Long Pork and the Free West Papua movement.
Readers have asked me how I came to write 'Long Pork', and learn about the Free West Papua Organisation.
A few years ago, I was working at a big pub in Brisbane where many members of the expat Papua New Guinea community go to socialise. It was a quiet night, and I was quietly patrolling the bar.
A Papua New Guinean man asked me if I carried a gun for my job.
"Not this job," I said, "but other jobs."
"Do you know where someone can buy a cheap gun?" asked the man.
"Not me mate, but some of the other guards would definitely know," I said.
My new friend told me he couldn't buy one at the shop, because he didn't have a passport or papers. He had crossed the Torres Strait in a tin boat with an outboard motor, illegally. He was the first of the Free Papua Activists who I met.
The PNG and Papuans in Brisbane are part of an international network of Papuan Liberation Activists, known as the OPM or Organasi Papua Merdeka, or Free Papua Organisation. There are branches all over Australia and the World, running webpages and FB sites to inform the public about the struggle for Papuan Independence.
When the Netherlands tried to give Papua independence in 1966, the Indonesians had already done a secret deal with the American investors under John Kennedy, and Suharto invaded Papua to secure the billion dollar Freeport Grasberg gold and copper mine.
This is were "Long Pork" is set, in a country with no tourism or journalism, where Indonesians massacre Papuans with no consequences from the UN.
In Long Pork, Australian Doctor Liza works at the mine, and treats Konia and his Freedom Fighters, working against huge odds.
I wrote the book so people can learn about the War in Papua in an entertaining way.
Free Papua! Papua Merdeka!
A few years ago, I was working at a big pub in Brisbane where many members of the expat Papua New Guinea community go to socialise. It was a quiet night, and I was quietly patrolling the bar.
A Papua New Guinean man asked me if I carried a gun for my job.
"Not this job," I said, "but other jobs."
"Do you know where someone can buy a cheap gun?" asked the man.
"Not me mate, but some of the other guards would definitely know," I said.
My new friend told me he couldn't buy one at the shop, because he didn't have a passport or papers. He had crossed the Torres Strait in a tin boat with an outboard motor, illegally. He was the first of the Free Papua Activists who I met.
The PNG and Papuans in Brisbane are part of an international network of Papuan Liberation Activists, known as the OPM or Organasi Papua Merdeka, or Free Papua Organisation. There are branches all over Australia and the World, running webpages and FB sites to inform the public about the struggle for Papuan Independence.
When the Netherlands tried to give Papua independence in 1966, the Indonesians had already done a secret deal with the American investors under John Kennedy, and Suharto invaded Papua to secure the billion dollar Freeport Grasberg gold and copper mine.
This is were "Long Pork" is set, in a country with no tourism or journalism, where Indonesians massacre Papuans with no consequences from the UN.
In Long Pork, Australian Doctor Liza works at the mine, and treats Konia and his Freedom Fighters, working against huge odds.
I wrote the book so people can learn about the War in Papua in an entertaining way.
Free Papua! Papua Merdeka!
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