Congressman Faleomavaega and US decency being fobbed off by Condoleezza Rice
HEARING OF THE HOUSE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE SUBJECT:
FISCAL YEAR 2007 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BUDGET REQUEST WITNESS:
SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE CHAIRED BY: REP. HENRY HYDE
(R-IL) LOCATION: 2172 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING TIME: 1:33 P.M.
EST DATE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006
DEL. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA (D-AS): Madam Secretary, I want to take
you to the Pacific now. I just have two issues. I only have five
minutes. And I will not even expect a response from you. So all I
need is a big yes nod.
You are in the position to make the decision and dispense with these
two issues very clearly and precisely. And I hope you will bear with me.
...
Issue number two: Last week a front-page headline in The Washington
Post stated, and I quote: "A lost world in Indonesia yields riches
for scientists," end quote. This front-page article was about the
discovery of an unknown region of rare plants, flowers and animals
recently discovered in a province of West Papua, New Guinea, as part
of Indonesia.
Media outlets throughout the world were eager to give media coverage
to this new discovery.
No doubt this was an exciting scientific discovery in West Papua, New
Guinea. But I'm deeply saddened, Madame Secretary, that the newly
discovered plants and animals of West Papua, New Guinea could be
worthy of front-page news, and yet the plight and suffering of the
indigenous people of West Papua, New Guinea was totally ignored. The
people of West Papua, New Guinea, Madame Secretary, have struggled
for some 40 years to seek their right of self-determination from
Indonesia's brutal military rule. Yet the debilitating and gut-
wrenching cause rarely receives a note from our own government, it's
formerly colonial ruler the Dutch, Australia, New Zealand, and other
Pacific and European domestic nations.
Only a few weeks ago, Madame Secretary, on January 17th, 43 West
Papuans, seven of them are children, arrived on the shores of
Australia to seek asylum. They had left their homes in West Papua,
New Guinea and sailed some 2,200 miles during the monsoon season in a
small, open boat. The 43 Papuans fled a rapidly deteriorating human
rights environment where the Indonesian military has committed human
rights abuses and atrocities against the people of West Papua for
decades, and yet no one would give heed to their suffering or plead
their cause before the world community of nations.
Madame Secretary, in 1969, 1,200 West Papuan elders, with the lives
of their own families being threatened by the Indonesian military,
were forced into voting, supposedly -- well, not surprisingly,
unanimously on behalf of some one million West Papuans to make West
Papua as part of Indonesia. This act of no choice is generally
regarded in the international community as a fraudulent tactic that
was used by Indonesia's military regime to claim control of West Papua.
Last year, 37 members of the Congressional Black Caucus and myself
joined in calling of the United Nations review of the act of no
choice that was forced upon the people of West Papua by President
Suharto's military regime. My colleague, Mr. Payne, and I have called
upon the African nations to request that United Nations General
Assembly review of the act of no choice, since the United Nations was
involved. Secretary Kofi Annan informed us that should the assembly
decide to revisit this issue, he will do his utmost to implement the
assembly's mandate.
Madame Secretary, I plead with you again, the crisis in West Papua,
New Guinea will not go away. We need your help. I would repeat again
that the issue of West Papua is not an internal matter for the
government of Indonesia to resolve, given the historical evidence
that clearly questions Indonesia's claim of sovereignty over West
Papua, New Guinea.
This said, Madame Secretary, I am hopeful that in the spirit of
America's great mission of diplomacy to end tyranny in our world,
that our government will stand with the people of West Papua and
support their right to self-determination, just as we gave East Timor
a couple of years ago.
Thank you, Madame. Just give me the nod, Madame Secretary. You don't
have to say a word.
SEC. RICE: That would be dangerous, Representative.
Let me just -- let me just, on a couple of things -- first of all, I
will look into the visa issue that you raised. We have been trying to
create visa policies that do take some of the load off of people who
are trying to get visas. I don't know the specific case, but I'll
refer it to our consular affairs people and ask for an answer and
we'll get back to you.
Of course, as you know, U.S. policy is to -- that Papua is a part of
Indonesia. We do, however, represent with Indonesia all the time the
need for the sensitivity to and protection of people -- of minorities
within Indonesia and for significant autonomy for those populations.
And so you can be sure that the issue is not off of our radar screen,
even though we may not agree on the same solutions.
REP. FALEOMAVAEGA: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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