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  • Indonesia and North Korea: warm memories of the Cold War

    On 15 April 1965, Indonesia’s president Sukarno took North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Il-sung to the Bogor Botanical Gardens. Kim was presented with an orchard flower in his namesake: Kimilsungia.

    While the visit resulted in little of substance, it remains fondly remembered in North Korea and Indonesia. In North Korea, the orchard has great symbolic value, as it was presented at a time when Pyongyang had been aggressively pushing forward a campaign of recognition and legitimacy throughout much of Asia and Africa. Kim Il-sung’s birth anniversary is celebrated with a Kimilsungia festival, where foreign dignitaries are often expected to present their own bouquet of flowers at the annual exhibition.

    While having less symbolic value in Indonesia, this historical episode is still seen with elements of intrigue and, to some (especially the most ardent Sukarnoists), as a moment of pride. Kim’s 1965 visit symbolises a relatively romanticised period of Indonesian foreign policy, when Sukarno was perceived to have succeeded in manipulating great power competition to achieve a major foreign policy objective: the incorporation of West Papua into Indonesia.

    Members of the Sukarno family and their supporters still maintain favourable views of North Korea. When Megawati Sukarnoputri, Sukarno’s daughter, became president, she paid a visit to Pyongyang, being the first (and thus far only) Indonesian president to visit North Korea.

    Megawati’s sister Rachmawati—a lucky recipient of an honorary doctorate from Kim Il-sung University—even awarded Kim Jong-un with the “Star of Sukarno” prize “for his fight against neo-colonialist imperialism.” She also wrote a book detailing the meeting between her father and Kim, where she described the two men as “great revolutionaries.”

    While Indonesia today maintains a far more comprehensive relationship with South Korea, it still maintains cordial relations with the North, even continuing to be one of the few countries in the world with an embassy in Pyongyang (though it has temporarily closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

    In many ways, the story of Indonesia’s diplomatic relationship with North Korea remains very much a Cold War era relationship, with the Sukarno–Kim visit functioning as a symbolic remembrance of Indonesia’s non-aligned credentials (even though, ironically, this period saw deepening alignment with China). My ongoing research, which has involved archival research in Indonesia, Australia, and the United States, attempts to unpack the under-examined diplomatic history of Indonesia–North Korea relations. While ties between the two states are mostly stable and dormant, reflecting on their history offers a glimpse into the perennial struggle that successive governments—from Suharto’s new order to the President Joko Widodo’s government—have had in demonstrating Indonesia’s non-aligned credentials.

    How Pyongyang wooed Sukarno

    The history of relations between Indonesia and North Korea is relatively obscure. A review of Indonesia’s national archives offers little insight into the relationship. Snippets of the relationship are, however, observable from publicly available sources.

    While Indonesia and North Korea established diplomatic relations in 1964, political interactions can be further traced back to the 1950s. Amid the Korean War came the question of whether Indonesia should move to recognise and support either the North or South Koreans. The Korean War was interpreted by the Indonesian government as the first major Cold War conflict. Indonesia, then newly independent, had avoided overtly taking sides in the war, as a way to assert a new postcolonial independent identity and avoid getting entangled in great power rivalry.

    But a shift in Indonesia’s approach to Korea did start to develop in the mid-1950s, amid growing frustrations at the United States for its reluctance to support Indonesia’s claims on West Irian, which at that stage had still been controlled by the Dutch. This led Indonesian leaders, most notably Sukarno, to seek support for Indonesia’s claims more assertively, including through overtures in the communist world.

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    This shift coincided with intense competition between Pyongyang and Seoul to seek legitimacy throughout much of the Asian-African world, following the Korean War armistice. Seeking to win over Indonesia, the North Korean leadership attempted to woo Indonesia’s foreign policy establishment. For example, in the wake of the Asian-African Conference in 1955, North Korean authorities issued official statements of support and sent observers to the conference, despite the fact that neither North nor South Korea were invited.

    While there was initially little interest in Jakarta to forge ties with Pyongyang, the Indonesian Communist Party (or the PKI) began lobbying for Pyongyang’s support, culminating in a joint communique calling for West Irian’s transfer to Indonesia. Not long after, there were official interests in forging a relationship. Trade missions between Jakarta and Pyongyang followed. In November 1958, the Indonesian Ambassador to China became the first Indonesian diplomatic official to visit Pyongyang, opening the “Korean–Indonesian Friendship Society”. By June 1961, North Korea and Indonesia had established trade and consular relations. Eventually, North Korea would achieve the ultimate prize when it beat South Korea to securing formal diplomatic relations with Indonesia in 1964.

    Pyongyang’s success can largely be attributed to Indonesia’s increasingly leftist turn from the late 1950s, which was triggered by Sukarno’s turn to authoritarianism. After years of experimenting with parliamentary democracy, Sukarno instituted a form of autocratic rule in 1959, which he referred to as “Guided Democracy.” His centralisation of power had implications on foreign policy, as it came to reflect the president’s increasingly hostile worldview. In a series of speeches starting with one before the UN General Assembly in 1960, Sukarno blamed imperialism and colonialism for the world’s injustices.

    While Sukarno was not a communist, his government admired the independent stance of the North Korean leadership. According to a 1962 US diplomatic cable, “The government of Indonesia considers that the North Korean and North Vietnamese reign control over their governments as there are ‘no foreign troops there,’ whereas this is not the case in South Korea and South Vietnam.” Furthermore, in pursuing his objective of achieving berdikari, or self-sufficiency, Sukarno had seen in North Korea a model of a successful self-sufficient economy.

    Moreover, while Sukarno had mulled over the prospects of forging ties with South Korea, he likely remained cautious about its deeply anti-communist fervour. President Syngman Rhee, while already deposed by the time Sukarno established ties with the North, had drummed up support for an internal rebellion in Indonesia in the 1950s, which Seoul had interpreted as an anti-communist revolution.

    The eventual formation of ties with the DPRK in 1964 paved the way for two symbolic state visits, with Sukarno visiting Pyongyang in November 1964 and Kim visiting Jakarta in April 1965. Later, in his Independence Day speech on 17 August 1965, Sukarno provided the first formal recognition of the strategic convergence between Indonesia and North Korea by declaring the “Djakarta–Peking–Pyongyang–Hanoi–Phnom Penh axis” as a force to combat the forces of imperialism.

    Despite the declaration of that axis, relations with North Korea did not develop beyond existing structures. The importance of North Korea to Indonesia’s foreign policy had thus centred on the value of Pyongyang’s support for Sukarno’s status-seeking pursuits among postcolonial states. The axis would be, however, very short-lived.

    Why Suharto stuck with Pyongyang

    The positive trajectory of Indonesia–North Korea relations, as symbolised by Sukarno’s “axis”, stumbled following a failed coup attempt on 30 September 1965, which was blamed on the PKI. Mass killings soon followed, along with the liquidation of the PKI and the eventual removal of Sukarno from power. The anti-communist general Suharto assumed the presidency in 1967, declaring a “New Order”.

    Indonesia’s foreign policy moved away from Sukarno’s anti-imperialist crusades to focus on economic development and regional security, leading to closer alignment with the United States. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s relations with several communist countries deteriorated. Suharto froze relations with China. It also closed its embassy in Cuba. But the embassy in Pyongyang remained open.

    Kim’s government blamed the downfall of the Sukarno government on the jealousy of the “right reactionary forces” whose actions were orchestrated by the United States. The Indonesian Ambassador to North Korea, Ahem Erningpradja, became a pariah. Not only was his movement restricted, but he was no longer invited to events where ambassadors of friendly countries are usually invited.

    In Indonesia, many argued that the relationship with North Korea should be severed, especially since the North Korean embassy in Jakarta posed security risks. In 1969, North Korean diplomats, for example, were recorded trying to kidnap South Korean businesspeople in Jakarta. There were also attempts by North Korean diplomats and intelligence officials to gather information about Western diplomatic installations, which raised concerns that they could be targets of terrorist attacks.

    However, the New Order regime chose to keep diplomatic channels open. It is likely that ties were maintained to allow the New Order regime to assert Indonesia’s non-aligned credentials, especially since they had also sought to establish ties with South Korea. While Suharto may saw great value in deepening economic and security engagement with the West, there was recognition that the principle of non-alignment had remained deeply ingrained in Indonesia’s foreign policy culture. In particular, foreign minister Adam Malik was an ardent defender of non-alignment and had been cautious not to allow Indonesian foreign policy to project an overtly pro-American stance.

    While ties with North Korea never truly returned to their Sukarno-era state, the relationship did begin to warm in the 1970s. Malik attempted to act as an interlocutor between the North and South Koreans, as well as the Americans, by pushing for compromises on issues preventing peaceful unification.

    While attempts to mediate were largely unsuccessful, Indonesia’s balanced ties with the South and North Koreans did eventually culminate in a request by President Jimmy Carter, in 1979, for Indonesia to facilitate a tripartite dialogue with the US, South Korea, and North Korea to ease tensions on the Peninsula. These talks, however, never commenced, as the North Koreans showed a tepid response to the proposal for talks. Any prospect of mediation under Carter eventually collapsed when South Korean President Park Chung-hee was assassinated in October 1979. The following year, Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan.

    A 1979 cable from Jimmy Carter to Suharto thanking him for accepting the offer to house the US–DPRK–ROK dialogues.

    A relationship stuck in Cold War imaginations

    Despite failed attempts at mediation, ties with North Korea did serve a symbolic purpose for the New Order, just as it did for Sukarno during Guided Democracy. The case of Indonesia–North Korea ties provide lessons into one shared driver of Indonesian foreign policy under Sukarno and Suharto, which was to maintain or enhance Indonesia’s non-aligned status. Sukarno’s decision to establish, and Suharto’s decision to maintain, ties were aimed at enhancing, and later maintaining, Indonesia’s status among non-aligned states. While Sukarno sought supporters for his adventurist crusades against anti-imperialist forces, Suharto had simply wanted others to recognise that Indonesia had remained non-aligned. North Korea, a distant communist land at the centre of a security flashpoint, had been an ideal partner for Indonesia to fulfill this role.

    It can be argued that Indonesia’s relationship with North Korea has remained stuck in this framework, as North Korea’s appearance in contemporary Indonesian discourse surrounds either attempts to secure a mediating role on the Korean Peninsula, or occasional expressions of pride rooted in romantic memories of foreign policy during Guided Democracy. Almost two decades after she completed her presidency, Megawati Sukarnoputri is still on a mission to bring peace to the Peninsula, preaching Pancasila and other teachings from her father at think tank forums in Seoul and in meetings with North Korean officials. Some observers even call on the government to champion Megawati as a mediator on the Peninsula today, as Kim Jong-un will have to “listen to her”, since she was a friend of his father’s and Sukarno was a friend of his grandfather’s.

    As Indonesian foreign policy makers reflect on Indonesia’s role in the world as a larger, more confident nation, some are choosing to look back at any semblances of past glory for inspiration. On the Korean Peninsula, no other historical episode has a much stronger appeal than the friendship between Sukarno and Kim Il-sung. While Indonesia today maintains a highly comprehensive relationship with South Korea, Indonesia’s relationship with North Korea is one that is not only moulded by the Cold War but one that remains stuck within it.

    The post Indonesia and North Korea: warm memories of the Cold War appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • 15 Papuan babies believed to have died of measles – 1 suspected Samoa case

    RNZ Pacific

    As many as 15 children under the age of five in Central Papua have reportedly died of measles.

    Parish Priest of Christ the Redeemer Church in Timeepa, Yeskiel Belau, told Jubi News he estimated the number to be higher because there were areas that had not been checked.

    The data obtained by the church stated as many as 83 children in his ministry area alone had had measles, he said.

    “In the parish centre, there are five kombas (base communities). The 15 children who died were only from the five commanders. Excluding the Toubai, Degadai, Megai Dua, Abaugi, and Dioudimi Stations.

    “If the number is added, it will surely explode,” he said.

    Timeepa Health Center head Yoki Butu said his party was conducting post-handover services for the measles and rubella (MR) vaccine by the Acting Dogiyai Regent, Petrus Agapa, to prevent measles in Dogiyai District.

    His party immediately administered drugs to the targeted babies, he said.

    “Our immunisation coverage has been carried out, in my service area there are only four villages and we have done that,” Yoki said.

    Regarding the death of the 15 toddlers, Jubi News reported Yoki said the measles case was not only in the Dogiyai area but was currently the concern of all parties because it had become an “extraordinary event” in Central Papua Province.

    “So let’s join hands to break the chain of transmission,” he said.

    Measles is a serious viral infection, which can spread to others via coughing and sneezing.

    Samoan baby admitted to hospital
    In Samoa, an 11-month-old baby has been admitted to hospital suspected of measles.

    Director-General of Health Aiono Dr Alec Ekeroma told TV1 Samoa the infant was showing symptoms of measles and had been isolated to await results of blood samples sent to New Zealand.

    He confirmed two other patients were tested recently and returned negative results.

    The Ministry of Health were continuing the mumps measles and rubella (MMR) vaccination push around the country, according to Aiono.

    “We’ve approved the payment of staff overtime to allow for them to work Saturday,” he said.

    It had been three weeks since the MMR immunisation campaign started and they had reached 85 percent of babies with the first dosage, Aiono said.

    The second dosage was only at 45 percent coverage, and Aiono urged parents to push for their children to be fully vaccinated with both doses.

    “We hope to reach 80 percent coverage with the second dose by June,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the latest test results are expected next week.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indian Navy submarine docks in Indonesia for the first time

    One of the Indian Navy’s 3,000-tonne Sindhughosh-class (Russian-made Project 877EKM ‘Kilo’-class) diesel-electric submarines, INS Sindhukesari, made a port visit in Jakarta between 22 and 24 February, marking the first time that an Indian submarine has docked in Indonesia. Both Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) and the Indian Navy announced on their respective social media channels that the […]

    The post Indian Navy submarine docks in Indonesia for the first time appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Papuan rebels deny asking for money, weapons to free NZ pilot – ‘that’s just propaganda’

    Jubi News in Jayapura

    The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has denied Indonesian media claims that Egianus Kogoya, the commander of a TPNPB faction, asked for money and weapons to free the New Zealand pilot they are holding hostage.

    “No, we never asked for money and weapons in exchange for releasing pilot Philip Mark Mehrtens. That’s just propaganda from the Indonesian security forces,” said TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom.

    “This is a political issue, the New Zealand pilot is a guarantee of political negotiations.”

    Previously, Papua Police spokesperson Senior Commander Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo had said the police would not follow a request for firearms and cash in exchange for releasing the Susi Air pilot.

    “That was their request at the beginning. But of course we don’t respond. We will not give weapons that will later be used to shoot the authorities and terrorise the community,” Prabowo told reporters.

    ‘Psychologically disturbing’
    The Papuan Church Council said the capture of Philip Mehrtens as a hostage was “psychologically disturbing” for his wife, family and children.

    The council demanded that the pilot be released in an open letter. With his release, of Philip Mark Mehrtens, the council said Kogoya would get sympathy from the global community and the people of Indonesia.

