Symbol of West Papua's struggle for Independence raised in Australia

A small group of people supporting indepedence for West Papua stand outside the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra holding Morning Star flags.

Supporters of West Papua independence hold the Morning Star flag outside the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra this week. Source: SBS News

West Papuans around Australia have raised their Morning Star flag, a potent symbol of their struggle for independence from Indonesia, to mark the 60th anniversary of the first time it was flown in the former Dutch colony

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Published 5 December 2021 7:28pm

By Stefan Armbruster

Presented by Ricky Kusumo

Source: SBS

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West Papuans around Australia have raised their Morning Star flag, a potent symbol of their struggle for independence from Indonesia, to mark the 60th anniversary of the first time it was flown in the former Dutch colony

In Indonesia, the flag is a banned symbol of an illegal organisation trying to break away from the unitary republic.

West Papuans and their supporters also marked the 60th anniversary of the first flag raising in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin and elsewhere across the country.

Indonesian diplomats regularly issue statements critical of events like this, saying it implies Australian support, but the embassy did not respond to SBS enquiries about the anniversary.

Flying the Morning Star in the Indonesian provinces of Papua And West Papua on the 1st of December is usually met with a military response.

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