‘They have to recognise us’: Pacific and NZ leaders urged to do more for West Papua

Excerpt and Photo retrieved from pmn.co.nz

Octovianus Mote was a child when Indonesian troops occupied his homeland, sparking the beginning of his lifelong fight for the independence of West Papua.

Mote is now the vice president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua and hasn’t been back home in more than two decades after fleeing the country due to his line of work.

“When I was a journalist I was covering a story and I saw how Indonesia slaughtered our people when university students conducted a peaceful demonstration in Abepura.

“I tried to rescue one of the students in 1998. He was shot and I asked the students to put him in my car and then I drove him to the hospital. His body was covered in blood, I’m driving my car, students standing behind and I rushed to the hospital. I knew he would die.

“Witnessing how young students fight against colonialism that really changed my entire narrative of being a journalist. To report about it and channel all this violence and through my stories.”