Benny Wenda from West Papua on Scottish Independence

Investigation reveals disinformation campaigns on Papuan issues

Kharishar Kahfi – The Jakarta Post

Two Melanesian Students in Wamena after being shot by Indonesian army declaring independence

A recent digital forensic investigation has revealed that multiple attempts have taken place in the digital world to manipulate the narrative about the protests and riots in the Papua and West Papua provinces in favor of the Indonesian government.

The joint investigation, launched by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), found at least two online influence campaigns had been “disseminating pro-Indonesian government material on the issue of West Papua”.

The Papua issue refers to widespread protests against the racial abuse suffered by Papuans, which eventually led to riots. The first of the recent incidents of abuse occurred in August in Surabaya, East Java, which triggered protests in some cities, including in Jakarta.

The second abuse allegedly occurred in Papua, where a non-native teacher at a local high school reportedly called a native student a “monkey”. The incident sparked protests and violence on Sept. 23 when mobs, reportedly made up of native Papuans, set buildings and vehicles on fire. Thirty-three people, mostly non-natives, were killed during the riots.

The Indonesian authorities claimed they limited internet access in Papua during the riots in the hope of curbing the spread of fake news. However, the digital forensic investigation found otherwise.

The findings about the manipulative narrative were made by BBC open source investigator Benjamin Strick and ASPI’s international cyber-policy center researcher Elise Thomas. The report was also published online by a United Kingdom-based investigative group Bellingcat on Oct. 11.

“The goal of both campaigns was to influence international opinion about the increasingly violent situation in West Papua, as Indonesian security forces crack down on the local pro-independence movement,” Strick and Thomas wrote in the report.

The team revealed the first campaign was operated by InsightID, an Indonesian communications firm. According to the report, the firm had been promoting pro-Indonesian government content on various websites and social media accounts aimed at international audiences.

During the campaign, the firm was also found to have targeted an opposition hashtag to influence its followers with pro-Indonesian and anti-independence content, as well as actively harass people who publicly supported independence or were reporting information that contradicted the government’s narrative on the situation in Papua.

“We have not found evidence to identify the client who has hired InsightID to run this information campaign,” Strick and Thomas wrote.

“However, based on the available facts we can conclude the client is a party which is able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to run a ‘fake news’ information operation with the goal of influencing the international community’s political perceptions in favor of the Indonesian government’s actions in West Papua,” they added.

Findings about InsightID had been separately confirmed by Facebook, which issued a statement earlier this month saying it had identified and removed dozens of accounts and pages suspected of committing coordinated inauthentic behavior in Indonesia, primarily sharing content mainly undermining the West Papuan independence movement. 

Facebook eventually found links to a local media firm, InsightID, which was said to be spending about US$300,000 on Facebook ads, mostly paid in Indonesian rupiah.

A group claiming to be InsightID later responded to the statement, saying the group worked to counter what it claimed was massive amounts of biased disinformation disseminated by the Papuan separatist movement.

“Our content is focused on messages of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika [Unity in Diversity], the unity of Indonesia and the optimistic efforts of Indonesia to resolve the problems in Papua,” it said in a statement.

The team also found a separate and smaller campaign running on the similar topic of West Papua. This one includes three “brands”, each of which has its own website and social media accounts: Wawawa Journal (WJ), Tell the Truth NZ and Noken Insight.

A notable example of an action undertaken by the campaign was the promotion of a statement attributed to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres saying he supported the Indonesian government over the brouhaha in Papua. Later, it was found that the statement had been fabricated.

Some content spread in the campaign smeared several international media outlets based in Australia and New Zealand, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Moreover, it also targeted people who spoke out about the Papuan issue, including human rights lawyer Veronica Koman and United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) chairman Benny Wenda.

One of the domains used in the second campaign was registered by Muhamad Rosyid Jazuli, who had worked since 2014 in an organization called the Jenggala Center. The organization was originally a supporter of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Jusuf Kalla when the pair ran in the 2014 presidential election.

