MARKUS HALUK'S BOOKS A HIT WITH INDONESIAN ACADEMICS

Markus Haluk (center)

The writings of Markus Haluk, a leading human rights defender and West Papuan freedom fighter, are shaking the conscience of Indonesian intellectual circles.

The writings of Markus Haluk, a leading human rights defender and West Papuan freedom fighter, are shaking the conscience of Indonesian intellectual circles.

On June 15, a powerful seminar took place at the Oikoumene Hall of the Indonesian Churches Association in Jakarta to discuss the five-book series recently published by Haluk — works that are fast becoming essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the truth about West Papua.

The titles of the series are:

Series 1: 'West Papua's Return to the Melanesian Home' — a searing political history of Papuan resistance, the unity consensus, and the formation of the ULMWP as the embodiment of the Papuan people's right to self-determination.

Series 2: 'Human Rights in West Papua' — an indictment of the spectacular failure of the so-called Special Autonomy program imposed by Jakarta.

Series 3: 'With God, We Will Win' — an unflinching response to the Indonesian state’s racist and terror-based policy against the Papuan population.

Series 4: 'One Common Oven in the Papuan House' — a celebration of Melanesian resilience, communal values, and visions for a shared future.

Series 5: *Crimes Against Humanity: Ecological Disaster by FREEPORT and Human Rights Violations in Degeuwo Paniai* — an exposé of corporate colonialism and the deep wounds left by militarized exploitation.

The event gathered influential figures such as Usman Hamid (Director of Amnesty International Indonesia), Antie Solaiman (lecturer at the Indonesian Christian University), and Cahyo Pamungkas (researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency, BRIN).

Pamungkas did not mince words: “These books offer a direct rebuttal to the official history the Indonesian state tries to impose about Papua.” He urged fellow scholars and citizens to “approach the Papuan question with critical reflection and humility.”

Professor Solaiman echoed this sentiment, stating that Haluk’s works reveal the deep, unhealed wounds of Papuan people under Indonesian rule since 1963. As for Usman Hamid, he emphasized that “Haluk’s criticism is not an attack, but a moral confrontation — an invitation for the Indonesian state to live up to its own proclaimed values.”

Indeed, what Markus Haluk does is to confront Indonesia with the mirror of its own ideology, Pancasila, which claims to be built on belief in God, humanity, unity, democracy, and justice. Yet, in reality, these principles are routinely violated in Papua.

Instead of listening, the state responds with repression. Papuan thinkers, poets, pastors and students are branded as separatists, terrorists, and troublemakers — while the real violence comes from a colonial regime that continues to marginalize, militarize, and exploit West Papua.

As Haluk’s books make clear: if Indonesia continues down this path of denial and dehumanization, it is not Papua that is leaving Indonesia — it is Indonesia that, through its own violence and hypocrisy, has already abandoned Papua.