Perth Voice Interactive

THERE’S a certain frankness about Wiwince Pigome when she talks of her tortured father, his subsequent premature death, and her murdered grandfather and uncle.

There was no quiver in her voice when she spoke about the trauma at a silent vigil  in Perth CBD this week to protest Indonesia’s occupation of her former homeland, West Papua, virtually within shouting distance from Australia’s northern tip.

“When my father was tortured, my mother was heavily pregnant with my older sister,” Ms Pigme told the Voice, standing outside the Indonesian consulate, in front of posters of bloodied people lying in ditches with armed, uniformed men standing over them.

“My mum is still living with the trauma. She was telling us all these stories, while we were at home, when no-one could hear her, because we are not allowed to study our history in Indonesia or talk about it.”

For resisting the Indonesian government, which has controlled West Papua and its resources since 1962, the 34-year-old says her people are condemned, tortured, raped, imprisoned and murdered.

Human rights activists say more than 500,000 have died at the hands of Indonedia’s armed forces.

“People still have no say at all, even after 54 years,” Ms Pigome says.

“You are not allowed to protest or have an idea, or make a difference for your own people.

“You are basically a robot. The government is actually telling you what to do.”

A group of three Australian federal police agents attended this week’s vigil to “protect the dignity of the consulate”.

Ms Pigome has been protesting with like-minded friends outside the consulate for four years. Last year, three federal police cars attended.

This time, agents and an Indonesian official stepped in to tell Ms Pigome to remove posters from a consulate wall.

“It is my property,” the official says.

“There is control no matter where we are,” Ms Pigome retorts. “This is typical.”

She is part of an international campaign for West Papuan independence, freedom of expression and justice which has been slowly gathering speed since the 1990s.

Ms Pigome migrated to Australia in 2003, and while she fears death upon any return, she says her generation will “never shut up”.

She urges Australians to join her fight. The December 1 vigil marked the 54th anniversary of the declaration of the new nation in 1961 — following the departure of Dutch overlords — which lasted just a year before the Indonesians invaded.

by EMMIE DOWLING