Jazuli admitted to the team his responsibility for the Wawawa Journal and Tell the Truth NZ, while denying knowledge of Noken Insight despite evidence that the WJ Facebook page once used Noken Insight’s brand as its cover photo.

“Jazuli [said] that the sites and profiles were created on his own initiative by himself and friends, using personal money and were not related to his work with the Jenggala Center,” the report said.

It added that he claimed the campaigns were simply attempts to counter negative Western media coverage, rather than being propaganda or “fake news”.

Online influence campaigns are still common in Indonesia, according to a report by Oxford Internet Institute director Philip Howard and researcher Samanta Bradshaw entitled “2019 Global Inventory of Organised Social Media Manipulation”.

The report listed Indonesia as among the 70 countries it found to have organized social media manipulation for shaping public opinions, deeming it a threat to democracy.

The report said the existence of cybertroops and computational propaganda in Indonesia was aimed at spreading pro-government or pro-party propaganda, attacking opposition or mounting smear campaigns, as well as driving division and polarization.

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via IFTTT November 01, 2019 at 07:43AM

Report finds anti-Papua ‘fake news’ campaign

Kharishar Kahfi. The Jakarta Post

A recent digital forensic investigation has revealed that multiple attempts have taken place in the digital world to manipulate the narrative about the protests and riots in the Papua and West Papua provinces in favor of the Indonesian government.

The joint investigation, launched by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), found at least two online influence campaigns had been “disseminating pro-Indonesian government material on the issue of West Papua”.

The Papua issue refers to widespread protests against the racial abuse suffered by Papuans, which eventually led to riots.

The findings about the manipulative narrative were made by BBC open source investigator Benjamin Strick and ASPI’s international cyberpolicy center researcher Elise Thomas. The report was also published online by a United Kingdom-based investigative group Bellingcat on Oct. 11.

“The goal of both campaigns was to influence international opinion about the increasingly violent situation in West Papua, as Indonesian security forces crack down on the local pro-independence movement,” Strick and Thomas wrote in the report.

The team revealed the first campaign was operated by InsightID, an Indonesian communications firm. According to the report, the firm had been promoting pro-Indonesian government content on various websites and social media accounts aimed at international audiences.

During the campaign, the firm was also found to have targeted an opposition hashtag to influence its followers with pro-Indonesian and anti-independence content, as well as actively harass people who publicly supported independence or were reporting information that contradicted the government’s narrative on the situation in Papua.

“We have not found evidence to identify the client who has hired InsightID to run this information campaign,” Strick and Thomas wrote.

“However, based on the available facts we can conclude the client is a party which is able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to run a ‘fake news’ information operation with the goal of influencing the international community’s political perceptions in favor of the Indonesian government’s actions in West Papua,” they added.

Findings about InsightID had been separately confirmed by Facebook, which issued a statement earlier this month saying it had identified and removed dozens of accounts and pages suspected of committing coordinated inauthentic behavior in Indonesia, primarily sharing content mainly undermining the West Papuan independence movement.

A group claiming to be InsightID later responded to the statement, saying the group worked to counter what it claimed was massive amounts of biased disinformation disseminated by the Papuan separatist movement.

The team also found a separate and smaller campaign running on the similar topic of West Papua. This one includes three “brands”, each of which has its own website and social media accounts: Wawawa Journal (WJ), Tell the Truth NZ and Noken Insight.

A notable example of an action undertaken by the campaign was the promotion of a statement attributed to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres saying he supported the Indonesian government over the brouhaha in Papua. Later, it was found that the statement had been fabricated.

Some content spread in the campaign smeared several international media outlets based in Australia and New Zealand, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Moreover, it also targeted people who spoke out about the Papuan issue, including human rights lawyer Veronica Koman and United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) chairman Benny Wenda.

