False Accusations by Joe Collins of AWPA
Early this year, Joe Collins has been circulating reports and letters from Sidney Australia claiming that the situation deteriorates further in West Papua with more arrests and the shooting of protesters. For Several years, Joe Collins manufactured lies, false evidence and acted wrongfully against the peaceful development of Papua and West Papua Provinces under the special autonomy law.Joe Collins tries to mix truth and lies in his propaganda in Australia and Indonesia. For example, in one side we should appreciate his sincere attention to the poor condition of health and education in West Papua, especially the worsening case of HIV/AIDS. But on the other side, he generates hatred against Jakarta. The simple question then….
Why…? and
Who is Joe Collins ?
I have no ideas who is Joe Collins, but if any of readers of this Blog could share who he really is, then I would be more than happy to publish the real identity of Joe Collins.
To answer the question why, we should be very careful is making an assumption about the reason why Joe Collins voluntarily maintains conflict in West Papua.
The very basic reason why we should be careful in listening to his opinion is simple. Indonesia is now democratic, so it should be more effective to approach Indonesian government and Papuan local government to improve the condition in Papua. Instead of creating a constructive project with Indonesian government, Joe Collins with his dummy NGO named Australia West Papua Association – AWPA simply only tries to disturb the peaceful development in Papua and to decrease the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia by putting Papua as an obstacle.
Joe Collins tries to depict Indonesia as a monster who is hunger of wealth so Indonesia has been looting and robbing Papua’s natural wealth for more than forty years. The real situation is … the Indonesian government since 1960 was so naive and let Foreign Companies to dredge Papua’s natural wealth and forgot its obligation to develop the human resource in Papua. Indonesia was lack of anthropological and sociological approaches in seriously developing Papua, to be honest Papua was not alone because many other provinces were experienced similar condition.
But, since 1998 and after the reform movement, there were several improvements and the most important is special autonomy law. Most of Western government recognize the importance of special autonomy law, although the implementation is not simple, not to mention about the slow local capacity building and the spread of corruption due to the high budget.
About Human Rights.
To protect the human rights of population who live in Papua is the responsibility of Indonesian government because they are all Indonesian citizens. To let them have different political views is also part of Indonesian government responsibility to create a healthy atmosphere of democracy. It has nothing to do with provoking propaganda by Joe Collins in Australia.
Indonesian citizens who live in Papua consists of 300 ethnic groups Papuan about 1,8 millions, 75 ethnic groups from other provinces such as Sulawesi, West Timor, Mollucas, Kalimantan, Java, Sumatra, etc all about 2,2 millions people. So Indonesia government must be fair and responsible in protecting all citizens in Papua, not only the so called indigenous people but also migrant people who legally been living in Papua even before the independence of Indonesia.
Papua and West Papua provinces is a multicultural society, so we must also but a multicultural approach and avoid racial approach. However, due to historical mistakes of treatment to Papuan indigenous people, the central government should accept the affirmative action by Papuan local government to giver more opportunities to indigenous people.
To end my article, I would like to invite all Western activists to comment or to discuss further, so we could find a concrete and sincere approach to help our brother in Papua and West Papua provinces.
Thank you.
Papua Story 
Dear John,
False story by AWPA in the Australian media is dangerous to Indonesia-Australia relations, but I get the impression from your argument that you are also contributing to further complicated exchange of accusations with Joe Collins.
Susan Welch
Nice article, honestly this is a fantastic article, well-written, logical, realistic and persuasive.
I was in West Papua recently and there is plenty going on. Its a shame that Australian people are drowned in a false story fabricated by Joe Collins. A bit more information would break down the stereotyping, and lead to more trust and investment.
[…] False Accusations by Joe Collins of AWPA Early this year, Joe Collins has been circulating reports and letters from Sidney Australia claiming that the situation deteriorates further in West Papua with more arrests and the shooting of protesters. For Several years, Joe Collins manufactured lies, false evidence and acted wrongfully against the peaceful development of Papua and West Papua Provinces under the special autonomy law.Joe Collins tries to mix truth and lies in his propaganda in Australia and Indonesia. For example, in one side we should appreciate his sincere attention to the poor condition of health and education in West Papua, especially the worsening case of HIV/AIDS. But on the other side, he generates hatred against Jakarta. The simple question then….Read more => […]
I don’t know if Joe has been falsely reporting on West Papua, but I honestly speaking, West Papua image aboard will be of great concern especially when supporting and campaigning for our freedom. But, Joe is correct also on the other hand, that even thought you said that Indonesia is now into Democratic, why are my people still been killed by Indonesian Police and Soldiers. My people are purely fighting for their rights to be free just like you. If you say also that, conditions have improved in Papua, Name me few improvements that you’ve seen lately? And mind you there is no such thing as peaceful development. Everything on Papuan Land is my people’s and not Indonesians. And Indonesia is a real monster, because Indonesia is eating up my wealth while back in the village, I still find it hard to evacuate sick to hospital, my children cannot work, even though they’ve completed University because of discrimination in the work force. How can you tell me to stop transmigration, How can you tell me when I will get independence so that, I can make my own dicisions to my wealth and resources. AMEN
[…] karena itu hentikan provokasi politik seperti dilakukan oleh orang asing semacam Joe Collins, atau fitnah dan emosi seperti the great wenda dan pembohong Benny Wenda, atau Richard Samuelson, […]
One doesn’t need to believe Joe Collins so – called propaganda of hatred against Indonesia. In this modern era of communication, Indonesia’s own acts told the whole world of its own record of human rights abuses in Papua and West Papua. Come on, you idiots if the situations are so harmony in Papua and West Papua, lift the ban on foreign journalists to visit the 2 provinces, so the truth could be publicized. “OF COURSE”, Joe is 101% correct, and believe me the whole world believe in him too. Just look at the poll in Australia in relation to Papuan Independence. I can not understand why PNG and Papua are 2 different countries while Indonesia and Papua is one country. Only fools believe in that.