Torture: evidence of Indonesia's primitive colonialism in West Papua

The torture suffered by civilians in West Papua since the beginning of the Indonesian occupation in 1963 has been brutal, inhumane and a blatant violation of human rights.

On March 22, the public was shocked by the circulation of two video clips of sadistic torture of a man by Indonesian soldiers in Gome, a remote highland in West Papua. Was this a coincidence?

Means of terror and subjugation

More than ten years ago, Father Budi Hernawan OFM, former director of the Jayapura-based Catholic Office for Justice and Peace, decried the fact that torture in West Papua was systemic and not something to be hidden.

Persecution is mainly carried out by Indonesian security forces against poor West Papuans and is deliberately made into a "public spectacle" to scare people into submission.

Separatists deserve torture 

Although Indonesia has been considered a democracy since 1998 and has ratified the Human Rights Convention against torture, the brutal practices of General Soeharto's dictatorial regime that ruled Indonesia for three decades (1967-1998) are still ongoing.

In West Papua, allegations of separatism are sufficient reason for Indonesian security forces to torture some local residents. That's what unfortunately happened to Defianus Kogoya, the man seen in the video being tortured inside a drum.

Abolish colonialism in West Papua!

Torture is an old habit of the occupying army in its conquered territory, and what Indonesia has been doing in West Papua is simply primitive colonialism inherited from imperialist countries centuries ago. 

Sixty-one years is enough for the suffering of the West Papuans. All those who stand for humanity and justice should not only condemn Indonesia's atrocities, but also take action to end its colonial rule in West Papua.