My name is Herman Wainggai. I’m the CEO of West Papua Human Rights Center. I was born and raised in West Papua. And for the last three decades, I dedicated my life to protesting peacefully against the occupation of our West Papuan lands by the Indonesian government. For that, I was arrested multiple times, incarcerated twice, and so in 2006, I escaped West Papua on a homemade boat to Australia. From there, I traveled to the US and been here since.
Mission and Goals
I was born and raised in West Papua in the 1970s. I grew up in one of the darkest days of West Papua under the leadership of Indonesian dictator President Suharto. When I was a young primary school student, I was my uncle Dr. Thom Wainggai taking on the Indonesian government – arguing that West Papuans have the right to a nation of their own, and then the Indonesian government’s occupation of West Papua was not only a violation of our indigenous people’s right to self-determination, it was a violation of various international conventions, particularly the Rome Agreement, which allows Indonesian to administer West Papua only for 25 years. When Dr. Thom was arrested in 1988, I began my own political activism – joining peaceful rallies and participated in peaceful protests. I also left college and immersed in the struggle against Indonesian imperialism. I join the ‘Nonviolent Movement’ my uncle founded, which based on the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela. In it, we organized peaceful rallies in an attempt to debate the Indonesian government on the validity and legality of their claims over our people and land. In 2000, I was arrested and jailed. In 2002, I was rearrested and found guilty of organizing protests against Indonesia and was jailed for two years.
Escape – 2006
After I left prison in 2004, I spent an entire year planning my escape because I believe that the international community didn’t understand what was going on in West Papua, and even if they did, they didn’t care. I wanted to make a statement, so by the end of 2006, I escaped to Australia on a homemade boat, carved in the style of my father’s home – Yapen Island.
Coming to America
Though Australia granted us protective visa, there was a feeling in me that I should travel to the United States to tell our story – the story of my people. In 2009, I got my answer. I was invited to attend a ‘Nonviolent Struggle’ workshop at the Massachusetts. A year later, I returned to Washington, D.C, and joined professors of the Catholic University, and also attended a congressional committee hearing on West Papua, and spoke in various conferences and rallies held throughout the capital – focusing on my journey and the story of my people and the horror they continue to face in West Papua.
I became a ‘Visiting Scholar’ at the School of Conflict and Resolution at George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia. There I became a regular in speaking to students about my experience as a former political prisoner, refugee, and a my vision for a free West Papua. For over a decade, I traveled and spoke to college students in Hawaii, New York, Washington, D.C., California (San Francisco and Los Angeles), and Ohio. I focused my speeches on my experience in an Indonesian federal prison, and my escape. I also met and spoke to International leaders – both Christian and political entities, about our struggle. The highlight of my time as a West Papuan representative to the UN was when I handed former UN Chief, Ban Ki Moon, our legal argument for West Papuan self-determination and the ongoing conflict that had costed more lives over the past five decades.
Founding of West Papua Human Rights Center
In 2019, a couple of American friends and I launched the ‘West Papuan Human Rights Center’ (WPHRC) – a legitimate Nongovernment Organization. The organization is base din Washington, D.C. and it serves as a link between West Papua and the United States of America. The main purpose of the organization is to document and highlight the Indonesian violence against indigenous West Papua – my people, which are often times hidden from the public because of the censorship of sensitive stories in West Papua by the Indonesian government. The establishment of the center is also critical to our work here in bridging to the fore the massive coverup of ‘Human Rights’ abuse of West Papuans by the Indonesian military.
Since day days of dictator Suharto, West Papuans didn’t have the means to tell their story and to report the ongoing violation of international laws and the rights of indigenous people. Even after the collapse of the Suharto regime, the new successive governments continued the tradition of the Suharto regime in cracking down on ‘peaceful protestors’ and sending them to prison for some of the most absurd crimes ever known to man. For instance, raising the West Papuan ‘Morning Star’ flag is a crime punishable by prolong prison time. In 2007, the Indonesian came out with a new law banning any cultural symbol, or symbol that glorifies West Papuan uniqueness and beautify. This regulation applies to flags, artifacts, and any cultural identity that celebrates West Papua as a distinct ethnic group with no ties to the Indonesian Asian roots.
Our WPHRC is run on generous donations from friends around the world. You can help us expose Indonesian atrocities in West Papua by donating to the center (Click Here). Your donation will meet the operation costs of the center, and enabled the CEO and his team from attending crucial United Nations Committees where West Papuan interests are being heard.