    “There must be a neutral mediator or negotiator trusted by both the TPNPB, the community, and the government to release the pilot. Otherwise, many victims will fall,” said Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman, a member of the Papuan Church Council.

    A New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said the welfare of its citizens was a top priority.

    “We are doing everything we can, including deploying New Zealand consular staff to ensure the safe release of our citizen taken hostage,” she said.

    The spokesperson added that New Zealand was working closely with Indonesian authorities to ensure the safe release of Mehrtens.

    Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Papuan churches plea to rebel leader Egianus Kogoya to free NZ pilot

    Jubi News in Jayapura

    The Papuan Church Council has called on the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) unit led by Egianus Kogoya to immediately release the New Zealand hostage pilot Philip Mehrtens.

    The council’s request was delivered during a press conference attended by Reverend Benny Giai as moderator and member Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman at the secretariat.

    Reverend Yoman said he had written an open letter to Kogoya explaining that hostage-taking events like this were not the first time in Papua. There needed to be a negotiated settlement and not by force.

    The plea comes as news media report that Indonesian security forces have surrounded the rebels holding 37-year-old Mehrtens captive, but say they will exercise restraint while negotiations for his release continue.

    Mehrtens, a Susi Air pilot, was taken hostage by the TNPB on February 7 after landing in the remote mountainous region of Nduga.

    “The council and the international community understand the issue that the TPNPB brings — namely the Papuan struggle [for independence], Reverend Yoman said.

    “We know TPNPB are not terrorists. Therefore, in the open letter I asked Egianus to free the New Zealand pilot.”

    ‘Great commander’
    Reverend Yoman also explained that Kogoya was a “great commander”, and the liberation fight had been going on since the 1960s, and it must be seen as the struggle of the entire Papuan people.

    This hostage-taking, he said, was psychologically disturbing for the family of the pilot. He asked that the pilot be released.

    Reverend Yoman said he was sure that if the pilot was released, Kogoya would also get sympathy from the global community and the people of Indonesia.

    His open letter had also been sent to President Joko Widodo.

    “There must be a neutral mediator or negotiator trusted by both the TPNPB, the community, and the government to release the pilot. Otherwise, many victims will fall,” said Reverend Yoman.

    Reverend Benny Giai said there were a number of root problems that had not been resolved in Papua that triggered the hostage-taking events.

    “If the root problems in Papua are not resolved, things like this will keep occurring in the future,” he said.

    ‘Conditions fuel revenge’
    “There are people in the forest carrying weapons while remembering their families who have been killed, these conditions fuel revenge.”

    The council invited everybody to view that the hostage-taking occurred several days after the humanitarian pause agreement was withdrawn by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) when it should have continued.

    Reverend Giai said he regretted that no negotiation team had been formed by the government to immediately release the pilot.

    He was part of a negotiating team resolving a similar crisis in Ilaga in 2010.

    At that time, Reverend Giai said, security guarantees were given directly by then Papua police chief I Made Pastika, and “everything went smoothly”.

    “In our letter we emphasise that humanity must be respected.

    “If the release is not carried out, it is certain that civilians will become victims. Therefore, we ask that the hostage must be released, directly or through a negotiating team,” he said.

    Indonesian forces ‘surround rebels’
    Meanwhile, RNZ Pacific reports the rebels say they will not release Mehrtens unless Indonesia’s government recognises the region’s independence and withdraws its troops.

    Chief Security Minister Mahfud MD said security forces had found the location of the group holding the pilot but would refrain from actions that might endanger his life.

    “Now, they are under siege and we already know their location. But we must be careful,” Mahfud said, according to local media.

    He did not elaborate on the location or what steps Indonesia might take to free the pilot.

    Susi Air’s founder and owner Susi Pudjiastuti said 70 percent of its flights in the region had been cancelled, apologising for the disruption of vital supplies to remote, mountainous areas.

    “There has to be a big humanitarian impact. There are those who are sick and can’t get medication … and probably food supplies are dwindling,” Pudjiastuti told reporters.

    Republished from Jubi with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Milkor UAE and Republikorp sign an agreement for UCAV collaboration in Indonesia.

    Abu Dhabi Based Milkor UAE signed an agreement with Indonesian Republikorp for the research, development and manufacturing of the Milkor UCAV in Indonesia. The agreement entails the setting up of manufacturing facilities and the transfer of technology to Indonesia. The companies say that the first aircraft will be flying in Indonesia in 2024 and will […]

    The post Milkor UAE and Republikorp sign an agreement for UCAV collaboration in Indonesia. appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Two countries, two kidnappings – but Jakarta and Port Moresby responses different with 3 PNG hostages freed

    ANALYSIS: By David Robie

    Two countries. A common border. Two hostage crises. But the responses of both Asia-Pacific nations have been like chalk and cheese.

    On February 7, a militant cell of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) — a fragmented organisation that been fighting for freedom for their Melanesian homeland from Indonesian rule for more than half a century — seized a Susi Air plane at the remote highlands airstrip of Paro, torched it and kidnapped the New Zealand pilot.

    It was a desperate ploy by the rebels to attract attention to their struggle, ignored by the world, especially by their South Pacific near neighbours Australia and New Zealand.

    Many critics deplore the hypocrisy of the region which reacts with concern over the Russian invasion and war against Ukraine a year ago at the weekend and also a perceived threat from China, while closing a blind eye to the plight of the West Papuans – the only actual war happening in the Pacific.

    Phillip Mehrtens
    Phillip Mehrtens, the New Zealand pilot taken hostage at Paro, and his torched aircraft. Image: Jubi News

    The rebels’ initial demand for releasing pilot Phillip Merhtens is for Australia and New Zealand to be a party to negotiations with Indonesia to “free Papua”.

    But they also want the United Nations involved and they reject the “sham referendum” conducted with 1025 handpicked voters that endorsed Indonesian annexation in 1969.

    Twelve days later, a group of armed men in the neighbouring country of Papua New Guinea seized a research party of four led by an Australian-based New Zealand archaeology professor Bryce Barker of the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) — along with three Papua New Guinean women, programme coordinator Cathy Alex, Jemina Haro and PhD student Teppsy Beni — as hostages in the Mount Bosavi mountains on the Southern Highlands-Hela provincial border.

    The good news is that the professor, Haro and Beni have now been freed safely after a complex operation involving negotiations, a big security deployment involving both police and military, and with the backing of Australian and New Zealand officials. Programme coordinator Cathy Alex had been freed earlier on Wednesday.

    PNG Prime Minister James Marape shared this photo on Facebook of Professor Bryce Barker and one of his research colleagues
    PNG Prime Minister James Marape shared this photo on Facebook of Professor Bryce Barker and one of his research colleagues after their release. Image: PM James Marape/FB

    Prime Minister James Marape announced their release on his Facebook page, thanking Police Commissioner David Manning, the police force, military, leaders and community involved.

    “We apologise to the families of those taken as hostages for ransom. It took us a while but the last three [captives] has [sic] been successfully returned through covert operations with no $K3.5m paid.

    “To criminals, there is no profit in crime. We thank God that life was protected.”

    How the PNG Post-Courier reported the kidnap 210223
    How the PNG Post-Courier reported the kidnap on Tuesday’s front page. Image: Jim Marbrook/APR/PC screenshot

    Ransom demanded
    The kidnappers had demanded a ransom, as much as K3.5 million (NZ$1.6 million), according to one of PNG’s two daily newspapers, the Post-Courier, and Police Commissioner David Manning declared: “At the end of the day, we’re dealing with a criminal gang with no other established motive but greed.”

    ABC News reports that it understood a ransom payment was discussed as part of the negotiations, although it was significantly smaller than the original amount demanded.

    A "colonisation" map of Papua New Guinea and West Papua
    A “colonisation” map of Papua New Guinea and West Papua. Image: File

    It was a coincidence that these hostage dramas were happening in Papua New Guinea and West Papua in the same time frame, but the contrast between how the Indonesian and PNG authorities have tackled the crises is salutary.

    Jakarta was immediately poised to mount a special forces operation to “rescue” the 37-year-old pilot, which undoubtedly would have triggered a bloody outcome as happened in 1996 with another West Papuan hostage emergency at Mapenduma in the Highlands.

    That year nine hostages were eventually freed, but two Indonesian students were killed in crossfire, and eight OPM guerrillas were killed and two captured. Six days earlier another rescue bid had ended in disaster when an Indonesian military helicopter crashed killing all five soldiers on board.

    Reprisals were also taken against Papuan villagers suspected of assisting the rebels.

    This month, only intervention by New Zealand diplomats, according to the ABC quoting Indonesian Security Minister Mahfud Mahmodin, prevented a bloody rescue bid by Indonesian special forces because they requested that there be no acts of violence to free its NZ citizen.

    Mahmodin said Indonesian authorities would instead negotiate with the rebels to free the pilot. There is still hope that there will be a peaceful resolution, as in Papua New Guinea.

    PNG sought negotiation
    In the PNG hostage case, police and authorities had sought to de-escalate the crisis from the start and to negotiate the freedom of the hostages in the traditional “Melanesian way” with local villager go-betweens while buying time to set up their security operation.

    The gang of between 13 and 21 armed men released one of the women researchers — Cathy Alex on Wednesday, reportedly to carry demands from the kidnappers.

    PNG's Police Commissioner David Manning
    PNG’s Police Commissioner David Manning .. . “We are working to negotiate an outcome, it is our intent to ensure the safe release of all and their safe return to their families.” Image: Jim Marbrook/Post-Courier screenshot APR

    But the Papua New Guinean police were under no illusions about the tough action needed if negotiation failed with the gang which had terrorised the region for some months.

    While Commissioner Manning made it clear that police had a special operations unit ready in reserve to use “lethal force” if necessary, he warned the gunmen they “can release their captives and they will be treated fairly through the criminal justice system, but failure to comply and resisting arrest could cost these criminals their lives”.

    Now after the release of the hostages Commissioner Manning says: “We still have some unfinished business and we hope to resolve that within a reasonable timeframe.”

    Earlier in the week, while Prime Minister Marape was in Fiji for the Pacific Islands Forum “unity” summit, he appealed to the hostage takers to free their captives, saying the identities of 13 captors were known — and “you have no place to hide”.

    Deputy Opposition Leader Douglas Tomuriesa flagged a wider problem in Papua New Guinea by highlighting the fact that warlords and armed bandits posed a threat to the country’s national security.

    “Warlords and armed bandits are very dangerous and . . . must be destroyed,” he said. “Police and the military are simply outgunned and outnumbered.”

    ‘Open’ media in PNG
    Another major difference between the Indonesian and Papua New Guinea responses to the hostage dramas was the relatively “open” news media and extensive coverage in Port Moresby while the reporting across the border was mostly in Jakarta media with the narrative carefully managed to minimise the “independence” issue and the demands of the freedom fighters.

    Media coverage in Jayapura was limited but with local news groups such as Jubi TV making their reportage far more nuanced.

    West Papuan kidnap rebel leader Egianus Kogoya
    West Papuan kidnap rebel leader Egianus Kogoya . . . “There are those who regard him as a Papuan hero and there are those who view him as a criminal.” Image: TPNPB

    An Asia Pacific Report correspondent, Yamin Kogoya, has highlighted the pilot kidnapping from a West Papuan perspective and with background on the rebel leader Egianus Kogoya. (Note: Yamin’s last name represents the extended Kogoya clan across the Highlands – the largest clan group in West Papua, but it is not the family of the rebel leader).

    “There are those who regard Egianus Kogoya as a Papuan hero and there are those who view him as a criminal,” he wrote.

    “It is essential that we understand how concepts of morality, justice, and peace function in a world where one group oppresses another.

    “A good person is not necessarily right, and a person who is right is not necessarily good. A hero’s journey is often filled with betrayal, rejection, error, tragedy, and compassion.

    “Whenever a figure such as Egianus Kogoya emerges, people tend to make moral judgments without necessarily understanding the larger story.

    ‘Heroic figures’
    “And heroic figures themselves have their own notions of morality and virtue, which are not always accepted by societal moralities.”

    He also points out that there are “no happy monks or saints, nor are there happy revolutionary leaders”.

    “Patrice Émery Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Malcom X, Ho Chi Minh, Marcus Garvey, Steve Biko, Arnold Aap and the many others are all deeply unfortunate on a human level.”

    Indonesian security forces on patrol guarding roads around Sinakma, Wamena
    Indonesian security forces on patrol guarding roads around Sinakma, Wamena District, after last week’s rioting. Image: Jubi News

    Last week, a riot in Wamena in the mountainous Highlands erupted over rumours about the abduction of a preschool child who was taken to a police station along with the alleged kidnapper. When protesters began throwing stones at the police station, Indonesian security forces shot dead nine people and wounded 14.

    More than 200 extra security forces – military and police – were deployed to the Papuan town as part of a familiar story of repression and human rights violations, claimed by critics as part of a pattern of “genocide”.

    West Papua breakthrough
    Meanwhile, headlines over the pilot kidnapping and the Wamena riot have overshadowed a remarkable diplomatic breakthrough in Fiji by Benny Wenda, president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), a group that is waging a peaceful and diplomatic struggle for self-determination and justice for Papuans.

    West Papua leader Benny Wenda (left) shaking hands with Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka
    West Papua leader Benny Wenda (left) shaking hands with Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka . . . a remarkable diplomatic breakthrough. Image: @slrabuka

    Wenda met new Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, the original 1987 coup leader, who was narrowly elected the country’s leader last December and is ushering in a host of more open policies after 16 years of authoritarian rule.

    The West Papuan leader won a pledge from Rabuka that he would support the independence campaigners to become full members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), while also warning that they needed to be careful about “sovereignty issues”.

    Under the FijiFirst government led by Voreqe Bainimarama, Fiji had been one of the countries that blocked the West Papuans in their previous bids in 2015 and 2019.

    The MSG bloc includes Fiji, the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) representing New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, traditionally the strongest supporter of the Papuans.

    Indonesia surprisingly became an associate member in 2015, a move that a former Vanuatu prime minister, Joe Natuman, has admitted was “a mistake”.

    An elated Wenda, who strongly distanced his peaceful diplomacy movement from the hostage crisis, declared after his meeting with Rabuka, “Melanesia is changing”.

    However, many West Papuan supporters and commentators long for the day when Australia and New Zealand also shed their hypocrisy and step up to back self-determination for the Indonesian-ruled Melanesian region.

  • West Papua: ‘We’re proud Fijians today’ over Rabuka support

    By Felix Chaudhary in Suva

    “We are proud Fijians and Melanesians today” — Fiji Council of Social Services executive director Vani Catanasiga said this in the wake of news that Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has confirmed his support for West Papua’s bid for full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

    “We are overjoyed and are in celebration right now as the news is being conveyed through various social media channels to our members across the country,” she said.

    “This is the principled and compassionate leadership we have all been waiting for and were denied in the past 16 years.

    “Vinaka vakalevu Mr Rabuka — we are proud Fijians and Melanesians today.

