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Category: West Papuan independence

  • Wenda praises PNG’s Marape over ‘brave ambush’ over West Papua

    Asia Pacific Report

    An exiled West Papuan leader has praised Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape for his “brave ambush” in questioning new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto over West Papua.

    Prabowo offered an “amnesty” for West Papuan pro-independence activists during Marape’s revent meeting with Prabowo on the fringes of the inauguration, the PNG leader revealed.

    The offer was reported by Asia Pacific Report last week.

    Wenda, a London-based officer of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), said in a statement that he wanted to thank Marape on behalf of the people of West Papua for directly raising the issue of West Papua in his meeting with President Prabowo.

    “This was a brave move on behalf of his brothers and sisters in West Papua,” Wenda said.

    “The offer of amnesty for West Papuans by Prabowo is a direct result of him being ambushed by PM Marape on West Papua.

    “But what does amnesty mean? All West Papuans support Merdeka, independence; all West Papuans want to raise the [banned flag] Morning Star; all West Papuans want to be free from colonial rule.”

    Wenda said pro-independence actions of any kind were illegal in West Papua.

    ‘Beaten, arrested or jailed’
    “If we raise our flag or call for self-determination, we are beaten, arrested or jailed. If the offer of amnesty is real, it must involve releasing all West Papuan political prisoners.

    “It must involve allowing us to peacefully struggle for our freedom without the threat of imprisonment.” 

    Wenda said that in the history of the occupation, it was very rare for Melanesian leaders to openly confront the Indonesian President about West Papua.

    “Marape can become like Moses for West Papua, going to Pharoah and demanding ‘let my people go!’.

    “West Papua and Papua New Guinea are the same people, divided only by an arbitrary colonial line. One day the border between us will fall like the Berlin Wall and we will finally be able celebrate the full liberation of New Guinea together, from Sorong to Samarai.

    “By raising West Papua at Prabowo’s inauguration, Marape is inhabiting the spirit of Melanesian brotherhood and solidarity,” Wenda said.

    Vanuatu Prime Minister and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) chair Charlot Salwai and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele were also there as a Melanesian delegation.

    “To Prabowo, I say this: A true amnesty means giving West Papua our land back by withdrawing your military, and allowing the self-determination referendum we have been denied since the 1960s.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Prabowo’s presidency sparks fear and faint hope in Indonesia’s contested Papua

    By Victor Mambor in Jayapura

    With Prabowo Subianto, a controversial former general installed as Indonesia’s new president, residents in the disputed Papua region were responding to this reality with anxiety and, for some, cautious optimism.

    The remote and resource-rich region has long been a flashpoint for conflict, with its people enduring decades of alleged military abuse and human rights violations under Indonesian rule and many demanding independence.

    With Prabowo now in charge, many Papuans fear that their future will be marked by further violence and repression.

    In Papua — a region known as “West Papua” in the Pacific — views on Prabowo, whose military record is both celebrated by nationalists and condemned by human rights activists, range from apathy to outright alarm.

    Many Papuans remain haunted by past abuses, particularly those associated with Indonesia’s counterinsurgency campaigns that began after Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 through a disputed UN-backed referendum.

    For people like Maurids Yansip, a private sector employee in Sentani, Prabowo’s rise to the presidency is a cause for serious concern.

    “I am worried,” Yansip said. “Prabowo talked about using a military approach to address Papua’s issues during the presidential debates.

    ‘Military worsened hunman rights’
    “We’ve seen how the military presence has worsened the human rights situation in this region. That’s not going to solve anything — it will only lead to more violations.”

    In Jayapura, the region’s capital, Musa Heselo, a mechanic at a local garage, expressed indifference toward the political changes unfolding in Jakarta.

    “I didn’t vote in the last election—whether for the president or the legislature,” Heselo said.

    “Whoever becomes president is not important to me, as long as Papua remains safe so we can make a living. I don’t know much about Prabowo’s background.”

    But such nonchalance is rare in a region where memories of military crackdowns run deep.

    Prabowo, a former son-in-law of Indonesia’s late dictator Suharto, has long been a polarising figure. His career, marked by accusations of human rights abuses, particularly during Indonesia’s occupation of Timor-Leste, continues to evoke strong reactions.

    In 1996, during his tenure with the elite Indonesian Army special forces unit, Kopassus, Prabowo commanded a high-stakes rescue of 11 hostages from a scientific research team held by Free Papua Movement (OPM) fighters.

    Deadly operation
    The operation was deadly, resulting in the deaths of two hostages and eight pro-independence fighters.

    Markus Haluk, executive secretary of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), described Prabowo’s presidency as a grim continuation of what he calls a “slow-motion genocide” of the Papuan people.

    “Prabowo’s leadership will extend Indonesia’s occupation of Papua,” Haluk said, his tone resolute.

    “The genocide, ethnocide, and ecocide will continue. We remember our painful history — this won’t be forgotten. We could see military operations return. This will make things worse.”

    Although he has never been convicted and denies any involvement in abuses in East Timor or Papua, these allegations continue to cast a shadow over his political rise.

    He ran for president in 2014 and again in 2019, both times unsuccessfully. His most recent victory, which finally propels him to Indonesia’s highest office, has raised questions about the future of Papua.

    President Prabowo Subianto greets people as he rides in a car after his inauguration in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 20 October 2024.
    President Prabowo Subianto greets people as he rides in a car after his inauguration in Jakarta, Indonesia, last Sunday. Image: Asprilla Dwi Adha/Antara Foto

    Despite these concerns, some see Prabowo’s presidency as a potential turning point — albeit a fraught one. Elvira Rumkabu, a lecturer at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura, is among those who view his military background as a possible double-edged sword.

    Prabowo’s military experience ‘may help’
    “Prabowo’s military experience and strategic thinking could help control the military in Papua and perhaps even manage the ultranationalist forces in Jakarta that oppose peace,” Rumkabu told BenarNews.

    “But I also worry that he might delegate important issues, like the peace agenda in Papua, to his vice-president.”

    Under outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Papua’s development was often portrayed as a priority, but the reality on the ground told a different story. While Jokowi made high-profile visits to the region, his administration’s reliance on military operations to suppress pro-independence movements continued.

    “This was a pattern we saw under Jokowi, where Papua’s problems were relegated to lower levels, diminishing their urgency,” Rumkabu said.

    In recent years, clashes between Indonesian security forces and the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) have escalated, with civilians frequently caught in the crossfire.

    Yohanes Mambrasar, a human rights activist based in Sorong, expressed grave concerns about the future under Prabowo.

    “Prabowo’s stance on strengthening the military in Papua was clear during his campaign,” Mambrasar said.

    Called for ‘more troops, weapons’
    “He called for more troops and more weapons. This signals a continuation of militarized policies, and with it, the risk of more land grabs and violence against indigenous Papuans.”

    Earlier this month, Indonesian military chief Gen. Agus Subiyanto inaugurated five new infantry battalions in Papua, stating that their mandate was to support both security operations and regional development initiatives.

    Indeed, the memory of past military abuses looms large for many in Papua, where calls for independence have never abated.

    During a presidential debate, Prabowo vowed to strengthen security forces in Papua.

    “If elected, my priority will be to uphold the rule of law and reinforce our security presence,” he said, framing his approach as essential to safeguarding the local population.

    Yet, amid the fears, some see opportunities for positive change.

    Yohanes Kedang from the Archdiocese of Merauke said that improving the socio-economic conditions of indigenous Papuans must be a priority for Prabowo.

    Education, health care ‘left behind’
    “Education, healthcare, and the economy — these are areas where Papuans are still far behind,” he said.

    “This will be Prabowo’s real challenge. He needs to create policies that bring real improvements to the lives of indigenous Papuans, especially in the southern regions like Merauke, which has immense potential.”

    Theo Hesegem, executive director of the Papua Justice and Human Integrity Foundation, believes that dialogue is key to resolving the region’s long-standing issues.

    “Prabowo has the power to address the human rights violations in Papua,” Hesegem said.

    “But he needs to listen. He should come to Papua and sit down with the people here — not just with officials, but with civil society, with the people on the ground,” he added.

    “Jokowi failed to do that. If Prabowo wants to lead, he must listen to their voices.”

    Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta contributed to the report. Copyright © 2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • West Papua independence group slams French ‘modern-day colonialism’

    Asia Pacific Report

    A West Papuan independence group has condemned French “modern-day colonialism in action” in Kanaky New Caledonia and urged indigenous leaders to “fight on”.

    In a statement to the Kanak pro-independence leadership, exiled United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) president Benny Wenda said the proposed electoral changes being debated in the French Parliament would “fatally damage Kanaky’s right to self-determination”.

    He said the ULMWP was following events closely and sent its deepest sympathy and support to the Kanak struggle.

    “Never give up. Never surrender. Fight until you are free,” he said.

    “Though the journey is long, one day our flags will be raised alongside one another on liberated Melanesian soil, and the people of West Papua and Kanaky will celebrate their independence together.”

    Speaking on behalf of the people of West Papua, Wenda said he sent condolences to the families of those whose lives have been lost since the current crisis began — seven people have been killed so far, four of them Kanak.

    “This crisis is one chapter in a long occupation and self-determination struggle going back hundreds of years,” Wenda said in his statement.

    ‘We are standing with you’
    “You are not alone — the people of West Papua, Melanesia and the wider Pacific are standing with you.”

    “I have always maintained that the Kanak struggle is the West Papuan struggle, and the West Papuan struggle is the Kanak struggle.

    “Our bond is special because we share an experience that most colonised nations have already overcome. Colonialism may have ended in Africa and the Caribbean, but in the Pacific it still exists.”

    Wenda said he was proud to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the FLNKS [Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front] in 2022.

    “We are one Melanesian family, and I hope all Melanesian leaders will make clear statements of support for the FLNKS’ current struggle against France.

    “I also hope that our brothers and sisters across the Pacific — Micronesia and Polynesia included — stand up and show solidarity for Kanaky in their time of need.

    “The world is watching. Will the Pacific speak out with one unified voice against modern-day colonialism being inflicted on their neighbours?”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Papua’s Customary Council forms team to probe activist Filep Karma’s death

    Tabloid Jubi in Jayapura

    The chair of the Papua Customary Council (DAP), Dominggus Surabut, says the council along with a coalition of civil organisations have formed an investigation team to examine Tuesday’s death of Papuan independence leader Filep Karma.

    “We have coordinated with various parties in the Papuan struggle, as well as with families and lawyers to conduct an independent investigation into the death of Papuan leader Filep Karma,” he told Jubi.

    “We think Karma died not because of an accident.”

    Surabut said Filep Karma’s death could not be minimised or based only on external examination and family statements.

    He said Filep Karma’s daughter Andrefina Karma spoke about her father’s death in a state of grief. The official version is that he died in a diving accident.

    “We need a more serious investigation to find out why and how he died. After that we will convey to the public who are still unsure of the cause of death of their leader,” he said.

    Chairman of the Papuan Customary Council Dominikus Surabut speaking to reporters
    Chair of the Papuan Customary Council Dominikus Surabut speaking to reporters in Jayapura. Image: Hengky Yeimo/Jubi

    An activist of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), Ogram Wanimbo, said the authorities must reveal to the public a complete chronology of Filep Karma’s death.

    Dissatisfied with post-mortem
    “We are very dissatisfied with the post-mortem results. We need an explanation of who went to the beach with him and what exactly happened,” he said.

    The spokesperson for the Papuan People’s Petition, Jefri Wenda, said the same.

    “We are asking for a more detailed explanation,” he said.

    “Filep Karma is the leader of the West Papuan nation from the Biak tribe. He was no ordinary person.

    “We ask that all parties respect his struggle.”

    Karma was buried at the Expo Public Cemetery in Jayapura city on Wednesday. The funeral of the Bloody Biak survivor was attended by thousands of mourners who came from Jayapura city, Jayapura regency and surrounding areas.

    Filep Karma left home to go diving on Sunday and was found dead at Base G Beach on Tuesday morning. He allegedly died from a diving accident.

    Thousands attend funeral
    Thousands of people attended Filep Karma’s funeral.

    Church leaders, traditional leaders, and activists escorted the body to his resting place. The funeral process was also closely guarded by the police.

    Filep Karma’s coffin was covered in a Morning Star independence flag.

    During the funeral procession, six Morning Star flags were raised. The Morning Star that covered the coffin was then handed over to the family.

    “Filep Karma taught us about everything. We leave the flag to the family as a symbol that the struggle continues to live,” said Eneko Pahabol, while handing the flag over to Karma’s children, Fina Karma, Audrin Karma and Since Karma.

    On behalf of the family, Since Karma said: “Thank you very much for your love. We are grateful to have Mr Filep. He taught us to be brave.

    “Filep Karma didn’t want us to live in fear. Let’s stay brave. He’s gone but his spirit hasn’t left. The spirit lives in us.”

    The Morning Star flag is banned by Indonesian authorities and raising it carries a jail sentence of up to 15 years.

    Republished with permission.

    Morning Star raised at the funeral of Filep Karma

  • Farewell Filep Karma, the revered West Papuan leader who could have ushered in unity

    By David Robie

    A tragic day of mourning. Thousands thronged the West Papuan funeral cortège today and tonight as the banned Morning Star led the way in defiance of the Indonesian military.

    There haven’t been so many Papuan flags flying under the noses of the security forces since the 2019 Papuan Uprising.

    Filep Jacob Semuel Karma, 63, the “father” of the Papuan nation, was believed to be the one leader who could pull together the splintered factions seeking self-determination and independence.

    It is still shocking a day after his lifeless body in a wetsuit was found on a Jayapura beach.

    Police and Filep Karma’s family say they had no reason to believe that his death resulted from foul play, report Jubi editor Victor Mambor in Jayapura and Nazarudin Latif from Jakarta for Benar News.

    “I followed the post-mortem process and it was determined that my father died from drowning while diving,” Karma’s daughter, Andrefina Karma, told reporters.

    But many human rights advocates and researchers aren’t so convinced.

    Speculation on reasons
    Some are speculating about the reasons why peaceful former political prisoner Filep Karma was perceived to be an obstruction for Jakarta’s “development” plans for the Melanesian provinces.

    “There were too many strange circumstances around his death and questioning police’s influence on the family. We are not accepting this as an accident,” declared Indonesian human rights Veronica Koman in a tweet.

    She says Filep Karma was so respected by West Papuans that he could have unified all factions.

    Filep Karma
    Filep Karma . . . “father” of the nation in making. Image: Antara/Benar

    “He was a father of the nation in the making – similar to Theys Eluay who was assassinated in 2001,” she said.

    “Indonesia would like to prevent this. An independent investigation must take place into his death.”

    Koman noted that while Indonesian human rights defenders shared their condolences, there was silence from the Jakarta state establishment.

    Amnesty International has also called for an independent investigation.

    Tributes pour in
    Tributes have poured in from many of his friends, colleagues and fellow activists across Indonesia and the Pacific.

    Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch wrote: “Filep Karma’s humour, integrity, and moral courage was an inspiration to many people. His death is a huge loss, not only for Papuans, but for many people across Indonesia and the Pacific who have lost a human rights hero.”

    The Diplomat’s Southeast Asia editor Sebastian Strangio wrote: “Karma trod a path that avoided the extremes of violent rebellion and acquiescence to what many Papuans view as essentially foreign rule.

    “Whether this approach ever would have achieved Karma’s long-held goal of independence and autonomy for the Papuan people is unclear, but his passing will clearly leave a large vacuum.”

    He was a former civil servant who, dismayed at how many Indonesian state officials treated West Papuans, spurned a good salary to dedicate his life to West Papua.

    Although standing for “justice, democracy, peace and non-violent resistance, he was jailed for 11 years for raising the Morning Star flag.

    One of the most comprehensive tributes to Karma was offered by Benny Wenda, leader of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), saying that the day was a “national day of mourning for the West Papuan people — all of us, whether in the bush, in the cities, in the refugee camps, or in exile”.

    ‘Great leader’
    “Filep Karma was a great leader and a great man,” says Wenda.

    “Across his life, he held many roles and won many accolades — he was a ULMWP Minister for Indonesian and Asian affairs, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and the longest serving peace advocate in an Indonesian jail.

    In "Loving memory" for Filep Karma
    In “Loving memory” for Filep Karma . . . “For West Papuans, Filep was equivalent to Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King.” Image: Free West Papua Campaign

    “But he was first of all a frontline leader, present at every single protest, reassuring and inspiring all West Papuans who marched or prayed with him.

