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Crikey, 19 November: In Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo, hundreds of tribal people are blockading big dam projects that threaten their land. Freelance writer Jenny Denton says Australian businesses with links to government are among the international companies helping to build them. “Good fishing!” Johannes yells from the front of the longboat, where he’s sitting cross-legged … Continue reading
Mongabay.com, 5 November: Hundreds of tribal people in Sarawak have started blockading a second big hydroelectric dam project being built by a government which critics accuse of nepotism and corruption. Late last month around 200 native Kenyah, Kayan and Penan people chased away workers and set up a blockade on a road leading to the … Continue reading
Sydney Morning Herald, 24 October: Research to be released Thursday into one of the most violent episodes in the history of West Papua claims that helicopters provided to Indonesia by the Australian government were used in military operations in the 1970s that amounted to genocide. According to a report by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human … Continue reading
Environment News Service, October 18: Swedish pension fund authorities have followed the lead of counterparts in Norway and New Zealand in divesting all holdings in the American company Freeport McMoRan, which operates the world’s biggest copper and gold mine in the contested province of Papua, in Indonesia. Following the recommendation of their ethical advisory council, … Continue reading
Sydney Morning Herald, 7 October 2013: Indonesia has been accused of using torture as a ”mode of governance” in West Papua – security forces have committed at least one incident of torture, on average, every six weeks for the past half century, a study has found. The research, which collected documentation on 431 cases of … Continue reading
26 September 2013: A Malaysian MP has fuelled the controversy surrounding Adelaide University’s decision to name a plaza after an allegedly corrupt Malaysian political leader – and university donor – warning the university’s image could be “tarnished”. Sarawak State Assembly member and chairman of the opposition People’s Justice Party Baru Bian said there were “compelling” … Continue reading
New Matilda, 9 September: On Election Day, West Papuan activists spread a message of hope and freedom in Melbourne to raise awareness of the Freedom Flotilla, writes Jenny Denton. “Why are we making boats?” four-year-old Lamech asks his mum. “Because your dad and I came here on a boat,” she tells him as she wrestles … Continue reading
Malaysiakini 31 August: People who would be displaced by the massive hydroelectric dam proposed for Sarawak’s second-longest river have been protesting against the plan by refusing to provide information for a Social and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) of the project. Community leaders at Tanjung Tepalit, Long San, Long Tap and Ba Abang in the upper … Continue reading
Indonesian navy ships have reportedly been sent to waters near Papua New Guinea’s border with the disputed Indonesian territory of Papua in a show of force apparently aimed at a group of Australian activists headed there on boats. Sources in Papua New Guinea have told Australian supporters of the “Freedom Flotilla to West Papua” that … Continue reading
New Matilda 15 August: A group of Australian Aboriginal, non-Indigenous and West Papuan activists will set sail from Cairns for West Papua on Saturday, on a journey that organisers describe as both cultural exchange and act of resistance. Around 50 people have volunteered to take turns crewing two yachts up the coast of Cape York … Continue reading
Jenny Denton 