Farewell Filep Karma, the revered West Papuan leader who could have ushered in unity

West Papua's funeral procession for Filep Karma . . . banned Morning Star flags
in defiance for the man who strove for “justice, democracy, peace
and non-violent resistance" against Indonesian rule. IMAGE: Twitter screenshot APR

By DAVID ROBIE

A TRAGIC day of mourning. Thousands thronged the West Papuan funeral cortège today and tonight as the banned Morning Star led the way in defiance of the Indonesian military.

There haven’t been so many Papuan flags flying under the noses of the security forces since the 2019 Papuan Uprising.

Filep Jacob Semuel Karma, 63, the “father” of the Papuan nation, was believed to be the one leader who could pull together the splintered factions seeking self-determination and independence.

• READ MORE: Papuan ex-political prisoner Filep Karma found dead on Jayapura beach
• Filep Karma’s death as reported in Tabloid Jubi – Bahasa Indonesian
• Papuan activist dies in ‘apparent diving incident’ in Jayapura
• Filep Karma: A Papuan human rights hero and huge loss to the Pacific
• Other Filep Karma reports

It is still shocking a day after his lifeless body in a wetsuit was found on a Jayapura beach.

Police and Filep Karma’s family say they had no reason to believe that his death resulted from foul play, report Jubi editor Victor Mambor in Jayapura and Nazarudin Latif from Jakarta for Benar News.

“I followed the post-mortem process and it was determined that my father died from drowning while diving,” Karma’s daughter, Andrefina Karma, told reporters.

But many human rights advocates and researchers aren’t so convinced.

Kanaky New Caledonia vote to stay with France is a hollow victory - it will only rachet up tensions

"Keeping the peace" ... French police in Noumea for the third and final independence
referendum yesterday. IMAGE: Caledonia TV screenshot APR

 
ANALYSIS: By DAVID ROBIE

“Loyalist” New Caledonians handed France the decisive victory in the third and final referendum on independence it wanted in Sunday’s vote.

But it was a hollow victory, with pro-independence Kanaks delivering Paris a massive rebuke for its three-decade decolonisation strategy.

The referendum is likely to be seen as a failure, a capture of the vote by settlers without the meaningful participation of the Indigenous Kanak people. Pacific nations are unlikely to accept this disenfranchising of Indigenous self-determination.

In the final results on Sunday night, 96.49 per cent said “non” to independence and just 3.51 per cent “oui”. This was a dramatic reversal of the narrow defeats in the two previous plebiscites in 2018 and 2020.

However, the negative vote in this final round was based on 43.9 per cent turnout, in contrast to record 80 per cent-plus turnouts in the two earlier votes. This casts the legitimacy of the vote in doubt, and is likely to inflame tensions.

Mā’ohi Nui’s search for nuclear justice – the French ‘reset’ button still to be reset

 

A younger Tahitian leader Oscar Temaru (centre) leads an anti-nuclear protest in
Pape'ete during the height of the demonstrations against three decades of French
nuclear testing at Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls. Image: RT

 
SPECIAL REPORT: By Ena Manuireva and Tony Fala

On 27 May 2021, a significant event took place in Rwanda where French President Emmanuel Macron asked for forgiveness from the people of Rwanda after admitting for the first time that France bore a “terrible responsibility” for the deaths of hundreds of thousands in the 1994 genocide.

This is how President Macron’s wording appeared in The Guardian:

“France played its part and bears the political responsibility for the events in Rwanda. France is obligated to face history and admit that it caused suffering to the Rwandan people by allowing itself lengthy silences at the truth exam …”

On the other hand, the French government assumes no liability for the genocide and ecocide perpetrated in Mā’ohi Nui (French Polynesia)- the "crown jewel" of France’s overseas territories.

• READ MORE: Macron hosts French ‘truth and justice’ Pacific nuclear test legacy talks
• Other French nuclear tests reports

The French administration is living in denial concerning its responsibility to the Ma’ohi Nui people vis-a-vis the impact of nuclear tests in the region.