    “Filep was there at the Biak Massacre in 1998, when 200 Papuans, many of them children, were murdered by the Indonesian military. Despite being shot several times in the leg that day, his experience of Indonesian brutality never daunted him.

    “He continued to lead the struggle for liberation, whether in prison or in the streets.

    “For West Papuans, Filep was equivalent to Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King.

    “The history of our struggle lived within him.”

    ‘How did he die?’
    Now Benny Wenda says: “The big question is this: how did Filep die?” (He reportedly died while surfing despite being a skilled diver.)

    “Indonesia systematically eliminates West Papuans who fight against their occupation. Sometimes they will kill us in public, like Theys Eluay and Arnold Ap, who was murdered and his body dumped on the same beach Filep died on.”

    But Wenda adds, it is more common for West Papuans to “die in mysterious ways” or face character assassination, as in the case of Papua Governor Lukas Ensemble.

    Filip Karma was a courageous and inspirational man of peace.

    However, tonight at the funeral procession in Jayapura, many have been singing:

    “Because Papua wants to be free. . .

    “Indonesia likes to kill people . . .

    “Indonesia likes to shoot people…”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Papuan protesters warn Jakarta – ‘don’t criminalise’ Governor Enembe

    COMMENTARY: By Yamin Kogoya

    Papuan protesters from seven customary regions this week stormed the Mako Brimob police headquarters in Kota Raja, Jayapura, accusing the KPK and police of “criminalising” local Governor Lukas Enembe.

    The protest on Monday was organised in response to the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) Corruption Eradication Commission’s attempt to investigate corruption allegations against Governor Lukas Enembe.

    This time, Enembe is suspected of receiving gratification of Rp 1 miliar (NZ$112,000).

    These accusations are not the first time that the KPK has attempted to criminalise Lukas Enembe, the Governor of Papua. The KPK has tried this before.

    KPK had attempted to implicate the governor in their corruption scam in February 2017, but the attempt failed.

    On 2 February 2018, KPK attempted another attack against Governor Enembe at the Borobudur Hotel, Jakarta, but [this] failed miserably. Instead, two KPK members were arrested by the Metro Jaya Regional Police. The KPK announced a suspect without checking with the governor first.

    The representative of the Papuan people at the rally stated that KPK failed to follow the correct legal procedures in executing this investigation.

    KPK should avoid inflaming the Papuan conflict, as the Papuan people have so far followed Jakarta’s controversial decisions — decisions that are contrary to the wishes of the Papuan people, a representative stated at the rally.

    For instance, Jakarta’s insistence on the creation of new provinces from the existing two (Papua and West Papua) has been strongly rejected by most Papuans.

    Remained silent
    The spokespeople for the protesters warned KPK that they had remained silent because Governor Enembe was able to maintain a calm among the community. However, if the governor continues to be criminalised, Papuans from all seven customary regions will revolt.

    Papuan protesters hold banners in support of accused Governor Lukas Enembe
    Papuan protesters hold “save him” banners in support of accused Governor Lukas Enembe. Image: APR

    The KPK has named Governor Enembe as a suspect in the corruption of his personal funds.

    “This is ‘funny’,” protesters said. “One billion rupiahs [NZ$112,000] of his own money used for medical treatment were alleged to be corrupt. This is strange. We will raise that amount, from the streets and give it to KPK.

    “Remember that,” speakers said.

    Stefanus Roy Renning, the coordinator of Governor Enembe’s Legal Council Team, said the case the governor was accused of (1 billion Rupiah) is actually, the governor’s personal funds sent to his account for medical treatment in May 2020.

    Governor Lukas Enembe
    Governor Lukas Enembe … seen as a threat and an obstacle for other political parties seeking the position of number one in Papua. Image: West Papua Today

    Therefore, if you refer to this [KPK’s behaviour] as criminalisation, then yes, it is criminalisation.

    This is due to the fact that the suspect’s status was premature and not in line with the criminal code, and that the governor himself has not been questioned as a witness in the alleged case.

    Questioned as witness
    Renning said that for a suspect to be determined, there must be two pieces of evidence and he or she must be questioned as a witness.

    Benyamin Gurik, chair of the Indonesian Youth National Committee (KNPI), expressed apprehension about the allegations, saying it amounted to the criminalisation of Papuan public figures, which may contribute to conflict and division in the region.

    “Jakarta should reward him for all of the good things he’s done for the province and country, not criminalise him,” said Gurik.

    Supporters of Governor Lukas Enembe guard his home
    Supporters of Governor Lukas Enembe guard his home. Image: APN

    Otniel Deda, chair of the Tabi Indigenous group, urged the KPK to act more professionally.

    He suspects that the KPK’s actions were sponsored by “certain parties” intent on shattering the reputation of the Papuan leader.

    The governor himself has his own suspicions as to who is behind the corruption accusations against him.

    He suspects KPK and the police force are among the highest institutions in the country being used to serve political games that are being played behind his back.

    Purely a political move
    According to Dr Sofyan Yoman, president of the Fellowship of West Papuan Baptist Churches (PGBWP), the attempted criminalisation of Governor Enembe is a purely political move geared toward dictating the 2024 election outcome, not a matter of law.

    An angry group of Governor Lukas Enembe supporters performing a war dance
    An angry group of Governor Lukas Enembe supporters performing a war dance armed with traditional bows and arrows outside his home in an effort to thwart police plans. Image: APR

    Dr Yoman explained that other parties in Indonesia are uncomfortable and lack confidence in entering the Papua provincial political process in 2024.

    There have been those who have seen, observed, and felt that the existence of Lukas Enembe is a threat and an obstacle for other political parties seeking the position of number one in Papua.

    To break the stronghold of Governor Enembe, who is also the chair of the Democratic Party of the Papuan province, there is no other way than to use KPK to criminalise him.

    In a statement to Dr Yoman on Wednesday, Governor Enembe said:

    Mr Yoman, the matter is now clear. This is not a legal issue, but a political one. The Indonesian State Intelligence, known as Badan Intelligence Negara (BIN), and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, known as Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDIP), used KPK to criminalise me.

    Mr Yoman, you must write an article about the crime so that everyone is aware of it. State institutions are being used by political parties to promote their agenda.

    Account blocked
    Dr Yoman met the governor and his wife at Governor Enembe’s Koya residence, where he was informed of the following by Yulce W. Enembe:

    In the last three months, our account has been blocked without any notification to us as the account owner. We have no idea why it was blocked. We could not move. We can’t do anything about it. Our family has been criminalised without showing any evidence of what we did wrong. Now we’re just living this way because our credit numbers are blocked.

    The governor himself gave an account of how he used the Rp 1 billion:

    As my health was getting worse, we left for Jakarta at night in March 2019. We were in lockdown due to COVID-19 at the time. When I left, I saved 1 billion in my room. In May 2019, I called Tono (the governor’s housekeeper). I asked Tono to go to my room and take the money in the room worth 1 billion. I asked Tono to transfer it to my BCA account. That’s my money, not corruption money.

    “The KPK is just anybody,” the governor stated. “The KPK’s actions were purely political, not legal. KPK has become a medium for PDIP political parties. Considering that the Head of BIN, the Minister of Home Affairs, and the KPK descend from one institution — the police — these kinds of actions are not surprising to me.

    “I am being politically criminalised”, said the governor. “Part of a pattern of psychological and physical threats and intimidation I have faced for some time”

    “I am not a criminal or a thief,” the governor said.

    Singapore health travel
    The governor’s overseas travels for medical treatment in Singapore have been halted [barred] by the Directorate General of Immigration based on a prevention request from the KPK.

    This appears to be a punitive measure taken by the country’s highest office to further punish the governor, preventing him from receiving regular medical care in Singapore.

    Media outlets in Indonesia and Papua have been dominated by stories about the governor’s name linked to the word “corruption”, creating a space for hidden forces to assert their narratives to determine the fate of not only the governor, but West Papua, and Indonesia.

    West Papua is a region in which whoever controls the information distributed to the rest of the world, controls the narrative. It is a region where the Indonesian government and the Papuan people have fought for years over the flawed manner in which West Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in the 1960s.

    When news of a criminalised Papuan public figure such as Governor Enembe comes to the surface, it is often conveniently used as a means of demoralising popular Papuan leaders who are trusted and loved by their people.

    It has been proven again and again over the past decade that Jakarta would have to deal with the revolt of hundreds of thousands of Papuans if they sought to disturb or displace Governor Enembe.

    Ultimately, these kinds of nuanced incidents are often created and used to distract Papuans from focusing on the real issue. The issue of Papuan sovereignty is what matters most — the state of Papua, as Jakarta is forcing Papuans to surrender to Indonesian powers that seek to transform Papua and West Papua into Indonesia’s dream.

    Papuan dream turned nightmare
    Tragically, the Indonesian dream for West Papua have turned into nightmares for the people of Papua, recently claiming the lives of four Indigenous Papuans from the Mimika region, whose bodies were mutilated by Indonesian soldiers.

    In recent weeks, this tragic story has been featured in international headlines, something that Jakarta wishes to keep out of the global spotlight.

    The UN acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif raised West Papua in her statement during the 51st session of the Human Rights Council on Monday — the day that Governor Enembe was summoned to police in Kota Raja.

    Despite Jakarta’s attempts to spin news about West Papua as domestic Indonesian sovereignty issues, the West Papua story will persist as an unresolved international issue.

    Governor Enembe (known as Chief Nataka) his family, and many Papuan figures like them have fallen victim to this protracted war between two sovereign states — Papua and Indonesia.

    Some of the prominent figures in the past were not only caught in Jakarta’s traps but lost their lives too. In the period between 2020 and 2021, 16 Papuan leaders who served the Indonesian government are estimated to have died, ranging in their 40s through to their 60s.

    Papuans have lost the following leaders in 2021 alone:

    Klemen Tinal, Vice-Governor of Papua province under Governor Enembe, who died on May 21.

    Pieter Kalakmabin, Vice-Regent of the Star Mountain regency, died on October 28.

    Abock Busup, Regent of Yahukimo regency (age 44), was found dead in his hotel room in Jakarta on October 3.

    Demianus Ijie, a member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives, died on July 23.

    Alex Hesegem, who served as Vice-Governor of Papua from 2006-2011, died on June 20.

    Demas P. Mandacan, a 45-year-old Regent from the Manokwari regency, died on April 20.

    The Timika regency (home of the famous Freeport mine) lost a member of local Parliament Robby Omaleng, on April 22.

    In 2020, Papuans lost the following prominent figures: Herman Hasaribab; Letnan Jendral, a high-ranking Indigenous Papuan serving in the Indonesian Armed Forces, who died on December 14; Arkelaus Asso, a member of Parliament from Papua, died on October 15; another young Regent from Boven Digoel regency, Benediktus Tambonop (age 44), died on January 13; Habel Melkias Suwae, who served twice as Regent of Jayapura, the capital of Papua, died on September 3; Paskalis Kocu, Regent of Maybrat, died on August 25; on February 10, Sendius Wonda, the head of the Biro of the secretary of the Papua provincial government, died; on September 9, Demas Tokoro, a member of the Papuan People’s Assembly for the protection of Papuan customary rights, died; and on November 15, Yairus Gwijangge, the brave and courageous Regent of the Nduga regency (the area where most locals were displaced by the ongoing war between the West National Liberation Army and Indonesian security forces), died in Jakarta.

    These Indigenous Papuan leaders’ deaths cannot be determined, due to the fact that the institutions responsible for investigating these tragic deaths, such as the legal and justice systems and the police forces, are either perpetrators or accomplices in these tragedies themselves.

    Dwindling survival for Papuans
    This does not mean Jakarta is to blame for every single death, but its rule provides an overarching framework where the chances of Papuans surviving are dwindling.

    This is a modern-day settler colonial project being undertaken under the watchful eye of international community and institutions like the UN. This type of colonisation is considered the worst of all types by scholars.

    It is only their grieving families and the unknown forces behind their deaths that know what really happened to them.

    The region for the past 60 years has been a crime scene, yet hardly any of these crimes have been investigated and/or prosecuted.

    Given the threats, intimidation, and illness Governor Enembe has endured, it is indeed a miracle he has survived.

    A big part of that miracle can be attributed to his people, the Papuans who put their lives on the line to protect him whenever Jakarta has tried to harass him.

    This week, KPK tried to criminalise the governor and Papuans warned Jakarta – “don’t you try it”.

    Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic 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.

  • Suspicious ‘Papuan’ tweets promoted Indonesian government’s agenda

    ANALYSIS: By David Engel, Albert Zhang and Jake Wallis

    The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has analysed thousands of suspicious tweets posted in 2021 relating to the Indonesian region of West Papua and assessed that they are inauthentic and were crafted to promote the policies and activities of the Indonesian government while condemning opponents such as Papuan pro-independence activists.

    This work continues ASPI’s research collaboration with Twitter focusing on information manipulation in the Indo-Pacific to encourage transparency around these activities and norms of behaviour that are conducive to open democracies in the region.

    It follows our August 24 analysis of a dataset made up of thousands of tweets relating to developments in Indonesia in late 2020, which Twitter had removed for breaching its platform manipulation and spam policies.

    This report on Papua focuses on similar Twitter activity from late February to late July 2021 that relates to developments in and about Indonesia’s easternmost region.

    This four-month period was noteworthy for several serious security incidents as well as an array of state-supported activities and events in the Papua region, then made up of the provinces of West Papua and Papua.

    These incidents were among many related to the long-running pro-independence conflict in the region.

    A report from Indonesia’s Human Rights Commission detailed 53 violent incidents in 2021 across the Papua region in which 24 people were killed at the hands of both security forces and the armed wing of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) separatist movement, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB).

    ‘Armed criminal group’
    Jakarta normally referred to this group by the acronym “KKB”, which stands for “armed criminal group”.

    This upsurge in violence followed earlier cases involving multiple deaths. The most notorious took place in December 2018, when TPNPB insurgents reportedly murdered a soldier and at least 16 construction workers working on a part of the Trans-Papua Highway in the Nduga regency of Papua province (official Indonesian sources have put the death toll as high as 31).

    The Indonesian government responded by conducting Operation Nemangkawi, a major national police (POLRI) security operation by a taskforce comprising police and military units, including additional troops brought in from outside the province.

    The security operation led to bloody clashes, allegations of human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings, and the internal displacement of many thousands of Papuans, hundreds of whom, according to Amnesty International Indonesia, later died of hunger or illness.

    Besides anti-insurgency actions, an important component of the operation was the establishment of Binmas Noken Polri, a community policing initiative designed to conduct “humanitarian police missions or operations” and assist “community empowerment” through programmes covering education, agriculture and tourism development.

    “Noken” refers to a traditional Papuan bag that indigenous Papuans regard as a symbol of “dignity, civilisation and life”. Binmas Noken Polri was initiated by the then national police chief, Tito Karnavian, the same person who created the recently disbanded, shadowy Red and White Special Task Force highlighted in our August 24 report.

    A key development occurred in April 2021 when pro-independence militants killed the regional chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) in an ambush. Coming on the back of other murders by independence fighters (including of two teachers alleged to be police spies earlier that month), this prompted the government to declare the KKB in Papua—that is, the TPNPB “and its affiliated organisations”—”terrorists” and President Joko Widodo to order a crackdown on the group.

    9 insurgents killed
    Nine alleged insurgents were killed shortly afterwards.

    In May 2021, hundreds of additional troops from outside Papua deployed to the province, some of which were part of an elite battalion nicknamed “Satan’s forces” that had earned notoriety in earlier conflicts in Indonesia’s Aceh province and Timir-Leste.

    During the same month, there were large-scale protests in Papua and elsewhere over the government’s moves to renew and revise the special autonomy law, under which the region had enjoyed particular rights and benefits since 2001.

    The protests included demonstrations staged by Papuan activists and students in Jakarta and the Javanese cities of Bandung and Yogyakarta from May 21-24. The revised law was ushered in by Karnavian, who was then (and is still) Indonesia’s Home Affairs Minister.

    The period also saw ongoing preparations for the staging of the National Sports Week (PON) in Papua. Delayed by one year because of the covid-19 pandemic, the event eventually was held in October at several specially built venues across the province.

    The dataset we analysed represents a diverse collection of thousands of tweets put out under such hashtags as #BinmasNokenPolri, #MenolakLupa (Refuse to forget), #TumpasKKBPapua (Annihilate the Papuan armed criminal group), #PapuaNKRI (Papua unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia), #Papua and #BongkarBiangRusuh (Take apart the culprits of the riots).

