Merry Christmas West Papua!

On December 24, 1942, in a Christmas message broadcast on Vatican Radio, Pope Pius XII expressed his concern at Hitler's massacre of the Jews.

Pius XII spoke of "hundreds of thousands of people who, through no fault of their own, and sometimes simply because of their nationality or race, are destined to die or be slowly exterminated".

Eight decades after the Holocaust, Pius XII's message of humanity is still actual. Genocides unfortunately continue to occur in some parts of the world. New Hitlers come and go under various guises. What makes the difference is the public reaction. Some genocides get attention, while others don't.

The ongoing massacre in Israeli-occupied Gaza makes the world outraged. However, the slow genocide taking place in Indonesian-occupied West Papua has been ignored by many. An estimated 500,000 West Papuans, most of them Christians, have been killed by the Indonesian army since 1963, simply because they wanted to preserve their identity and live freely on their land. Yet not a single pope has mentioned this. Why?

The West Papua tragedy may not make the headlines, but it is undeniably a global problem, given that there is West Papuan blood in almost every product we enjoy. Like heaven on earth, West Papua is abundant in commodities that the world covets: gold, copper, petroleum, gas, uranium, timber, palm oil, etc. Some 9,500 industrial companies are operating there. This slow genocide that has been going on for over sixty years cannot be separated from the greed of our capitalist elites, the hypocrisy of our political leaders, and perhaps even our own indifference.

Every year, we celebrate Christmas with freshness, joy and renewed piety. However, tens of thousands of West Papuans, who have been displaced since 2018 due to conflicts in Nduga, Maybrat, Yahukimo, and many other places are still crying and not feeling the peace of Christmas.

Nevertheless, Merry Christmas West Papua! Let us follow Jesus into his exile and living out his sufferings.

West Papuan refugees.