    “Thank you to the chiefs who welcomed and committed support to the case, Ratu Epenisa Cakobau and Ro Teimumu Kepa.

    “Thank you to the Reverend Kolivuso of Faith Harvest Church and his congregation for hosting the West Papua Delegation last Sunday.

    ‘Historical day’
    “It is a historical day for Fiji and I’m sure this will be celebrated by our kinfolk in West Papua.

    “This decision and announcement takes West Papua closer to their goal for self determination and freedom from oppression and abuse.”

    Catanasiga issued the statement following a meeting between United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) president Benny Wenda and Prime Minister Rabuka in Nadi on Thursday.

    After the historic meeting, Rabuka tweeted, “Yes, we will support them (United Liberation Movement for West Papua) because they are Melanesians. I am more hopeful (ULMWP) gaining full MSG membership. I am not taking it for granted.

    “The dynamics may have changed slightly but the principles are the same”.

    Speaking to The Fiji Times prior to meeting with Rabuka, Wenda said that by gaining full membership of the MSG he hoped to engage in discussions with Indonesia on the human rights abuses and issues facing his people and seek a way forward that would benefit both parties.

    Felix Chaudhary is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Rabuka backs call for West Papuan independence group to fully join MSG

    By Kelvin Anthony, RNZ Pacific digital and social media journalist, and Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is the first Fijian leader in 16 years to hold a one-on-one meeting with the president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), while also confirming his government will support the independence campaigners bid to become full members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

    However, “sovereignty issues” will need to be considered, Rabuka told RNZ Pacific.

    ULMWP’s exiled president Benny Wenda said that “Melanesia is changing” following his meeting with the Fiji prime minister yesterday.

    Wenda said Rabuka welcomed him with an “open heart” and listened about the human rights atrocities faced by indigenous Papuans.

    He described Rabuka holding the Morning Star independence flag — which is banned by Indonesia — as “overwhelming”.

    “The people of West Papua are celebrating because after 16 years somebody [from the Fiji government] has stood up for West Papua and held the Morning Star flag with the president of the United Liberation Movement.

    “I think that gives us confidence that the issue now is in Melanesia’s hands,” Wenda said.

    International ramifications
    Rabuka said the ULMWP understood the international ramifications and objective of having discussions with governments.

    The ULMWP have been campaigning to gain full membership with the MSG and currently has observer status.

    The bloc includes Fiji, New Caledonia’s FLNKS, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, which is the current chair of the group. Indonesia has associate membership.

    The West Papua independence campaigners have submitted its application for membership twice, in 2015 and 2019.

    Rabuka said the MSG had precedent for granting full membership to an organisation.

    “We had the FLNKS as full members of the MSG before New Caledonia as such became part of the MSG,” he said

    “Yes, we will support them [ULMWP] because they are Melanesians.”

    “I am more hopeful [of ULMWP gaining full membership],” he said, adding “I am not taking it for granted. The dynamics may have changed slightly but the principles are the same.”

    Wenda said the MSG leaders were expected to meet in July and he felt assured after his meeting with Rabuka that Melanesian leaders would respond to their calls.

    “I am going back with a good spirit and my people are all celebrating,” he said.

    Marape: Indonesian control must be respected
    But earlier this week at a joint press conference, Rabuka and Papua New Guinea’s PM, James Marape, stressed that Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua must be respected.

    Marape said while PNG sympathised with the Melanesians of West Papua it “remains part of Indonesia.”

    “We do not want to offset the balance and tempo,” Marape said.

    Rabuka added there were also similar cases existing in the Pacific territories.

    “We have Micronesian, Melanesian communities in Fiji and their original home countries now respect the sovereignty of Fiji,” he said.

    “I am sure they [other Pacific nations] have people-to-people direct contact with [communities in Fiji] to enhance their livelihood here and also continue to promote their culture because of their heritage.”

    He said it was the same for for the indigenous Papuans of Indonesia.

    “We must respect the sovereignty issue there because it could also impact on us if we try to deal with them [West Papua and Indonesia] as separate nations within a sovereign nation.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    Benny Wenda, left, hands a Morning Star flag to Sitiveni Rabuka
    West Papuan leader Benny Wenda hands a Morning Star flag to Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. Image: Fiji govt/RNZ Pacific

  • Reminder: Jimmy Carter Was Just Like All the Other Presidents

    Former president Jimmy Carter is back in the news. His ongoing illness has surely caused him and his loved ones much distress and grief. For that, I wish them peace as the 39th president nears the end of his life.

    However, this is also an important opportunity to recognize that corporate media whitewashing is yet again in full effect — painting Carter as a peace-loving saint who deserved a Nobel Peace Prize.

    As with all U.S. politicians — regardless of party — it remains as dangerous as ever to ignore historical reality.

    During the Carter Administration, the U.S. had a president who claimed that human rights were “the soul of our foreign policy” despite making an agreement with the brutal dictator, “Baby Doc” Duvalier, to not accept the asylum claims of Haitian refugees.

    His duplicity, however, was not limited to our hemisphere; Carter also started earning his Nobel Peace Prize in Southeast Asia.

    In Cambodia, Carter and his national security aide, Zbigniew Brzezinski, made “an untiring effort to find peaceful solutions” by initiating a joint U.S.-Thai operation in 1979 known as Task Force 80, which for ten years, propped up the notorious and lethal Khmer Rouge.

    Interestingly, just two years earlier, Carter displayed his deep respect for human rights when he explained how the U.S. owed no debt to Vietnam. He justified this belief because the “destruction was mutual.”

    (Hmm…do any of you recall being bombarded with napalm and/or Agent Orange here in the Home of the Brave™?)

    Moving further southward in Carter’s efforts to advance democracy and human rights, we have East Timor. This former Portuguese colony was the target of a relentless and murderous assault by Indonesia since December 7, 1975. That assault was made possible through the sale of U.S. arms to its loyal client state, the silent complicity of the American press, and then-Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s skill at keeping the United Nations uninvolved.

    Upon relieving Gerald Ford — but strategically retaining the skills of fellow Nobel peacenik Henry Kissinger — Carter authorized increased military aid to Indonesia in 1977 as the death toll approached 100,000. In short order, over one-third of the East Timorese population (more than 200,000 humans) lost their lives due to war-related starvation, disease, massacres, or atrocities.

    Closer to home, the Rockefeller/Trilateral Commission ally also bared his “gentle soul” in Central America. As historian William Blum detailed, in 1978, the former peanut farmer attempted to create a “moderate” alternative to the Sandinistas through covert CIA support for “the press and labor unions in Nicaragua.”

    After the Sandinistas took power, Blum explained, “Carter authorized the CIA to provide financial and other support to opponents.”

    Also in that region, one of Carter’s final acts as president was to order $10 million in military aid and advisors to El Salvador.

    A final glimpse of “international cooperation based on international law” during the Carter Administration brings us to Afghanistan, the site of a Soviet invasion in December 1979. It was here that Carter and Brzezinski aligned themselves with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to exploit Islam as a method to arouse the Afghani populace to action.

    With the CIA coordinating the effort, some $40 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to recruit “freedom fighters” like (wait for it) Osama bin Laden.

    The rest, as they say, is history.

    Was Jimmy Carter, as Chomsky once said, “the least violent of American presidents”? Perhaps. But have our standards dropped to the point where we meticulously rank the criminals who inhabit the White House?

    Will we ever eschew electoral deceptions and instead recognize and accept and name the big-picture problems?

    If you think Jimmy Carter was ever the answer, you’re asking the wrong questions.

    The post Reminder: Jimmy Carter Was Just Like All the Other Presidents first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Wenda calls on West Papuan rebels to release kidnapped NZ pilot

    RNZ Pacific

    A West Papuan independence movement leader, Benny Wenda, says the release of New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens held hostage by armed rebels is out of his hands.

    The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) fighters kidnapped Mehrtens on February 7 after he landed a small commercial passenger plane in Nduga regency.

    The group then burned the Indonesian-owned Susi Air plane and demanded the New Zealand government negotiate directly for Merhtens’ release.

    Exiled Wenda is president of the peaceful United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

    He told RNZ Pacific he did not condone the actions of the liberation army rebels and had called for them to release the pilot peacefully.

    He said he sympathised with the New Zealand people and Merhtens’ family but insisted the situation was a result of Indonesia’s refusal to allow the UN Human Rights Commissioner to visit West Papua.

    “Because the place where it’s actually happening is where hundreds of thousands [of indigenous Papuans] have been displaced from 2018 up to now — in Nduga, Intan Jaya, Mybrat and also Oksibil,” Wenda said.

    ‘Warning to Indonesia’
    “So this happening right now is a warning to Indonesia to let the UN High Commissioner visit which they have been ignoring these last three years.”

    Philip Mehrtens
    Philip Mehrtens, the New Zealand pilot taken hostage at Paro, Nduga regency, and his aircraft set on fire. Image: Jubi News

    “We are not enemies [with New Zealand]. We are very good,” Wenda said.

    “New Zealand is a very strong supporter of West Papua.

    “I do not think the [TPNPB] group can harm the pilot unless Indonesia uses the situation to do harm. That is my concern.”

    He said Indonesia should consider TPNPB’s demands.

    Wenda is leading a delegation from the ULMWP that is currently in Fiji ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum.

    The group has observer status in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and is lobbying to become a full member.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • Indigenous Papuan negotiators walk to forest hideout to seek release of pilot

    Jubi News in Jayapura

    An indigenous Papuan negotiation team has traversed rugged highlands forests in the Indonesian-ruled Melanesian province in search of the New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens, who was taken hostage by rebels last week.

    The crisis over the captive pilot held by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) led by Egianus Kogoya has entered day eight.

    Papua Police chief Inspector-General Mathius Fakhiri said his party had sent a negotiation team consisting of indigenous people and several influential figures in Nduga regency to meet the armed group.

    Inspector Fakhiri said the team had walked to the hideout location where Mehrtens was being held hostage.

    “Please give us time as the team went there on foot. It will take one to two days to cross the river and pass through such difficult topography,” he said in a written statement.

    “We hope they can arrive safely.”

    On February 7, the TPNPB rebels set fire to a Susi Air plane with call sign PK-BVY that landed at an airstrip in Paro district.

    A video showing hostage pilot Philip Mehrtens with his armed West Papuan rebel captors.  Source: Jubi News

    “TPNPB has officially released photos and videos with the New Zealand pilot, and the pilot is in good health,” said Sambom

    Local government help
    TPNPB also claimed to have captured and held hostage pilot Mehrtens.

    Fakhiri hoped that communication could be established between the negotiation team and Kogoya’s group so that Mehrtens could be released immediately.

    He also hopes that the involvement of the Nduga Regency local government in the search for Philip Mark Mehrtens would be “fruitful”.

    “We asked for help from the Nduga Regent and his people because they know the Nduga area best. They are ready to help, and there are also lawmakers who joined the team to negotiate with the TPNPB,” Inspector Fakhiri said.

    Meanwhile, Susi Air operations director Melinasary said that the burning of the aircraft and the hostage taking of Philip Mark Mehrtens would not force the airline to withdraw from Papua.

    She said Susi Air had been assisting development in Papua since 2006, pioneering flights and providing health assistance and medicines for the community.

    “With this incident, we will not stop flying in the Papua region. But please give us protection,” Melinasary said.

    Melinasary added that Susi Air would provide support in the search for pilot Mehrtens.

    Logistics help
    “We have provided flights for the search process and logistical assistance in the form of food in the search for our pilot,” she said.

    On Tuesday, TPNPB spokesman Sebby Sambom released photos and videos of the Susi Air plane burning.

    Sambom also released a video showing Philip Mehrtens with TPNPB Ndugama leader Egianus Kogoya.

    “TPNPB has officially released photos and videos with the New Zealand pilot, and the pilot is in good health,” said Sambom

    He also said that the pilot was a guarantee of political negotiations between TPNPB and Indonesia.

    In the video circulating, Philip Mehrtens stood among TPNPB members and stated that Indonesia must recognise Papua’s independence.

    Also in the video, Egianus Kogoya said his party would release the pilot if Papua was recognised as a free nation.

    “Indonesia must admit that Papua is independent. We Papuans have long been independent,” Kogoya said.

    Republished from Jubi News with permission

  • Indonesia to negotiate with West Papuan rebels for NZ pilot’s release

    By Tria Dianti in Jakarta

    Authorities in Indonesia’s Melanesian province Papua will negotiate with indigenous pro-independence rebels to secure the release of a New Zealand pilot the insurgents took hostage last week, say police and military officials.

    However, a spokesperson for the rebel group West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) said that while they were ready to negotiate, they would do so only if another country was involved as a mediator.

    The Jakarta government’s negotiation plan came after the TPNPB released a video on Tuesday in which the group said it would kill pilot Philip Mehrtens if government security forces came for them.

    The Papuan police have been coordinating with the local government as well as indigenous and religious leaders to communicate with the local rebel group led by Egianus Kogoya, provincial police spokesman Benny Adi Prabowo said.

    “Regional authorities . . . and customary and religious leaders have access,” he said.

    “We are allowing them to take the lead in opening a space for communication with the Egianus Kogoya group,” he said.

    Some people tasked with the negotiations have arrived in Nduga regency’s Paro district, where rebels set fire to a plane belonging to Susi Air and took Mehrtens hostage on February 7.

    Mehrtens ID confirmed
    Early yesterday, Papua military chief Major-General Muhammad Saleh Mustafa confirmed that the person in the photo and video released by the rebel group was Mehrtens.

    “Based on the visible features, it is true that the photos and videos circulating on social media are of the Susi Air pilot, namely Captain Philip Mark Mehrtens,” Saleh said in a statement.

    In the video, Mehrtens repeated the pro-independece group’s demand for the Indonesian military to withdraw from Papua.

    “The Papuan military has taken me captive in their fight for Papuan independence. They ask for the Indonesian military to go home, if not I will remain captive and my life is threatened,” Mehrtens said.

    Donal Fariz, a lawyer for Susi Air, also said the person in the video was Mehrtens.

    ‘Return to the motherland’s fold’
    Early indications from comments on the government’s and the rebels’ side do not bode well.

    TPNPB spokesman Sebby Sambom said that if Jakarta insisted on negotiating without involving the international community, there would be no talks.

    “We don’t want to deal with the Indonesian government only,” Sambom said.

    Meanwhile, Indonesian military spokesman Colonel Herman Taryaman called the rebel group’s demand for Indonesia to withdraw from Papua impossible to fulfill and “absurd”.

    “In fact, we hope that their group will come to their senses and return to the motherland’s fold,” Taryaman said.

    He added that New Zealand Embassy staff had met with Lieutenant General I. Nyoman Cantiasa, the commander of the joint military and police operation in Papua.

    “They basically stated that the most important thing is that Philip is safe. Secondly, they asked us to have a medical team and medical equipment on stand-by in the event Philip is evacuated,” Nyoman said.

    Earlier hostage-taking
    In 2021, another Susi Air pilot from New Zealand and his three passengers were held by pro-independence rebels in Papua’s Puncak regency but were released after two hours.