    Most were overtly political, either associating the Indonesian state with success and public benefits for Papuans or condemning the state’s opponents as criminals, and sometimes doing both in the same tweet.

    Papuan Games tweets
    Among several tweets under #Papua proclaiming that the province was ready to host the forthcoming PON thanks to Jakarta’s investment in facilities and security, 18 dispatched on June 25 proclaimed: “PAPUA IS READY TO IMPLEMENT PON 2020!!! Papua is safe, peaceful and already prepared to implement PON 2020. So there’s no need to be afraid. Shootings by the KKB … are far from the PON cluster [the various sports facilities] … Therefore everyone #ponpapua #papua”.

    Many tweets were clearly aimed at shaping public perceptions of the pro-independence militia and others challenging the state.

    Under #MenolakLupa in particular, numerous tweets related to past and contemporary acts of violence by the pro-independence militants. Two sets of tweets from March 22 and 24 that recall the 2018 attack at Nduga are especially noteworthy, in that both injected the term “terrorist” into the armed criminal group moniker that the state had been using hitherto, making it “KKTB”. This was a month before the formal designation of the OPM as a “terrorist” organisation.

    As if to stress the OPM’s terrorist nature, subsequent tweets under #MenolakLupa carried through with this loaded terminology. For example, tweets on June 15 stated that in 2017 “KKTB committed sexual violence” against as many as 12 women in two villages in Papua.

    A fortnight later, another set of tweets said that in 2018 the “armed terrorist criminal group” had held 14 teachers hostage and had taken turns in raping one of them, causing her “trauma”. Others claimed former pro-independence militants had converted to the cause of the Indonesian unitary state and therefore recognised its sovereignty over Papua.

    Some tweets relate directly to specific contemporary events. Examples are flurries of tweets posted on July 24-25 in response to the protests against the special autonomy law’s renewal that highlight the alleged irresponsibility of demonstrations during the pandemic, such as: “Let’s reject the invitation to demo and don’t be easily provoked by irresponsible [malign] people. Stay home and stay healthy always.”

    Others are tweets put out under #TumpasKKBPapua after the shooting of the two teachers, such as: “Any religion in the world surely opposes murder or any other such offence, let alone of this teacher. Secure the land of the Bird of Paradise.”

    Warning over ‘hoax’ allegations
    Other tweets warn Papuans not to succumb to “hoax” allegations about the security forces’ behaviour or other claims by overseas-based spokespeople such as United Liberation Movement of West Papua’s Benny Wenda and Amnesty International human rights lawyer Veronica Koman.

    Tweets on April 1 under #PapuaNKRI, for example, warned recipients not to “believe the KKB’s Media Propaganda, let’s be smart and wise in using the media lest we be swayed by fake news.”

    Many of the tweets in the dataset are strikingly mundane, with content that state agencies already were, or would have been, publicising openly. A tweet on February 27 under #Papua, for example, announced that the Transport Minister would prioritise the construction of transport infrastructure in the two provinces.

    Those under #BinmasNokenPolri often echoed advice that receivers of the tweet could just as easily see on other media, such as POLRI’s official Binmas Noken website.

    Some were public announcements about market conditions and community policing events where, for example, people could receive government assistance such as rice, basic items and other support.

    Most reflected Binmas Noken’s community engagement purpose, ranging from a series on May 20 promoting a child’s “trauma healing” session with Binmas Noken personnel to another tweeted out on June 20 advising of a badminton contest involving villages and police arranged under the Nemangkawi Task Force.

    ‘Healthy body, strong spirit’
    A further 34 tweets on June 20 advised that “inside a healthy body is a strong spirit”, of which the first nine began with the same broad sentiment expressed in the Latin motto derived from the Roman poet Juvenal, “Mens sana in corpore sano.” (Presumably, after this first group of tweets it dawned on the sender that his or her classical erudition was likely to be lost on indigenous Papuan residents.)

    As with the tweets analysed in our August 24 report, based on behavioural patterns within the data, we judge that these tweets are likely to be inauthentic—that is, they were the result of coordinated and covert activity intended to influence public opinion rather than organic expressions by genuine users on the platform.

    Without conclusively identifying the actors responsible, we assess that the tweets mirror the Widodo government’s general position on the Papuan region as being an inalienable part of the Indonesian state, as well as the government’s security policies and development agenda in the region.

    The vast majority are purposive: by promoting the government’s policies and activities and condemning opponents of those policies (whether pro-independence militia or protesters), the tweets are clearly designed to persuade recipients that the state is providing vital public goods such as security, development and basic support in the face of malignant, hostile forces, and hence that being Indonesian is in their interests.

    Dr David Engel is senior analyst on Indonesia in ASPI’s Defence and Strategy Programme. Albert Zhang is an analyst with ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre. His research interests include information and influence operations, and disinformation. Dr Jake Wallis is the Head of Programme, Information Operations and Disinformation with ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre. This article is republished from The Strategist with permission.

  • Pro-independence Kanaks sign pact with West Papuan movement

    RNZ Pacific

    New Caledonia’s pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), which wants independence from Indonesia.

    The Kanak-Papuan deal was signed by Roch Wamytan, President of New Caledonia’s Congress, and the visiting ULMWP leader Benny Wenda.

    Wamytan told La Premiere television in Noumea that both territories were involved in a process of decolonisation and emancipation — one with France, the other with Indonesia.

    “We have signed this accord because each of us are confronted by a process of decolonisation and emancipation. The people of Papua with Indonesia and us with the French state,” he said.

    “This process of decolonisation has not ended for us, it has been ruptured over time, to say the least.”

    The memorandum aims to support each other internationally and to develop a list of common goals.

    Indonesia took over the western half of New Guinea island after a controversial 1969 UN-backed referendum that is rejected as a sham by Papuans, with West Papuan activists now seeking inscription on the UN decolonisation list.

    New Caledonia has been on the UN decolonisation list since 1986, and between 2018 and 2021 has held three referendums on independence from France.

    Wenda visited Vanuatu on the first leg of his Pacific trip from his exiled base in London.

    He was a guest of the Vanuatu West Papua Independence Committee.

    FLNKS will boycott Paris talks
    New Caledonia’s pro-independence FLNKS movement said it would not attend talks in September of the signatories to the 1998 Noumea Accord in Paris.

    West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda
    West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda … supporting each other internationally. Image: Koroi Hawkins/RNZ Pacific

    A special meeting of the movement’s leadership decided at the weekend that legitimate talks would now have to be bilateral ones, involving the FLNKS and France as the colonising state.

    Newly-elected FLNKS Congress member Laura Humunie said bilateral talks were the only formal way to get their message to the French state.

    “We repeat, that to obtain bilateral talks we will not go to Paris because for us this is the legitimate way of talking to the French colonial state,” she said.

    “Our loyalist partners who have signed the ‘no’ referendum, means that they align with the French state’s ideals.”

    Last December, more than 96 percent voted against independence from France in a referendum boycotted by the pro-independence parties, which refuse to recognise the result as the legitimate outcome of the decolonisation process.

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

    West Papuan leader Benny Wenda
    West Papuan leader Benny Wenda (red shirt) signing the memorandum of understanding with the FLNKS. Image: FLNKS

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Researchers warn of growing potential for mass killings in Papua region

    By Victor Mambor and Alvin Prasetyo in Jayapura

    The US Holocaust Memorial Museum is warning in a new report that mass killings of civilians could occur in Indonesia’s troubled West Papua region in the next year to 18 months if current conditions deteriorate to a worst-case scenario.

    Although large-scale violence against civilians is not occurring yet in Papua, early warning signs are visible and warrant attention, says the report, titled “Don’t Abandon Us: Preventing Mass Atrocities in Papua.”

    The museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide published the 45-page report this week authored by an Indonesian, Made Supriatma, who conducted field research in the region.

    “Indonesia ranks 27th on the list of countries with risks of mass atrocities. This report should be considered as an early warning,” Supriatma said.

    A combination of factors — increasing rebel attacks, better coordination and organisation of pro-independence civilian groups, and the ease of communication — makes it plausible that the unrest could reach a new level in the next 12-18 months, the report said.

    “If political and social unrest persist, and if it were to spread across the region, it is possible that the Indonesian government could determine that the scale or persistence of the protests would justify a more severe response, which could lead to large-scale killing of civilians,” it said.

    The risks are rooted in factors such as past mass atrocities in Indonesia, the exclusion of indigenous Papuans from political decision-making, Jakarta’s failure to address their grievances and conflicts over the exploitation of the region’s resources, according to the report.

    Human rights abuses
    Other factors include Papuans’ resentment over Jakarta’s failure to hold accountable security personnel implicated in human rights abuses and conflict between indigenous Papuans and migrants from other parts of Indonesia over economic, political, religious, and ideological issues, it said.

    Under one scenario that the report envisions, pro-Jakarta Papuan militia, backed by the military and police, commit mass atrocities against pro-independence Papuans.

    But such a scenario depends on indigenous Papuan groups remaining divided into pro-Jakarta and pro-independence groups, it said. The other scenario involves Indonesian migrants and Indonesian security forces committing atrocities against indigenous Papuans, the study said.

    "Don't Abandon Us"
    “Don’t Abandon Us”: Preventing mass atrocities in Papua, Indonesia. Image: EWP cover

    The report recommends that the government improve freedom of information and monitoring atrocity risks, manage conflicts through nonviolent means, and address local grievances and drivers of conflict.

    Supriatma said indigenous Papuans he spoke to as part of his research confirmed that real and perceived discrimination had fueled an “us-against-them” mentality between indigenous Papuans and Indonesians.

    Papua, on the western side of New Guinea Island, has been the scene of a low-level pro-independence insurgency since the mainly Melanesian region was incorporated into Indonesia in a United Nations-administered ballot in the late 1960s.

    In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded Papua — like Indonesia, a former Dutch colony — and annexed the region.

    Only 1025 people voted in the UN-sponsored referendum in 1969 that locals and activists said was a sham, but the United Nations accepted the result, essentially endorsing Jakarta’s rule.

    ‘Not based on facts’
    An expert at the Indonesian presidential staff office, Theofransus Litaay, questioned the study’s validity.

    “There’s something wrong in the identification of research questions. The author extrapolated events in East Timor to his research,” he said, referring to violence by pro-Jakarta militias before and after East Timor’s vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

    “It’s not based on the facts on the ground,” he said, without elaborating.

    Gabriel Lele, a senior researcher with the Papuan Task Force at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the report was based on limited data.

    “It is true that there has been an escalation of violence, but the main perpetrators are the OPM [Free Papua Movement] and the victims have been civilians, soldiers and police,” lele said.

    He said rebels had also attacked indigenous Papuans who did not support the pro-independence movement.

    Violence has intensified in Papua since 2018, when pro-independence rebels attacked workers who were building roads and bridges in Nduga regency, killing 20 people, including an Indonesian soldier.

    Suspected rebels killed civilians
    In the latest violence, suspected rebels gunned down 10 civilians, mostly non-indigenous Papuans, and wounded two others on July 16.

    A local rebel commander from the OPM’s armed wing, Egianus Kogoya, claimed responsibility.

    “We suspect they were spies, so we shot them dead on the spot,” the Media Indonesia newspaper quoted him as saying on Monday.

    The attack in Nduga regency came a little more than two weeks after legislators voted to create three new provinces in Papua amid opposition from indigenous people and rebel groups.

    In March this year, insurgents killed eight workers who were repairing a telecommunications tower in Beoga, a district of Puncak regency.

    No desire to address racism
    Reverend Dr Benny Giay, a member of the Papua Church Council, said Jakarta had not shown a desire to address racism against Papuans, who are ethnically Melanesian, and instead branded pro-independence groups terrorists.

    “Authorities allow arms trade between armed groups and members of the TNI [military] and police, which perpetuates the violence and in the end can have fatal consequences for the indigenous people,” Dr Giay said.

    The influx of migrants from other parts of Indonesia has created inter-communal tensions and conflicts over regional governance, analysts said.

    Indigenous people are concerned that a massive project to build a trans-Papua highway, as part of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s drive to boost infrastructure, could lead to economic domination by outsiders and the presence of more troops, said Cahyo Pamungkas, a researcher from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).

    “The road will mainly benefit non-Papuans, and indigenous people will benefit little economically because they are not ready to be involved in the economic system that the government wants to build,” Cahyo said.

    Republished from Benar News. Co-author Victor Mambor is editor-in-chief of the indigenous Papuan newspaper and website Jubi.

  • Fiji women condemn Bainimarama government’s ‘silence’ on West Papua

    By Rusiate Baleilevuka in Suva

    A Fiji women’s advocacy group has condemned their government for remaining silent over the human rights violations in West Papua amid the Pacific Islands Forum being hosted by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainmarama this week.

    Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) coordinator Shamima Ali with other staff members and activists made the criticisms at a ceremony raising the independence flag Morning Star, banned in Indonesia.

    The women raised the flag of West Papua on Wednesday to show their solidarity.

    West Papua's Morning Star flag-raising in Suva
    West Papua’s Morning Star flag-raising in Suva this week. Image: Fijivillage

    Ali said this ceremony was done every Wednesday to remember the people of West Papua, particularly women and girls who were “suffering twofold” due to the increased militarisation of the two provinces of Papua and West Papuan by the “cruel Indonesian government”.

    She said this was a perfect time since all the Pacific leaders were in Fiji for the forum but the Fiji government stayed silent on the issue.

    Ali added that with Fiji as the chair of the forum, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama should have negotiated for West Papua to be on the agenda.

    Wenda appeals to Pacific Islands Forum
    Meanwhile, United Liberation Movement of West Papua interim president Benny Wenda has appealed to Pacific leaders to show “timely and effective leadership” on the great issues facing the Pacific — “the human rights crisis in West Papua and the existential threat of climate change”.

    “West Papua is a green land in a blue ocean. Our blue Pacific has always united our peoples, rather than dividing them,” he said in a statement.


    Shamima Ali speaking out on West Papua in Suva. Video: Fijivillage

    “In this spirit of Pacific solidarity, we are grateful for the support our Pacific family showed for our struggle in 2019 by calling for Indonesia to allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to visit West Papua.”

    However, Indonesia continued to undermine the forum by refusing to allow a UN visit to take place.

    “For decades, we have been crying that Indonesia is bombing our villages and killing our people, but we have been ignored,” Wenda said.

    “Now, the world is taking notice of our struggle. The United Nations has shown that up to 100,000 West Papuan civilians have been internally displaced by Indonesian military operations in the past three years alone.

    “They have fled into the bush, where they lack access to shelter, food, water, and proper medical facilities. This is a rapidly worsening human rights disaster, requiring immediate attention and intervention by the United Nations.

    “Indonesia hears the increasing calls for a UN visit, but is employing delaying tactics to avoid exposing their crimes against my people to the world.”

    Rusiate Baleilevuka is a Fijivillage reporter.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian official admits new Papua provinces are to ‘counter OPM, exploit natural resources’

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    The Papua People’s Council (MRP) says that a Coordinating Ministry for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs (Kemenko Polhukam) deputy has told them that the creation of new autonomous regions (DOB) in Papua is to narrow the space for the West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Movement (TNPB-OPM) to move.

    MRP Chair Timotius Murib said that the Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Mahfud MD also made the statement during a meeting between the Kemenko Polhukam and the MRP.

    Murib said that during the meeting, the MPR had received a great deal of input from the Kemenko Polhukam.

    “One of the deputies told the MRP that the MPR should know that the DOB is an activity by the state to narrow the space for the TNPB-OPM or KKBs [armed criminal groups] to move,” said Murib during a virtual press conference on June 30.

    Murib said the deputy also said that the government would build large numbers of regional police (Polda) headquarters and regional military commands (Kodam),

    Because of this, the MRP believed that the creation of new autonomous regions in Papua was aimed at bringing more military into Papua and encircling the TPNPB.

    According to Murib, the government was not prioritising the interests of ordinary people but rather the desire to exploit natural resources in Papua.

    “And they want to build [more] Polda, Kodam, in the near future,” said Murib.

    Murib revealed that there were many people who had heard the statement by the deputy.

    The MRP believes that it is no longer a secret that the government is pursuing natural resources in Papua and ignoring the interests of local people.

    According to Murib, the government also wants to exploit natural resources without being disturbed by other parties by bringing in large numbers of military personnel.

    “But brought in so that when natural resources [are managed] in Papua no one disrupts this. Because the country’s debt is indeed very big at the moment,” the deputies said.

    Earlier on June 30, the House of Representatives (DPR) enacted three laws on the establishment of new provinces in Papua — Central Papua, the Papua Highlands and South Papua.

