Jeffery Bomonak: OPM is not a terrorist organisation

THE chairman of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka formally known as the Free Papua Movement (OPM) has assured the public that their organisation is not a terrorist organisation as claimed by Indonesia but are real human beings as defenders of their land of West Papua from generation.

The chairman, Jeffery Bomonak spoke at the media conference in Port Moresby yesterday assuring the government of the Republic of Indonesia, Churches and NGO’s in the Papua and West Papuan provinces that OPM is not a terrorist group as claimed by the Government of Indonesia.

“ I want to make it clear to the International community , the United Nations and those countries that supports the West Papua struggle for freedom that  we, the West Papua National Liberation Army and Free Papua Movement , we are not terrorist. We are not criminal. We fight for our justice, we fight for our rights.

“We fight with whatever we have. We believe that the fight we put is to defend our rights according to the ideology of West Papua Liberation,” Mr Bomonak said.

OPM and its Military wing, the West Papua National Liberation Army has been the parent organisation responsible for coordinating and sustaining the West Papua fight for liberation since the 1960s.

The ongoing battle between the Liberation Army and the Indonesian Military has been an ongoing battle for almost 50 years.

The Human rights recorded more than 500,000 West Papuans that have been killed by the Indonesians military.

The West Papuan population today is around 3 million including those that live in other countries like PNG, Australia, Europe and America.

Bomonak has strongly opposed the “special autonomy law” which was put in place by the Republic of Indonesia.

 “All these laws are illegal laws according to the international law.

“We will not surrender, we are still going to fight until the world organisations and authorities can recognise and admit West Papua as one nation,” he said.

The chairman has further called to openly discuss the West Papua issue in an international round table in respect to the United Nations law.

 “We need to re-emphasize to the President of the Republic of Indonesia that the TPNPB OPM is ready to face Indonesia through international negotiations in order to resolve political disputes between the Papuans and the Unitary Republic of Indonesia based on International norms,” Mr Bomonak said.