Tomorrow, West Papuans Must Lead Themselves

By Markus Haluk, Secretary-General of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP)

A hundred years ago, on 25 October 1925, the Dutch missionary Reverend Izaak Samuel Kijne stood on a rock in Aitumeri, West Papua, and spoke words that still echo across our mountains:

“Upon this rock, I lay the foundation of West Papuan civilisation. Others may come with knowledge and wisdom to lead this people, but one day this nation will rise and lead itself.”

For a century, West Papuans have lived under successive powers – Dutch, Japanese and Indonesian. We have learned their languages, served in their armies, prayed in their churches, and worked in their institutions. We have done what every colonised people does: we have adapted in order to survive.

A century of service

Since integration into Indonesia in the late 1960s, West Papuans have entered almost every level of the Indonesian state. We have had ministers, deputy ministers, generals and police commanders. We have elected governors, mayors and regents. Many of us have become professors, bishops, musicians, journalists, entrepreneurs and football champions.

We have mastered the Indonesian language and lived across the archipelago. Yet one thing remains unfinished: Kijne’s prophecy – the day when West Papuans truly lead themselves in their ancestral land.

The unfinished prophecy

Our participation has not yet brought liberation. We have been part of Indonesia’s story, but not the authors of our own. The freedom to decide our future – our political, cultural and spiritual sovereignty – is still denied.

The next century must be different. It must be the era when West Papuans govern themselves, when leadership is rooted in our own traditions and values, and when we are recognised as equals among the nations of the world. This is not a call for isolation; it is a call for dignity and restoration.

A call for the next hundred years

The first century, from 1925 to 2025, was a time of learning and waiting. The next must be a time of self-leadership and nationhood. Our task is to ensure that Kijne’s words are no longer prophecy but reality: West Papua free, peaceful and self-governing.

For one hundred years West Papuans have been a light within Indonesia and beyond. Let the next hundred be the age when that light shines from a nation standing on its own feet, leading itself with wisdom, justice and peace.