    Note
    The original text of the second paragraph in which Murib said that Minister Mahfud MD made the statement, rather than the unnamed deputy, read: “Ketua Majelis Rakyat Papua (MRP), Timotius Murib mengatakan, bawahan Menko Polhukam, Mahfud MD menyampaikan pernyataan itu dalam salah satu pertemuan Kemenko Polhukam dengan MRP”.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was Majelis Rakyat Papua: Bawahan Mahfud Sebut DOB Papua Tuk Persempit OPM.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • OPM day – celebrating the 1971 Papuan ‘independence proklamasi’

    COMMENTARY: By Benny Wenda

    Today we celebrate the 51st anniversary of the independence declaration of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) at Markas Victoria on July 1, 1971.

    The declaration, signed by Seth Rumkoren and Jacob Prai — who sadly passed away last month — was a direct rejection of Indonesian colonialism.

    It sent a powerful message to Jakarta: “We, the people of West Papua, are sovereign in our own land, and we do not recognise your illegal occupation or the 1969 ‘Act of No Choice’.”

    West Papua's Benny Wenda
    West Papua’s Benny Wenda (left) with PNG journalist Henry Yamo at the Pacific Media Centre on his visit to New Zealand in 2013. Image: Del Abcede/APR

    From that moment on, we have been struggling for the independence of West Papua. Through guerilla warfare, the OPM has helped keep the flame of liberation alive. They are our home guard, defending our land and fighting for the sovereignty that was stolen from us by Jakarta.

    This day is an opportunity for all West Papuans to reflect on our struggle and unite with determination to complete our mission. Whether you are exiled abroad, in a refugee camp, a member of the West Papua Army, or internally displaced by colonial forces, we are all united in one spirit and determined to liberate West Papua from Indonesian oppression.

    The OPM laid the foundations for the political struggle [that] the Provisional Government is now fighting. As expressed in our constitution, the provisional government recognises all declarations as vital and historic moments in our struggle.

    Having declared our provisional government, our cabinet, our military wing, and our seven regional executives, we are ready to take charge of our own affairs.

    Two new announcements
    I also want to use this moment to make two new announcements about our provisional government.

    First, I am announcing the formation of a new government department, the Department of Intelligence Services. As with our existing departments, it will operate on the ground in occupied West Papua, and reinforce our challenge to Indonesian colonialism.

    In addition, I am announcing that we have appointed an executive member for each of the seven regional bodies we established in December 2021. With every step forward, we are building our capacity and infrastructure as a provisonal government.

    Over 50 years on from the 1971 proklamasi, our people’s mission is the same.

    We refuse Indonesian presence in WP, which is illegal under international law. We do not recognise “Special Autonomy”, five new provinces, or any other colonial law; we have our own constitution.

    I again reiterate my call for President Joko Widodo to sit down with me and discuss an independence referendum. This remains the only pathway to a peaceful solution.

    Benny Wenda, Interim President, United liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) Provisional Government.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • West Papuans to open branch office in Port Moresby, Wenda confirms

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) plans to open a government branch office in the neighbouring Papua New Guinean capital of Port Moresby along with diplomacy offices to be based in Europe and the United Kingdom.

    In a New Year message from interim president Benny Wenda, he has confirmed a strategic office reshuffle around the world.

    “The headquarters will be based inside West Papua, and the international office in Port Vila,” he said in the statement.

    “We are opening a government branch in Port Moresby, and our diplomatic coordination offices will be based in the UK and Europe.

    “This is another step in our long road to reclaiming the sovereignty stolen from us by Indonesia in 1963.

    “With the formation of our constitution, provisional government, cabinet and Green State Vision, all Indonesian laws in West Papua are over.”

    Wenda said the Indonesian presence was “totally illegal, and totally redundant”.

    “With our clandestine government departments operating within our borders, all West Papuans and Indonesian migrants working under our jurisdiction are now governed by the ULMWP,” said Wenda.

    Presidential demands
    The West Papua military wing and any organisation affiliated to the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, the West Papua National Parliament, or the Federal Republic of West Papua — the three constituent organisations within the ULMWP — were automatically considered part of the provisional government.

    “Everyone must respect our constitution, whether you are inside West Papua or part of our international solidarity networks. The world must trust us and our constitution — we want peace for all in the region and internationally, and to democratically govern ourselves,” Wenda said.

    “I encourage all NGOs, churches and religious leaders, every West Papuan inside and in exile, to unite and pray for the provisional government. Support everyone within the government working to end our long suffering and complete our 60 year struggle.”

    Wenda said the demands to the Indonesian President in 2022 remained those that had been first issued during the West Papua Uprising in 2019:

    1. Hold a referendum on West Papuan independence;
    2. Allow international supervision of any referendum;
    3. Allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into West Papua in accordance with the demand of 84 UN member states;
    4. Withdraw all troops from West Papua, including the 21,000 additional troops deployed since December 2018, and end the Indonesian military’s illegal war;
    5. Release all political prisoners, including Victor Yeimo and the “Abepura Eight”; and
    6. Allow all international journalists and human rights, humanitarian and monitoring groups into West Papua to visit internally-displaced people in Nduga, Puncak, Intan Jaya, Oksibil, Maybrat and elsewhere.

    “In 2022, we will redouble all efforts in our long struggle for the liberation of our nation,” Wenda said.

    “We will peacefully bring an end to this bloodshed.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Raising West Papua’s banned Morning Star flag – a global act of solidarity

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    From Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau in Aotearoa New Zealand to Paris, France, and from Wellington Te Whanganui-a-Tara to Jayapura and far beyond, thousands of people across the world today raised the Morning Star flag — banned by Indonesian authorities — in simple acts of defiance and solidarity with West Papuans.

    They honoured the raising of the flag for the first time 60 years ago on 1 December 1961 as a powerful symbol of the long West Papua struggle for independence.

    One of the first flag-raising events today was in Wellington where Peace Movement Aotearoa and Youngsolwara Pōneke launched a virtual ceremony online with most participants displaying the banned flag.

    Green MP Teanau Tuiono
    Green MP Teanau Tuiono … indigenous solidarity for West Papuans. Image: APR screenshot

    Hosted by Victoria University Pacific studies lecturer Dr Emalani Case, a Hawai’an, many young Pacific Islanders spoke of the indigenous struggle in West Papua and their hopes for eventual independence.

    “Here in Aotearoa, we have the opportunity and the privilege of being able to raise the flag without being punished for it,” Dr Case said.

    Two Green MPs — Teanau Tuiono and Eugenie Sage — were also among the “flag-raisers”, declaring their solidarity with the Papuan self-determination struggle.

    Asia Pacific Report editor Dr David Robie and Del Abcede were among those who spoke.

    In six decades of brutal civil conflict, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost through combat and deprivation, and Indonesia has been criticised internationally for human rights abuses, reports Stefan Armbruster of SBS News.

    In Australia, the Morning Star flew in activist Ronny Kareni’s adopted hometown of Canberra.

    Asia Pacific Report's Dr David Robie and Del Abcede
    Asia Pacific Report’s Dr David Robie and Del Abcede … messages of West Papuan support. Image: APR screenshot

    “It brings tears of joy to me because many Papuan lives, those who have gone before me, have shed blood or spent time in prison, or died just because of raising the Morning Star flag,” Kareni, the Australian representative of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), told SBS.

    “Commemorating the 60th anniversary for me demonstrates hope and also the continued spirit in fighting for our right to self-determination and West Papua to be free from Indonesia’s brutal occupation.”

    Ronny Kareni
    West Papua’s Ronny Kareni … “Commemorating the 60th anniversary for me demonstrates hope and also the continued spirit in fighting for our right to self-determination.” Image: SBS

    Indonesia’s diplomats regularly issue statements criticising the flag protests, including two years ago when the flag was raised at Sydney’s Leichhardt Town Hall, as “a symbol of separatism” that could be “misinterpreted to represent support from the Australian government”.

    No response to questions about the flag’s 60th anniversary had been received by SBS News from the Indonesian embassy this year and community members and groups declined to comment.

    “It’s a symbol of an aspiring independent state which would secede from the unitary Indonesian republic, so the flag itself isn’t particularly welcome within official Indonesian political discourse,” said Vedi Hadiz, an Indonesian citizen and director of the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne.

    “The raising of the flag is an expression of the grievances they hold against Indonesia for the way that economic and political governance and development has taken place over the last 60 years.

    “But it’s really part of the job of Indonesian officials to make a counterpoint that West Papua is a legitimate part of the unitary republic.”

    The history of the Morning Star
    After World War II, a wave of decolonisation swept the globe.

    The Netherlands reluctantly relinquished the Dutch East Indies in 1949, which became Indonesia, but held onto Dutch New Guinea, much to the chagrin of President Sukarno, who led the independence struggle.

    In 1957 Sukarno began seizing the remaining Dutch assets and expelled 40,000 Dutch citizens, many of whom were evacuated to Australia, in large part over The Netherlands’ reluctance to hand over Dutch New Guinea.

    The Dutch created the New Guinea Council of predominantly elected Papuan representatives in 1961 and it declared a 10-year roadmap to independence, adopted the Morning Star flag, the national anthem — “Hai Tanahku Papua” or “Oh My Land Papua” — and a coat-of-arms for a future state to be known as “West Papua”.

    Dutch and West Papuan flags
    The Dutch and West Papuan flags fly side-by-side in 1961. Image: SBS

    The West Papua flag was inspired by the red, white and blue of the Dutch but the design can hold different meanings for the traditional landowners.

    “The five-pointed star has the cultural connection to the creation story, the seven blue lines represent the seven customary land groupings,” Kareni told SBS.

    The red is now often cited as a tribute to the blood spilt fighting for independence.

    Attending the 1961 inauguration were Britain, France, New Zealand and Australia — represented by the president of the Senate Sir Alister McMullin in full ceremonial attire — but the United States, after initially accepting an invitation, withdrew.

    Morning Star raised for first time
    The Morning Star flag was raised for the first time alongside the Dutch one at a military parade in the capital Hollandia, now called Jayapura, on December 1.

    On December 19, President Sukarno began ordering military incursions into what he called “West Irian”, which saw thousands of soldiers parachute or land by sea ahead of battles they overwhelmingly lost.

    With long supply lines on the other side of the world and waning international support, the Dutch sensed their time was up and signed the territory over to UN control in October 1962 under the “New York Agreement”, which abolished the symbols of a future West Papuan state, including the flag.

    The Morning Star flag in Paris
    The Morning Star flag in Paris, France. Image: AWPA

    The UN handed control to Indonesia in May 1963 on condition it prepared the territory for a referendum on self-determination.

    The so-called Act Of Free Choice referendum in 1969 saw the Indonesian military round up 1025 Papuan leaders who then voted unanimously to become part of Indonesia.

    The outcome was accepted by the UN General Assembly, which failed to declare if the referendum complied with the “self-determination” requirements of the New York Agreement, and Dutch New Guinea was incorporated into Indonesia.

    In 1971, the Free Papua Movement (OPM) declared the “republic of West Papua” with the Morning Star as its flag, which has gone on to become a potent binding symbol for the movement.

    “It’s a milestone, 60 years, and we’re still waiting to freely sing the national anthem and freely fly the Morning Star flag so it’s very significant for us, ” Kareni said.

    “We still continue to fight, to claim our rights and sovereignty of the land and people.”

    Morning Star flag-raising in Brisbane
    Morning Star flag-raising at a public lecture by Professor David Robie at Griffith University’s Brisbane campus before the  in October 2019 before the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum (MMFF) conference. Image: Griffith University

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Pressure mounts on Jakarta for dialogue, not brutal ‘war on Papua’

    By David Robie

    Pressure is mounting on Indonesia to back off its brutal and unsuccessful military strategy in trying to crush West Papuan resistance to its flawed rule in “the land of Papua”.

    Critics have intensified their condemnation of the intransigent “no negotiations” stance of authorities as West Papuans mark their national day today on 1 December 1961 when the banned Morning Star flag of independence was raised for the first time.

    The TNI (Indonesian military), the Polri (Indonesian police) and the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) have been locked in a conflict since Jakarta ordered a crackdown in May following a declaration of resistance groups as “terrorists”.

    Many groups have raised their criticism of Jakarta’s flawed handling of its two colonised Melanesian provinces, Papua and West Papua. Recent developments include:

    ‘Path of violence’
    Pastor Benny Giay, a member of the Papua Council of Churches, says the Indonesian government is still choosing the path of violence in dealing with the armed conflict.

    The council has come to this conclusion based on its experience of how conflicts in Papua have been handled in the past and the recent situation, involving six regencies in Papua — Intan Jaya, the Bintang Mountains, Nduga, Yahukimo, Maybrat and Puncak Papua.

    “Based on past experience and the most recent facts, we concluded that the Indonesian government is still choosing the path of violence in dealing with the Papua conflict,” said Pastor Giay, according to CNN Indonesia.

    Giay said that as a consequence of many years of armed conflict, at least 60,000 Papuans had fled into the forests or neighbouring regencies.

    He and three other pastors view this as part of what could not be separated from the politics of “systematic racism”.

    They suspect that “buzzers” — fake internet account operators — are being used by Indonesian intelligence and pro-government groups.

    These buzzers, said Pastor Giay, continued to spread hoaxes and news containing anti-Papuan views based on racism against the Papuan people.

    ‘Prolonged suffering’
    The Papua Council of Churches is calling for the United Nations Human Rights Council (Dewan HAM PBB) to visit Papua to see the humanitarian crisis directly – “the prolonged suffering of Papuans for the last 58 years.”

    The council also wants the Indonesian government to put an end to its racist policies.

    Pastor Giay and his fellow pastors have demanded that President Widodo be consistent about a statement he made on September 30, 2019, agreeing to dialogue with the ULMWP.

    “Mediated by a third party [in a similar way] as took place between the Indonesian government and the GAM (Free Aceh Movement) on August 15, 2005,” said Pastor Giay.

    Deputy Presidential Chief of Staff Jaleswari Pramodhawardani has reportedly said that the government was managing the security situation in Papua and West Papua provinces in “accordance with the law”.

    This was conveyed in response to a UN report in intimidation and violence against human rights activists in Papua, says CNN Indonesia.

    ELSHAM Papua open letter
    Open letter of protest from ELSHAM Papua. Image: Screenshot APR

    Open letter of protest
    On November 15, ELSHAM Papua sent an open letter to President Widodo protesting about the presence of non-organic troops in Papua and West Papua provinces. It says this has resulted in the deaths of many civilian victims as well as members of the TNI, Polri and the TPNPB, according to Suara Papua.

    Each time an armed conflict happened, the first casualties were mothers and children — along with the elderly — who were forced to seek shelter and were suffering, ELSHAM said.

    “What is happening at the moment, once again shows that the state has been negligent in protecting its citizens,” it said.

    “It should be the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens as mandated by the preamble to the 1945 Constitution — that the state is obliged to protect everyone regardless of their birthplace in Indonesia.”

    The open letter asked the government to withdraw all non-organic troops from Papua, for the TNI, Polri and TPNPB troops to restrain themselves, and for both warring parties to prioritise respect for human rights.

    The letter also declared that security forces should not become the “accomplices of business interests and companies” in Indonesia — and instead be the protectors of ordinary people and “good” law enforcement officials.

    The open letter was supported by 24 civil society organisations which work in human rights, justice and the environment.

    Media conference by Catholic leaders in Papua
    Media conference by Catholic leaders in Jayapura, Papua. Image: Suara Papua

    Catholic leaders protest
    On November 11, some 194 Catholic leaders in Papua called for an end to Indonesian military operations.

    Speaking on behalf of the priests, Father Alberto John Bunai said the government had been ecstatic over the success of the recent 20th National Games in Papua, but the people were “deeply saddened by the suffering of God’s communities” in Nduga, Intan Jaya, Puncak, Kiwirok and Maybrat.

    “To solve the root of the problem, what is needed is dialogue and reconciliation in a dignified manner,” Father Bunai said at a “moral call” media conference in Waena, Jayapura.

    It was the church’s duty to articulate the “cries of God’s communities” who had no voice, Father Bunai said.

    “The government must halt the ongoing military operations which have resulted in the killing of civilians, violence and people being displaced in several parts of Papua.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Prayer events to mark 60 years since West Papuan ‘birth’ in the Pacific

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    West Papuans will peacefully mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of West Papua next week — on Wednesday, December 1.

    It is also the first anniversary of the formation of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) provisional government.

    “To my people back home and around the world: this is a very significant and important day for us to remember,” said interim president Benny Wenda in a statement today.

