West Papua's elders were 'intimidated or bribed' into joining Indonesia. Iva Pocock reports on the campaign for independence

Five West Papuans visited Dublin recently to celebrate a small but significant step forward in the long campaign for their nation's freedom. Since the 1960s these Melanesian people have suffered terror under their most recent colonisers, the Indonesian military. Conservative estimates put the number of deaths at 100,000, although the atrocities in Indonesia's 26th province may amount to genocide, according to Yale Law School.

West Papuans say their misery began with a UN-assisted vote in 1969 in which 1,022 elders were bribed and intimidated into supporting the territory's assimilation into Indonesia. The elders, who were deemed to represent all one million West Papuans, voted unanimously in what is now known as the Act of No Choice. A UN official who oversaw the event has since described it as a whitewash, but at the time it was passed over by the UN general assembly, under pressure from a US administration bent on ensuring Indonesia did not sway towards communism.

Afterwards West Papua fell off the international agenda, subsumed into the world's largest secular Muslim state and renamed Irian Jaya. West Papuans' calls for justice were ignored. Unlike East Timor, which was always supported by Portugal after Indonesia's takeover, they were abandoned by the Netherlands, their former European coloniser.

But now the winds are changing as international awareness of the country's fate grows. Campaign groups in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe are building popular support for a UN review of its role in the 1969 vote as a first step in addressing the region's human-rights violations.

A majority of Irish TDs from all political parties has just endorsed the campaign, to the delight of visiting West Papuans. "Irish politicians can be proud that they are taking a lead in Europe on this issue, and we hope this will act as a catalyst to mobilise support internationally for the neglected cause of the West Papuan people," John Rumbiak, a West Papuan human-rights activist, told TDs during his visit to Dublin. "The denial of the right to self-determination is the root cause of systematic human-rights violations in my country."

Fine Gael's foreign-affairs spokesman, Gay Mitchell, says the review process is a perfectly legitimate action for West Papuans to campaign for. "There was no one person one vote. Very simply, the secretary general of the UN should call for all of this to be reviewed."

Fiona O'Malley, the Progressive Democrats TD, says the story of West Papua struck her more than many of the issues she is contacted about. She hadn't previously heard of West Papua, but once she looked into its circumstances she decided to support the campaign. It is important to highlight instances where people are denied democracy, she says. "Others depend on parliamentarians to become advocates for justice in their own countries."

The visiting West Papuans also met the Labour Party's foreign-affairs spokesman, Michael D. Higgins, and John Gormley of the Green Party, as well as Fianna Fáil TDs.

Seán Fleming, a constituency and party colleague of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, believes the West Papuans have a good case. "I'm not going to pretend I'm any expert on this; I've heard what they have to say and want to support them." He has asked the Minister to take up the issue.

So far Cowen hasn't formally called on the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, to instigate a review of the 1969 vote. The Department of Foreign Affairs is concerned that a UN review "might prejudice ongoing efforts to initiate a meaningful dialogue with the Indonesian government and would not contribute to the improvement of the current situation of the Papuan people".

As president of the EU's external- relations council, the Minister met his Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirajuda, in Co Kildare last week. West Papua was one of many issues discussed, according to a spokeswoman for the department. Cowen reportedly underlined the importance of Indonesia fulfilling its international human-rights obligations. With its EU partners, the Republic supports a balanced way forward, with more control of the land and resources for the Papuan population, says the spokeswoman.

So officially West Papua's takeover by Indonesia remains above board, according to the Government, but the declaration by 88 TDs that the event was a rubber-stamped sham gives new hope to West Papuans, said Viktor Kaisiepo, a West Papua representative, outside the Dáil.

"In our journey for justice we have found in your members of parliament an affirmative action of partnership, and therefore I would like to say thank you in my own language: kasumasa na."

For further information see www.westpapuaaction.buz.org