WEST PAPUA – THE MORNING STAR FLAG:

For more than 50 years, the Morning Star Flag has been the symbol of West Papua’s unity and its quest for Freedom and Justice. Thousands have been inspired by it, as it became the main icon embodying the struggle for Independence. The Morning Star flag (Indonesian: Bintang Kejora) was a flag used in a supplemental fashion on Netherlands New Guinea (1949–1962) to the Flag of the Netherlands. It was first raised on 1 December 1961, and fell into disuse on 1 October 1962, when the territory came under administration of the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA). The Morning Star Flag has 13 horizontal blue and white stripes, at the hoist a vertical red stripe with a white star in the center. The design is from Nicolaas Jouwe in Hollandia (nowadays called Jayapura, 1963-1969 Sukarnapura). The 13 stripes represent the tribes, the red stripe the political struggle, the morning star is the star of hope, and the red-white-blue stands for gratitude. The flag is commonly used today by the Free Papua Organization as a nationalist and pro-independence symbol. Over 500,000 Papuans have been killed by the Indonesian Military (TNI) since 1961, some of them simply for raising the flag, which is illegal in Indonesia. Two Papuan men, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage, were sentenced to 15 and 10 year sentences for raising the flag in Jayapura in 2004. Yusak Pakage was released in 2010, having served five years of his term. Karma remains imprisoned and has alleged abuse at the hands of prison authorities. Amnesty International considered both men prisoners of conscience and named Karma a 2011 "priority case”.