The ‘Human Rights’ issues we see today in West Papua are not new. Since taking over West Papua after the sham election of 1969, the Indonesian government made suppression of indigenous rights an integral part of its campaign to protect its own interest.
Militarization of West Papua
Over half a century, the West Papuans have been watching their rights stripped away from them gradually by an evermore paranoid Indonesian government. Since the days of dictator Suharto, West Papuans were not allowed to talk about or support the pro-independence movement or participated in activities that challenged Indonesian authority over West Papua. Those, like the founder and the leader of the democratic Nonviolent movement in West Papua – Dr. Thom, who participated in peaceful rallies and waved West Papuan flags were arrested and jailed for decades, and execution.
In 1999, the Suharto regime collapsed but the every government that came after Suharto either maintained the military presence in West Papua, or made military operations and target killing worse.
In 2021, an Asia Report indicated that the Indonesian government had deployed more than 20,000 soldiers to West Papua. The deployment added on to the huge number of Indonesian soldiers station throughout the West Papuan provinces, making it the largest military deployment in Asia in recent memory.
The man responsibility of these soldiers are to attack any suspected arm militants – most of them innocent people who never got the opportunity to challenge any claims before a judge, suppress pro-independence peaceful rallies, target political leaders and activists, and to ensure Indonesian sovereignty over West Papua is protected and not challenged. Off course, these activities led to the widespread of human rights abuse in West Papua.
In 2021, the Indonesian military bombed villages in West Papua in reprisal attack using banned bombed. The Australian government and other international organizations expressed outrage over the use of banned explosive on civilian villages. This indiscriminate bombing of villages without regard to the lives of innocent children, is not only barbaric, it is the kinds of attack banned by ‘International Law’.
Closing of West Papua
To keep their illegal activities in West Papua hidden from the international community, Indonesian engaged in massive coverups and social media disinformation, the very tactic known to be used by authoritarian governments around the world. While people are condemning democratic governments around the world of violating the rights of their citizens, no one spoke out for West Papua. There are factors contributing to this, but closing down West Papua is paramount.
The Indonesian government in West Papua is highly critical of visitors to West Papua. Any visitor deemed by the Indonesian government as a threat to the state would be arrested, tortured and incarcerated. This happened to a Spanish visitor. He was arrested, taken to an Indonesian police station where he was interrogated for all night and later released the next day after Indonesian police found no evidence to support their claim that he was a so-called ‘separatist sympathizer’.
Another visitor from Poland visited West Papua only to be arrested and imprisoned for speaking to peaceful protesters. In the government’s affidavit, the man was accused of the flimsiest of crimes and was jailed along side West Papuan activists.
In the uprising of 2019 following a ‘Racist’ attack on indigenous West Papuan students by members of Indonesian police in Surabaya, Indonesia, was met with violent crackdown by the Indonesian military and police. Torture and killing of innocent people by Indonesian police sparked international outrage. The words also got to the UN Human Rights Commission, which requested a visit to Indonesia and West Papua. The commissioner for Human Rights at the UNHRC’s request to visit West Papua was denied repeatedly by the government of President Widodo.
This attitude toward foreigners is why West Papua remains one of the least visited place in the Pacific and Asia.