Symbols are deeply significant. They can represent a whole philosophy in the blink of an eye, evoking a range of historical and emotional insights that the written word is unable to capture. The swastika is repellent, a wreath suggests unutterable grief, a flag honours identity. In West Papua, people are jailed for flying a particular flag: the Morning Star. Why is this so?
Filep Karma was found dead on a beach on 1 November, 2022. He was a respected and long-time activist for Papuan freedom. He was jailed in July 1998 and then released after eighteen months. In December 2004 he was again arrested and charged, being sentenced to fifteen years in prison. His crimes? Repeatedly raising the Morning Star flag.
Mr Karma’s family has stated that there was nothing suspicious about his death, but human rights groups claim that it should be investigated. The Australian media has not commented, in keeping with its general silence on West Papua. Yet the territory is very close to Australia, occupying the western half of the island of New Guinea, next to our closest neighbour on the east of the island, Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The Dutch had interests in the area from the 17th century, and as they withdrew after World War II, they gave the people hope that decolonisation would lead to freedom. The Dutch presented the Papuans with the Morning Star flag. First raised on 1 December 1961, it became a symbol of the people’s desired independence. In preparation for that expected event, the United Nations put West Papua under Indonesian control for seven years, after which there was to be a vote across the territory.
The vote was conducted in 1969 in various areas. A total of 1,026 specially selected people out of a population of 800,000 chose Indonesian control — at gunpoint. When I was in West Papua some years ago, I met a person who was part of this charade. That person described being taken from family for weeks, being harangued and intimidated, and then how fearful they were when reading out the required statement through a megaphone. Soldiers, armed and ready, stood all around the hall.
This so-called ‘Act of Free Choice‘ is rejected by most Papuans and has led to decades of violence and death. Hundreds of thousands of Papuans have died because of the conflict. Since that time the extraordinary wealth of West Papua’s gold, copper, timber, gas, and