Seasonal campaigner for West Papua Independence movement and NCD Governor Hon. Powes Parkop has cordially welcomed visiting Indonesian President His Excellency Joko Widodo to Port Moresby and the entire country.
Thanking and appreciating the Prime Minister Hon. James Marape and his government of Papua New Guinea for hosting the president during his State Visit on Wednesday (tomorrow), Governor Parkop in welcoming President Widodo invited the President to also take some time to study the Papua New Guineans, understand our culture and know their history and heritage.
“PNGeans as Melanesians have a long history that we all are proud of and that has defined us to be who we are today. We are people who are defined by our connection to our land. The land is our life. So I want to invite him (President Widodo) to understand and appreciate that. It’s important for PNG and whole of Melanesia said Governor Parkop.
“More importantly, I want to invite the President and the Government of Indonesia to forge a new future by openly taking and discussing West Papua. It’s time to talk and we are ready for talks. We want to move forward in addressing this decade-long issues that have marred the relationship between our peoples, between different cultures and traditions, and history to forge a better future,” he said.
Governor Parkop assures the Indonesian Government that the pro-West Papuan campaigners are ready and open for dialogues.
“I want to invite him to think about the future, not to be defined by the past. We cannot change the past. The past has a lot of pains and issues. The past is a history that we cannot and are not proud of. The future we can absolutely re-define and make it better.
“As a strong campaigner, I am ready and willing to engage in dialogues. I have spoken to different organs of the West Papua people, especially United Liberation Movement for West Papua President, Benny Wenda and the Provisional Government.
“They are also ready for open, cordial dialogue. We can reshape our future and history of the region together so that it becomes better than the past. This is our call to the President Widodo.
Governor Parkop said they (West Papua supporters) want full membership for both West Papua and the Republic of Indonesia in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).
“That is the platform through which we can engage in this type of dialogues and discussions that will reshape our future and the history of our people so that we build a better future. In this way, we can live a greater legacy that we all can be proud of,” he said.
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