Sad award

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838)

Talleyrand, the legendary French statesman once said that there is something more painful than slander, namely the truth.

At the end of 2024, Indonesians were shocked by the news that their former president Joko Widodo or Jokowi (2014-2024) was selected as a finalist for the world's most corrupt leader by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). 

Thus, the name of Indonesia's seventh president is aligned with Kenyan President William Ruto, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina, and even former Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad. This bitter reality still seems difficult for most Indonesians to digest, but not a few are beginning to realize. An increasing number of voices, particularly on social networks, are calling on the Indonesian authorities to immediately investigate Jokowi's alleged corruption.

For West Papuans, oppressed by Jakarta since 1963, this revelation comes as no surprise!

In his January 1, 2025 message on X, Victor Mambor, a Papuan journalist and editor-in-chief of independent media outlet Jubi, confirmed that he had interviewed Jokowi at Abepura prison in 2015. Victor had then realized that Jokowi absolutely "knew nothing about Papua". More sadly, the man then hailed as Indonesia's New Hope did not even know how to lead his own countrymen. However, when Jokowi began to be approached by the oligarchs, he understood that he could establish mutual relations with them. Jokowi's goal was simple: "To get the chance, the opportunity and the freeway by the thieves to start building his dynasty".

Jokowi in the eyes of Papuans

Markus Haluk, executive secretary of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) used to sarcastically insinuate that Jokowi danced on the suffering of Papuans and that his two dozen visits to West Papua were just for selfies. The fate of Papuans is no better under Jokowi's presidency. Military operations and police repression are getting harsher by the day.

Victor Yeimo, chairman of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) did not hesitate to condemn Jokowi regime's agenda to "harvest blood", sacrificing Papuans for the benefit of a handful of bureaucratic bourgeois elites in Jakarta. 

Filep Karma, another Papuan independence campaigner, died in 2022, denounced Jokowi as a tyrant who during his nearly ten-year rule had arrested 6000 Papuans for peacefully expressing their aspirations. 

Meanwhile, Ambrosius Mulait, a Jakarta-based Papuan youth leader, former political prisoner for his activism against Indonesian state racism, called Jokowi a con artist who has no sympathy for Papuans, a humanitarian criminal who caused more than 78,000 Papuans to be displaced by illegal military operations.

What some West Papuan leaders criticize Jokowi for is based on an undeniable fact: during his reign, the Indonesian oligarchy has been given a red carpet to grab Papuan customary lands while exploiting its natural resources without any regard for ethics and legal norms. We hope that public awareness of the fact that Jokowi is a highly corrupt leader will eventually expose the shame that Indonesia has been hiding in West Papua.