    “When the Morning Star [flag] was raised by the New Guinea Council on December 1, 1961, they formed the embryo of the nation.

    Interim ULMWP president Benny Wenda
    Interim president Benny Wenda during the launch of the Green State Vision policy during COP26. Image: ULMWP

    “I call on everyone to celebrate this day through peaceful prayer meetings. To our international solidarity supporters, please use your freedom to show your support for our struggle, wherever you are.

    “Special flag raising ceremonies coordinated by the provisional government will take place in PNG, Vanuatu, the Netherlands, and the UK. I also invite Indonesian solidarity and all Indonesian citizens to pray for us and respect our national day, as we have respected your independence day.”

    Wenda said that on that day “we will remember people in the bush, particularly the thousands displaced by Indonesian military operations in Intan Jaya, Nduga, Puncak Jaya, Maybrat and Oksibil”.

    “We remember the two year old baby killed at the hands of the Indonesian government last month,” he said.

    Plea for ‘watchful eye’
    Wenda called on the world to keep a watchful eye on any human rights violations  in West Papua on December 1.

    “There is often bloodshed carried out by Indonesian military and police. We do not want this – we will be celebrating in a peaceful way,” he said.

    “There is no need to harass, intimidate or attack those who are peacefully praying. I call on the Indonesian government and President to leave us alone on our national day. Our time is coming, and one day we will stand side-by-side as good neighbours.

    “We will also be celebrating the announcements and progress we have made in the last two years, with our constitution, provisional government, cabinet, and recently our Green State Vision for the nation.

    “The ULMWP provisional government has consistently recognised all proclamations made in the history of our struggle by West Papuan leaders before us.

    “With these important steps we have made, I encourage my people to come together in one spirit to celebrate and move us closer to our goal of independence and self-determination for all.

    “We wish peace on West Papua, on Indonesia, the region and the whole world.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • 13 years of Indonesian harassment, but KNPB’s ‘spirit remains unbroken’

    Suara Papua in Jayapura

    “Since it was first established on November 19, 2008, the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) has always been confronted by many challenges, including attempts at criminalisation and disbandment by the state through the institutions of the TNI [Indonesian military] and Polri [Indonesian police].”

    The above was written by West Papua National Committee KNPB national spokesperson Ones Suhuniap in his notes in the lead up to the 13th anniversary of the KNPB on Friday.

    “Attempts at criminalisation since 2009 until now in 2021 are still being continued through the TNI and Polri,” wrote Suhuniap.

    The first challenge, he said, was the first coordination post at the grave of assassinated independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay in Sentani, Jayapura regency, which was forcibly dismantled by Indonesian security forces on the orders of the Jayapura regent at the time.

    “Because the fist coordinating post was dismantled on December 30, 2008, in the end the KNPB established the Papua task force headquarters near Bapak [Mr] Theys Eluay’s grave,” he said.

    Following this in 2009, the KNPB was listed by the government as a “terrorist” and “criminal” organisation.

    “Australian academic Dr Jason MacLeod clarified that the KNPB was a civil movement organisation conducting a peaceful urban struggle. In the end, the KNPB’s status as a terrorist and criminal organisation was removed,” said Suhuniap.

    Activists on ‘wanted’ list
    When it was declared a terrorist and criminal organisation, all of the KNPB’s activists were put on the police wanted persons list (DPO). As a consequence, they all sought refuge in the forests, on Abe Mountain, some even hid in Sabron, Jayapura.

    “In the forests on Abe Mountain, the KNPB held its first mass consultation (Mubes) in the jungle,” he said.

    A year later, in 2019, Suhuniap said that the KNPB began promoting its first congress which was eventually held in Sentani.

    “The congress gave birth to three resolutions, including diplomatic unity, Papuan military unity and civilian unity through representative institutions,” he said.

    Attempts at criminalisation did not, however, end. In 2021 the KNPB was again accused of being an anarchist and criminal organisation.

    “Several criminal actions which were part of a plot were concocted, and then KNPB’s chairperson Mako M Tabuni was shot dead by members of the Special Forces (Kopassus) and the Indonesian police at the State Housing Company (Perumnas) 3 complex in Waena. Then Hubertus Mabel was killed by the Indonesian military in Wamena.”

    Suhuniap revealed: “The state through the security forces pushed through a proposal and proposed to the DPRP [Papua Regional House of Representatives], the DPR [House of Representatives] and the Mendagri [Ministry of Home Affairs] that they hold a plenary session to disband the KNPB after the murder of its chairperson and deputy chairperson.”

    Extraprdinary congress
    In the same year, despite pressure from the military, the KNPB held an extraordinary congress (KLB) in Timika.

    “In 2016 the Papua regional police issued a proclamation prohibiting the KNPB from holding demonstrations and proposed to the central government that the KNPB be immediately disbanded,” said Suhuniap.

    None of these efforts by the state made the KNPB retreat a single step.

    Quite the opposite, said Suhuniap, the KNPB defied the regional police’s proclamation by occupying the Papua Mobile Brigade (Brimob) Command Headquarters in Kotaraja on May 1, 2016.

    Despite ongoing mental terror and repression by the security forces and their accomplices, in 2018 the KNPB aggressively built a consolidation until it succeeded in holding the 2nd Congress at the Vietnam Village in the State Housing Company 3 Complex.

    “The second congress gave birth to a political resolution, namely a national civil strike (MSN),” said Suhuniap.

    In 2021 the KNPB was criminalised by blaming them for attacks committed by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) and incessant propaganda by buzzers accusing the KNPB of wanting to thwart the 20th National Games in Papua.

    Accusations ‘just nonsense’
    “These accusations were just nonsense, because they were indeed not proven,” he said.

    Finally, he said, last week plain clothes police arrived at the home of a resident in the Expo Waena area after hearing that KNPB activists were eating a meal together.

    In the first incident on November 9, police arrived at the home of KNPB general chairperson Agus Kossay who was eating a meal. In the second, on November 13, police returned to the same location and, according to Suhuniap, raided local residents’ homes.

    “Efforts at criminalisation, propaganda and plots which continue to be played out by the colonialists against the KNPB have made us stronger, more confident and even more mature in confronting the challenges of the struggle for West Papua,” said Suhuniap.

    “None of these efforts have made the KNPB retreat from the struggle, rather what has been done by Indonesia against the KNPB has provided the strength to maintain the struggle for West Papua national liberation.”

    KNPB chairperson Warpo Sampari Wetipo said that the KNPB as a media of the West Papuan ordinary people continued to be consistent in its mission of urban civil struggle.

    Right to self-determination
    “Regardless of the attempts and actions by Indonesian security forces against the KNPB it has never broken our spirit of struggle. The KNPB believes in the agenda of the right to self-determination which has been fought for up until now,” he said.

    Wetipo said: “For as long as the Papuan people are not given the democratic space to determine their own future (self-determination), the KNPB will continue to exist throughout the land of Papua.

    “The KNPB has broadened its roots in Papua, from Sorong to Merauke. together with the oppressed people fighting to regain West Papuan independence.”

    Translated by James Balowski for Indoleft News. The original title of the article was “Jelang HUT ke-13, KNPB Konsisten Berjuang”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • 13 years of Indonesian harassment, but KNPB’s ‘spirit remains unbroken’

    Suara Papua in Jayapura

    “Since it was first established on November 19, 2008, the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) has always been confronted by many challenges, including attempts at criminalisation and disbandment by the state through the institutions of the TNI [Indonesian military] and Polri [Indonesian police].”

    The above was written by West Papua National Committee KNPB national spokesperson Ones Suhuniap in his notes in the lead up to the 13th anniversary of the KNPB on Friday.

    “Attempts at criminalisation since 2009 until now in 2021 are still being continued through the TNI and Polri,” wrote Suhuniap.

    The first challenge, he said, was the first coordination post at the grave of assassinated independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay in Sentani, Jayapura regency, which was forcibly dismantled by Indonesian security forces on the orders of the Jayapura regent at the time.

    “Because the fist coordinating post was dismantled on December 30, 2008, in the end the KNPB established the Papua task force headquarters near Bapak [Mr] Theys Eluay’s grave,” he said.

    Following this in 2009, the KNPB was listed by the government as a “terrorist” and “criminal” organisation.

    “Australian academic Dr Jason MacLeod clarified that the KNPB was a civil movement organisation conducting a peaceful urban struggle. In the end, the KNPB’s status as a terrorist and criminal organisation was removed,” said Suhuniap.

    Activists on ‘wanted’ list
    When it was declared a terrorist and criminal organisation, all of the KNPB’s activists were put on the police wanted persons list (DPO). As a consequence, they all sought refuge in the forests, on Abe Mountain, some even hid in Sabron, Jayapura.

    “In the forests on Abe Mountain, the KNPB held its first mass consultation (Mubes) in the jungle,” he said.

    A year later, in 2019, Suhuniap said that the KNPB began promoting its first congress which was eventually held in Sentani.

    “The congress gave birth to three resolutions, including diplomatic unity, Papuan military unity and civilian unity through representative institutions,” he said.

    Attempts at criminalisation did not, however, end. In 2021 the KNPB was again accused of being an anarchist and criminal organisation.

    “Several criminal actions which were part of a plot were concocted, and then KNPB’s chairperson Mako M Tabuni was shot dead by members of the Special Forces (Kopassus) and the Indonesian police at the State Housing Company (Perumnas) 3 complex in Waena. Then Hubertus Mabel was killed by the Indonesian military in Wamena.”

    Suhuniap revealed: “The state through the security forces pushed through a proposal and proposed to the DPRP [Papua Regional House of Representatives], the DPR [House of Representatives] and the Mendagri [Ministry of Home Affairs] that they hold a plenary session to disband the KNPB after the murder of its chairperson and deputy chairperson.”

    Extraprdinary congress
    In the same year, despite pressure from the military, the KNPB held an extraordinary congress (KLB) in Timika.

    “In 2016 the Papua regional police issued a proclamation prohibiting the KNPB from holding demonstrations and proposed to the central government that the KNPB be immediately disbanded,” said Suhuniap.

    None of these efforts by the state made the KNPB retreat a single step.

    Quite the opposite, said Suhuniap, the KNPB defied the regional police’s proclamation by occupying the Papua Mobile Brigade (Brimob) Command Headquarters in Kotaraja on May 1, 2016.

    Despite ongoing mental terror and repression by the security forces and their accomplices, in 2018 the KNPB aggressively built a consolidation until it succeeded in holding the 2nd Congress at the Vietnam Village in the State Housing Company 3 Complex.

    “The second congress gave birth to a political resolution, namely a national civil strike (MSN),” said Suhuniap.

    In 2021 the KNPB was criminalised by blaming them for attacks committed by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) and incessant propaganda by buzzers accusing the KNPB of wanting to thwart the 20th National Games in Papua.

    Accusations ‘just nonsense’
    “These accusations were just nonsense, because they were indeed not proven,” he said.

    Finally, he said, last week plain clothes police arrived at the home of a resident in the Expo Waena area after hearing that KNPB activists were eating a meal together.

    In the first incident on November 9, police arrived at the home of KNPB general chairperson Agus Kossay who was eating a meal. In the second, on November 13, police returned to the same location and, according to Suhuniap, raided local residents’ homes.

    “Efforts at criminalisation, propaganda and plots which continue to be played out by the colonialists against the KNPB have made us stronger, more confident and even more mature in confronting the challenges of the struggle for West Papua,” said Suhuniap.

    “None of these efforts have made the KNPB retreat from the struggle, rather what has been done by Indonesia against the KNPB has provided the strength to maintain the struggle for West Papua national liberation.”

    KNPB chairperson Warpo Sampari Wetipo said that the KNPB as a media of the West Papuan ordinary people continued to be consistent in its mission of urban civil struggle.

    Right to self-determination
    “Regardless of the attempts and actions by Indonesian security forces against the KNPB it has never broken our spirit of struggle. The KNPB believes in the agenda of the right to self-determination which has been fought for up until now,” he said.

    Wetipo said: “For as long as the Papuan people are not given the democratic space to determine their own future (self-determination), the KNPB will continue to exist throughout the land of Papua.

    “The KNPB has broadened its roots in Papua, from Sorong to Merauke. together with the oppressed people fighting to regain West Papuan independence.”

    Translated by James Balowski for Indoleft News. The original title of the article was “Jelang HUT ke-13, KNPB Konsisten Berjuang”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Baby killed by Indonesian military as Papuans flee to PNG, claims Wenda

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Two small babies were shot by the Indonesian military in Intan Jaya two days ago, claims the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP).

    One of them has died, and the other is in critical condition. Thousands more West Papuans have been displaced in Intan Jaya and Maybrat as Indonesia bombs villages.

    Hundreds of internal refugees are fleeing into PNG.

    Baby Nopelinus Sondegau
    Two-year-old Nopelinus Sondegau, a Papuan baby alleged to have been killed by the Indonesian military. Image: ULMWP

    One two-year-old, Nopelinus Sondegau, was killed by the Indonesian forces, ULMWP interim president Benny Wenda said in a statement.

    A five-year old, Yoakim Majau, was also shot. The bullet was still in the baby’s shoulder.

    “These killings are happening under the eye of the world while the Indonesian President [Joko Widodo] and ministers pretend that nothing is happening during talks with Pacific and Melanesian leaders,” said Wenda.

    “These killings are happening as Indonesia tries to turn West Papua’s killing fields into a tourist destination.”

    Wenda called for urgent United Nations intervention.

    “Indonesia cannot use coronavirus as an excuse to delay the visit of the UN High Commissioner, recently called for by the Basque Parliament, any longer,” he said.

    “Indonesia has hosted national games in West Papua during coronavirus, Indonesia has sent thousands of troops to West Papua during coronavirus, now Indonesia is killing small children during coronavirus.

    “There can be no more excuses. Amnesty International, Red Cross, all international journalists, must be allowed in to monitor this urgent situation.

    “My people are screaming for help. Where is the world?”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Activists say Jokowi’s West Papua visit only to bolster image – no benefits

    By Agus Pabika in Jayapura

    President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s visit to Papua last weekend to officially open Indonesia’s National Games (PON XX) and officiate a number of infrastructure projects are ceremonial and will not provide any benefits to the ordinary Papuan people when cases of human rights violations are left unresolved.

    This assessment was made by former political prisoner and Papuan activist Ambrosius Mulait in response to Widodo’s visit which he sees as nothing more than “image building” in the eyes of the ordinary people and the international community.

    “Jokowi came simply to bolster his image, he didn’t come with the genuine intention of resolving human rights,” Mulait told Suara Papua.

    Mulait said that the Indonesian government appeared inconsistent in dealing with the covid-19 pandemic because it wasallowing crowds to gather at National Games events.

    “We are questioning the Jokowi administration’s inconsistency, why given the state of the pandemic in Papua are they continuing with PON activities involving thousands of people?” he asked.

    “It’s surprising, covid-19 cases are already rising, but all of a sudden the figures are deemed to be falling and the PON can be held.”

    The secretary-general of the Papuan Central Highlands Indonesian Student Association (AMPTPI) also criticised the repression and violence by police against Papuan students demonstrating peacefully in front of the United States Embassy in Jakarta on September 30.

    “The police are also racist in their handling of Papua mass actions. Meanwhile they weren’t repressive towards a demonstration at the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission office] several days ago, and instead gave them space [to demonstrate],” he said.

    Mulait said the state was truly unfair in its treatment of Papuans.

    “The Papuan people continue to be silenced by repressive means, peaceful actions are broken up, protesters are arrested, labeled ‘separatists’, jailed. The way they are handled is very discriminative and racist,” said Mulait.

    Papua student activist Semi Gobay also expressed disappointment. He said that President Widodo had already visited Papua nine times but not one case of human rights violations had been addressed let alone resolved.

    “At the height of the PON XX, he came down to look at noken [traditional woven baskets and bags] made by mama-mama [traditional Papuan women traders]. But the internally displaced people in Nduga and Maybrat, the shooting cases in Puncak, Intan Jaya and the Star Highlands are not dealt with by the Indonesian government under the authority of President Joko Widodo” he said.

    Gobay said this further demonstrated the real face of the government.

    “The president comes and visits and buys lots of noken, but the many conflicts in Papua are not resolved. What’s behind all of this?” he asked.

    “The Indonesian government has no good intentions towards us. All the best in celebrating the PON on the sorrows of the West Papuan nation.”

