Kelly Kwalik Assassinated
Dec 19, 2009 News
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Amungme freedom fighter, Kelly Kwalik, who lived near the Freeport Mine in West Papua was assassinated this week of December 16th by the Indonesian military.
Kelly Kwalik was well known for two inherent issues. As land owner, he opposed the Freeport Mine because of the human rights abuses it had caused his people and the irreparable environmental destruction it had created to the land. Also, as a Commander of the Independence Movement, the OPM, he advocated independence. He joined the OPM in 1974 after finishing teacher college in Jayapura. He had been in the jungle for 37 years eluding many efforts to capture him.
Journalists are not allowed into West Papua. So the true story of what actually happened in the build-up to his murder will once again be elusive. West Papua is our closest neighbour. Kwalik was falsely accused of being involved in the killing of Australian mine worker Drew Grant.You’d think our media might be all over this story. I may have missed something but I havent read a thing.
When I went hiking around the gloriously beautiful Baliem valley in the highlands of West Papua,I stayed in this village and the only English my guests could say was “this is Kelly kwalik country.”
The military report says they shot him in the leg and he died of compications in hospital. Unfortunately, I have this awful feeling that the truth was much more brutal than that. Australia and the USA receive big dividends from the Freeport mine. When are we going to honourably stand up for these Melanesian people?
I’d like to share with you in honour of Kelly Kwalik a song from the “Curious” album by My Friend the Chocolate Cake entitled “Kelly Kwalik Country”.
December 19th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Like you David I was shocked and horrified to hear of Kelly’s needless and very suspicious death, with witnesses hustled away (including reportedly a 10-year-old) before the real story could be told, but what more could we expect. One can’t help but despair about the situation there – with NO international help whatsoever (other than the good work of activists – certainly NONE by politicians or the UN) it seems that bit by bit the movement and hope for some form of independence or at least a peaceful existence for the indigenous folk of West Papua is being quietly killed off (literally) by the Indonesian military (and in Indonesia “government”, “corrupt feudal system” and “military” are all synonymous) in a pall of secrecy and half-truths. The media reports are still linking Kwalik and the OPM with the Freeport shootings, but wasn’t their non-involvement proven on examination of the ammunition used? There is a great deal about it that all makes me very angry. David, “Kelly Kwalik Country” is such a great song – hearing it now, in the wake of Kelly’s murder, its foreboding tone becomes evident, and thank you for making it available here. I wonder if he was ever aware that a big tall white bloke from Northcote had written a song about him?
December 30th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Freeport and death go hand in hand.
- UN Sec. Gen. Dag Hammarskjold was killed 4 weeks before the US began it’s 1961 push for the UN to allow the trade of West Papua as a colonial possession.
- Michael Rockefeller died in 1961 while surveying the region of the Freeport mine river outlets.
- John F Kennedy died in 1963 when he proposed a fiscal aid package to stabilise Sukarno’s government in Indonesia instead of allowing Gen Suharto’s later raise to power.
- Robert Kennedy was killed after Freeport went ‘public’ about the vast gold & copper wealth it was going to mine in the colonisation, which Freeport director Lovett and US National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy had manipulated the Kennedy brothers into writing the “New York Agreement” for.
- Around this time was when the Indonesian military was using US aid such as Mitchel bombers to ‘clear’ areas for the mine, and various other acts of slaughter not reported in the media.
- For 46 years hundreds of thousands have silently disappeared, a national population now a quarter the size which it should be.
Kelly, you’ve put up a good fight against insurmountable and inhuman suppression; I hope we can help your spirit’s journey to freedom.
January 7th, 2010 at 4:41 am
David great music.
Did you know the Grants had a visit from some people recently and it went very well
John
February 10th, 2010 at 7:28 am
I am curious about the origin of Kelly Kwalik’s surname. It does not sound like an indigenous name of the native Papua. Could his ancestors been given European names by missionaries. My interest stems from my own name: Kris Kwalik which origins appear to be Austria-Hungarian.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I live in Texas and have only passing knowledge of the freedom movement in Papua, but it sounds like a sad affair.
(please feel free to respond privately to kriskwalik@gmail.com)