    Security forces were trying to locate Mehrtens by conducting air and land surveillance, Colonel Herman Taryaman said.

    “We have not been able to pinpoint Captain Philip’s location yet,” he said.

    Violence and tensions in Papua, a region that makes up the western half of New Guinea island, have intensified in recent years.

    The region has a history of human rights violations by Indonesian security forces and police. Papuan pro-independence rebels also have been accused of attacking civilians.

    In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded Papua, a former Dutch colony like Indonesia, and annexed it. In 1969, the United Nations sponsored a referendum where only 1025 people voted.

    Despite accusations that the vote was a farce, the UN recognised the outcome, effectively endorsing Indonesia’s control over Papua.

    Tria Dianti reports for BenarNews. Arie Firdaus in Jakarta also contributed to this report.

  • Why a NZ pilot is a pawn in the West Papua conflict that the world ignores

    ANALYSIS: By Camellia Webb-Gannon, University of Wollongong

    “Phil Mehrtens is the nicest guy, he genuinely is — no one ever had anything bad to say about him,” says a colleague of the New Zealand pilot taken hostage last week by members of the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPN-PB) in the mountainous Nduga Regency.

    How such a nice guy became a pawn in the decades-long conflict between West Papua and the Indonesian government is a tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    But it is also a symbolic and desperate attempt to attract international attention towards the West Papuan crisis.

    A joint military and police mission has so far failed to find or rescue Mehrtens, and forcing negotiations with Jakarta is a prime strategy of TPN-PB.

    As spokesperson Sebby Sambom told Australian media this week:

    “The military and police have killed too many Papuans. From our end, we also killed [people]. So it is better that we sit at the negotiation table […] Our new target are all foreigners: the US, EU, Australians and New Zealanders because they supported Indonesia to kill Papuans for 60 years.

    “Colonialism in Papua must be abolished.”

    Sambom is referring to the international complicity and silence since Indonesia annexed the former Dutch colony as it prepared for political independence in the 1960s.

    Mehrtens has become the latest foreign victim of the resulting protracted and violent struggle by West Papuans for independence.

    Violence and betrayal
    The history of the conflict can be traced back to 1962, when the US facilitated what became known as the New York Agreement, which handed West Papua over to the United Nations and then to Indonesia.

    In 1969, the UN oversaw a farcical independence referendum that effectively allowed the permanent annexation of West Papua by Indonesia. Since that time, West Papuans have been subjected to violent human rights abuses, environmental and cultural dispossession, and mass killings under Indonesian rule and mass immigration policies.

    New Zealand and Australia continue to support Indonesian sovereignty over West Papua, and maintain defence and other diplomatic ties with Jakarta. Australia has been involved in training Indonesian army and police, and is a major aid donor to Indonesia.

    Phil Mehrtens is far from the first hostage to be taken in this unequal power struggle. Nearly three decades ago, in the neighbouring district of Mapenduma, TPN-PB members kidnapped a group of environmental researchers from Europe for five months.

    Like now, the demand was that Indonesia recognise West Papuan independence. Two Indonesians with the group were killed.

    The English and Dutch hostages were ultimately rescued, but not before further tragedy occurred.

    At one point, negotiations seemed to have stalled between the West Papuan captors and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which was delivering food and supplies to the hostages and working for their release.

    Taking matters into their own hands, members of the Indonesian military commandeered a white civilian helicopter that had been used (or was similar to one used) by the ICRC. Witnesses recall seeing the ICRC emblem on the aircraft.

    When the helicopter lowered towards waiting crowds of civilians, the military opened fire.

    The ICRC denied any involvement in the resulting massacre, but the entire incident was emblematic of the times. It took place several years before the fall of former Indonesian president Suharto, when there was little hope of West Papua gaining independence from Indonesia through peaceful negotiations.

    Then, as now, the TPN-PB was searching for a way to capture the world’s attention.

    Human rights researcher pleads for West Papuan rebels to free NZ pilot

    Losing hope
    Since the early 2000s, with Suharto gone and fresh hope inspired by East Timor’s independence, Papuans — including members of the West Papuan Liberation Army — have largely been committed to fighting for independence through peaceful means.

    After several decades of wilful non-intervention by Australia and New Zealand in what they consider to be Jakarta’s affairs, that hope is flagging. It appears elements of the independence movement are again turning to desperate measures.

    In 2019, the TPN-PB killed 24 Indonesians working on a highway to connect the coast with the interior, claiming their victims were spies for the Indonesian army. They have become increasingly outspoken about their intentions to stop further Indonesian expansion in Papua at any cost.

    In turn, this triggered a hugely disproportionate counter-insurgency operation in the highlands where Phil Mehrtens was captured. It has been reported at least 60,000 people have been displaced in the Nduga Regency over the past four years as a result, and it is still not safe for them to return home.

    International engagement
    It is important to remember that the latest hostage taking, and the 1996 events, are the actions of a few. They do not reflect the commitment of the vast majority of Indigenous West Papuans to work peacefully for independence through demonstrations, social media activism, civil disobedience, diplomacy and dialogue.

    Looking forward, New Zealand, Australia and other governments close to Indonesia need to commit to serious discussions about human rights in West Papua — not only because there is a hostage involved, but because it is the right thing to do.

    This may not be enough to resolve the current crisis, but it would be a long overdue and critical step in the right direction.

    Negotiations for the release of Philip Mehrtens must be handled carefully to avoid further disproportionate responses by the Indonesian military.

    The kidnapping is not justified, but neither is Indonesia’s violence against West Papuans — or the international community’s refusal to address the violence.The Conversation

    Dr Camellia Webb-Gannon, lecturer, University of Wollongong, and author of Morning Star Rising: The Politics of Decolonisation in West Papua. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

  • Accepting Indonesia into MSG ‘a mistake’, admits Natuman

    By Len Garae in Port Vila

    Former Vanuatu Prime Minister Joe Natuman says allowing Indonesia — by former Prime Minister Sato Kilman — into the Melanesian Spearhead Group was a mistake.

    “We (Melanesians) have a moral obligation to support West Papua’s struggle in line with our forefathers’ call, including first former Prime Minister Father Walter Lini, Chief Bongmatur, and others,” he said.

    “Vanuatu has cut its canoe over 40 years ago and successfully sailed into the Ocean of Independence and in the same spirit, we must help our brothers and sisters in the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) to cut their canoe, raise the sail and also help them sail into the same future for the Promised Land.”

    The former prime minister graced the West Papua lobby team on its appointment with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jotham Napat, this week when he agreed to an interview to confirm his support for the West Papua struggle as above and admitted the mistake.

    During their discussions with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Natuman thanked the Minister and Minister for Climate Change Ralph Regenvanu and Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau for their united stand for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) to achieve full membership into the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

    “When we created MSG, it was a political organisation before economic and other interests were added,” he said.

    “After our independence on July 30 of 1980, heads of different political parties in New Caledonia started visiting Port Vila to learn how to stand up strong to challenge France for their freedom.

    Political umbrella
    “I joined the team this week because I was involved under then Prime Minister Father Walter Lini. We advised the political leaders of New Caledonia at the time to form one political umbrella organisation to argue their case, and they formed the FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front).

    “We created ULMWP in 2014 here in Port Vila, to become your political umbrella organisation. After the child that we helped to create, we must continue to work with it to develop it towards its destiny.”

    Like the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Natuman challenged both the government and the lobby team to continue to press for ULMWP victory with all MSG leaders unanimously voting West Papua in as the latest full member of MSG.

    “But now that Indonesia is inside, it is not interested in the ULMWP issue but its own interests. So we must be careful here.

    “We have passed resolutions regarding human rights and the United Nations have agreed for the UN Human Rights Commissioner to visit West Papua to report on the situation on the ground and Jakarta has blocked the visit,” he said.

    Natuman challenged the government over whether to allow Indonesia to continue to behave towards MSG by ignoring the ULMWP demands.

    Meanwhile, then Prime Minister Kilman had the same reasoning for allowing Indonesia into the MSG believing that the occupier would sit on the same table to be allowed to discuss the West Papua dilemma.

    However, it did not work out.

    Hopes for Fiji
    In the latest development, Natuman thinks new Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is not going to govern in the same manner as former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama, now that he had ordered the revival of Fiji’s Great Council of Chiefs which his predecessor had revoked.

    “I also think Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (of the Solomon Islands) still stands in support of ULMWP. I think the Foreign Affairs Minister of Papua New Guinea has to talk to Prime Minister James Marape,” he added.

    In his opinion, based on Vanuatu Foreign Minister Napat’s briefing to the lobby team this week, the MSG Secretariat seemed to “follow every line to the book” regarding the ULMWP application for full membership of MSG.

    “There is no need for the Committee of Officials to control the processes towards a positive outcome to the ULMWP Application. I suggest that you recommend to the Prime Minister to revisit the process,” Natuman suggested.

    “At the Leaders’ Summit, it is the (MSG) Leaders who decide what to talk about in their meeting and do not allow ‘smol-smol man’ to dictate to you what or how you should talk about in your meeting.”

    In addition, he said he was a member of an Eminent Group made up of Ambassador Kaliopate Tavola of Fiji, Roch Wamytan of FLNKS of New Caledonia and Solomons Prime Minister Sogavare who produced an MSG Report.

    “In the report we suggested that it was good that Indonesia came in and I personally recommended a Melanesian Nakamal Concept which in Polynesia and Fiji, it is called Talanoa (process),” Natuman continued.

    Independent chair
    “This would allow Indonesia to sit down within a Melanesian umbrella to discuss their issues. Such a session should be chaired by an independent person such as a church leader or chief.

    “The report is there and it should allow Indonesia to talk about their human right issues. Indonesia could use the avenue to hear ULMWP’s view on their proposed autonomy in West Papua.”

    Indonesia could also bring in their other supporters to place their issues on the table for discussion.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Napat recommended his “top to the bottom” approach instead of from a bottom up approach, allowing the ‘smol-smol man’ to dictate to the leaders how to make their decisions.

    Len Garae is a Vanuatu Daily Post journalist. Republished with permission.

  • Human rights researcher pleads for West Papuan rebels to free NZ pilot

    By Finau Fonua and Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalists

    A researcher at Human Rights Watch in Jakarta is calling for the immediate release of the six hostages — including a New Zealand pilot — being held by a rebel group in Indonesia’s Papua region.

    The rebels in Highlands Papua are threatening to execute Susi Air pilot Phillip Mehrtens if their demands are not met.

    Five other people are also believed to have been taken hostage in the attack.

    The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has posted an ultimatum on social media demanding Jakarta negotiate with them over independence for the region.

    “Pilot is still alive and he will be held hostage for negotiations with Jakarta, if Jakarta is obstinate, then the pilot will be executed,” the statement read.

    “We will take the New Zealand citizen pilot as hostage and we are waiting for accountability from the Australian government, the New Zealand government, the European Union governments, and the United Nations, because for 60 years these countries have supported Indonesia to kill Indigenous Papuans.”

    Researcher Andreas Harsono knows the main spokesperson of the rebel group, Sebby Sambom, after decades of research in the field.

    Personal appeal
    He made a call to him personally to let the hostages go.

    “I call on this group to immediately release all of the hostages including the pilot — it is a crime to kidnap anyone including this pilot,” he told RNZ Pacific.

    “I do not know how to measure the seriousness of such a threat but this is a hostage situation, things could be out of control. So the best way is to negotiate and ask them to release the pilot.”

    Andreas Harsono
    Human rights researcher Andreas Harsono . . . “The best way is to negotiate and ask [the rebels] to release the pilot.” Image: Human Rights Watch/RNZ Pacific

    Harsono noted the difficulties for New Zealand attempting to negotiate with the group, particularly given their demands.

    “I don’t think it is easy or even internationally accepted to pressure the New Zealand government to negotiate for West Papuan independence from Indonesia,” he said.

    “It is way too complicated for any country in the world, including New Zealand, to negotiate the independence of this particular territory. But, of course, the Papuan people have suffered a lot and the Indonesian government should do more to end impunity and human rights abuses in West Papua.

    “But this is a hostage situation. The most important thing is to call on this group to immediately and unconditionally release all of the hostages, including the New Zealand pilot.”

    Very remote region
    Harsono said he did not know whether the passengers had been taken hostage, nor did he know if they were indigenous Papuans.

    “The area is very remote, only certain people go there, mainly construction workers, and there were killings against Indonesian workers back in 2018,” he said.

    Indonesian authorities say they are facing difficulties locating Merhtens because of the lack of telecommunications facilities in Paro district and the absence of any Indonesian military or police post in the area.

    Jubi News quotes Papua Police spokesperson Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo, saying they were continuing to track the whereabouts of Mehrtens and were preparing to go to Paro district.

    He said that before the burning of the plane, rumours had been circulating that a rebel group had threatened 15 construction workers who were building a health centre in the district.

    New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, told Radio New Zealand: “The New Zealand embassy in Indonesia is working on the case.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian security forces ‘have no idea’ where NZ pilot hostage is

    Jubi News in Jayapura

    Indonesian security forces do not know the whereabouts of the New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) on Tuesday,

    Captain Philip Mehrtens, a pilot for Susi Air, was taken hostage following the burning of his aircraft in Paro district, Nduga regency, in a rugged part of Indonesian-ruled Papua province on Tuesday.

    One of the obstacles in finding Mehrtens is the lack of telecommunications facilities in Paro and there is no Indonesian military post in the area, says a police spokesperson.

    Papua Police spokesperson Senior Commander Benny Prabowo said security forces continued to track the whereabouts of the pilot.

    According to Commander Prabowo, the Nduga police were preparing to go to Paro district.

    “Until now, the investigation is still being carried out by the police assisted by the Cartenz Peace Task Force,” he said.

    Earlier on Tuesday, a Susi Air aircraft was burned after landing in Paro district.

    The local leader of the TPNPB Ndugama-Derakma, Egianus Kogeya, said the plane was burned by his men. Kogeya also stated that his group had captured and held Captain Mehrtens hostage.

    Preceded by threats
    Benny said that before the burning of the plane, rumours had been circulating since Saturday that the TPNPB had threatened 15 construction workers who were building a health center in Paro district.

    Commander Prabowo said the Nduga police had received a report from the Nduga regent who said the construction workers were questioned by TPNPB because they did not have complete identities.

    “We got information that 15 people had left Paro district and headed to Mapenduma. But their whereabouts are still being investigated by the Cartenz Peace Task Force,” he explained.

    Commander Prabowo hoped that the public would entrust the handling of the hostage case to the police.

    “Telecommunication access there is still very limited, so there is very little information. I hope all parties will be patient,” he said.

    The TPNPB rebels are fighting for independence in West Papua and say they will not release the pilot until their demands are met.

    Republished from Jubi with permission.

    The hijacked Susi Air aircraft
    The hijacked Susi Air aircraft . . . reportedly shortly before the Papuan rebels set fire to it. Image: Papuan media

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian rights researcher slams kidnapping – efforts to free NZ pilot

    RNZ News

    An Indonesian human rights researcher has condemned the Papuan rebels who have taken a New Zealand pilot hostage and gone into hiding in a remote mountainous region.

    Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch urged the rebels to release the pilot, named as Captain Philip Mehrtens of the Indonesian airline Susi Air.

    “It is a crime to kidnap anyone,” he told RNZ Checkpoint.

    Diplomatic efforts were underway today to try to secure the release of Captain Mehrtens.

    He was the sole pilot when his Susi Air plane with five passengers was captured by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) rebels who torched the aircraft after it landed at Paro airstrip near Nduga yesterday.

    The rebels, fighting for independence in the Melanesian region of Papua, say that his life is at stake, and dependent on negotiations with Jakarta.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • Yamin Kogoya: The fate of Papua’s governor Enembe – where is he now?

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Yamin Kogoya

    On Friday 10 February 2023, it will be one month since the Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was “kidnapped” at a local restaurant during his lunch hour by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and security forces.

    The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was named a suspect by the KPK and summoned by Indonesia’s Mobile Brigade Corps, known as BRIMOB, after being accused of receiving bribes worth one million rupiah (NZ$112,000).

    Since the governor’s kidnapping, Indonesian media have been flooded with images and videos of his arrest, his deportation, being handcuffed in Jakarta while in an orange KPK (prisoner) uniform, and his admission to a heavily armed military hospital.

    Besides the public display of power, imagery, morality and criminality with politically loaded messages, the governor, his family, and his lawyers are still enmeshed in Jakarta’s health and legal system, while his health continues to steadily deteriorate.

    His first KPK investigation on January 12 failed because of his declining health, among other factors such as insufficient or no concrete evidence to be found to date.

    During the first examination, the governor’s attorney, Petrus Bala Pattyona, stated his client was asked eight questions by the KPK investigators. However, all eight questions,  Petrus stressed, had no substance to relevant matters involved — the alegations against the governor.

    None of the questions from the KPK were included in the investigation material, according to the attorney. Enembe’s health condition was the first question asked by the investigator, Petrus told Kompas TV.

    “First, he was asked if Mr Lukas was in good enough health to be examined? His answer was that he was unwell and that he had had a stroke,” Petrus said.

    But the examination continued, and he was asked about the history of his education, work, and family. According to the governor’s attorney, during the lengthy examination no questions were asked about the examination material.

    To date, authorities in Jakarta continue to question the governor and others suspected of involvement in the alleged corruption case, including his wife and son.

    Meanwhile, the governor’s health crisis is causing a massive rift between the governor’s side, civil society groups and government authority.

    Governor Lukas Enembe pictured in a montage
    Governor Lukas Enembe pictured with two Indonesian presidents – with current President Joko Widodo (top left) and with previous President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (top right). Bottom left the Governor is quoted saying: “I will plant a tree of new life and new civilisation”. Image” Montage: YK/APR

    Fresh update
    “The governor of Papua is critically ill today but earlier the KPK still forced an examination and wanted to take him to the Gatot Subroto Hospital, owned by the Indonesian Army; the governor refused and requested treatment in Singapore instead” said the governor’s family last Thursday (February 2), after trying to report the mistreatment case to the country’s Human Rights Commission, who have been dispersed by the Indonesian military and police.

    It appears, they continued, that the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) and Gatot Subroto Hospital did not transparently disclose the real results of the Papua governor’s medical examination.

    Instead, they hid and kept the governor’s illness quiet. As a result, Lukas Enembe was forced to undergo an investigation by the KPK.

    Angered by this treatment, the governor’s team said, “only those who are unconscious and dead to humanity can insist that the governor is well.”

    They said that IDI, Gatot Subroto Hospital and KPK had “played with the pain and the life” of Papua’s Governor Lukas Enembe.

    “Still, the condition hurts. The governor complained that in KPK custody, there was no appropriate bedding for sick people. Earlier today, the governor’s family complained about the situation to the country’s human rights commission, but they refused to accept it.

    “That’s where the governor is, and that’s where we are now. They even call for security forces to be deployed at the human rights office as if we were committing crimes there,” the governor’s family stated.

    “Save Lukas Enembe and save Papua. Papuans must wake up and not be caught off guard. They keep the governor in KPK’s facilities even though he is very ill,” the statement continued.

    Grave concerns
    In his statement, Gabriel Goa, board chair at the Indonesian Law and Human Rights Institute, criticised the Human Rights Commission. He said he questioned the integrity of the chair of the National Human Rights Commission, Atnike Nova Sigiro, for not independently investigating the violations of the rights of the governor by the KPK.

    Goa stated that he had “never seen anything like this” in his 20 years of handling cases related to violations of human rights.

    This was the first he had seen the office of Human Rights Commission involving security forces attending victims seeking help. The kind of treatment that is being perpetrated against Indigenous Papuans is indeed of a particular nature.

    Goa warned: “If this is ignored, and something bad happens to Governor Lukas Enembe, the Human Rights Commission and KPK Indonesia will be held responsible, since victims, their families, and their legal companions have made efforts as stipulated by law.”

    Despite these grave concerns for the Governor’s health and rights violations, the deputy chair of the KPK, Alexander Marwata, stated: “Governor Enembe is well enough to undergo the KPK’s investigation and doesn’t need to go to Singapore.

    “The Indonesian authority says Gatot Subroto Hospital and IDI can handle his health needs, institutions the governor and his family refused to use because of the psychological trauma of the whole situation.”

    Governor Lukas Enembe montage 2
    Images of the harsh treatment of Governor Lukas Enembe after the KPK “kidnapped” him on 10 January 2023. Image: Montage 2/YK/APR

    ‘Inhumane’ treatment of Enembe condemned
    In response to Jakarta’s mistreatment of Governor Enembe, Papua New Guinea’s Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah condemned Jakarta’s “cruel behaviour”.

    Namah, whose electorate borders Papua province, said it was very difficult to ignore this issue because of Namah’s people’s traditional and family ties that extend beyond Vanimo into West Papua.

    According to the PNG Post-Courier, he urged the United Nations to investigate the issue, particularly the manner in which Governor Enembe was being treated by the Indonesian government.

    The way PNG’s Namah asked to be investigated is the way in which Jakarta treats the leaders of West Papua — cunning deceptions that undermine their efforts to deliver their own legal and moral goods and services for Papuans.

    This manner of conduct was criticised even last September when the drama began.

    Responding to the way KPK conducted itself, Dr Roy Rening, a member of the governor’s legal team, stated the governor’s designation as a suspect had been prematurely determined.

    This was due to the lack of two crucial pieces of evidence necessary to establish the legitimacy of the charge within the existing framework of Indonesia’s legal procedural code.

    Dr Rening also argued that the KPK’s behaviour in executing their warrant, turned on a dime. The governor was unaware that he was a suspect, and that he was already under investigation by the KPK when he was summoned to appear.

    In his letter, Dr Rening explained that Governor Enembe had never been invited to clarify and/or appear as a witness pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Code. The KPK instead declared the governor as a suspect based on the warrant letters, which had also changed dates and intent.

    Jakarta’s deceptive strategies targeting Papuan leaders
    There appears to be a consistent pattern of Indonesia’s behaviour behind the scenes as well — setting traps and plotting that ultimately led to the kidnapping of the governor, the same manner as when West Papua’s sovereignty was kidnapped 61 years ago by using and manipulating the UN mechanism on decolonisation.

    As thousands of Papuans guarded the governor’s residence, Jakarta employed two cunning ruses to kidnap the governor, the humanist approach and what the Jakarta elites now proudly refer to as “nasi bungkus” (“pack of rice strategy”).

    A visit by Firli Bahuri, chair of KPK, to the governor in Koya Jayapura, Papua, on 3 November 2022, was perceived as being “humane”, but it was a false approach intended to gain trust, thereby weakening the Papuan support for their final attack on the governor.

    Recently leaked information from the governor’s side alleged that the chair had advised the Governor to put his health first, allowing him to travel to Singapore for routine medical check-ups as he had in the past.

    KPK, however, stated that it had never said such things to Governor Enembe during that meeting.

    With hindsight, what seemed to have resulted from the KPK chief’s visit to the Governor’s house had “loosened” the governor’s defence.

    This then, processed by Indonesian intelligence began keeping a daily count of the number of Papuan civilians guarding the governor’s house by calculating the number of “nasi bungkus” purchased to feed the hungry guardians of the Governor.

    Moreover, critics say information was fabricated regarding an alleged plan for the ill Governor to flee overseas through his highland village in Mamit a few days prior to the kidnapping which would justify this act.

    Kidnapping, sending into exile, imprisoning, and psychologically torturing of Papuan leaders within the Indonesia’s legal system may be part of Indonesia’s overall strategy in maintaining its control over West Papua as its frontier settler colony.

    In order to achieve Jakarta’s objectives, eliminating the power and hope emerging from West Papuan leaders appears to have been the key strategy.

    Victor Yeimo’s fate in Indonesia
    Victory Yeimo, a Papuan independence figure facing similar health problems, has also been placed under the Indonesian judiciary with no clear outcome to date.

    He faces charges of treason and incitement for his alleged role in anti-racial protests that turned into riots in 2019, following the attack on Papuan students in Surabaya by Indonesian militia.

    Yeimo provided a key insight into how this colonial justice system operated in a short video that recently appeared on Twitter. He explained:

    “Although I have not been charged, but I have already been charged with the law, as if I wanted to be punished, so I have been sentenced. It appears as if the decision has already been made. Ah, this seems unfair to me and is a lesson to the Papuan people. You [Indonesia] decide whether or not there is legal justice in this country?

    “Does the law in this country provide any guarantees to Papuans so that we feel we are proud to live in the Republic of Indonesia? If the situation is like this, I am confused.”

    Tragically, choices and decisions of existence for Papuan leaders like Governor Enembe and Victor Yeimo are made by a shadowy figure, camouflaged in a human costume, incapable of feeling the pain of another.

    Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic/activist who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

  • Indonesia’s virtual capital

    Nothing grabs headlines quite like the announcement that a country intends to build a new national capital. Unlike other news of upcoming events—when the G7 will meet, who will attend the COP26 climate summit, or how OPEC will adjust production targets—announcements about purpose-built capitals are aspirational, not predictive. Because of that, they elicit both oohs and aahs – praise for the vision and disbelief that the city will ever be built.

    Let alone that an entirely new city will materialise in such an unlikely location. Canberra was built from scratch in the bush, Brasilia in the middle of the Amazon, and Naypyidaw among rice paddies and sugarcane fields. That a new capital is “purpose-built” signifies that its sole function is to be the seat of state power, intentionally removed from the corrupting influences of finance and business, far from potentially disruptive student demonstrators, and of course free from the embarrassing eyesores of squatters and slums.

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    So, in 2019, when Indonesian President Joko Widodo—popularly known as Jokowi—announced a plan to move the capital from congested, polluted, and subsiding Jakarta to a site on the east coast of the island of Borneo, reactions were all too predictable. There was scepticism that a capital could be constructed in the jungle and concern about environmental degradation (both, sadly, misplaced because the site lost its rainforest long ago).

    On the other hand, the press provided enthusiastic coverage of the interest expressed by foreign investors and the president’s promises that technology would allow the new capital to leapfrog into a future beyond fossil fuels, that 5G systems would enhance connectivity, and that an urban forest would churn out pure oxygen (though in fact Softbank rescinded its offer and new trees will take decades to grow). The president’s promise that the capital, now named Nusantara, would move from Jakarta to the new site by the end of his second term in late 2024 was scuttled by delays in the passage of enabling legislation, the Covid-19 crisis, and of course the logistics of creating even the most basic infrastructure before actual construction of government buildings could begin.

    Perhaps less noted is a more recent pronouncement about Indonesia’s planned new capital. At the end of the G20 Summit in Bali in November 2022, President Jokowi told his international visitors he had one more announcement to make: Nusantara was being launched in Jagat (meaning World), Indonesia’s own virtual platform (though accessible through Mark Zuckerberg’s US$15 billion folly, the Metaverse).

    Speaking through an avatar projected on a giant screen, Jokowi explained that the virtual Nusantara will synchronise with the construction of the actual capital, including in areas of city planning, architectural design and governance. Beyond that, he stated, “The young generations of Indonesia need to unite to shape the future of our country’s digital and real economies. Let’s build Nusantara together through innovation and creativity.”

    Curious, I registered, created an avatar (named Lingard), and a moment later found myself in the virtual Nusantara. More precisely, I found myself on an access road, above which loomed the glistening Garuda-shaped, glass palace and below an orange road barricade, perhaps to prevent visitors from entering a virtual construction area.

    A short walk uphill brought me to a wide garden in front of the palace. There were a few other visitors – among whom I noted Tomato, Bambie, Donat, and Benefits. When avatars get close enough, you can hear each other speaking, or simply eavesdrop. As our avatars converged, I decided it was best not to make friends with Benefits.

    Aside from the visitors, one cannot help but think about what is absent. There are no contractors cutting corners. There are no land speculators. And there are no migrant workers brought in from other parts of the country to level land with virtual backhoes, mix sand and cement in virtual batch mixers, or tie rebar for virtual construction.

    With little to do at the Palace, one quickly discovers that Jagat is not one but two worlds: the second being the Plaza – a glorified shopping centre. A cosmetics store, Sociolla (which has brick and mortar stores in Jakarta and other Indonesian cities), promises that you will be “glowing soon.” A second online space called Noice is advertised as “a place to share audio content,” which, perhaps to attract influencers, allows limitless livestreaming. There is a virtual arcade, called Playland, and a movie theatre, though movies did not seem to be showing. Finally, there is an art gallery called Personalia, where the visitor finds a bouncy castle and yellow construction helmets suspended in air, as if gravity has been turned off.

    What, then, are we to make of a simulacrum of an envisioned capital with, at the time I entered, a mere thirty-seven visitors? If we are to take the president at his word, the virtual Nusantara is intended to enable young Indonesians to identify with the future they have been promised and, perhaps at some stage, even to participate in the design and operation of their new capital.

    At second glance, the cynic might be tempted to conclude that the virtual capital in Indonesia’s first virtual world is nothing more than an admission that Jokowi has neither the time nor the money to construct the actual capital, which one minister has already admitted will take decades to complete.

    But the real question may be whether the state-owned enterprises and private sector developers already circling like vultures for government contracts will be enticed to announce their presence by “buying” real estate or advertising in Jagat, and whether the many opponents of the planned new capital will decide it is worth their effort to put up banners expressing concern about environmental degradation, the lack of job opportunities for locals, and the backdoor business dealing that will invariably emerge over the decades ahead.

    In a world in which so many now seem to live in online, perhaps we should hope that capital and its opponents will come face to face as avatars.