    Translated by James Balowski of IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Tidak Selesaikan Kasus Pelanggaran HAM, Jokowi ke Papua Hanya Cari Muka”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Yamin Kogoya: West Papua’s fate hangs in ‘30 seconds’ and only God knows the outcome

    ANALYSIS: By Yamin Kogoya

    Two Melanesian state leaders addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on West Papua last week.

    During the 76th UNGA, both Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, James Marape, and Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Bob Loughman, expressed concern about human rights issues in West Papua.

    While Marape devoted only 30 seconds of his 41-and-a-half-minute address to making some indirect remarks on West Papua, Loughman spent several minutes taking a more assertive approach.

    Regardless, that 30 seconds was greatly appreciated by Papuans.

    Here is the transcript of Loughman’s speech at the UNGA on 27 September 2021:

    “In my region, New Caledonia, ‘French Polynesia’ and West Papua are still struggling for self-determination.

    “Drawing attention to the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples as stipulated in the UN Charter, it is important that the UN and the international community continue to support the relevant territories giving them an equal opportunity to determine their own statehood.

    “In my region, the indigenous people of West Papua continue to suffer from human rights violations.

    “The Pacific Form and ACP leaders, among other leaders, have called on the Indonesian government to allow the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua Province and to provide an independent assessment of the human rights situation.

    “Today, there has been little progress on this plan. I hope the international community, through appropriate UN-led process, takes a serious look at this issue and addresses it fairly.”

    Human rights concerns
    The following is the transcript of the brief West Papua section in Marape’s address to the UNGA on 26 September 2021.

    “While commenting on the United Nations peace effort on the PNG, I would also like to recall on the Pacific islands Leaders Forum (PIF) in 2019 and the out-sitting visit by the United Nations human rights mechanisms to address the alleged human rights concern in our regional neighbourhood.

    “This visit is very important to ensure that the greater people have peace within their respective sovereignty and their rights and cultural dignity are fully preserved and maintained”.

    The two leaders of Melanesian states expressed concern over West Papua in accordance with resolutions adopted by regional bodies, such as the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (ACP) in 2019.

    One of the most important features of these resolutions was the call for the root causes of the West Papua problem to be addressed.

    These resolutions remain primarily concerned with human rights issues. In reality, these violations of human rights result from deeper problems that are often forgotten or ignored.

    For Papuans, this deeper problem relates to sovereignty: the Papuans contend that the means by which Indonesia has claimed sovereignty over West Papua was fraudulent and immoral.

    Tackling the root causes
    Unless the world’s leaders and international institutions — the United Nations, the ACP and/or the PIF — address these root causes, it is highly unlikely that human rights problems will be solved.

    In addition, continuing to acknowledge Indonesia’s sovereignty in these resolutions would legitimise human rights abuses, since these violations are a consequence of Indonesia’s breach of sovereignty.

    During the 2016 UNGA, leaders of seven Pacific nations (Vanuatu, Palau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, and the Solomon Islands) raised the issues of West Papua.

    Many of them agreed that the root causes should be addressed. To date, we are no closer to having a conversation about these issues than we were a few years ago.

    It appears that voices like those just heard from two leaders from Melanesia at the forum occur once in a blue moon and then vanish into a sea of deaf ears.

    A new lens on Indonesian colonialism
    The West Papua situation has since deteriorated. In West Papua, shootings continue unabated, and prominent leaders such as Victor Yeimo continue to be arrested and imprisoned.

    We continue to receive reports of Papuan bodies being found in the gutter, on the street, in the bush, in hospitals, houses, and hotels. The internal world is also bombarded by images and videos that depict Papuans who have been tortured, abused, burned or killed.

    Another young prominent Papuan leader, Abock Busup, died suddenly in a Jakarta hotel last Sunday.

    Abock was the former regent of the Yahukimo, the Star Mountains Highlands in Papua, and the chairman of the Papua National Mandate Party’s regional leadership council.

    In May, Papuans also lost the Vice-Governor of the Papuan Province, Klemen Tinal, at Abdi Waluyo Hospital in Jakarta.

    In September 2020, another prominent Papuan leader from the highlands region of Papua, Lanny Jaya, Bertus Kogoya, died in a hotel room in Jakarta.

    Kogoya was the chair of the Regional Leadership Council (DPW) of the Papua Provincial Working Party at the time of his death.

    Jakarta dangerous for Papuans
    Jakarta, the capital and most populous city of Indonesia, has been dangerous and unwelcoming for Papuans, who are punished with death upon arrival. The causes of their deaths are rarely determined by authorities.

    In response to these never-ending brutalities, the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the resistance movement, retaliated. A number of deaths of security personnel and immigrants have been attributed to them.

    The armed wing often claimed that their targeted victims are not ordinary immigrants, but people who have been either directly or indirectly implicated into the state’s security apparatus, which threaten Papuans throughout the land.

    A military post in Sorong, in the Mybrat region of West Papua, was attacked in early September 2021, resulting in the death of four Indonesian soldiers.

    Two years earlier, in December 2018, the TNPB killed at least 19 workers in the Nduga region, suspected to be members of security forces.

    In recent weeks, a 22-year-old health worker, Gabriella Maelani, was killed in the Kiwirok district of Star Highlands. This, coupled with the burning of public health buildings, are only a few of the heartbreaking atrocities perpetrated in West Papua against humanity.

    These shootings and killings have conflicting narratives wherein the West Papua liberation army accused their victims of being either directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of Papuans.

    Justifying ‘securitisation’
    In contrast, the government of Indonesia has attributed all forms of violence to the liberation armed wing, which conveniently justifies their securitisation of the entire region.

    A massive humanitarian crisis has resulted from these killings, displacing the residents of entire areas from their homes and forcing them into forests, causing further deaths of villagers, either through starvation, sickness, or reprisal attacks by the Indonesian military.

    Human tragedies never end in the land popularly known as “the little heaven that falls to earth.”

    As reported in Asia Pacific Report, lawyer and human rights activist Veronica Koman has called for an independent investigation into the death of the Kiwirok’s health workers.

    But even such requests are consistently denied by the authorities. Human rights organisations, NGOs, and rights activists have pressed Jakarta to investigate these atrocities for years with no result to date.

    In West Papua, people live in conditions of what French sociologist Émile Durkheim termed anomie, meaning the breakdown of the existential structure that holds human life, morality, ethics, norms, and values together.

    In this world, what is justice for one is a crime against another. It is a complete breakdown of the system; it is a war of freedom and survival in a tangled world – entanglements which make it virtually impossible to investigate and prosecute those responsible for these crimes when the very system necessary to deliver justice is inherently incongruent.

    That is what anomie is, in essence.

    An exotic dream
    West Papua may seem like an exotic dream world full of wealth and lush greenery to Indonesians and Western companies which thrive on its natural resources. These people have no concern for protecting this paradise world; instead, they go there to dig, cut, extract, and steal for their multimillion-dollar mansion in Jakarta, London, Washington, or Canberra.

    This is the only place that Papuans call home on this planet. Tragically, this home has been turned into a theatre of killings.

    The fate of their land and cultural identities are at stake as the colonial Indonesians and imperial West have thrust the Papuan people into a fierce struggle for survival in their ancestral homeland.

    The deaths of Papuans, immigrants, and security personnel are not isolated incidents. They are the victims of big wars for global control fought behind the scenes in Rome, Beijing, Jakarta, London, Canberra, Moscow, Auckland, Washington, Tokyo, and Canberra.

    The real perpetrators live in these imperial capital cities. The mourning relatives in West Papua or elsewhere in Indonesia will never meet these perpetrators nor see them brought to justice as they control the very system in which these crimes are perpetrated.

    According to a report from the Asian Human Rights Commission in 2013 entitled “Neglected Genocide”, Australia provided Iroquois helicopters to Indonesia in the 1970s along with Bell UH-1H Huey helicopters from the United States.

    These helicopters, among other aircraft and resources, were used by Indonesia to bomb Papua’s highland villages of Bolakme, Bokondini, Pyramid, Kelila, Tagime, and surrounding areas.

    Australian-trained terror squad
    Danny Kogoya, one of the key OPM commanders who died in hospital near the PNG-Indonesia border in 2013, was shot by an anti-terrorist squad trained by the Australian elites.

    Kogoya died as a result of an infection caused by the amputation of his right leg after having been shot in Entrop Jayapura, Jayapura, Indonesia on 2 September 2012.

    Maire Leadbeater, a New Zealand-based human rights activist, wrote an article published in Green-Left in May 2021 in which she stated: “Since 2008, New Zealand has exported military aircraft parts to the Indonesian Air Force.”

    In most years, including 2020, these parts are listed as “P3 Orion, C130 Hercules & CASA Military Aircraft: Engines, Propellers & Components including Casa Hubs and Actuators”.

    West Papua will see the use of this military hardware as Indonesia continues to increase its presence in the region in an attempt to crack down on the highlands, which have already suffered massive displacement in the Nduga region.

    It is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the immense volume of weaponry, skills, and training the Western governments supply to Indonesia.

    It is important to ask why Western governments aid Indonesia in eliminating indigenous Papuans. These questions can be answered by looking at what the Māori of New Zealand, the Aboriginals of Australia, and the Native Americans endured.

    Colonisation by settlement
    Colonisation through settlement has proven to be the most pernicious in human history. Tragically, this project is being undertaken by Indonesians in West Papua with the assistance of Western governments, based on the logic of exterminating one population in order to replace it with another.

    Europeans have done this in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States with great success.

    Currently, they are dispensing all of their knowledge, expertise, and weapons to Indonesians in order to eradicate the Papuans. They continue to supply arms to Indonesia, despite knowing the arms will be used against the Papuans.

    The Indonesian government’s execution of their plan to exterminate Papuans is neither secret nor new. In 1963, General Ali Moertopo declared that the Papuan people should be sent to the moon.

    Decades later, General Luhut Panjaitan said the Papuans should be sent to the Pacific.

    Recently, General Hendropriyono said the 2 million Papuans should be sent to Manado Island in Northern Sulawesi.

    Indonesian generals’ voices
    These words are coming from Indonesia’s military generals who undoubtedly have military affiliations with those Western countries that supply those munitions.

    International organisations such as the UN, the PIF, and the ACP fail to challenge Western-backed Indonesia’s pernicious logic of annihilating the Papuan people through the system of “settler colonialism”.

    Both West Papua and Papua are not simply provinces of Indonesia but Indonesian settler colonies.

    Viewing West Papua through the lens of a Settler Colony helps to understand all the activities conducted in region better, as Indonesia attempt to assimilate, reduce, remove, and eliminate the original inhabitants so that new settlers can occupy the vacated lands.

    Without real actions, written resolutions and human rights rhetoric at UN forums are nothing more than funeral letters or platitudes intended to comfort the dying and entertain the perpetrators.

    The ultimate betrayal
    Papuans’ stories are reminiscent of a Hollywood movie in which deserted civilians wait for a rescue train which never arrives. The sad truth is that Papuans die every day waiting for this train.

    A train did arrive on 1 December 1961, when the Dutch prepared and assisted the Papuans in joining the new global community of the independent state.

    Tragically, Papuans were thrown off the train when Indonesia invaded West Papua in 1963, after being permitted to invade by those imperial planners during the controversial New York Agreement a year earlier.

    A sham referendum that followed in 1969 irrevocably sealed the fate of the Papuan people, known to Papuans as the “Act of No Choice”. To date, Papuans are still awaiting another train that will bring them into the global nationhood of humanity. The question is, who controls this train?

    Despite all of these tragedies, the will to live continues to ignite the flames of hope and freedom in a world encircled by the clutches of despair.

    Often, that will to live is strengthened each time West Papua is mentioned at the United Nations, which motivates the Papuans to wait for the next long-awaited train, which never arrives. Rumours and news spread, and their social media accounts are filled with messages of hope, thanksgiving, and prayers.

    Appreciation messages
    Here are the comments of these varieties expressed in appreciation for the speeches delivered by two Melanesian state leaders recently at the UNGA.

    Free West Papua Camping Facebook Page wrote the following words:

    “Our Sincere Gratitude and a big thank you to Prime minister of PNG, Hon. MP. Mr James Marape, to recall the PIF Leaders’ Resolution on West Papua in 2019, on your speech (mins. 41.05-41.35) at UNGA, September 25 2021. (41.05:) (41.35). Only God knows that the 30 seconds part of your speech is highly appreciated, respected and valued by our people back home who are struggling under Indonesian atrocities and colonial system and all Papuans in exile including those that are residing in your beloved country, PNG. May God bless your leadership and your government and your people back home to become a blessing for other countries, especially, for the Melanesians and the Pacific Islanders in our region. Peace be with you and your entire country.
    Long live PNG🇵🇬
    Long live MSG countries!!
    Long God yumi trustem and stanap for our freedom, dignity, justice, sovereignty, peace and cultural identities.
    Freedom for West Papua, one pela day”

    The campaign page also posted the following message in appreciation of the Prime Minister of Vanuatu’s speech:

    “On behalf of the people of West Papua we thank you to Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Hon. MP Mr Bob Loughman, for Addresses [sic] Human Rights situations at United Nations today on his speech (at UNGA, September 25, 2021)
    Long live Vanuatu, God bless VANUATU”

    Papua’s fate hangs in “30 Seconds” and only God knows the outcome.

    In Marape’s 41-and-a-half-minute speech, only 30 seconds were devoted to West Papua. In addition to omitting the name of West Papua, the speech was carefully constructed, avoiding certain words that may reveal the identities of those who commit heinous crimes that go unpunished.

    Key message for families
    Nevertheless, that 30-second speech was highly appreciated by the families of the victims.
    The reality of the Papuans under Indonesian rule can be summarised in those 30 seconds.

    As Papuans wait in the emergency room of an Indonesian hospital, they feel as if they are on life support as Indonesia continues to fiddle with its oxygen life support system. In that situation, time and rescue is of the essence.

    Marape’s 30-second statement regarding West Papua prompted the Free West Papua Campaign to remind an unresponsive twin brother that time is running out.

    In spite of it seeming inconsequential to him and the rest of the world, the Free West Papua Campaign says that “those 30 seconds are highly valued, appreciated and respected because every second counts to prevent another Papuan death accompanied by another loss of land.”

    In the end, “only God knows the 30 seconds” declared the Free West Papua Campaign groups.

    Both God and 30 seconds symbolised impossibilities of great magnitude and triviality, and a courageous human agent like James Marape can turn these impossibilities into possibilities to determine the fate of dying humanity and biodiversity in the land of Papua.

    Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic 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.

  • Papua region hosts Indonesia’s national games amid rise in independence struggle

    By Victor Mambor in Jayapura

    A major national sports event opened in Papua at the weekend, with officials hoping it will showcase the Indonesian government’s commitment to developing the province and reassure the public that the region is safe despite an active and escalating pro-independence insurgency.

    The National Games, an event held once every four years, were scheduled to take place last year but were postponed because of the covid-19 pandemic.

    The games opened on Saturday and run until October 15 in Jayapura, the provincial capital, and three regencies.

    Billy Mambrasar, a Papua-born adviser to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, said the government hoped the games would help boost the economy of the deeply impoverished region.

    “The National Games in Papua, as Pak Jokowi hopes, will be successful not only in terms of sporting events and organisation, but also in creating a multiplier effect,” he told reporters.

    Mambrasar said he had travelled across Papua to ensure that Papuan small businesses were involved in organising the games.

    Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali said the people of Papua were already benefitting economically from the games.

    ‘Economic impact’
    “It has brought an economic impact on the communities,” Zainudin said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.

    “People sell T-shirts and souvenirs. Moreover, the situation here is under control.”

    Papua won the right to host the games in 2014, outbidding Bali and Aceh provinces. A total of 7039 athletes and officials have descended on Papua for the country’s biggest sporting event, in which competitors are competing for medals in 56 sports.

    The games are being held at venues in Jayapura City and three regencies – Jayapura, Merauke and Mimika. Some events, including esports, began last week.

    The director of the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) expressed optimism that the games would proceed without incident, saying the insurgency was “hundreds of kilometers away”.

    “The military and police have taken necessary security precautions, so we are optimistic that all events will go well,” Boy Rafli Amar said in a video interview with detik.com.

    More than 21,000 police and soldiers had been “deployed to prevent any security and public order disturbances,” national police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo said.

    ‘Safe and smooth’ hope
    “What we hope is that the games will run safely and smoothly, while covid-19 remains under control,” Listyo told reporters after visiting sport venues in Papua on Thursday.

    The areas where the games are being held are generally peaceful. But violence linked to the insurgency has broken out in other parts of the region that comprises Papua and West Papua provinces, and which makes up the western half of New Guinea Island.

