Palestine-West Papua: two different cases?

'Papuan lives matter' icon by Ambrosius Mulait.

Indonesia is reportedly preparing a case against Israel for "blatant violations of international law".

Indonesia defends Palestine, what for?

Thus, after South Africa, Indonesia became the second country to speak out against Israeli Zionism in an international court. What an act! The question now is, what is the impact of this move? Will Indonesia be able to stop the massacre in Gaza? To be honest, I don't think so. This legal action is purely an image stunt of the current Indonesian regime under the leadership of Joko Widodo. Jokowi, as he is commonly called, understands that playing on pro-Palestinian sentiments can ultimately help him to gain the sympathy of Indonesia's 200 million Muslims, and thus perpetuate his political power. 

Doubtlessly, Jokowi is a grand master of imaging. This was seen already a few years ago when he pretended to seek peace in Myanmar and later in Ukraine. However, what Jokowi does not realize is that no matter how well he maneuvers, he will not be able to completely conceal the disgrace of his government in West Papua. Talking about Indonesia's human rights violations in West Papua, we can go on and on remembering that this has been going on since the first day of Indonesian occupation on May 1, 1963. Throughout 2023 alone, there were at least 69 cases of violence recorded. 

Indonesia and Zionist Israel, which is worse?

Hypocrisy seems to be the most appropriate term to describe Indonesia's stance on the international stage. The Indonesian government loudly supports Palestine, but covers up its own crimes in West Papua, Aceh, not to mention its former colony, Timor Leste. The victims of the Indonesian state's crimes number in the millions, many times the number of victims of Zionism since 1948. The worst was the tragedy that occurred between 1965-1966, where more than 500,000 civilians were massacred by the military and religious militias in the name of anti-communist struggle. It is estimated that a similar number of victims were affected by indigenous West Papuans during six decades of Indonesian occupation. To date, there has been no accountability beyond the image of a superficial apology from Jokowi.

"What a shame! Before Israel, Indonesia should have been prosecuted in the International Court of Justice," said an anonymous Papuan. He then continued,"Indonesia's stance is particularly damning when it comes to West Papua: West Papua has all the rights to independence as does Palestine. Until 1961, West Papua was a non-self-governing colony under Article XI of the UN Charter, whose right to independence was authorized by UN Resolution No. 1514 of 1960. When the people of West Papua declared their independence from the Netherlands on December 1, 1961, Indonesia immediately declared war on the newly established West Papuan state and forcibly annexed it through a sham referendum in 1969. The Indonesian government arrogantly refers to West Papua as a tribe and not a nation. West Papuans who want independence are labeled separatists and even in some cases terrorists."

Palestine and West Papua: the World's double standard? 

The unfortunate thing about all this, just like Indonesia, the world also sees the case of Palestine and West Papua with two different perspectives: Palestine as an independence struggle, while West Papua is only a separatist conflict. The massacre of 25,000 Gazans was exposed by all international media, while the killing of 500,000 West Papuans was not. Actually, the cases of Palestine and West Papua are no different. Both touch the dignity of the people who want to live free in their own land. Both are victims of racist colonial regimes. But why is it that the world's eyes are only on Palestine, not on West Papua?  How many more West Papuans should be killed before this horror ends?