West Papua and the Road to Melanesian Freedom: A Defining Moment for the ULMWP

Markus Haluk, executive director of the ULMWP

West Papua and the Road to Melanesian Freedom: A Defining Moment for the ULMWP

In June 2015, a quiet but powerful step was taken toward justice in the Pacific. A delegation from the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), led by Markus Haluk, brought the cry of a nation to the international stage. That voice — long silenced by occupation, violence, and racism — found its echo in Port Vila, capital of Vanuatu. It was here that the dream of Papuan self-determination was carried not merely as a political aspiration, but as a moral imperative shared across the Melanesian world.

On that occasion, a petition signed by more than 150,000 West Papuans — a staggering act of peaceful resistance in the face of repression — was presented as undeniable evidence of the Papuan people's will to be free. This was not a call to arms. It was a call to conscience. A call to the Pacific family. And the family responded.

Thanks to the unwavering support of Vanuatu, and soon after that of Kanaky (New Caledonia) and the Solomon Islands, the ULMWP was granted observer status in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), a regional bloc committed to promoting solidarity and sovereignty among Melanesian nations since its inception in 1988.

Now, in 2025, we stand at the threshold of a historic shift. The ULMWP is preparing to ascend to full membership in the MSG. This would not merely be a procedural upgrade — it would be a profound recognition: that West Papua is Melanesian, that her people are not Indonesians who must assimilate, but a distinct nation entitled to determine its own future. With full membership, ULMWP would negotiate not as an outsider, not as a footnote to Indonesia’s regional ambitions, but as a legitimate Melanesian government-in-waiting, speaking on equal terms with Jakarta, which holds only associate member status in the same body.

The MSG’s core principle is clear: Melanesian freedom is indivisible. As Vanuatu’s founding Prime Minister Walter Lini once declared, Melanesia is not free until West Papua is free. That legacy endures — and it is now being tested.

Markus Haluk, executive director of the ULMWP, continues to lead with a blend of humility, courage, and prophetic clarity. His message remains one of hope and unity:

"Today the sun is shining, and tomorrow it will continue to shine. It will lead us to the goal that our elders laid down on October 19, 1961: One People, One Soul, the Papuan Nation.

For this noble cause, we are ready to sacrifice everything. We need the support and prayers of the people of Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia, Australia and New Zealand.

Don’t forget: West Papua is the future of the Pacific."

Indeed, West Papua is not a peripheral issue. It is a moral mirror for the region. Will the Pacific remain silent as Indonesia deepens its militarization, exploits the land, and tries to erase the identity of a Melanesian people through demographic engineering, violence, and fear? Or will it rise to defend a sister nation, bound not only by blood but by a shared destiny?

The admission of ULMWP as a full member of the MSG would mark a new dawn in the long and painful journey of West Papua — a journey that began with a dream in 1961, that endured betrayal in 1969, and that now, through the tireless work of its sons and daughters, returns to the Pacific with renewed dignity.

In this defining moment, silence is complicity. Solidarity is power. And freedom — long deferred — is still within reach.