    In September, suspected rebels set fire to public buildings, including a health clinic and an elementary school in Kiwirok district, after security forces killed an insurgent during a gunfight, police said.

    A 22-year-old nurse died after falling into a ravine while trying to flee the scene of the attack. One of her colleagues survived after being stabbed.

    A policeman and a soldier were also killed in clashes with rebels.

    The insurgency has simmered for decades in the Papua region, but violence has intensified in the past three years.

    In April, the government designated pro-independence rebels as “terrorists” after insurgents ambushed and assassinated an army general who headed the regional branch of the National Intelligence Agency. The killing prompted Jokowi to order a crackdown.

    Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who will officially inaugurate the National Games, buys Nokens – traditional Papuan bags – from a craftswoman in Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia, Oct. 1, 2021. [Courtesy President Joko Widodo’s official Facebook account]

    Lukas Enembe Stadium
    The Lukas Enembe Stadium – named after the governor of Papua province – and the Papuan National Games complex in Jayapura. Image: Tribun News

    Some local businesses unhappy
    Jayapura Regent Mathius Awoitauw said the games could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

    “The National Games are a matter of pride for Papuans, because it is extraordinary to have been entrusted to host it,” he said.

    But some local businesses, including members of the Chamber of Papuan Indigenous Entrepreneurs (KAPP) and the Papuan Coffee Community, said they had been left out.

    “We have had several meetings with the games’ organisers but there has been no progress,” Meky Wetipo, KAPP’s executive director, told BenarNews.

    “We hope that they can entrust us with providing 3 tonnes of skipjack tuna, several tonnes of carrots, and fruit. But all these things are being done by government agencies.”

    Denny Yigibalom, a coffee farmer and owner of the TIYOM coffee brand, said he had met with local lawmakers to discuss cooperation between coffee farmers and the games’ organisers, but there had been no further communication.

    Makers of noken, traditional Papuan bags, said they were disappointed not to have been enlisted to provide souvenirs for the games, said Cintya Warwe, the manager of the Papua Women’s Market.

    Noken purchase promise
    “During a meeting at the end of August with the women of the Meepago noken community, the women complained because the organisers had promised to buy 5000 nokens. But this has not happened,” Cintya told BenarNews.

    She said she heard news that the games’ committee wanted to buy 25,000 fake nokens from outside Papua to be used as mementoes.

    However, some indigenous small businesses are taking part in the events by setting up tents to sell handicrafts outside the new Lukas Enembe Stadium, which cost nearly $1 million to build and is named after the serving governor of Papua.

    Individual residents have also been allowed to set up stalls outside the stadium and sell handicrafts and betel or areca nuts, which are traditionally consumed raw by Papuans and people in neighboring Papua New Guinea.

    In Merauke, women from the Marind tribe are selling handicrafts, including bags, hats, wallets, bracelets, necklaces, and bows along the city streets.

    “Sales are worth up to 3 million rupiah (U.S. $210) a day. Bags, wallets and hats are the most popular. Most of the buyers are contingents from outside Papua,” said Maria D. Keimawu, leader of a small businesses association.

    Covid-19 concerns
    The provincial government, meanwhile, has taken measures to prevent the spread of covid-19 during the games, including by ramping up vaccinations and limiting the number of people who can enter the main stadium to fewer than 10,000, officials said.

    “Gatherings of large numbers of people, even with strict health protocols, should be cause for concern,” said Masdalina Pane, a member of the Indonesian Association of Epidemiologists.

    She said cases spiked after the recently completed Tokyo Olympics and the European football championship.

    Yunus Wonda, the games’ chief organiser, said more than 50 percent of people in the areas that host the games had received at least on dose of a vaccine.

    “We will make sure that everyone entering the venue have been vaccinated, that’s the main requirement,” he said, referring to the opening ceremony at the Lukas Enembe Stadium.

    Victor Mambor is editor of Tabloid Jubi and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Police break up rally by Papua activists at US embassy in Jakarta – 17 arrested

    By Ihsanuddin in Jakarta

    Indonesian police forcibly broke up a protest marking the 1962 Rome Agreement in front of the US Embassy in Central Jakarta this week and arrested 17 Papuan activists.

    One of the demonstrators, former political prisoner Ambrosius Mulait, said the 17 arrested protesters were forcibly taken away by police as soon as they arrived at the US Embassy.

    “We hadn’t even started the action and were forced to get into crowd control vehicles,” said Mulait about the protest on Thursday.

    Mulait also said that police were “repressive” when they were arresting the protesters by firing teargas until a physical clash broke out between demonstrators and police.

    “Some of our comrades were assaulted by the police,” he said.

    Central Jakarta district police chief Senior Commissioner Hengki Hariyadi confirmed that 17 Papuan activists were arrested.

    Hariyadi said that they did not allow the protest action because Jakarta was currently under a level 3 Enforcement of Restrictions on Public Activities (PPKM) in order to prevent the spread of the covid-19 pandemic.

    “During a Level 3 PPKM all activities which have the potential to create crowds are prohibited, in this case they did not have a permit to express an opinion in pubic, so it was without a recommendation from the security forces,” said Hariyadi.

    The protest by the Papuan activists made six demands:

    • [The right to hold] an action in the context of marking the 59th anniversary of the Rome Agreement [that led to Jakarta’s colonisation of Papua];
    • President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to withdraw all TNI (Indonesian military) and Polri (Indonesian police) from Papua because they were making the situation for the Papuan people “uncomfortable”;
    • Release political prisoner Victor Yeimo who is currently in ill health and is being detained at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) command headquarters in Jayapura;
    • Reject the extension of Special Autonomy for Papua which had failed to bring prosperity to the Papuan people;
    • Give Papuans the right to self-determination (through a referendum);and
    • Reject racism and fully resolve human rights violations in Papua.

    IndoLeft News backgrounds the crisis:
    The 1962 Rome Agreement was signed by Indonesia, the Netherlands and the United States in Rome on September 30, 1962.

    The agreement provided for a postponement of a referendum on West Papua’s status which had been scheduled to be held in 1969 under the New York Agreement signed on August 15, 1962, that the referendum would use a consultative process, that the UN’s report on the implementation of the referendum would be accepted without open debate and on US commitments to invest in resource exploration and provide funds for development programmes in West Papua.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Polisi Tangkap 17 Aktivis Papua yang Akan Demo di Depan Kedubes AS”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Colonial border between PNG and West Papua ‘will fall like Berlin Wall’

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    A West Papuan group seeking self-determination has greeted Papua New Guinea on its 46th anniversary of independence, predicting that one day the artificial colonial border separating the two would “fall like the Berlin Wall”.

    “Happy 46th independence anniversary to Papua New Guinea. We send a message of solidarity from your brothers on the other half of New Guinea,” said interim president Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

    “We are there with you in spirit for this great celebration.

    “I know that one day all of New Guinea, from Sorong to Samarai, will celebrate true independence and enjoy God’s creation on our green island. This is our long-term dream.

    “With one half unfree, our island is not complete.

    “We are one island, with one ancestor. Just because a colonial border separates us, does not mean we are destined to be apart forever.

    “One day this artificial line will fall like the Berlin Wall, bringing our people together once more.”

    Wenda said in a statement it was in “my heart’s dream to see elders from each half of the island meet and watch their grandchildren dance together in peace like the Bird of Paradise”.

    He said Papuans continued to dream of liberating the people of West Papua from tyranny, 21st colonialism imposed by the Indonesian government.

    “You have reached your 46th year of sovereignty – we have been fighting for the last 58 years for independence and freedom,” said Wenda.

    Benny Wenda Sky
    Exiled Papuan leader Benny Wenda … “the new generation, in West Papua and PNG, must fight to liberate the rest of New Guinea”. Image: Office of Benny Wenda

    “We will pray for your celebrations and thank the forefathers who liberated PNG.”

    On the other side of the island, said Wenda, Papuans still struggled for their freedom, but their forefathers had already set their destiny.

    “Now the new generation, in West Papua and PNG, must fight to liberate the rest of New Guinea,” he said.

    “One day we will join these independence celebrations hand-in-hand, with the Morning Star [banned in Indonesia] raised alongside the PNG flag. We will stand together and celebrate together.”

    While Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia in 1975, West Papuans declared independence in 1961 but this was overturned in a non-democratic referendum in 1969 — the so-called Act of Free Choice — after Indonesian paratroopers had invaded Papua, then a colony of The Netherlands.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian military, police continue Papua crackdown over soldier deaths

    By Rahmad Nasution in Jayapura

    More than a week after four Indonesian soldiers were killed by pro-independence fighters in an attack on a military post in Kisor village, South Aifat sub-district, Maybrat district, West Papua, police have arrested two suspects and launched a manhunt for 17 others.

    Also, a joint team of personnel from the Indonesian Military (TNI) has continued to crack down on Papuan rebels operating in the area.

    The XVIII/Kasuari Regional Military Command’s spokesperson, Colonel Hendra Pesireron, said that TNI soldiers had “secured” several villages.

    The troops’ presence in villages had “restored the security situation” in Maybrat district, and guaranteed public safety, he claimed in a statement.

    On 5 September 2021, TNI personnel engaged in a gunfight with several members of a pro-independence group in the neighborhood areas of East Aifat sub-district.

    The rebels retreated into a thick forest to escape, Colonel Pesireron said.

    Before the gunfight, the rebels destroyed a bridge, he said.

    Kisor military post attacked
    On Thursday, pro-independence rebels had ambushed several soldiers while they were sleeping at the Kisor military post.

    Four soldiers—2nd Sergeant Amrosius, Chief Private Dirham, First Private Zul Ansari, and First Lieutenant Dirman—died in the attack, while two others suffered serious wounds.

    The bodies of three soldiers had been found at the post, while the body of another soldier had been discovered in bush not far from the post.

    Several local residents had fled their homes fearing for their safety.

    On Friday, Indonesian police investigators named 19 alleged suspects in connection with the attack on the military post.

    Rahmad Nasution is a journalist for the Indonesian news agency Antara.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Papuan pro-independence activist Yeimo to stand trial next week

    By Ronna Nirmala in Jakarta

    A pro-independence activist in Indonesia’s Papua province will stand trial next week on charges of treason, says his lawyer.

    A day earlier, one protester suffered gunshot wounds when police opened fire to disperse a rally demanding the activist Victor Yeimo’s release, activists and a church group said.

    Yeimo’s attorney, Gustav Kawer, said his client’s arraignment was scheduled for Tuesday, August 24, and expressed concern about his deteriorating health.

    “Despite his health condition, he is still forced to go on trial. This is an attempt to pursue a timetable regardless of the quality of the trial,” Kawer told BenarNews.

    Yeimo, the international spokesman for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a group seeking a referendum on independence for the region, was arrested in May for allegedly leading anti-Jakarta demonstrations that turned into deadly riots there in 2019.

    Yeimo is facing charges of treason, desecration of state symbols, and weapons smuggling, police said. He could face two years to a maximum of life in prison, if found guilty.

    In 2019, more than 40 people were killed in Papua during demonstrations and riots sparked by the harsh and racist treatment of Papuan students by government security personnel in Java that August.

    The incident cast another spotlight on longtime allegations of Indonesian government forces engaging in racist actions against indigenous people in mainly Melanesian Papua, where violence linked to a pro-independence insurgency has simmered for decades, and grown in recent months.

    Last year, at least 13 Papuan activists and students were convicted for raising Morning Star flags — the symbol of the Papuan independence movement — during pro-referendum rallies in 2019 as part of nationwide protests against racism towards Papuans.

    They were sentenced to between nine and 11 months in prison on treason charges.

    Papuan leader Victor Yeimo
    Detained Papuan leader Victor Yeimo … “clear victim” of Indonesian racism and his health is deteriorating. Image: Foreign Correspondent

    Team of doctors ‘not independent’
    Yeimo’s lawyer, Kawer, said that repeated requests from the legal team for his client to undergo a comprehensive health check-up were denied, although he had complained of chest pain and coughed up blood.

    Yeimo is being detained at a facility run by the Mobile Brigade police unit, Kawer said. The activist is lodged in a cell with minimal lighting, poor air circulation, and located next to a septic tank, he added.

    Kawer said he had sent a letter to the prosecutor’s office requesting that Yeimo be transferred to the main Abepura prison in Jayapura but there had been no response.

    Kawer acknowledged that his client had previously undergone two health examinations since his detention — the last one on June 17 — but they had not been thorough.

    “We suspect that the team of doctors is not independent. We are very worried that the results will be brought to court, but they are not in accordance with Yeimo’s actual condition,” Kawer said.

    Police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal denied that Yeimo was ailing.

    “He is fine. He has been examined by hospital doctors, not from the police, and is accompanied by a lawyer,” Kamal said.

    Bail to be requested
    The head of the Papuan branch of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Frits Ramandey, said he would request bail for Yeimo.

    Yeimo’s arrest was not his first brush with the law.

    In 2009, he was arrested and sentenced to a year in prison for leading a rally demanding a referendum on self-determination for Papua.

    In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded Papua and annexed the region, which makes up the western half of New Guinea Island. Papua was formally incorporated into Indonesia after a disputed UN-sponsored ballot called the “Act of Free Choice” in 1969.

    Locals and activists said the vote was a sham because only about 1000 people took part. However, the United Nations accepted the result, which essentially endorsed Jakarta’s rule.

    The region is rich in natural resources but remains among Indonesia’s poorest and underdeveloped ones.

    ‘They beat us with rifle butts’
    On Monday, a 29-year-old protester, Ferianus Asso, suffered a gunshot wound to his stomach after police opened fire to disperse the crowd during a rally demanding Yeimo’s release in Yahukimo regency on Monday.

    “Ferianus is still undergoing treatment at a hospital in Yahukimo,” said Jefry Wenda, spokesman for the Papuan People’s Petition.

    Wenda said police detained at least 48 protesters in Yahukimo but all but four had been released.

    Papuan police spokesman Kamal said all detainees had been released.

    “We are not detaining any protester at the moment,” Kamal said.

    In the provincial capital Jayapura, KNPB chairman and former political prisoner Agus Kossay suffered a head injury after he was hit by a police gunstock — a support to which the barrel of a gun is attached.

    “They sprayed us with water and beat us with rifle butts until we bled, but even if they beat and kill us, we will still fight racism, colonialism and capitalism,” Kossay said in a video clip sent to BenarNews.

    ‘Violating’ covid-19 rules
    Jayapura police chief Gustav R. Urbinas said the mass dispersal was carried out because the demonstration did not have an official permit and violated covid-19 social distancing rules.

    Urbinas said that the crowd attacked the police who tried to disband the protest.

    “Our personnel had to take firm action to prevent them from causing public disturbances,” he said in a statement.

    Kossay, however, said the organisers had notified the police about the protest three days earlier.

    Reverend Socratez S. Yoman, president of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches of West Papua, condemned the use of violence by police against the protesters.

    “This kind of cruelty and violence by the security forces has led to an increase in the Papuan people’s distrust of Indonesia,” he said in an open letter.

    Ronna Nirmala is a journalist with Benar News.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘We’ll be extinct,’ warns West Papuan churches, call for halt to ‘racist’ Otsus

    Tabloid Jubi in Jayapura

    The West Papuan Council of Churches (WPCC) has condemned the Indonesian government’s Special Autonomy (Otsus) law ratified by the Jakarta parliament last week, describing it as racist and warning that Papuans could “become extinct”.

    The WPCC was speaking in an online forum organised by the International Coalition for Papua (ICP) last Wednesday — the day before the draft bill was ratified.

    It appealed to the Pacific and international community to stop the Indonesian government’s racism toward the West Papuans which was being perpetuated by the Otsus Law, widely condemned by Papuans.

    The forum included representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (PIANGO), the United Evangelical Mission (UEM), the West Papua Project, the Franciscans International, and the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC).

    The Evangelical Church in Indonesia (GIDI) president Dorman Wandikbo said the Otsus Law had become an enabler for gross human rights violations in West Papua in the past 20 years, such as the Biak, Abepura, Paniai and Wamena massacres.

    “Therefore, the Papuan people reject the continuation of the Otsus Law,” he said.

    Wandikbo cited the result of a study conducted by the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), which said the root of the problems in Papua was racism, which had caused Papuans to suffer culturally, politically, and economically despite being given a special autonomy.

    Appeal for international help
    He asked for the international community’s help in underlining the rejection of continuation of the Otsus Law.

    Wandikbo also said that the covid-19 pandemic must not be used as an excuse to obstruct the United Nations special envoy on human rights from entering West Papua.

