{"id":6919,"date":"2020-02-25T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/?p=6919"},"modified":"2023-03-10T10:51:10","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T00:51:10","slug":"the-long-road-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/the-long-road-home\/","title":{"rendered":"The long road home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally\npublished by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy, this 2013 appreciation of\nAndy Ayamiseba\u2019s life of activism in exile is one of the few narratives of the\ncompelling story of the Black Brothers and their seminal role the formulation\nof a modern Melanesian identity, and in keeping the West Papuan independence\nmovement alive in Melanesia. It has been substantially edited to reflect more\nrecent events. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andy\ndied a few days ago. While he was loved, admired and supported in Vanuatu, he\nfought tirelessly to win a home he could return to. He died before the dream\nwas achieved.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

In 1983, Andy Ayamiseba and the rest of the\nBlack Brothers band descended from their flight to Port Vila\u2019s Bauerfield\nairport, to be greeted by the entire cabinet of the newly fledged government of\nVanuatu. They were, by Melanesian standards, superstars. They had come to\nassist Father Walter Lini\u2019s Vanua\u2019ku Pati in its first re-election campaign,\nand to pass on the message of freedom for West Papua. So began a relationship\nthat would span a lifetime of activism, a liberation dream long deferred, and\nultimately, a first glimmer of hope for political legitimacy for the West\nPapuan liberation movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Black Brothers were already widely\nknown and loved in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Touring PNG in the late\n1970s, the band members first met Vanuatu independence figures, including Hilda\nLini, Kalkot Mataskelekele and Silas Hakwa. Students at the University of Papua\nNew Guinea at the time, they returned to Vanuatu to play key roles in Vanuatu\u2019s\nmove to independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A generation later, it\u2019s hard to imagine\nthe immediacy, the passion and the dynamism of the time. Kalkot Mataskelekele,\nwho would later serve as Solicitor General and on the Supreme Court bench\nbefore becoming the republic\u2019s 6th president, was a young firebrand operating a\npirate radio service from the bush north of the capital. Hilda Lini, sister to\ntwo prime ministers and the first woman elected to Vanuatu\u2019s parliament, was a\ntireless organiser, working behind the scenes to promote what would become the\nVanua\u2019ku Pati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight, it seems almost inevitable\nthat the dynamism of this callow political leadership would mesh and meld with\nthe creative iconoclasm of the Black Brothers. But it had to wait before it\nreached its full fruition. In 1980 the Indonesian government expelled Ayamiseba\nand the other band members. Stateless, they sought shelter in the Netherlands.\nHilda Lini had contacted them in 1980 during a visit to Europe, but it wasn\u2019t\nuntil 1983 that they obtained refugee status and official residency. Finally\nable to travel again, their first destination was Vanuatu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a triumphal entry. They were welcomed by Father Walter Lini\u2019s government and a large crowd of adoring fans. Likewise, on their first visit to Solomon Islands, the roads were so packed that it took the group two hours to get from the airport into town. Their concert the next day was attended by 28,000 fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Andy Ayamiseba. Photo credit: Dan McGarry <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Their 2013 visit to Honiara was somewhat\nmore low-key, and yet perhaps more epochal than the original Black Brothers\ncrusade. With funding and official support from the government of Vanuatu,\nindependence leaders John Ondawame and Andy Ayamiseba conducted a of tour of\nMelanesian Spearhead Group members, soliciting support for membership in the\nsub-regional organisation. The West Papua National Coalition of Liberation, or\nWPNCL, was an amalgam of two previously divergent wings of the OPM (in English,\nthe Organisation for Papuan Freedom) and a number of political groups\nadvocating for West Papuan independence. It was ultimately superseded by the\nUnited Movement for the Liberation of West Papua. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having met already with the Fijian and\nVanuatu prime ministers as well as the incoming chair of the MSG and head of\nthe FLNKS, Andy and John were hopeful that their meetings with Solomon Islands\nprime minister Darcy Lilo would be equally fruitful. In a 2013 interview with\nthe Pacific Institute of Public Policy, Ayamiseba explained that he had met and\nbefriended Lilo during his sojourn in Honiara in the mid-90s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should Solomon Islands decide to voice its\nsupport for WPNCL membership in the MSG, most of the political hurdles would be\ncleared for what might prove to be the first crack of light through the doorway\nof political legitimacy for the cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arguably, the critical opening came weeks\nbefore, when Sir Michael Somare (former PM of Papua New Guinea) voiced the\nopinion that the MSG is not an intergovernmental organisation, but an\norganisation of peoples, joined by culture and geography. The statement, made\nduring a celebration of the MSG 25th anniversary, came as a surprise to some.