Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Call for arrest of Indonesian President for genocide in Papua

Posted at 01:54 on 14 September, 2012 UTC

A campaign to have Indonesia’s President arrested for directing genocide in Papua has highlighted Susilo Bambang Yudhyono’s record in the troubled eastern region.

The campaign is offering an 80-thousand US dollar reward for a citizen’s arrest of Yudhyono when he is in the United Kingdom in early November.

It claims he’s wanted by the International Criminal Court for orchestrating ongoing genocide in Papua where over 500,000 innocent people have been killed.

Ed McWilliams of the West Papua Advocacy Team says the figure is an exaggeration but that the campaign highlights the President’s failure to solve the Papua problem.

“You know the broader point I think is that the Indonesian military, the TNI, continues to operate very brutally in West Papua, and of course we continue with a decades old policy of malign neglect whereby the healthcare and education opportunities for Papuans have been minimal particularly in the remote rural areas.”

Ed McWilliams.