The Church and the West Papuan liberation struggle

Human liberation is at the heart of the Gospel. 

And what the West Papuans are currently fighting for is part of the rescue mission of God's people, as the Bible shows.

The Church and the people's liberation movements

In the past, the Church has contributed in one way or another to liberation struggles in different parts of the world. To quote some examples: In Eastern Europe, especially in Poland during the cold war, the Church was at the forefront of the people's struggle to overthrow communist dictatorship. In Latin America, in El Salvador, Salvadorian Archbishop Oscar Romero defended to the death the rights of the poor, particularly farmers in his diocese. More recently, in East Timor, Asia's youngest country, Bishop Ximenes Belo defended the Timorese people's right to independence from Indonesia in 1990s.

The Church's limited support for the West Papuan struggle

However, it is important to understand that West Papua has its own context, with its own complexities. This is why, in West Papua occupied by Indonesia, the Church and the local independence movements, each still fight in their own way, although the objective remains the same: the freedom of the West Papuans. But why is the Church still not fully involved in West Papua's struggle for self-determination? According to an unnamed West Papuan priest, the main reason is that "the Church has always advocated non-violence, while the West Papuan struggle factions have sometimes been unable to avoid the use of violence." However, he personally believes that one day, "the Church and the West Papuan independence movement will meet at the same estuary."

Global Christian solidarity is needed

For now, the real action that the Church must take is to reveal the truth about what is happening in West Papua, which has long been hidden by the Indonesian regime. The Church has the duty to raise a prophetic cry about the human rights violations that regularly occur in West Papua. In this regard, the local Church, very limited in its maneuver, needs the support of the universal Church. The solidarity of Christians throughout the world is needed as a breakthrough in the liberation of West Papua.

As a reminder: West Papua is a former Dutch colony that declared independence in 1961. However, Indonesia annexed the territory several years later in a referendum, widely considered as a sham. An estimated 500,000 West Papuans were killed during six decades of Indonesian military occupation.