\nIn 2008, it was Somare who flatly blocked a motion to consider West Papuan\nmembership in the MSG. (Admittedly, the motion was ill-timed and ill-prepared.\nAyamiseba himself admits that his group had no prior knowledge, and were caught\nby surprise when it was tabled.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way was finally cleared, not by Darcy\nLilo, but by his successor, Manasseh Sogavare. In June 2015, he chaired a\nmeeting that saw a very\nMelanesian compromise<\/a> in which both Indonesia and the ULMWP were formally\ngranted a place at the MSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political legitimacy for West Papuan\nindependence in the Pacific has long been subject to the vicissitudes of\nMelanesian politics. While Ayamiseba\u2019s group were the darlings of the Vanua\u2019ku\nPati, and by extension the government of Vanuatu, the association came at a\nprice. They were expelled from the country following the party\u2019s schism in\n1989, forcing Andy to seek asylum, first in Australia, then in Solomon Islands.\nHis friendship with then-PM Mamaloni notwithstanding, efforts to further the\nindependence movement stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progress elsewhere in the world was also\nstymied by realpolitik. In 1986, even nations such as Ghana, which had objected\nto the manner in which West Papua was brought under Indonesian rule, were less\nthan responsive to overtures by John Ondawame, who had officially joined the\nindependence movement\u2019s leadership following its reunification the year before\nin Port Vila.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is saddening to observe that, despite\nthe fact that it clearly flouted international law in its annexation of the\nterritory, no country outside of Melanesia offered significant criticism of\nIndonesia\u2019s actions in West Papua. Not, at least, until new media and the\ninternet began to break down the wall of silence that had been erected around\nthe territory. But even in the face of clearly documented torture,\nassassination and political oppression, many nations are still loth to\nlegitimise the independence movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Vanuatu, the de facto home of West\nPapuan independence, the road to freedom has been a long one, as full of\npitfalls and obstacles as Port Vila\u2019s physical thoroughfares \u2013 and sometimes,\njust as poorly managed. When Barak Sope became prime minister in 2000, he\nbrought together nine members of the West Papuan leadership and brokered an\naccord that would finally bring all independence efforts under one roof. Later\nthat year, his delegation to the UN General Assembly included three West\nPapuans, two OPM members and one from the Presidium. There, in an alarming\nexample of fervour trumping political savvy, they met with the Cuban\ndelegation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all of his energy, support and\ncontributions to Melanesian identity, Barak Sope\u2019s political ineptitude soon\nbrought his government down. His failure even to produce a budget caused\nsignificant domestic turmoil, which effectively forced West Papua onto the back\nburner.  It wasn\u2019t until 2003 that\nforeign affairs minister Serge Vohor welcomed back the Black Brothers, and\nfacilitated the opening of the West Papuan People\u2019s Representative Office, a\nfront for the OPM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International awareness and support were\nlimited. Vanuatu continued to fumble the issue, balking at formal political\nsupport while continuing to express public sympathy and tacit approval.\nElsewhere, tribal leader Benny Wenda\u2019s escape from Indonesian custody and\nflight to the UK opened another front in the campaign. Indonesia did itself no\nfavours when it abused the INTERPOL red list by issuing a warrant for Wenda\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For several years, the movement seemed\nparalysed, unable to organise itself, beset by legal constraints and barely\nable to manage its own processes. Vanuatu politicians proved fickle, with VP\npresident Edward Natapei voicing support but doing little. Ham Lini, whose\npersonal commitment to the cause remains strong, was unwilling to expend more\npolitical capital on the effort after the 2008 MSG debacle. Sato Kilman, the\nnext prime minister in line, wilfully ignored the advice of his own cabinet,\nsupporting Voreqe Bainimarama\u2019s move to allow Indonesia observer status at the\norganisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quietly persistent, Ayamiseba and Ondawame\ncontinued their efforts. Its moral cause made clearer by stark images of\ntorture and brutality circulated by West Papua Media and others, the leadership\n(under the auspices of the WPNCL) organised an international tour for Benny\nWenda, whose travel restrictions were lifted following legal and media\ncampaigns against Indonesia\u2019s INTERPOL warrant. Even Wenda\u2019s rebuff by the New\nZealand parliament only fanned the flames of support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wenda\u2019s 2013 invitation to speak to MPs\ninside Vanuatu\u2019s parliament was the first of a series of small but significant\nbreakthroughs. Soon-to-be