One of the domains used in the second campaign was registered by Muhamad Rosyid Jazuli, who had worked since 2014 in an organization called the Jenggala Center. The organization was originally a supporter of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Jusuf Kalla when the pair ran in the 2014 presidential election.

Jazuli admitted to the team his responsibility for the WJ and Tell the Truth NZ, while denying knowledge of Noken Insight despite evidence that the WJ Facebook page once used Noken Insight’s brand as its cover photo.

“Jazuli [said] that the sites and profiles were created on his own initiative by himself and friends, using personal money and were not related to his work with the Jenggala Center,” the report said.

It added that he claimed the campaigns were simply attempts to counter negative Western media coverage, rather than being propaganda or “fake news”.

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via IFTTT November 01, 2019 at 07:31AM

Hunger and culture in West Papua

Written by SOPHIE CHAO

In the West Papuan district of Merauke, vast swaths of forest and savannah have been razed to make way for monocrop oil palm plantations and other agroindustrial projects over the last decade. These land conversions have resulted in an array of environmental problems, including widespread biodiversity loss, deforestation, critical soil erosion, and the pollution of soil, water and air. Most directly affected by these changes are the Indigenous Marind communities upon whose customary territories monocrop expansion is taking place, among whom I have been doing ethnographic fieldwork since 2013.

Although national policy has encouraged the expansion of oil palm plantations throughout the country over the past 20 years as a valuable export crop, it is only in the last decade or so that oil palm monocrops have been established in West Papua. With arable land growing scarce in Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan, the oil palm frontier is now rapidly moving east, driven by national palm oil production targets, the perceived availability of unused lands in the region, and the need for further socioeconomic ‘development’ in West Papua.

Many Marind in rural Merauke report that oil palm projects are being designed and implemented without their free, prior and informed consent or ongoing participation. This has often resulted in conflict between communities and corporations and conflict within communities over matters of land rights, employment opportunities and compensation payments. Most significantly, the conversion of forest landscapes to monocrop plantations and the substitution of forest-based food systems with processed commodities have provoked growing malnutrition and food insecurity among Marind communities, who have traditionally relied on the forest for their subsistence. Malnutrition, or the lack of nutritionally rich and balanced foods, and food insecurity, or peoples’ limited access to sufficient quantities of nutritious food, have together created a condition of perpetual hunger – one that, as Marind frequently told me, cannot easily be satiated by processed foods.

A new kind of hunger

Certainly, experiences of hunger were far from unknown to Marind prior to the oil palm incursion. Different periods of the year were associated with the availability of different foods depending on seasonality, animal migration patterns and climactic conditions such as drought or monsoon. These periods, however, were never permanent but rather episodic, and the decline in one foodstuff was compensated by the abundance of another. In line with customary law, a range of different rituals and ceremonies helped ensure that food supplies were replenished over time and that the fertility of the soils and waters of the forest was maintained.

Deforestation and monocrop oil palmexpansion have provoked a spate of malnutrition, particularly among Marind infants and children / Sophie Chao

In contrast, the obliteration of vast areas of forest in Merauke today has resulted in a generalised scarcity of forest foods – sago, cassowary, wild pigs and fruit, among others. Animals and plants have fled or been decimated because of land clearing, forest burning and the substitution of biodiverse forests with industrial monocrop plantations. Just as non-human organisms find little to subsist on within the homogeneous environment of oil palm plantations, so too Marind say they are afflicted by a growing and unprecedented sense of hunger. As Gerfacius, a Marind elder, put it, ‘In the plantation, there is no freedom, no kin and no real food. In the plantation, there is just hunger and loneliness.’

But for Marind, food is also about much more than just nutritional intake. The particular values attributed to forest foods arise from the fact that the plants and animals from which these foods are derived are considered by Marind to be sentient kin with whom they share common ancestral dema, or spirits. Plants and animals share stories, myths and encounters with humans in the distant and near past, that together compose a vast body of traditional law and custom, passed on from generation to generation. Each species also shares a connection to a particular Marind clan, whose names commemorate these relations by way of an animal or plant prefix. For instance, members of the Balagaize clan are the ‘children of the crocodile’ (balagai meaning crocodile and ze meaning child in Marind).

