The shock death in Sydney on Monday of West Papuan leader Willem (Wim) Zonggonau (pictured below) is tragic – but it also reminds us of why West Papuans will continue to flee the province and why The Right should welcome it.

Wim was on a public speaking tour of Australia with his West Papuan colleague Clemens Runawery, and had met several politicians in Canberra as well as academics and West Papuan supporters around the country.

Wim was a human rights campaigner, a historian, and independence activist but at heart what he most was a democrat. He yearned, like so many West Papuans, for a free and fair vote in the province so that the people of West Papua could determine their own future.

This is why we shouldn’t be surprised by Geoff Thompson’s revelations on the ABC that more West Papuan independence activists might be coming to Australia. The West Papuan independence leaders want their people to be able to determine their own future rather than having it imposed from Jakarta.

Their’s is a deeply human struggle – the will to freedom. It is a principle supposedly at the heart of right wing ideology, but so often lacking in reality.

Now that it has been revealed that the recently arrived 43 West Papuan refugees had planned their trip to Australia – selecting those most likely to be persecuted – we are no doubt set for another round of West Papuan bashing from right-wing intellectuals like Gerard Henderson (previous columns here and here). John Howard has started and Kim Beazley has cranked up his inane chant for a coast guard – something that has the potential to help turn West Papua into a kind of death camp.

But there is a reason independence leaders planned their trip to Australia. Those most likely to face persecution in West Papua are those who strive for independence.

And why is it that independence activists are the most likely to be in genuine fear of persecution in their homeland? Because the only way that West Papua can be kept part of Indonesia is by force. The Indonesian military knows it can not let people freely express their beliefs and desires – for to do so would only accelerate the move to independence.

For years there has been too little attention paid to the plight of West Papuans. But globalisation is a force that even the brutality of the Indonesian police can not hold back. Communications with those inside West Papua will only get easier as technology gets smaller, lighter, and cheaper. Journalists will increasingly get in.

With transparency comes freedom. Freedom leads to democracy and in West Papua democracy means independence.

Wim Zonggonau was a democrat at heart. It’s a shame that so many on The Right leave their belief in democracy at the door when it comes to looking over the fence to our near neighbour.

They should have spent some time with Wim Zonggonau. They would have learnt a lot. The small handful of journalists, Labor, Green and independent politicians who took the time to talk to Wim in Canberra last month will be glad they did.