    The post Indonesia’s virtual capital appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • Indonesia acquires EOTECH weapon sights

    The Indonesian Armed Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI) has acquired 1,000 Holographic Weapon Sights (HWS) and magnifiers for use by the Komando Pasukan Khusus (Kopassus), US weapon sights specialist EOTECH announced on 10 January. Kopassus is the Indonesian Army’s (TNI-AD’s) special forces group that conducts special operations missions for the Indonesian government, such as direct […]

    The post Indonesia acquires EOTECH weapon sights appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Activists hail life jail sentence for army major over brutal Papuan killings

    RNZ Pacific

    The Indonesian military says a tribunal has sentenced an army major to life in prison for his involvement in the brutal murder of four Papuan civilians in the Mimika district.

    Their mutilated bodies were found in August 2022.

    Benar News reports that human rights activists and victims’ relatives welcomed the conviction of Major Helmanto Fransiskus Dakhi as progress in holding members of security forces accountable for abuses in West Papua.

    “The defendant … was found guilty of premeditated murder,” Herman Taryaman, a spokesman for the Indonesian military command in Papua, told journalists.

    The tribunal also dismissed Dakhi from the military.

    Taryaman said four other soldiers charged in connection with the killings were being tried by a tribunal in the provincial capital of Jayapura.

    A sixth military suspect died in December after falling ill, while police say four civilians were also facing trial in a civilian court.

    Headless bodies
    Asia Pacific Report reported on 31 August 2021 that residents of Iwaka village in Mimika district had been shocked by the discovery of four sacks, each containing a headless and legless torso, in the village river.

    Two other sacks were found separately, one containing four heads and the other eight legs. The sacks were weighted with stones.

    A spokesman for the victims’ families, Aptoro Lokbere, said he was “satisfied” with the conviction and sentence.

    Gustaf Kawer, an attorney for the victims’ families, said the life sentence for the major was a “brave” decision that should be emulated by military and civilian courts in similar cases.

    Activists had said the violence degraded the dignity of indigenous Papuans amid allegations of ongoing rights abuses by government security forces in West Papua.

    Dakhi is the third Indonesian Armed Forces member to be sentenced to life by a military court in a murder case since June.

    Anger as MSG recruits Indonesians
    Meanwhile, the Melanesian Spearhead Group’s secretariat in Vanuatu has confirmed it has recruited two Indonesians.

    The statement from the group came during a protest against the move in front of the secretariat by the Vanuatu Free West Papua Association.

    The group’s director-general, Leonard Louma, said the agency was aiming to strengthen its capacity and this would include the recruitment of two Indonesian nationals, filling the roles of the private sector development officer and the manager of arts, culture and youth programme.

    Louma said the secretariat had been directed to “re-prioritise” its activities and was now positioning itself to meet the demands and expectations of the leaders.

    The Free West Papua Association said hiring the Indonesians made a mockery of the support Vanuatu had given West Papua for many years.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

  • ‘Terror’ bomb explodes near Papua journalist Victor Mambor’s home

    By Dandy Koswaraputra and Pizaro Gozali Idrus

    A veteran journalist known for covering rights abuses in Indonesia’s militarised Papua region says a bomb exploded outside his home yesterday and a journalists group has called it an act of “intimidation” threatening press freedom.

    No one was injured in the blast near his home in the provincial capital Jayapura, said Victor Mambor, editor of Papua’s leading news website Jubi, who visited New Zealand in 2014.

    Police said they were investigating the explosion and that no one had yet claimed responsibility.

    “Yes, someone threw a bomb,” Papua Police spokesperson Ignatius Benny told Benar News. “The motive and perpetrators are unknown.”

    The Jayapura branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned the explosion as a “terrorist bombing”.

    In Sydney, the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) and Pacific Media Watch in New Zealand protested over the incident and called for a full investigation.

    Mambor said he heard the sound of a motorcycle at about 4 am and then an explosion about a minute later.

    ‘Shook like earthquake’
    “It was so loud that my house shook like there was an earthquake,” he told Benar News as reported by Radio Free Asia.

    “I also checked the source of the explosion and smelt sulfur coming from the side of the house.”

    The explosion left a hole in the road, he said.

    The incident was not the first to occur outside Mambor’s home. In April 2021, windows were smashed and paint sprayed on his car in the middle of the night.

    Tabloid Jubi editor Victor Mambor
    Tabloid Jubi editor Victor Mambor being interviewed by Pacific Media Watch’s Anna Majavu during the first visit by a Papuan journalist to New Zealand in 2014. Image: Del Abcede/PMW

    Mambor is also an advocate for press freedom in Papua. In that role, he has criticised Jakarta’s restrictions on the media in Papua, as well as its other policies in his troubled home province.

    The AJI awarded Mambor its press freedom award in August 2022, saying that through Jubi, “Victor brings more voices from Papua, amid domination of information that is biased, one-sided and discriminatory.”

    “AJI in Jayapura strongly condemns the terrorist bombing and considers this an act of intimidation that threatens press freedom in Papua,” it said in a statement.

    ‘Voice the truth’ call
    “AJI Jayapura calls on all journalists in the land of Papua to continue to voice the truth despite obstacles. Justice should be upheld even though the sky is falling,” said AJI chair Lucky Ireeuw.

    Amnesty International Indonesia urged the police to find those responsible.

    “The police must thoroughly investigate this incident, because this is not the first time … meaning there was an omission that made the perpetrators feel free to do it again, to intimidate and threaten journalists,” Amnesty’s campaign manager in Indonesia, Nurina Savitri, told BenarNews.

    The Papua region, located at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, has been the site of a decades-old pro-independence insurgency where both government security forces and rebels have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians.

    Foreign journalists have been largely barred from the area, with the government insisting it could not guarantee their safety. Indonesian journalists allege that officials make their work difficult by refusing to provide information.

    The armed elements of the independence movement have stepped up lethal attacks on Indonesian security forces, civilians and targets such as construction of a trans-Papua highway that would make the Papuan highlands more accessible.

    Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, has accused Indonesian security forces of intimidation, arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and mass forced displacement in Papua.

    Security forces kill 36
    Last month, Indonesian activist group KontraS said 36 people were killed by security forces and pro-independence rebels in the Papua and West Papua provinces in 2022, an increase from 28 in 2021.

    In Sydney, Joe Collins of the AWPA said in a statement: “These acts of intimidation against local journalists in West Papua  threaten freedom of the press.

    “It is the local media in West Papua that first report on human rights abuses and local journalists are crucial in reporting information on what is happening in West Papua”.

    Collins said Canberra remained silent on the issue — ‘the Australian government is very selective in who it criticises over their human rights record.”

    There was no problem raising concerns about China or Russia over their record, “but Canberra seems to have great difficulty in raising the human rights abuses in West Papua with Jakarta.”

    Republished from Free Radio Asia with additional reporting by Pacific Media Watch.

    Victor Mambor as an advocate for media freedom in West Papua
    Victor Mambor as an advocate for media freedom in West Papua. Image: AWPA

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • PNG’s ‘useless Maseratis’ – now a used car twist to the luxury car saga

    PNG Post-Courier

    There is a new twist in Papua New Guinea’s four-year drama surrounding the Maseratis bought for the 2018 APEC Summit.

    It has emerged that the Department of Foreign Affairs, which wants to send the luxury vehicles to foreign missions abroad, cannot do so, because the vehicles — which have been collecting dust in a Port Moresby warehouse — will now be classified as “used vehicles”.

    And some countries in which PNG’s foreign missions are based cannot accept them under that category.

    Foreign Affairs Secretary Elias Wohengu said that Papua New Guinea was also a non-vehicle producing country which did not have a licence or permit to export vehicles, let alone used ones.

    Many developed countries could accept anything classified as “used vehicles” from PNG.

    Other countries, such as Solomon Islands and Indonesia, also have other obstacles to overcome, if the cars were going to be sent eventually — Solomon Islands does not have good paved roads for such low-lying luxury vehicles, and Indonesian roads are just too crowded. Fast cars such as the Maseratis will be of no use there.

    Early last year a notice was sent for PNG Foreign Affairs Department and its missions abroad to be given the priority to purchase Maseratis and Bentleys for their operations.

    Challenges facing missions
    There were challenges facing the missions and their heads on the latter.

    Yesterday Wohengu spelled out the challenges preventing the cars from being sent across to the PNG Missions.

    “As soon as the vehicles leave the sales spot, it is portrayed as a used car already,” he said.

    “Some of these host countries do not accept used cars so we have the used car issue.

    “Second issue that we have is the cost of shipment . . . But the biggest challenge is that many countries do not accept used cars, especially for diplomatic use and not from PNG,” he said.

    “We would have got vehicles for all the missions, but you see, I can’t send a Bentley or a Maserati to Solomon Islands. Similarly I cannot send these vehicles to Jayapura or Fiji.

    “But most of all, the used cars are not accepted in many host countries. Also we don’t have a permit for exporting used cars out of PNG. We can buy new vehicles from elsewhere but we can’t export them from PNG.

    “Australia will not accept these cars from here, Singapore totally no. These are some examples.”

    Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Probe into officers’ actions after one person killed in West Papua shooting

    RNZ Pacific

    Police officers in West Papua will be investigated over shootings during a provincial governor’s controversial arrest.

    One person died after the struggle that followed the arrest of Papua Governor Lukas Enembe over allegations of bribery.

    As many as 19 people were detained by the police for allegedly attacking security forces.

    Papua police chief Mathias Fakhiri has ordered the head of the Internal Affair Division and director of Criminal Investigation of the Papua Police to immediately investigate the actions taken by police officers.

    He asked his staff to approach families and religious, community and traditional leaders, so that the arrest of Governor Lukas Enembe would not create unrest.

    “I ask for the report today. If there is indeed a wrong handling, I ensure there will be law enforcement against members who do not comply with the standard operating procedures,” he said.

    “I urge all parties not to spread hoaxes or information that does not match the facts,” he said.

    “Let us provide moral support so that the legal process runs as it is.”

    Wenda calls for governor’s release
    A West Papuan independence leader, Benny Wenda, has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Governor Enembe.

    Wenda said the arrest follows the governor’s “criminalisation” in September 2022, when he was accused of corruption and banned from travelling abroad for essential medical treatment.

    The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) leader said Enembe’s treatment could not be separated from his increasingly vocal stance against Indonesia’s colonial policies in West Papua.

    Wenda said Enembe opposed Indonesia’s division of West Papua into new provinces, which the exiled leader described as a “divide and rule” tactic designed to steal the region’s natural resources and allow further militarisation of villages.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

    West Papuan independence campaigner Benny Wenda
    West Papuan independence campaigner Benny Wenda at the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Tuvalu, 2019. Image: Jamie Tahana/RNZ Pacific

  • Namah blasts PNG government over ‘serious’ Indonesian border issues

    By Gorethy Kenneth in Port Moresby

    An angry tirade on Papua New Guinea and Indonesia border issues in the PNG Parliament yesterday is likely to ignite an international uproar over the alleged behaviour of government officials.

    During yesterday’s session, Vanimo-Green MP and former soldier Belden Namah, asked why border liaison meetings were always held in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

    He also called on the government to allow for this Indonesia-PNG Border Treaty — which PNG has not ratified — to be withheld so serious issues pertaining to the border arrangements between the two countries would be addressed.

    Namah, who is the parliamentary chair for Defence, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, claimed that Indonesian government officials were “getting our officers drunk, giving them women and then come the meeting — they are just sitting there saying, ‘Yes sir, yes sir’!”

    “Every time a border liaison meeting is held we are taking our people to Jakarta.

    “When they go to Jakarta, they go and drink Bintang beer and get into illegal activities and they don’t attend border liaison meetings representing our country,” Namah claimed.

    He said PNG soldiers were no longer patrolling the PNG border and that Indonesians were constantly breaching the border and crossing into PNG.

    ‘Serious security issue’
    “This is a serious national issue, serious security issue that we need to address. We need to carefully look at these issues.”

    Namah’s angry outburst followed a move by the Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko to introduce the ratification of the Border Treaty agreement between PNG and Indonesia.

    “We must make hard decisions, we are a sovereign nation. We cannot go on border liaison all the time in Jakarta,” Namah said.

    “There are a lot of issues yet to be addressed and we must not rush the ratification of these border arrangements.

    PNG's Defence parliamentary chair Belden Namah
    PNG’s Defence parliamentary committee chair Belden Namah . . . “Indonesians have already crossed into our side — we have turned a blind eye.” Image: PNG Post-Courier

    “We as a country have not been seriously looking at the border demarcation, whether it is the responsibility of the Foreign Affairs or Provincial Affairs.

    “When you go to the border, Indonesians have already crossed into our side and they are already engaged in activities on our side of the border — we have turned a blind eye.

    ‘Do we know what’s happening?’
    “Do we know what is happening on the border?”

    More than 12,000 citizens from West Sepik — especially people from Namah’s electorate — had crossed over to Indonesia because “on our side, we, as a national government” were not providing basic services to Papua New Guineans.

    “I want to have a look at this treaty before Parliament can pass it and I am arguing now as the chairman for Defence, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, I want to have a look at it before it is signed,” Namah said.

    “I want to raise the issues of our land, why has Indonesia crossed into the side of our border?”

    Namah said that perhaps PNG needed needed to close the Batas [trade] centre in Wutung and the Indonesians moved back to their side.

    “Maybe we should build a naval base at the mouth of River Torassi in Western Province and ask the Indonesians to dismantle their naval base on their side,” he said.

    “I am proposing now that every border liaison be held outside of Indonesia and PNG, somewhere neutral so we can raise these issues.

    Important sovereignty issues
    “These are important sovereignty issues.

    “I propose that this particular treaty be withheld to allow my committee, the parliamentary committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs and Trade to review it before we actually sign it.”

    According to Prime Minister James Marape, the border treaty agreement was signed in 2013 and ratified by NEC in 2015.

    Since then, there had been no border talks.

    Gorethy Kenneth is a PNG Post-Courier senior journalist. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Jokowi acknowledges gross human rights violations in Indonesia, Papua

    RNZ Pacific

    Indonesian President Joko Widodo has acknowledged “gross human rights violations” in his country’s history and vowed to prevent any repeat.

    He cited 12 “regrettable” events, including an anti-communist purge at the height of the Cold War.

    By some estimates, the massacres killed about 500,000 people.

    President Joko Widodo
    President Joko Widodo … “I strongly regret that those violations occurred.” Image: Thai PBS World

    Widodo is the second Indonesian president to publicly admit the 1960s bloodshed, after the late Abdurrahman Wahid’s public apology in 2000.

    The violence was unleashed after communists were accused of killing six generals in an attempted coup amid a struggle for power between the communists, the military and Islamist groups.

    “With a clear mind and an earnest heart, I as [Indonesia’s] head of state acknowledge that gross human rights violations did happen in many occurrences,” Widodo said at a news conference outside the presidential palace in Jakarta.

    “And I strongly regret that those violations occurred,” added the president, more commonly known as Jokowi.

    Democratic activists abducted
    The events he cited took place between 1965 and 2003 and included the abduction of democratic activists during protests against former leader Suharto’s iron-fisted presidency in the late 1990s.

