Freedom to campaign

HOW worried about the weakness of its claim to West Papua must the Indonesian Government be that it felt obliged to summon the British ambassador to explain why a Free West Papua office was allowed to open on the Cowley Road in Oxford (May 8).

Indonesia must know that it could never win an argument about its occupation of West Papua either morally or legally and that if the Papuans were given the chance to express their views in a free referendum they would vote overwhelmingly for independence.

Indonesia’s only response is thus to take every action possible to silence the Papuan voice crying for freedom. And the Indonesian Government has the arrogance to think they can silence the Papuan voice even here in Oxford.

Whatever our own views about the SNP’s campaign for independence for Scotland may be, we can all agree that both sides should be given freedom of speech to persuade the people of Scotland to support the cause they espouse in the upcoming referendum. Just imagine for a moment the outrage there would be if David Cameron made the flying of the Scottish flag an imprisonable offence, banned the SNP and tortured Alex Salmond in prison – or worse still had him assassinated.

All of the above are exactly how Indonesia is attempting to crush West Papua’s call for independence. Thank you Oxford for giving the Papuans an office in our city. The Papuans will always have the right to campaign for freedom and justice in our precious British democracy.

RICHARD SAMUELSON

South Street

Middle Barton

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/archive/2013/05/13/Letters+%28om_letters%29/10413579.Freedom_to_campaign/