West Papua and Kanaky: towards an independent Melanesia!

Today, the world's eyes turn to New Caledonia:

Nouméa, the capital of France's last remaining colony in the South Pacific, has been burning for a week, in protest against a proposed constitutional law that marginalized the pro-independence voice of the local indigenous melanesians commonly known as the Kanaks.

On May 15, French President Emmanuel Macron decreed a State of Emergency and sent military reinforcements. It looks like New Caledonia is on the brink of civil war.

Meanwhile, 3000 km northwest of New Caledonia, the Melanesian people of West Papua have been fighting for six decades against the Indonesian colonial regime. This however, without coverage from international media. Why is that?

In fact, one cannot talk about Kanaky without West Papua. The following presentation will show us the close link between the situation of the Kanaks in New Caledonia and that of the Papuans in West Papua. To understand this correlation, let's take a quick look at history:

French colonization of New Caledonia (Kanaky)

On September 24, 1853, Admiral Auguste Febvrier-Despointes hoisted the French flag at Balade, in the far north of New Caledonia, thus taking possession of the entire territory in the name of France. Although initially Paris only used New Caledonia as a dumping ground for its political prisoners, the discovery of its rich land slowly turned the islands into a valuable colony. French settlers came to exploit the land while manual workers were imported en masse from several regions of Asia and Oceania. 

The beginning of the nickel boom in the late 1940s made New Caledonia an eldorado for France, which at that time was experiencing economic difficulties after World War II. Metropolitan middle-class French people arrived as skilled workers and many chose to settle there because of privileges it provided: high salaries with low taxes. As a result, Indigenous Kanaks became outcasts in their own country and independence became their only way to survive. In 1984, a number of New Caledonia's pro-independence factions merged into the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).

Indonesian colonization of West Papua

In early 1960s, President Sukarno, supreme leader of Indonesia, in an effort to save his country's failing economy after declaring independence twenty years earlier from the Dutch, militarily annexed West Papua, a newly independent Melanesian country rich in natural resources. Since Indonesia did not have enough expertise to manage West Papua's natural resources, a number of foreign multinationals were brought in, starting with the American mining giant Freeport McMoRan, in 1967. Indonesian workers and farmers from overpopulated islands such as Java and Sulawesi were imported en masse, creating a demographic imbalance.

Today, dozens of companies are cold-bloodedly extracting minerals, timber and agricultural products in West Papua. The special autonomy program granted by Jakarta in 2001, instead of protecting, further eliminated the existence of indigenous West Papuans. Under Indonesian military rule, their fate is much more miserable then the Kanak in New Caledonia. Inspired by the FLNKS model, in 2014, factions of the West Papuan independence struggle came together under the umbrella organization of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

Melanesian liberation struggle

Both West Papuans and Kanaks share the same fate: they are now minorities in their own countries, accounting for around 40% of the population. The struggle for survival of these two Melanesian nations is becoming more decisive than ever!

Markus Haluk, ULMWP secretary emphasized the close ties between his organisation and FLNKS:

"Before the founding of the ULMWP in 2014, West Papuan freedom fighters in the Free Papua Organization (OPM) had long built relationships with the FLNKS. As fellow Melanesians, Papuans and Kanaks have a long and strong emotional relationship."

Kanak freedom fighters, activists and ordinary people have long formed the Kanaky Solidarity Forum for West Papua. In the South Pacific regional forum, the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), The FLNKS leaders showed a clear attitude in supporting ULMWP full membership in the MSG. Kanaky is an inseparable part of West Papuan history. 

Thanks to FLNKS inviting several West Papuan independence leaders, the humanitarian issue of West Papua was discussed for the first time at the MSG meeting in Noumea in 2013. Subsequently, in June 2014 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, MSG leaders called on West Papuans to unite and return to the great Melanesian home.

• In December 2014 West Papuans united under the ULMWP through the Saralana Declaration.
• On February 4 2015, ULMWP was registered at the MSG Office.
• In June 2015 in Honiara, Solomon Islands, West Papua was accepted as an MSG observer.
• In 2018, ULMWP representative Markus Haluk, invited by FLNKS to attend the New Caledonia referendum. 

"Unfortunately, Kanaky lost by 4%", Haluk recalled. Responding to the recent incidents in Nouméa, Haluk said with great emotion, “I convey my respectful greetings to the FLNKS leadership. The joys and sorrows of the Kanak Nation are ours too, West Papuans."

May the fire ignited by Kanaky strengthen the fighting spirit of West Papua, for the sake of Melanesia's liberation.

Markus Haluk, ULMWP, third from left with FLNKS leaders, 2018.

ULMWP leaders: Rex Rumakiek, Octo Mote, Paula Makabory and Markus Haluk, with FLNKS leaders including its spokesperson Victor Tutugoro (white hat), Port Moresby, PNG, 2018.