    The president also highlighted rights violations in the region of Papua — the eastern region bordering Papua New Guinea where there has been a long-running independence movement — as well as during an insurgency in the province of Aceh, in the north of the island of Sumatra.

    The government was looking to restore the rights of victims “fairly and wisely without negating judicial resolution”, he said, but did not specify how this would be done.

    “I will endeavour wholeheartedly to ensure gross human rights violations never happen again in the future,” he added.

    However, rights activists said his admission failed to address government responsibility.

    Call for legal action
    Amnesty International’s Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid called for legal action to be taken against the perpetrators of these acts.

    “Mere recognition without trying to bring to justice those responsible for past human rights violations will only add salt to the wounds of the victims and their families. Simply put, the president’s statement is meaningless without accountability,” he said.

    Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch said Widodo “stopped short of explicitly admitting the government’s role in the atrocities or making any commitments to pursue accountability”.

    Widodo recently received a report from a team he commissioned last year to investigate rights violations.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • America’s “War against Communism” Was Really a War against Advocates for the Poor

    Two examples — Korea and Indonesia — will be documented here in order to display that America’s Cold War against communism was/is a cover-story, or deceptive cloak, for a war actually against the poor (and the political Left) in all nations: in other words, a fascist war, meaning that America’s Government became fascist-imperialist as soon as World War II ended, despite FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt — America’s President throughout WW II) having been passionately anti-fascist and anti-imperialist. All of this will be explained here, and documented in the article’s links. First, however, will be explained the underlying economic mechanism employed by means of this war that’s actually against the poor, not ONLY against communists. This modern version of fascist-imperialism relies more on deception — on sophisticated propaganda — than Hitler’s did, because Hitler never pretended to advocate for democracy, whereas America does. So, here it is:

    In third-world countries, where labor is non-unionized and cheap, an international corporation can supply the latest industrial machinery, to be worked by the fewest dirt-wage workers in order to undercut the prices of any merely intranational (or ‘local’) corporation while still making intranational (within-nation) profits that are vastly higher than any merely local corporations (which are competing against the multinational ones) in any country can and do; and this is the secret of billionaires (who control international corporations) by which they consequently generate vastly higher rates of return on investment than any merely local entrepreneurs possibly can. Offshoring production thus greatly increases return-on-investment for the billionaires while it drives wages down for the workers in the industrialized countries. On a global scale, it’s a war by the super-rich against the poor. In both respects (by lowering wages in industrialized countries and prohibiting labor unions in the banana republics), the result is to cause an ever-increasing proportion of the world’s wealth to become concentrated amongst the billionaires — the people who control international corporations. From the standpoint of billionaires, it’s the system that surpasses any other. From the standpoint of the world’s poor, however, it is the worst system imaginable, because it funnels wealth from the masses to the super-rich; it impoverishes billions while pouring a bigger and bigger share of the world’s wealth into the control of the world’s mere 3,000-or-so billionaires. That’s the way the world works and ever-increasingly has worked ever since 1945.

    Here’s how it happened:

    Korea

    “The secret genocide in South Korea you’ve probably never heard of”

    (The sources in the article, by Écspielle Kay, excerpted here are mainly hidden behind paywalls because the U.S. Government has always suppressed what this article is reporting. But I have accessed every source here, and find the article to be fully honest and accurately documented. I have removed the photos but retain their descriptions.)

    … What had really happened in Daejeon in the summer of 1950 … was later termed the Bodo League massacre.

    The centre of Daejeon, South Korea, appearing as an ordinary industrial city. Also the site of one of history’s largest massacres.

    Song Joon-ae immediately told the manager of the site. The manager of the site called the Daejeon division of the construction contractor company. It continued upwards until the discovery was brought to the attention to South Korean authorities. The construction site became an excavation site, and the bones which Soon Joon-ae found were not the last to be unearthed.

    Government officials at the various sites around Daejeon found hundreds of sites with hundreds of bodies, some children, some infants, some civilians, some wearing peasant clothing, others wearing military uniform. Park Rae-mun, an archaeologist who appeared at the site estimated that 1.2 million people were massacred at the various sites around Daejeon. Kim Dong-Choon of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a South Korean governmental body, conservatively estimates that approximately 100,000 were executed by the South Korean military on October 1950, while many point to 400,000 as a likely figure. Both executioners and escapees came forward, and a picture gradually built up that these people were massacred on the suspicion of being leftists. …

    The story of South Korea’s past starts with a provisional government often forgotten about in history textbooks. The People’s Republic of Korea lasted only from 1945 to 1946, and its capital was in Seoul. Through people’s committees all over the Korean peninsula, a twenty-seven-point programme was formed through democratic participation in government, a relatively novel experience for Korean people at the time.

    “the confiscation without compensation of lands held by the Japanese and collaborators; free distribution of that land to the peasants; rent limits on the non-redistributed land; nationalization of such major industries as mining, transportation, banking, and communication; state supervision of small and mid-sized companies; …guaranteed basic human rights and freedoms, including those of speech, press, assembly, and faith; universal suffrage to adults over the age of eighteen; equality for women; labor law reforms including an eight-hour day, a minimum wage, and prohibition of child labor; and “establishment of close relations with the United States, USSR, England (ed. should be the United Kingdom), and China, and positive opposition to any foreign influences interfering with the domestic affairs of the state.”…

    As soon as American troops landed in September of 1945, something seemed off about the People’s Republic of Korea. Nationalisation of major industries? Free distribution of land to peasants? People’s committees? Strong labour-unions and an eight-hour work day? To the United States, this experiment in a united Korean peninsula under democratic rule whiffed of communism.

    What immediately occurred afterwards was the abolition of the People’s Republic of Korea by military decree. Officials serving under the government were shot, buildings were bombed, and supposedly “communist-sympathetic” Korean troops stationed in the country were summarily executed in a bloodbath lasting for several months. The United States Army Military Government was established, causing the eruption of mass public outrage at military personnel from the former Japanese Empire serving in office in South Korea.

    To even further outrage, Lieutenant General John R. Hodge of the 24 Corps of the U.S. Tenth Army, assessing the situation badly, announced that the Japanese colonial government in Incheon would be kept, and, surprised at the poor reaction from Korean citizens his decision had elicited, tried to placate them by creating the Korean Advisory Council to represent the voice of ordinary Koreans. Unsurprisingly, his council was composed of landowners, wealthy businessmen, and officials from the Japanese colonial government.

    Still not taking the hint, the military government continued to rule over months of civil unrest and outbursts of violence after outlawing the people’s committees and the PRK government. On September 23, 1946, 8,000 railway workers in Busan lead a strike, quickly spreading to hundreds of other towns and cities. A police station in Yeongcheon went under siege as a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands converged all at once, killing 40 policemen. More rebellions killed more than 20 Japanese officials and landlords. The situation escalated, and the American military declared martial law, tens of thousands being killed as military troops fired into mass crowds of demonstrators.

    With haste, the First Republic of Korea, what we now know as South Korea, was declared in 1948. Syngman Rhee was flown abroad a US military aircraft to Tokyo, travelling to Seoul, and was installed as [president of the First Republic of Korea]. Rhee immediately arrested the remaining left-wing opponents in the political arena, setting his sights on Kim Koo, a former independence activist, an increasingly popular statesman, and advocate of unification. Syngman Rhee, as a fierce anti-communist and nationalist who would later be forced into exile by his own citizens, had him killed on 26 June 1949. …

    *****

    “South Korea’s Embattled Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” 1 March 2010

    MS [Mark Selden]: How have the media covered the work of the Commission?

    KDC [Kim Dong-chun, retired Standing Commissioner of South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission]: We have had to contend with the fact that the biggest Korean newspapers have ignored or suppressed our important findings and resolutions. The conservative press fails to recognize the relationship between past wrongs and present injustices facing many Korean citizens and those of other countries.

    *****

    “The Road to the Truth: Lessons from South Korea’s Truth Commissions” (2021)

    1 The Final Report of the Jeju Commission confirmed systemic massacres, indiscriminate arrests, torture, and summary executions by the Rhee government during the U.S. military occupation of Korea. 72 The release of the Final Report in 2003 resulted in a public apology from then President Roh Moo-hyun, the inclusion of the Final Report in Korea’s educational curriculum, and the creation of memorials for the deceased.73 Unlike the Anti-Nation Commission, the Jeju Commission had a clear mandate that authorized the Jeju Commission to freely conduct investigations into the Jeju Uprising.74 The extensive involvement of the Office of the Prime Minister also showed how proper governmental support helped the Jeju Commission succeed.75 The apology from President Roh was particularly significant because it marked the first apology by a head of state for human rights abuses in Korea.76 Furthermore, the allowance of the Final Report in high school classrooms allowed for a more neutral understanding of what really happened in the period leading up to the Korean War.77 C. South Korean Truth Commissions and the Korean War The Korean War claimed the lives of over 1,000,000 civilians, which made it the deadliest civilian event in Korean history.78 During the Korean war, atrocities were committed by the South Korean government against its own citizens. 79 For example, the 1949 Bodo League massacres that occurred during the Rhee presidency claimed the lives of nearly 200,000 South Koreans for allegedly being North Korean spies or communist sympathizers. 80 …

    Although the TRCK made efforts to locate remains from mass graves related to the Bodo League Massacres and the Geochang massacres, the TRCK’s efforts were cut short due to an abrupt change in leadership in 2008, when President Lee Myung-bak came to power.89 When established in 2005, the TRCK had the full support of then President Roh Moo-hyun who was committed to using truth commissions as a vehicle for uncovering the violent truths of Korea’s past.90 In contrast, President Lee saw truth commissions as an obstacle to his goal of bolstering Korea’s economy.91 The TRCK’s resources and mandate became even more vulnerable when Lee appointed “new leaders” to the TRCK commission to better serve his policy agendas.92

    *****

    “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea: Uncovering the Hidden Korean War”

    1 March 2010, by Kim Dong-choon

    The Other War: Korean War Massacres

    More than 2 million people were killed during the Korean War. The casualties included not only military personnel but also innocent civilians. Few are aware that the Korean authorities as well as US and allied forces massacred hundreds of thousands of South Korean civilians at the dawn of the Korean War on June 25, 1950. The official records of government, military and police, as well as survivor testimonies, reveal that mass killings committed by South Korean and U.N forces occurred before and during the Korean War (June 1950 to July 1953).

    *****

    “Truman put Nukes in Guam and Gave the Order to Nuke North Korea”

    (Based upon key details that slipped through in the academic book by Bruce Cumings; (2011) The Korean War, Robert Barsocchini documents that President Truman had an order drawn up to nuke North Korea but, for some unclear reason, “the order [to nuke North Korea] was never sent.” This was already after Truman had –)

    managed to kill millions of Koreans, many, if not most, with “oceans” of napalm produced largely by the Dow Chemical Company, which the US air-force “loved”, referring to it as the “wonder weapon” for its ability to wipe out whole cities of people.

    One day Pfc. James Ransome, Jr.’s unit suffered a “friendly” hit of this wonder weapon: his men rolled in the snow in agony and begged him to shoot them, as their skin burned to a crisp and peeled back “like fried potato chips.” Reporters saw case after case of civilians drenched in napalm — the whole body “covered with a hard, black crust sprinkled with yellow pus.”

    US “intent was to destroy Korean society down to the individual constituent”.

    Cities were destroyed, civilians burned to death and blown to bits with zero “tactical or strategic value”.  Killing was an “end in itself”.

    “[T]he United States Air Force was inflicting genocide”, Cumings notes, “on the citizens of North Korea.”

    *****

    “The Case Against North Korea”

    (I had posted this on 23 September 2019, to place into historical perspective the U.S. regime’s war against North Korea:)

    So, Iran didn’t ever invade America, nor did Russia. What about North Korea, then? Did North Korea ever invade America? No, neither did that alleged ‘enemy’ of America. But America did  invade North Korea during the Korean War. Have you ever seen the 764-page “Report of the International Scientific Commission for the Investigation of the Facts Concerning Bacterial Warfare in Korea and China”? It documents America’s biological warfare program against North Korea in 1952. You probably haven’t even heard about it, because the U.S. regime managed to keep it hidden from the public until just this year, and because America’s ‘news’-media continue to blacklist its existence so as to continue the ‘justification’ for the U.S. regime’s still-ongoing efforts to conquer North Korea. But look at it here, as soon as its 764 pages have finished loading into your computer. Now that the U.S. regime is increasing its threats against both North Korea and China, the Governments in those countries recently released this document to the public, and thereby are challenging the U.S. propaganda-media to allow the publics in the U.S. and its vassal nations to see it — to see real history about this matter, not just propaganda (such as the U.S. is the world’s champion of).

    This massive historical document opens:

    On the 22nd. Feb. 1952, Mr. Bak Hun-Yung, Foreign Minister of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and on the 8th. March, Mr. Chou En-Lai, Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China, protested officially against the use of bacteriological warfare by the U.S.A. On the 25th. Feb., Dr. Kuo Mo-Jo, President of the Chinese People’s Committee for World Peace, addressed an appeal to the World Peace Council.

    At the meeting of the Executive Committee of the World Peace Council held at Oslo on the 29th. March, Dr. Kuo Mo-Jo, with the assistance of the Chinese delegates who accompanied him, and in the presence of the Korean representative, Mr. Li Ki-len, placed the members of the Committee, and other national delegates, in possession of much information concerning the phenomena in question. Dr. Kuo declared that the governments of China and (North) Korea did not consider the International Red Cross Committee sufficiently free from political influence to be capable of instituting an unbiassed enquiry in the field. This objection was later extended to the World Health Organisation, as a specialised agency of the United Nations. However, the two governments were entirely desirous of inviting an international group of impartial and independent scientists to proceed to China and to investigate personally the facts on which the allegations were based. They might or might not be connected with organisations working for peace, but they would naturally be persons known for their devotion to humanitarian causes. The group would have the mission of verifying or invalidating the allegations. After thorough discussion, the Executive Committee adopted unanimously a resolution calling for the formation of such an International Scientific Commission.

    Ultimately, as Jeffrey S. Kay recently explained in his superb article at Global Research introducing this document to U.S.-and-allied publics:

    Written largely by the most prestigious British scientist of his day, this report was effectively suppressed upon its release in 1952. Published now in text-searchable format, it includes hundreds of pages of evidence about the use of U.S. biological weapons during the Korean War, available for the first time to the general public.

