Amos Calling

In December 2006, I went away from Merauke with Australia as my destination

to reveal to the world of the oppression which Indonesian government did towards the Papua's people

(This act) should be revealed to the world.

Crossed over the ocean from Merauke, Papua to Australia was an incredible journey

That was remarkable

without God's intervention, it was impossible we can be here

We, 43 people, had God's help (in crossing over the ocean)

The boat was built in Serui, and in Kampung Ambai on Ambai Island

The boat was built there

and with that boat we sailed to Australia

We had a remarkable experience on the journey

because 2 of the boat engines were broken, totally broken

and we didn't know where we were

(In the beginning of journey) we figured that the journey will take 16 hours

but because of the broken engines

we were drifted in the middle of the ocean for four days

and in the fourth day we managed to repair the engine a bit

it was in the middle of the night,

we repaired one of the engines

and the boat managed to sail a bit

the boat sailed very slow

until we saw land, we saw it like a dot far away

we saw that dot at dawn, around six in the morning.

we didn't know then, which land was that, as we didn't have any compass

We didn't use compass

We were heading to that dot, and then the dot became bigger...no, not bigger but more dots.

before long those dots connected together and become a land, a big land

while we headed to the shore we tried to figure out which the land was

We tried to land with the boat into the shore from the morning until about 5 in the afternoon

but finally at 5 p.m. we decided to swim to the shore

because the waves were too high and the boat can not come to shore

then 10 of us decided to swim to the shore

when we reached the shore, we also had to swim across a river

Donny Rum was the first swimmer

Before Donny swam to shore, he said:

When I reached the shore and reached that sign over there

I will tell you what sign that was

So he swam and reached the shore and saw the Australian sign

And he shouted to us that it was Australian sign

And then we spent a night there, and in the morning we met with the immigration officers

The next day they brought us to a hospital to undergo some tests

we were quarantined at the hospital, and that night they sent us to Christmas Island

We stayed in Christmas Island for 2,5 months

I have a reason to go to Australia

The reason was that throughout my life in Papua,

on Soeharto era, it was never revealed

that Papua had been oppressed

Indonesian's Democracy had covered the oppression

Soeharto covered all up

That is the reason which urged me to come to Australia. I would ask Australian government for support

I ask them to see their neighboring land, they have to help

to free Papua from the oppression. That's my reason to come here.

During my stay here, I was homesick. I missed Papua.

Before I became citizen, I thought I will never come back to Papua

But after I have my citizenship here, I have the right to go home.

I know that I will be protected by Australian government because I came with Papua's background

So I call for my friends who watch what I have said here

Let's come together

Let's talk and tell the world that we are oppressed

That is what we asked, we want justice

we need to have justice in Papua

we have to be informed about killings everywhere (in Papua) and Indonesia has to admit that

And that Indonesia had done something that it shouldn't have done

Indonesia had sent plenty of troops to Papua and considered Papua as terrorists

which we are not. We are not terrorist, we need justice. How we can achieve justice

So I call my friends, let's work together