On behalf of the ULMWP, I declare this December 1st to be a celebration of West Papuan unity.
In that spirit, I acknowledge and welcome the statement of support for me as President of West Papua from West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) spokesperson Sebby Sambom and Chief of Staff Terianus Satto. This is a major step forward for our movement and I thank Sebby and Terianus for their important message. We know our enemy always seeks to divide us. We must all move toward the same mission: one people, one soul.
This December 1st I call on all West Papuans, wherever you are, to honour the Morning Star by wearing its colours on your clothes. We must show the Indonesian colonisers that the spirit of the struggle is as much a part of West Papua as the clothes we wear.
Every December 1st, West Papuans celebrate our Independence Day in 1961, when our nation announced itself to the world as the first liberated Melanesian state. In a ceremony witnessed by six countries, including the UK, France, the Netherlands, and our neighbour Papua New Guinea, the New Guinea Council raised the Morning Star and sang our national anthem for the first time. Our freedom may have been stolen from us by Indonesia’s invasion two year later, but we still honour 1961 as our national day.
The situation on the ground is worse than it has been since 2019. Every day brings a new massacre, a new killing, a new incident of torture or rape. In the past three months, we have seen the murder of fifteen Papuans in Intan Jaya, the relentless bombardment of the Star Mountain, the killing of children and mothers, and riots triggered by racist abuse of Papuan students in Yalimo.
At the same time, Indonesia’s war criminal President Prabowo is continuing with the destruction of the Papuan rainforest. The National Strategic Project (PSN) in Merauke is the biggest plantation in human history: it is a planet killer.
These events show how urgent the need for unity among West Papuans is. We know that all West Papuans support Merdeka, whether in the bush, the village, the refugee camps or the cities. But we cannot have any hope of saving our people or protecting our forest if we don’t stand together. I therefore urge my people, continue to rally behind the ULMWP. This is your government and your constitution. We have thousands of representatives across our land.
We know our enemy will exploit any division between us. By unifying, we honour our ancestors and all those who have fought against Indonesian colonial rule. They joined the struggle because they believed that one day, the Morning Star would fly freely in every village and town across West Papua.
To our supporters around the world, please raise the Morning Star on November 1st. Our national flag is illegal in our own country. If we raise it, paint it on our faces, or shout for freedom in the streets, we can be imprisoned for twenty-five years. We can also be shot dead, as 18-year-old Obert Mirip was in July. This is why we need our allies to fly the flag for us.