Similarly, members of the Mahuze clan are the children of the dog, or mahu in Marind. Relations around feeding and being fed between Marind and their non-human forest kin are anchored in reciprocal respect and care. Eating forest foods means acknowledging that one is also food for others. In these mutual chains of consumption, humans, animals and plants participate together in a collective chain of nurture.

In contrast, imported commodities that are replacing native foods are described by many Marind as tasteless and unsatiating because, as Rosalina, a Marind mother of three put it, ‘they do not taste of the forest’. These foods, that include rice, instant noodles and biscuits, come from unknown places and are grown and processed by unknown people. These foods are not derived from plants and animals with whom Marind share intergenerational kinships and pasts. They are not procured or prepared by relatives or friends. And they lack the moral, cultural and emotional dimensions that imbue forest foods with meaning, flavour and nourishment. More than this, processed foods are said by Marind to exacerbate the hunger of those who consume them. Children, for instance, clamour for more food within hours of eating instant noodles. Women described snacking on processed biscuits throughout the day but always craving more. Young men also talked of having become addicted to rice, which they would eat in copious amounts without feeling full.

Eating the future

The disappearance of forest foods has had physically adverse effects on people. For instance, Selly, a young woman with whom I frequently walked the forest in search of medicinal herbs, spoke of her breasts becoming dry and her skin sallow from the absence of sago. Village men described how the scarcity of forest game had depleted their bodies of blood, fat and muscle. Many community members noted that their children’s skin had become thin and grey rather than glossy and taut. Experiencing hunger and witnessing the hunger of others is also a deeply emotional experience. People express feelings of sadness and anxiety as a result of food scarcity. They also describe a pervasive sense of loneliness caused by the severance of their connections to the forest and its past and present lifeforms. Many community members lamented the decline in collective hunting and foraging activities that had once sustained the mutual relationships of humans and non-humans in the forest.

While some Marind consider processed foods, like instant noodles, to be unsatiating and tasteless, other Marind associate these foods with a desired modern way of life / Sophie Chao

Yet at the same time, many Marind are attracted to processed foods because they associate them with a modern way of life and see them as a welcome change from traditional diets. For instance, rural Marind villagers who have spent prolonged periods of time working or studying in Merauke City or Jayapura have adapted to urban diets and now prefer city foods over forest foods. Tensions also arise among Marind themselves over matters of food. This is particularly evident between young and old generations of Marind, who either embrace processed foods as a way of participating in modernity or reject them because they threaten to supersede traditional foods and the forest ecologies from which these foods are derived.

In many ways, then, tensions over what to eat or not to eat replicate on a small but daily scale a broader set of frictions provoked by oil palm expansion in Merauke. These include, for instance, whether to endorse or reject oil palm projects, whether to seek employment in the city or retain forest-based livelihoods, and whether to accept or resist cultural changes associated with the spread of capitalism. Different kinds of hunger, both literal and symbolic, are at play among Marind today. Some Marind hunger for a return to forest-based livelihoods that are anchored in custom and tradition. Others, meanwhile, hunger for new ways of living achieved through alternative forms of eating.

Voices for the hungry

What can Indigenous Marind’s experiences of hunger teach us about nutritional health, diet and food security in contemporary Merauke? First, Marind conceptualise the form and effects of food itself in deeply culturally embedded ways. In other words, local norms, values and relations imbue different foods with equally diverse meanings and values, that often go beyond solely quantitative or calorie measurements. From a Marind perspective, then, food is not just about what is eaten but also where food comes from, how it is produced, and by whom.

