JAKARTA (Pacific Media Watch / Vanuatu Daily Post / Free West Papua Campaign): The Free West Papua Campaign says Indonesia has again bribed Fiji with more 'blood money' to try to stop support for West Papua.
This after an article appeared in the Vanuatu Daily Post yesterday stating that the Indonesian government had paid another $30,000 dollars specifically to help Fiji host the UN Decolonisation Committee from May 21-24.
The Free West Papua Campaign says that earlier this year, the Indonesian government paid $500,000 dollars to the government of Fiji to try to stop them from supporting West Papua joining the regional Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).
According to the Vanuatu Daily Post: "Jakarta's cheque-book diplomacy reflects its determination to silence any murmurs of regional support or discussions within the MSG on the issue of re-enlisting West Papua on the decolonisation list".
The Free West Papua Campaign says there is no freedom of speech within Fiji when it comes to West Papua. The campaign said:
"This March, all students at the the University of the South Pacific (in Fiji) wanting to go to an Indonesian propaganda based lecture about West Papua had all their belongings searched by the police, were told that they were not allowed to ask questions, were banned from displaying the West Papuan flag and had West Papua related posters torn down from their own property. Any student accused of supporting West Papua was threatened with expulsion from the university."
The campaign said that "the true brothers and sisters of Melanesia, wil not be bought off against Melanesian brothers and sisters and wantoks by Indonesian blood money".
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Pacific Media Watch
