Free West Papua Campaign, an organization that was set up in 2004 with the intention of providing support for Papuans and Papuan organization.

The creation of a PNG Chapter is part of a broader Sorong to Samarai campaign that aims to mobilize grassroots and political support for West Papua self-determination. Wenda will be in PNG throughout November and will be joined by Jennifer Robinson, an expert on International Law and a West Papuan advocate.