    Back in the early 1950s, the U.S. conducted a furious bombing campaign during the Korean War, dropping hundreds of thousands of tons of ordnance, much of it napalm, on North Korea. The bombardment, worse than any country had received up to that point, excepting the effects on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, wiped out nearly every city in North Korea, contributing to well over a million civilian deaths. Because of the relentless bombing, the people were reduced to living in tunnels. Even the normally bellicose Gen. MacArthur claimed to find the devastation wreaked by the U.S. to be sickening.[1]

    The massive document itself authenticates numerous reports of the U.S. flying planes over North Korea and dropping containers of fleas, clams, and other creatures, that were tested and verified as being contaminated with plague and cholera. For example, on pages 24-26 are described several such incidents. Typical was one in which “the Commission had no option but to conclude that the American air force was employing in Korea methods very similar to, if not exactly identical with, those employed to spread plague by the Japanese during the second world war.” Furthermore, one expert “gave evidence to the effect that he had urged the Kuomintang government to make known to the world the facts concerning Japanese bacterial warfare, but without success, partly, he thought, as the result of American dissuasion.” In other words: the U.S. regime not only protected and hired ‘former’ Nazis to use against USSR, but it did the same with Japan to use against China and North Korea. This 1952 operation against North Korea was perpetrated by the regime under U.S. President Harry S. Truman — the former Vice President who had been forced onto FDR’s final ticket by that Party’s top donors in order to get a war started against the Soviet Union and thereby keep their enormous government contracts continuing after WW II. Right after FDR died, Truman got fooled by Churchill and Eisenhower into starting the Cold War against the Soviet Union; and this 1952 international war-crime against China and North Korea was part of that.

    (The Netflix series from South Korea, The Glory, is fictional but its portrayal of current South Korean culture is relevant here because it portrays South Korea as having a rigid and brutal caste-system that honors the rich and damns the poor, and thus it exemplifies in today’s generation of South Koreans the values-system that the U.S. regime has inculcated into their culture. This is an extreme version of neoliberalism-libertarianism, a zero-sum-game view of life in which individuals are evaluated mainly if not entirely by how wealthy or poor they are: rights come ONLY from wealth, and the poor are worth nothing and deserve to be trashed.)

    *****

    Indonesia

    The October 1965 through March 1966 Indonesian government extermination of anywhere from 500,000 to two million Indonesian supporters of communism and of any other left-wing (or pro-poor) political party — including supporters of Indonesia’s leader, General Sukarno, who had some leftist supporters, including some that were communists — was probably masterminded, ordered, by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, on behalf of the owners of the mega-corporations who were backing the Democratic Party. Certainly, LBJ was behind this ‘ethnic cleansing’, even well before it began. As early as March 1965, Johnson’s people were privately vitriolic against Sukarno, who was making noises about land-reform and possibly nationalizing natural resources. For example, on 18 March 1965, “118. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State (Ball) to President Johnson” opened:

    Our relations with Indonesia are on the verge of falling apart. Sukarno is turning more and more toward the Communist PKI. The Army, which has been the traditional countervailing force, has its own problems of internal cohesion. Within the past few days the situation has grown increasingly more ominous. Not only has the management of the American rubber plants been taken over, but there are dangers of an imminent seizure of the American oil companies.

    The coup started on 1 October 1965; General Suharto was installed to replace Sukarno, and promptly began the extermination-campaign. But he didn’t know whom to slaughter; so, as one excellent review of Vincent Bevins’s excellent book about the slaughters, The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World, succinctly put the matter, “The US provided arms, training, communication equipment and lists of thousands of real and alleged leftists to be killed. US-owned plantations furnished lists of ‘troublesome’ employees. US officials repeatedly sent cables to the leader of the butchery, General Suharto, to kill the leftists faster.” Other fine reviews of this book are here and here. However, like the other books that have been published about that extermination-campaign, Bevins’s focus isn’t on the masterminds who planned and bribed to get it done (its beneficiaries), but instead on the physical perpetrators and their victims. The coup-and-extermination’s ultimate beneficiaries aren’t named, nor identified.

    The U.S. did that extermination in conjunction with other members of the American gang, mainly in Europe. The Judge in the International People’s Tribunal stated that “the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Australia were all complicit to differing degrees in the commission of these crimes against humanity.” It was a Rhodesist operation, done for the U.S.-and-allied (especially Netherlands) aristocracies.

    As I have documented elsewhere, FDR was intensely opposed to all imperialisms, but on 25 July 1945, Truman made the decision to reverse FDR’s foreign policies and aim for the U.S. itself to take control over the entire world.

    (The 1982 Peter Weir movie, The Year of Living Dangerously, dramatically represents, from the standpoints of diplomats who were serving in Indonesia at the time leading up to and during the extermination-campaign, the chaotic conditions in Indonesia during that period, but sheds little light upon the reasons, methods, perpetrators, and beneficiaries, behind the massacres.)

    The post America’s “War against Communism” Was Really a War against Advocates for the Poor first appeared on Dissident Voice.

  • Yamin Kogoya: Arrest of Papuan governor Enembe condemned as illegal Jakarta ‘kidnap’

    ANALYSIS: By Yamin Kogoya

    Following months of legal limbo and a health crisis, Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was arrested this week by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a dramatic move condemned by critics as a “kidnapping”.

    At noon on Tuesday, January 10, Governor Enembe was dining in a local restaurant near the headquarters of Indonesia’s Mobile Brigade Corps, known as Brimob.

    After the arrest the Brimob transported him directly to Sentani Theys Eluay airport — an airport named in honour of another prominent Papuan leader who was callously murdered by the same security forces in 2002, not far from where the governor was arrested.

    Governor Enembe was immediately flown to Jakarta to arrive at the Army Central Hospital (RSPAD), Gatot Soebroto, Central Jakarta, reports Kompas.com.

    In what seems to be a cautiously premeditated arrest, Jakarta targeted Governor Enembe while he was alone and without the support of thousands of Papuans who had barricaded his residence since September last year.

    Once the news of his arrest was leaked, supporters attempted to gather in Sentani at the airport, but they were outnumbered by heavy security forces. A few protesters were shot, and several were injured, with one protester dying from his injuries.

    1 shot dead, several wounded
    Papua Police Public Relations Officer Kombes Ignatius Benny Prabowo said when contacted by Tribunnews.com in Jakarta: “Yes, it is true that someone was shot dead on Tuesday.”

    Among those who were shot were Hemanus Kobari Enembe (dead), Neiron Enembe, Kano Enembe, and Segira Enembe.

    Surprisingly, they share the same clan names of the governor himself, indicating that only his immediate family were informed of his arrest.

    Hemanus Kobari Enembe paid the ultimate price at the hand of Jakarta’s calculated planning and arrest of Papua’s governor.

    The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was named a suspect by the KPK and summoned by Brimob after it accused him of receiving bribes worth 1 million rupiah (NZ$112,000). This amount was then escalated into a rush of accusations against the governor, including a new allegation that the governor had paid US$39 million to overseas casinos, disclosing details of his private assets such as cars, houses, and properties.

    Governor Lukas Enembe arrested
    Governor Lukas Enembe . . . ill, but heavily guarded by the BRIMOD police after his arrest. Image: CNN/APR

    Voices of prominent Papuan figures
    A prominent Papuan, Natalius Pigai, Indonesia’s former human rights commissioner, was interviewed on January 11 by an INews TV news presenter regarding these extra allegations.

    “If that’s the case,” Pigai replied, “then why don’t we use these wild extra allegations to investigate all the crimes committed in this country by the country’s top ministerial level, including the children of the president, as a conduit for investigating some of the crimes committed by his office in this country?

    “Are we interested in that? Why just target Governor Lukas?”

    Papuan Dr Benny Giay
    Papuan Dr Benny Giay . . . his view is that the arrest of Governor Lukas Enembe serves the “interests of the political elite” in Jakarta. Image: Jubi screenshot APR

    Papuan public intellectual Dr Benny Giay was seen in a video saying that the arrest of Governor Enembe by the KPK in Jayapura was to serve the interests of Jakarta’s political elite, whom he described as “hardliners” in relation to the power struggle to become number one in Papua’s province.

    According to him, Governor Lukas Enembe was a victim of this power struggle.

    Dr Socrates Yoman, president of the West Papua Fellowship of Baptist Churches, described the arrest as a “kidnapping”. He said the governor had been arrested illegally, without following any legal procedures — and neither the governor nor legal counsel was informed of his arrest.

    According to Dr Yoman, Governor Enembe is ill and in the process of recovering from his illness. Thus, this pressure exerted by the state through the military and police violated Governor Enembe’s basic rights to health and humanity.

    The behaviour of the state through BRIMOB constituted a crime against humanity or a gross violation of human rights because the governor was arrested during lunchtime without an arrest warrant and while he was unwell, he said.

    “The governor is not a terrorist — he was elected Governor of Papua by the Papuan people.

    “This kidnapping shows that the nation or country has no law. The country is controlled by people who have lost their humanity, opting instead for animalistic rage and a senseless lust for violence.

    “Our goal is to restore their humanity so that they can see other human beings as human beings and become whole human beings,” said Dr Yoman.

    The governor’s health
    The governor’s health has deteriorated since he was banned from traveling to Singapore for regular medical aid since September last year.

    The November 2022 letter from the Singaporean doctors appealing for Governor Enembe's medical evacuation
    The 23 November 2022 letter from the Singaporean doctors appealing for Governor Enembe’s medical evacuation . . . ignored by the Indonesian authorities. Image: APR screenshot

    Last October, Governor Enembe received two visits from Singapore medical specialists who have been treating him for a number of years.

    Despite these visits, his health has continued to deteriorate, which led Singapore’s medical specialists to send a letter in November to authorities in Indonesia requesting that the governor be airlifted to Mount Elizabeth hospital.

    The letter from Royal Healthcare in Singapore said:

    “We have treated Governor Lukas remotely with routine blood tests, regular zoom consults and monitoring of his glucose and blood pressure levels since November 1, 2022. However, his condition has deteriorated rapidly the last week. His renal function is at a critical range (5.75mg/dl), and he may require dialysis sooner than later. His blood pressure is hovering 190-200/80-100 increasing his risk of morbidity and mortality. He has been advised on immediate evacuation to Singapore with direct admission to Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.”

    The letters were ignored, and the sick governor was arrested and taken to a hospital in Jakarta, where he had previously refused to go.

    Governor Enembe had previously written to KPK requesting that he receive urgent medical treatment in Singapore. Papuan police chiefs and KPK members were asked to accompany him, but this did not happen.

    On November 30, 2022, Firli Bahuri, Chairman of KPK, visited the governor at his barricaded residence in Koya Jayapura, Papua, in what appeared to be a humane approach.

    But what happened on Tuesday indicates that KPK had already decided to arrest him and take him to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta — almost 4500 km from his home town.

    Many Papuan figures who go to Jakarta return home in coffins. Papuan protesters did not want their leader to be taken out of Papua, partly due to this fear.

    Despite these protests, letters, and requests, Jakarta completely disregarded the will of the people and of the governor himself.

    The plot to kidnap Governor Enembe appears to have been well planned over a period of four months since September, providing enough space for the situation in Papua to calm down and allowing the governor to leave his barricaded house alone without his Papuan “special forces”.

    It was during the lunch hour of noon on Tuesday that KPK targeted him in a cunningly calculated manner.

    Governor’s image in social media
    Governor Enembe is portrayed in the Indonesia’s national narrative as a representative of the so-called “poor and backward” majority of Papuans, while portraying him as a man of a lavish lifestyle, owning properties and cars, and with great wealth.

    Comments on social media are flooded with a common theme — portraying Papua’s governor as a “criminal”, with some even calling for his “execution”.

    Some social media comments emerging from those fighting for West Papua’s liberation are echoing these themes by claiming that Governor Enembe’s case has nothing to do with the Free Papua Movement– his problem is with Jakarta only as he is a “colonial puppet ruler”.

    It is true that Lukas Enembe is governor of Indonesian settler colonial provinces. However, Papuans have failed to understand the big picture — the ultimate fate of West Papua itself.

    What would happen if West Papua remains part of Indonesia for the next 20-50 years?

    Our failure to see the big picture by both Papuans and Indonesians, as well as the international community, is a result of Jakarta fabrication that West Papua is merely a national sovereignty issue for Indonesia. That is the crux of that fatal error.

    The isolation of the governor from the rest of the Papuans as a “corruptor” and other dehumanising labels are designed to destroy Papuans’ self-esteem, stripping them of their pride, dignity, and self-respect.

    The images and videos of the governor’s arrest, deportation, handcuffing in Jakarta in KPK uniform, and his admission to the military hospital while surrounded by heavily armed security forces are psychologically intimidating to Papuans.

    Through brutal silence, politically loaded imagery has been used to convey a certain message:

    “See what has happened to your respected leader, the big chief of the Papuan tribes; he is no longer a person. Jakarta still has the final say in what happens to all of you.”

    Papuans are facing a highly choreographed state-sponsored terror campaign that shows no signs of abating.

    For Papuans, the new year of 2023 should be a time of hope, new dreams, and new lives, but this has been marred once again by the arrest and kidnapping of a well-known and popular Papuan figure, as well as the death of a member of the governor’s family on Tuesday.

    As human miseries continue to unfold in the Papuan homeland, Jakarta continues to conduct business as usual, pretending nothing is happening in West Papua while beating the drum of “development, prosperity, and progress” for the betterment of the backward Papuans.

    With such prolonged tragedies, it is imperative that the old theories, terminologies, and paradigms that govern this brutal state of affairs be challenged.

    A new paradigm is needed
    The very foundation of our thinking between West Papua and Indonesia must be re-examined within the framework of what Tunisian writer, Albert Memmie, described as “coloniser and colonised”, when examining French treatment of colonised Tunisians, who emerged concurrent with Franz Fanon, the leading thinker of black experience in white, colonised Algeria.

    The works of these thinkers provide insight into how the world of colonisers and colonised operates with its psychopathological manipulations in an unjust racially divided system of coloniser control.

    These great decolonisation literature treasures will help Papuans to connect the dots of this last frontier to a bigger picture of centuries of war against colonised original peoples around the world, some of which were obliterated (Tasmania), able to escape (Algeria), or escaped but are still trying to reorganise themselves (Haiti).

    Therefore, the coloniser and colonised paradigm is a useful mental framework to view Jakarta’s settler colonial activities and how Papuans (colonised) are continuously being lied to, manipulated, dissected, remade and destroyed — from all sides — in order to prevent them from uniting against the entity that threatens their very existence.

    The real culprits in West Papua and proper Papuan justice
    Most ordinary Papuans are unable to gain access to information regarding who exploits their natural resources, how much they are making, who receives the most benefits and how or why.

    But Jakarta is too busy displaying Governor Enembe’s personal affairs and wild allegations in headline news — his entire existence is placed on public display, as an object of humiliation, just as the messianic Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross in order to convince Galilean followers that their beloved leader failed.

    Let us not forget, however, that it was this publicly humiliated and crucified Jesus who forever changed the imperial world order and human history.

    If true justice is to be delivered to colonised Papuans, then Papuans must put the Dutch on trial for abandoning them 60 years ago, and then hold the United Nations and the United States responsible for selling them, to Indonesia, 60 years ago.

    In addition to arresting all international capitalist bandits that are exploiting West Papua under the disguise of multinational corporations, Indonesia should also be arrested for its crimes against Papuans, dating back over 61 years.

    However, the question remains… who will deliver this proper justice for the colonised Papuans? Jakarta has certainly set itself on a pathological path of arresting, imprisoning, and executing any figure that appears to be a messianic figure to unite these dislocated original tribes for its final war for survival.

    Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic/activist who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

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