Does Australia
p. 31 · Read in the full issue
Really Believe
In Democracy?
From Leo Hannett,
in Port Moresby Protests over what is happening in West Irian continue in Papua-New Guinea, and they will continue be cause we must dramatise the issue in volving the so-called “Act of Free Choice” of our fellow Papuans in West Irian. There has been con demnation in the House of Assembly, and a large, but peaceful, demonstra tion march from Ela beach to Gov ernment House (PIM, June, p. 35), where we presented a petition to the Administrator on the Australian Government's attitude in refusing to condemn, or even remain neutral over West Irian.
The march was organised by the politics club of the P-NG University.
It’s evident from the increasing number of refugees entering P-NG and from the confirmed reports of shootings in West Irian that the act of free choice is limited to a selected group and that it is not an act of free choice at all.
Test case
By dramatising this issue we hope the Australian Government will re consider its stand on this issue and be more objective— not allowing itself to be swayed by pure political ex pediency. West Irian, we feel, is an excellent test case for us to see whether Australia genuinely believes in democratic principles and whether Australia is ready to uphold the basic human rights enshrined in the UN Charter.
Australia supported Indonesia in its fight for independence but will not support the West Papuans in their fight for free choice.
The confidence of many New Guineans in Australia will depend on the line of action Australia takes.
While Australia is entitled to play politics the question is whether it is fair to leave the people of Papua- New Guinea to live in a divided country with menacing border prob lems. A divided island, with con flicting ideologies, might be a more costly problem for Australia to solve.