The church must defend West Papuans

Thomas Oswald on TV Libertés, 2021.

In a broadcast on Radio Notre Dame on May 7, ACN journalist Thomas Oswald denounced the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population of Indonesian-occupied West Papua.

Therefore, according to Oswald, it is important for Pope Francis, who will visit Indonesia in early September, to invite a West Papuan delegation represented by Bishop Yanuarius You, the first indigenous bishop in West Papua, to hear their aspirations directly.

Six decades of Revendications

For the majority of West Papuans, independence is the only solution to their survival. Since the early days of Indonesian annexation, West Papua's predominantly Christian Melanesians have understood that they have no future living with the Muslim-majority Malay people.

General Bernard Mawen who waged a fifty-year guerrilla war against the Indonesian army and many other West Papuan resistance figures embody the strong determination of West Papuans to get their rights to freedom.

The struggle of faith and humanity 

Some local Christian clerics also joined the fight. Markus Haluk, a lay leader of the Jayapura diocese, who now serves as secretary of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) used to say: "Since the inception of the Catholic Church in West Papua, bishops, priests, deacons, religious men and women have always fought for justice, peace, and dignity for the people of West Papua."

Mgr Rudolf Staverman, Dutch Bishop of Jayapura, the capital of West Papua, resigned in protest at the fraudulent 1969 annexation referendum and the brutality of the Indonesian military. Bishop John Philip Saklil of Timika, an Indonesian born in West Papua, initiated the furnace movement that defends local indigenous communities. His sudden death in 2019 is suspected of premeditated murder by the Indonesian secret service.

These two prelates are just a few of the religious leaders who are genuinely concerned about the plight of West Papuans. Now the question is why their sacrifices seem not to be taken into account by the highest hierarchy of the Church?

Universal Church must support West Papuans

Pope Francis' visit to Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, seems to be on the agenda of the Vatican's dialog with the Islamic world. On the other hand, for the Indonesian government, this is a prestigious visit that is expected to give credit to the pluralism it likes to tout.

But behind all this, it would be unfortunate if the serious humanitarian problems experienced by indigenous West Papuan Christians were left unaddressed. Pope Francis, as an ambassador for peace, has a moral duty to speak out.