prime minister Moana Carcasses\u2019 attendance at the\nevent was the first public sign of his political break with Sato Kilman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A naturalised citizen of Tahitian descent,\nCarcasses perhaps felt the need to placate the nativist inclination common\namong Ni Vanuatu. Nonetheless, allowing himself to be photographed holding the\nMorning Star flag (a key symbol of West Papuan independence) symbolised a shift\nfrom sympathy to overt political support for the movement. In one of his first\nacts as prime minister, Carcasses met with Ayamiseba and Ondawame, personally\nassuring them of his government\u2019s support in their MSG membership bid, and\npromising the creation of a West Papua desk in the department of foreign\naffairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arriving as it did on the heels of a\nsurprisingly warm and supportive reception by Bainimarama and other Fiji\ngovernment officials, the independence movement appeared finally to be seeing\nthe light of hope. Outspoken and unambiguous support for membership from the\nKanaky leadership was not nearly as surprising; they\u2019ve formally supported\nindependence since the 1990s. With the FLNKS assuming the group chair in 2014,\nKanaky support proved crucial. They got the matter of ULMWP acceptance onto the\nagenda, and in the end they helped carry the room when the matter was\nconsidered in Honiara the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seemed at the time that the only\nremaining piece to fall into place was Papua New Guinea. Wenda\u2019s visit to PNG in\n2013 did manage to cement some amount of popular support, but achieved few\ntangible political results. Somare\u2019s rather startling shift away from outright\nopposition caused discomfort in the PNG political establishment. But that\nwasn\u2019t sufficient to move them to openly oppose neighbouring Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the more popular songs Ayamiseba\nwrote for the Black Brothers is \u2018Liklik Hope Tasol\u2019, a ballad written in Tok\nPisin whose title translates to \u2018Little Hope At All\u2019. Its narrator lies awake\nin the early morning hours, the victim of despair. The vision of the morning\nstar and a songbird breaking the pre-dawn hush provide the impetus to survive\nanother day. The song, with its clear political imagery and simplistic\nevocation of strength in adversity, is clearly autobiographical. It is,\narguably, the anthem which animated Ayamiseba\u2019s lifelong pursuit of freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andy Ayamiseba aged gracefully. Encroaching\nfrailty complemented his unassuming, soft-spoken manner, but it masked a\ndynamism and fervour only visible to his trusted friends and confidants. Once\nlit, however, that spark provided a glimpse of the man as he was, the jazz-funk\nrebel, walking in his exile hand in hand with equally youthful \u2013and equally\nna\u00efve\u2013 leaders. Together, they redefined the Melanesian identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What beggars description, though, is the\ndetermination required for Ayamiseba and his West Papuan brethren to spend\ntheir entire adult lives in pursuit of legitimacy, with only the slightest\nglint of light to show for that effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayamiseba expressed hope: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou cannot stay blind and deaf for 50 years.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Andy died last week. He lived to see the formation of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, the umbrella organisation representing key members of the independence movement. He looked on proudly as its members marched triumphantly into the MSG headquarters to lodge their membership application. He was there when Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu and Prime Minister Charlot Salwai opened the official ULMWP office in Port Vila. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he never made it home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUTHOR<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan McGarry <\/strong>is former Media Director of the Vanuatu Daily Post. He is currently appealing the refusal of his work permit. He has lived in Vanuatu for 16 years.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy, this 2013 appreciation of Andy Ayamiseba\u2019s life of activism in exile is one of the few narratives of the compelling story of the Black Brothers and their seminal role the formulation of a modern Melanesian identity, and in keeping the West Papuan independence movement alive inContinue reading “The long road home”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":6920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1755,1021,248,1056],"tags":[1068,344,969,1050,935,1023,961,1060],"class_list":["post-6919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-governance-democracy","category-pacific-outlook","category-png-and-the-pacific","category-politics","tag-andy-ayamiseba","tag-indonesia","tag-pacific-islands","tag-pacific-outlook","tag-papua-new-guinea","tag-solomon-islands","tag-vanuatu","tag-west-papua"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Kelsey O'Brien","yoast_head":"\nThe long road home | Griffith Asia Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Originally published by the Pacific Institute of 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