Indonesia must give freedom to West Papuans!

The Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) and the Indonesian People's Front for West Papua (FRI-WP), held a joint action to commemorate the 62nd Independence Day of Papua at kilometer zero, Yogyakarta, on December 1, 2023. (Ambrosius Mulait)

The year 2024 marks the 61st anniversary of Indonesia's occupation of West Papua.

West Papua, a black zone

Today, the Indonesian military presence in West Papua exceeds 47,000 personnel, double the number of troops it deployed during the so called Trikora invasion between 1961-1963. From the beginning, Indonesia's colonisation of West Papua has been riddled with human rights violations. 

For more than six decades, the Indonesian government, through its military, sowed the seeds of the problems that are escalating today: silencing of peaceful demonstrations, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, village burnings, raids on homes, dormitories and even churches.

West Papua, not as claimed by Indonesia

Nevertheless, Indonesia to this day continues to narrate that overall, West Papua is under control and development continues. Just as president Joko Widodo stated in a press conference on July 7 last year in Jayapura: "Papua is 99 percent safe."

How can we believe such narrative? Especially when considering the fact on the ground which is far from pleasant. There is an increasing escalation of violence and number of refugees from conflict areas such as Nduga, Maybrat, Yahukimo, Kiwirok, Intan Jaya, and Puncak Jaya (About 67,000 people by October 2023).

Stop hiding the human tragedy in West Papua: The current military operation launched by Jakarta is not just a police action against some armed criminal groups. Strictly speaking, it is a war!

Seeking peace and justice for West Papua 

To be sure, I see there are two questions that the Indonesian government has never been able to answer honestly:

1. Why have West Papuans continued to resist and demand independence from Indonesia since 1963?
2. Why have Indonesian military operations failed to crush the Papuan independence movement, despite the Indonesian army being the strongest in ASEAN?

In response to the relentless resistance of West Papuans, the Indonesian government use to blame foreign interference without showing evidence, or at least naming the institutions or countries involved. Given this, the West Papua issue can never be resolved unilaterally by the Indonesian government: the international community must mobilize to form an investigation team. 

West Papua final solution

A Jakarta-West Papua dialogue mediated by a third party should be pursued. The UN, the US, the Netherlands and all those who delivered West papuans into Indonesian colonial hands must be held accountable! Only then will West Papua get the peace and justice it has longed for. 

At a meeting in Bangkok last December, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) vowed to bring the West Papua issue to the United Nations (UN) for a just and dignified resolution.

Indonesia must give freedom to West Papuans 

A great and insightful nation always thinks big. Indonesia is basically promoting the noble values formulated in its national ideology 'Pancasila'. This represents the belief in:

1. God, 
2. Humanity, 
3. Unity, 
4. Democracy, 
5. Social Justice. 

It is on this basis that Indonesia must give the West Papuan people the right to self-determination.

The Indonesian Constitution preamble affirms that "Independence is the right of all nations and for this reason, all colonialism in the world must be abolished..." In other words, Indonesia's colonization of West Papua must end, for the sake of Indonesia's own honor.