MARKUS HALUK'S BOOKS A HIT WITH INDONESIAN ACADEMICS

Markus Haluk (center)

The books of Markus Haluk, human rights activist and West Papuan freedom fighter, have received positive responses from a number of indonesian intellectuals.

Yesterday, June 15, at the Oikoumene Hall of the Association of Indonesian Churches in Jakarta, a seminar and discussion was held on the five-book series recently published by Markus Haluk.

The titles are as follows:

Series 1: West Papua's return to the Melanesian home: Papuan political history, unity consensus, ULMWP and the struggle for the right to self-determination;

Series 2: Human rights in West Papua: chronicling the failure to implement Papua's special autonomy;

Series 3: With God, we will win: against the Indonesian Government's racist and terrorizing policy against Papuans ;

Series 4: One common oven in the Papuan house: ideas, resolutions and the dynamism of Melanesian life ;

Series 5: Crimes against humanity, ecological disaster by FREEPORT and human rights violations at Degeuwo Paniai.

This unique moment was attended by several important figures such as Indonesia's Amnesty International director Usman Hamid, Indonesian Christian University lecturer Antie Solaiman and National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) researcher Cahyo Pamungkas. The latter stated that these books were a rebuttal to the Indonesian government's historical account of Papua. Through its detailed presentation, readers are encouraged to be cautious in analyzing the situation in Papua. For Professor Solaiman, these works made the public aware of the deep wounds that Papuans have suffered under Indonesian rule (1963-present). As for Mr. Hamid, the criticism leveled by Markus Haluk was not intended to attack the Indonesian government, but to help it make improvements.

Indeed, Markus Haluk simply confronts Indonesia with the contradictions of its values, defined in its national ideology called Pancasila. It stands for belief in God, humanity, unity, democracy and justice. Unfortunately, until now, Papuan activists have been labelled with various nicknames that equate them with terrorist separatists. When, in fact, it is the Indonesian government that with its arbitrariness has indirectly disowned Papua from Indonesia.