    “This is an emergency situation. We, the Papuan people, will be extinct in 20 or 30 years if something is not done,” he said.

    “God put us here in the land of Papua not to be killed, enslaved, nor called monkeys.”

    Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman said international organisations such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were effectively banned from entering the region.

    Rev Socratez Yoman
    Alliance of West Papuan Baptist Churches president Reverend Socratez Yoman … “the Papuan people are left out.” Image: APR File

    Reverend Socratez Yoman of the WPCC, who is also the head of the Aliance of West Papua Baptist Churches, said that Indonesian lawmakers had been debating the Special Autonomy Law while ignoring the law itself, which required the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) and the Papuan Legislation Council (DPRP) to be included in the evaluation and amendment of the law.

    “In fact, the MRP and DPRP are not included in the deliberation process. Only Jakarta ha[d] to agree, the Papuan people are left out,” Reverend Yoman said.

    Division into more provinces
    Reverend Yoman also said that under the upcoming Otsus Law, the Indonesian government planned to divide the region — currently two provinces, Papua and West Papua — into more provinces despite the low population in Papua.

    “Who is this [plan] really for? It will only result in more military basis, more migrants coming from the other provinces in Indonesia, and we will be a minority in our own land and eventually be extinct,” he said.

    In the online forum, Sister Rode Wanimbo of the WPCC also gave updates on the situation in West Papua, as she had just returned from Puncak regency’s capital of Ilaga last Tuesday.

    “There are 11 civilians who have been shot dead in Ilaga from April to July this year. There are also nine churches destroyed and bombed by the Indonesian military from the air,” she said.

    Wanimbo said that there were currently 4862 displaced people accommodated in six districts in Puncak, not including the displaced people from Paluga village and Tegelobak village.

    “They don’t build a tent, the community let the displaced people stay in their homes. No health services for these displaced people,” he said.

    Food aid limited
    “They got food aid from the local government once, but mostly it was from the church, parliament members, and the people,” he said.

    Responding to the WPCC updates on the latest conditions in West Papua, WCC director of International Affairs Peter Prove said that the WCC had held a bilateral meeting in Geneva with the Indonesian government and other diplomats in a hope to bring the Papuan issue to light.

    They were especially trying to address the internally displaced people in West Papua and pushing for humanitarian actors to be allowed to enter the region.

    “I have also talked to the UN Special Adviser that West Papua has a high risk for genocide,” he said.

    Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ should raise human plight of West Papuans at UN, says author

    RNZ Pacific

    A New Zealand explorer who trekked in West Papua before Indonesian rule says he is saddened to see what colonisation has done to the region’s indigenous people.

    Philip Temple, who is also a renowned author, was part of a small group who made the first recorded ascent of the Carstensz Pyramid in West Papua in 1962 before Dutch colonial rule ended.

    “The Dutch had already given [West Papua] its own flag and all that sort of thing. And in fact when we made the first ascent of the Carstenz Pyramid, that was the flag we took to the top,” he said.

    “It was a West Papuan flag that made it to the top, not an Indonesian flag.”

    Temple said it was sad to see ongoing human rights violations against West Papuans, and their marginalisation in their own homeland due to transmigration of settlers from other, heavily populated parts of Indonesia.

    Dani tribesmen with Philip Temple
    A member of the Dani tribe hangs on to Philip Temple for balance as he embarks on the first Yehlimeh trek. Image: Heinrich Harrer/RNZ

    He also cited the violence and displacement suffered by the indigenous people of Papua’s highlands due to ongoing conflict between Indonesian security forces and pro-independence fighters.

    This was the remote interior region where Temple explored six decades ago. Today it is also a resource-rich region where the one of the world’s largest gold mines, Grasberg, operated by US company Freeport McMoran, has been in operation since Indonesian administration began, producing major revenue for the state while devastating the environment.

    Papua example of modern colonisation
    What has happened to the territory, according to Temple, is another example of modern colonisation.

    “There’s quite a thing going on in New Zealand at the moment about the effects of colonisation, and yet not that far away in the geopolitical sphere, it’s happening right now,” he said.

    “What is really distressing for me is that the Dani people, who I got to know pretty well, they’ve been completely taken over by Indonesian settlers, especially in the Grand Valley, the Baliem, and they’re now treated as kind of curiosities by Indonesian visitors and so on.

    “It’s the same kind of thing that happened to Māori at the end of the 19th century.”

    Temple said that the New Zealand government’s reluctance to upset Indonesia by pushing for a resolution of the conflict in West Papua is at odds with its obligations to support the rights of indigenous Pacific peoples.

    He said there was a lot that New Zealand could do, including raising the issue at the United Nations level, and also review defence ties it has with Indonesia, as well as military exports to Indonesia.

    Descending to Mangaleme in the Toli Valley, Papua
    Descending to Mangaleme in the Toli Valley in Papua. Image: Philip Temple/RNZ

    NZ ‘closely monitors’ West Papua
    A spokesperson from New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it continued to closely monitor developments in Papua.

    “For example, earlier this year the New Zealand Ambassador met virtually with local government and civil society leaders in Papua,” he said.

    “We support the PIF (Pacific Islands Forum) Leaders’ call for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be permitted to visit Papua, in a manner that is safe and consistent with covid-19 restrictions.

    “New Zealand recognises Papua as part of Indonesia’s sovereign territory. We encourage Indonesia to continue with its efforts to deliver on the goals and principles underpinning special autonomy for the benefit of all Papuans, including its recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in Papua.

    “New Zealand continues to encourage Indonesia to promote and protect the human rights of all its citizens. We take appropriate opportunities to raise concerns with the Indonesian government.”

    Temple has written dozens of books, including The Last True Explorer: Into Darkest New Guinea, published by Godwit in 2002, which details his exporations of unmapped swathes of central New Guinea Highlands.

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

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Activists call for peaceful remembering of 1998 Biak massacre in West Papua

    “We Have Come To Testify” … survivors give evidence about the 1998 Biak massacre at a “citizens’ tribunal” hearing hosted by the Centre for Peace Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney. Video: Wantok Musik

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Today — July 6 — marks 23 years since the Indonesian security forces massacred scores of people in Biak, West Papua.

    The victims included women and children who had gathered for a peaceful rally.

    They were killed at the base of a water tower flying the Morning Star flag of West Papuan independence. Other Papuans were rounded up and later taken out to sea where they were thrown off naval ships and drowned.

    No Indonesian security force member has been charged or brought to justice for the human rights abuses committed against peaceful demonstrators.

    According to the Papuan Institute for Human Rights Studies and Advocacy (Elsham Papua), eight people died, three went missing, four were severely wounded, 33 mildly injured, and 150 people were arrested and persecuted during the Biak massacre.

    The report also said 32 bodies were found in Biak water at that time (Tabloid Jubi, July 5 2021)

    Joe Collins of the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) said: “it is tragic that 23 years after the Biak massacre, the West Papuan people continue to be arrested, intimated and killed by the security forces and in fact the situation in West Papua continues to deteriorate with ongoing clashes between the security forces and the OPM.

    “It was also reported that a commemoration will be held on the 6th in West Papua.

    “Hopefully, the security forces will allow the West Papuan people to commemorate the tragedy of Biak peacefully without interference.”

    Komnas HAM Papua head Frits Ramandey said: “I have been contacted by those who will commemorate the Biak massacre [in a rally] on July 6. We demand relevant parties [especially the security forces] to facilitate them.”

    Ramandey appealed to Jubi in a phone call on Sunday: “Let the Papuans remember the Biak Massacre.”

    • On 2 July 1998, the West Papuan Morning Star flag was raised on top of a water tower near the harbour in Biak. Activists and local people gathered beneath it singing songs and holding traditional dances for four days in a demand for a self-determination referendum. As the rally continued, many more people in the area joined in with numbers reaching up to 500 people. On July 6, the Indonesian security forces attacked the demonstrators, massacring scores of people.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Papuans protest over draconian bid by Jakarta to replace Governor Enembe

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Yamin Kogoya

    Indonesia’s most troubled province of Papua is become embroiled in another mass demonstration with protesters barricading provincial government buildings and offices over a draconian and undemocratic appointment.

    The latest unrest is in response to last week’s controversial appointment of Papua’s Provincial Government Secretary, Dance Yulian Flassy, as Acting Governor of Papuan province by Indonesia’s Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian.

    It has been alleged that Flassy sent a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs requesting to be appointed as Acting Governor of Papua.

    The letter no T.121.91/4124/OTDA dated June 24, 2021, was signed by the Ministry of Home Affairs General Director of Regional Autonomy, Akmal Malik.

    This sudden appointment shocked Governor Enembe, who has been in Singapore receiving medical treatment since May. The governor said that he had not been informed nor made aware of the appointment.

    He said that this was “maladministration” and an attempt to cause more trouble in Papua.

    Four points
    Governor Enembe wrote a letter to President Jokowi, which outlined four points:

    1. Governor Enembe will return to Papua to perform his duty as governor as soon as he is fully recovered;
    2. As an active governor, Governor Enembe has not been consulted, informed about, or agreed to Flassy’s appointment as Acting Governor;
    3. Governor Enembe was elected by his people in accordance with Indonesia’s constitution to administer the province and lead his people. He stated that when he took office, he took an oath to protect the unitary state of Indonesia. He is disappointed by this kind of unlawful and unconstitutional behaviour coming from the high office; and
    4. Governor Enembe requested President Jokowi to dismiss Flassy from office as he had misused his public portfolio in trying to take office without consulting Governor Enembe.

    “In addition to these [points], Mr Flassy has already done many things that contradict my policies as Governor,” said Governor Enembe (Fajar Papua.com, June 25).

    Governor Lukas Enembe
    Governor Lukas Enembe … receiving medical treatment in Singapore. Image: West Papua Today

    The Governor said he was surprised by the fact that Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian was the one who granted permission for him to go to Singapore for medical treatment in April. Governor Enembe asked: “Why, then, is Mr. Tinto trying to replace me, knowing that I am still alive and recovering?”

    Muhammad Rifai Darus, Governor Enembe’s spokesperson, said Enembe was still active as the head of Papua’s regional, provincial government and criticised the appointment in its breach of proper procedure and mechanism (as reported by Papua Today online news, June 25).

    Discriminatory move
    Ricky Ham Pagawak, the vice-chairman of the Democrat party in Papua, said that this appointment was discriminatory and a civil coup d’état against Governor Lukas’ office (Papua Post, June 26).

    Dance Yulian Flassy name board
    Papuan provincial office name board for the official named to “replace” Governor Enembe as “Acting Governor”. Image: APR

    Pagawak continues to criticise the appointment by saying the letter was issued in the morning and in the afternoon on the same day Flassy was appointed.

    “Is this fair?” he asked.

    In response, Papuans have already blocked several government buildings, including the office of the Democrat Party.

    “If there is no withdrawal of this appointment from the central government, Papuan people will continue to galvanize mass rallies and occupy provincial office until the matter is fully resolved,” said Pagawak (Suara Papua, June 26).

    Papuan provincial office barrier
    A barrier erected by protesters on the Papuan provincial office. Image: APR

    A member of the Papuan Provincial Parliament, Nason Utty, also expressed his disappointment at Flassy’s move, sending a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs, requesting to be appointed as Acting Governor of Papua.

    “It is inappropriate for the provincial secretary to do this. Mr. Enembe remains the legitimate Governor of the Papuan Province, so this is an important decision that should be consulted first with him,” said Nason Utty (SindoNews.com, June 26).

    Severe criticism
    Despite the severe criticism by Governor Enembe and Papuans, Luqman Hakim, Vice-Chairman of Commission II of the House of Representatives in Jakarta, said that this appointment was appropriate and proper procedures and mechanisms had been followed.

    “The decision of the Minister of Home Affairs to appoint Papua Provincial Secretary, Dance Yulian Flassy, as acting Governor was needed and legitimate. In the principles of constitutional law, it is not permissible for a government to have a power vacuum,” Hakim told DetikNews reporters (June 26).

    There is an element of common sense in Hakim’s statement –- such high office should not be left as a power vacuum infinitely. Especially in Papua, one of the most conflict-ravaged regions of Indonesia and the world.

    But even simple rules that govern such as common sense differ significantly between Jakarta and Papua.

    In Papua, strong local leadership is needed to respond to never ending impending crises.

    However, Jakarta is also notoriously known for introducing harmful policies, opposite to the wishes of Papuan people, which aggravate these conflicts and crises.

    One such failed policy is the infamous Papuan Special Autonomy Law No. 21 of 2001, introduced 20 years ago to deflect the ever-growing demand for Papuan independence, following the fall of Suharto’s 32-year iron fist rule in 1998.

    Autonomy law opposed
    This law will expire in November 2021. Jakarta’s insistence to extend what Papuans regard as a “failed and dead special autonomy” policy have already been met with severe criticism and massive rejection by Papuan society.

    Exacerbating these situations further, controversial labelling of any Papuans who opposed Jakarta as “terrorists” in recent months, following the killing of a senior Indonesian intelligence officer, General I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha, also sparked outrage among Papuans and Indonesians alike.

    Papuan civil society groups and churches strongly rejected this “terrorist” label and asked Jakarta to revoke the decision. This harmful label will give the green light for security forces to shoot any Papuan regarded as a West Papua National Liberation Army member.

    Local media Suara Papua (Papua Voice) has recorded rare shocking footage on the current devastating humanitarian crisis in Papua’s highlands, as security forces continue to terrorise the locals in their pursuit for Papua’s liberation army.

    WATCH THE VIDEO ON FACEBOOK

    Jakarta’s unsympathetic approach in not respecting Papuan’s customary practice of 40 days of national mourning for the May 21 passing of their Vice-Governor, Klemen Tinal, rubs salt in Papua’s deep wounds.

    These are among many of Jakarta’s top-down, draconian policies that fan the burning flames in the hearts of Papuans in this decade-old-conflict-stricken region of the world.

    Because the central government doesn’t even have the courtesy of asking their own elected Governor about the appointment of another Indigenous Papuan as acting Governor, indicates that Jakarta is creating and nurturing conflicts among Papuan Indigenous people.

    Governors not consulted
    Jakarta also did not ask the governors of both provinces (Papua and West Papua) about the impact that the recent “terrorist” labelling of Papuans might have on the psychology of the Papuan people.

    It seems that Indonesia, a country that prides itself as the world’s fourth-largest democracy with an ambition to play a role in global affairs, struggles to decide what it stands for –- democracy and freedom? Or something else?

    This indecisiveness was demonstrated further when Indonesia decided to join 14 other countries (including North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia and China) in rejecting a resolution on “The Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity during the vote in the UN Assembly in May this year.

    This ambivalence reflects in almost every policy Jakarta has introduced for Papua. We have the ruling elites in Jakarta making statements of removing all Indigenous Papuans from their ancestral homeland.

    On the other hand, President Jokowi wants to approach Papua through welfare.

    Unfortunately, the same president that talks about welfare also gives orders to his troops for a manhunt looking for “terrorists” in West Papua.

    The appointment of Flassy as Acting Governor without consulting Governor Lukas Enembe and Papuan people reflects Jakarta’s tragic mishandling of West Papua.

    Practising what is preached
    Jakarta should pick what principles and values it wants to live by and handle its affairs with Papuans accordingly.

    Otherwise, any meaningful and permanent peace cannot be installed in the land of Papua if Jakarta continues to approach Papua with self-contradictory policies. It’s a case of practising what you preach.

    Both Enembe and Flassy are Papuans and should be united in resolving the many challenges that their people face, not fighting over the top jobs. But unfortunately, elites in Jakarta continue to introduce policies that encourage Papuans to be at odds with one another for all sorts of things.

    That is the true colour of the old colonial strategy of “divide and conquer” at work. We learned what happened over the past 500 years of European colonisation –- they used this strategy in decimate local indigenous populations.

    Because of these unfortunate tragedies, Governor Lukas Enembe has stated that people in Papua remain calm and united to protect Papua and not be easily provoked by what is happening.

    He has asked if Papuan people want to express their frustrations over the appointment of Dance Yulian Flassy, to do it peacefully without causing harm to all life in the land of Papua.

    Muhammad Rifai Darus, Governor Enembe’s spokesperson, said Governor Enembe was alive and recovering.

    When he comes home, he will deal with Jakarta and appoint his Vice-Governor in accordance with proper procedure and mechanism.

    In the meantime, he asks the people in Papua to remain calm and not to provide any unnecessary opportunity for the enemy of Papua to use this moment to create more conflict and devastation.

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


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.