Second, Marind experiences point to the potentially adverse impacts on local food security of large-scale agribusiness projects that are themselves designed and implemented in the name of national food sovereignty. As many Marind pointed out to me, there is a need for inclusive, multi-stakeholder negotiated action between government, corporate and indigenous representatives to ensure that traditional food systems can survive oil palm.

Meeting these local needs will not be easy. After all, Marind themselves are divided over what counts as a meaningful and nourishing diet. But including indigenous voices in dialogue and policy making pertaining to food production and distribution remains critical to ensuring that their right to food, as both a nutritional and cultural resource, is adequately respected.

Sophie Chao (sophie.chao@sydney.edu.au) is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney and an honorary postdoctoral fellow at Macquarie University. She previously worked for the human rights organisation Forest Peoples Programme and has published several books on indigenous peoples and the palm oil sector in Southeast Asia. See her website for more information.

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via IFTTT October 31, 2019 at 08:37AM

Anggota TNI menyiksa warga sipil di Puncak Jaya, Papua

Indonesia bans foreign diplomats’ access to Papua amid separatist unrest

Indonesia has effectively banned foreign diplomats and the United Nations from visiting Papua, as separatist unrest continues to challenge Jakarta’s authority.

The government says security concerns prevent it from allowing access to foreign embassies or its citizens wanting to visit the troubled Papua and West Papua provinces.

Several embassies in Jakarta have sought permission to visit Papua but have been knocked back.Duration: 3min 13secBroadcast: Wed 9 Oct 2019, 5:00pm

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/

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via IFTTT October 16, 2019 at 10:09PM

PNG Oposisen lida Belden Namah toktok long hevi bilong West Papua

Papua New Guinea praim minista James Marape itokim PNG parliment tete olsem gavman bilong em bai respektim sovergnity bilong Indonesia na ino inap long toktok long ol human rights hevi long West Papua.

Mr Marape itok yet olsem sapos ol West Papua refugees ikam insait long PNG long ronowe long ol hevi bai PNG gavman ilukautim ol tasol ol lhevi insait boda bilong Indonesia em gavman blong em bai ino inap long mekim wanpla toktok long en

Listen HERE

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via IFTTT October 16, 2019 at 10:03PM

PNG welcome West Papua refugees

Port Moresby, PAPUA NEW GUINEA – October 15, 2019: 10am (NBC NEWS PNG): Papua New Guinea will stand ready to welcome refugees from West Papua if they decide to seek refuge in the country.

Prime Minister James Marape made these remarks in Parliament on Friday when responding to a series of questions by Opposition Leader Belden Namah on the Government’s stance on West Papua’s ongoing conflicts and alleged human rights abuses.

“Let me announce to the world, if refugee situations happen, we are Melanesians we are prepared to burn our last toea to accept refugees into our country.

“That is if they come, we are Melanesians our hospitality remains even to our own cost we will take care of them.

“But in the first instance whatever happens on the other side of the border belongs to the Indonesian government, it is their responsibility we can only advise and we can only raise concerns from this side,” said PM Marape.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Marape further said PNG will respect Indonesia’s sovereignty and not interfere in its affairs.

He said PNG’s foreign policy has always been ‘Friends to all and enemy to none.’

Marape said apart from supporting the call during the recent Pacific Islands Forum, for an independent investigation into allegations of human rights abuses, he’s personally summoned the Indonesian Ambassador to PNG for a briefing and conveyed his dissatisfaction on the ongoing unrests.

“As far as a responsibility to the greater international neighborhoods that we have, we remitted that concern through the diplomatic channel across the Palace in Jakarta and the Palace has heard our concerns.

“The response we got from Indonesia was that the President is interfacing more with the people in West Papua.

“In fact, he has made one known trip to West Papua since the incident has happened to sit down and start this engagement with the Councils and Chiefs there which is going,” Marape told Parliament…. PACNEWS

Source: https://nukualofatimes.tbu.to/

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via IFTTT October 16, 2019 at 03:18PM

O’Neill faces arrest

By GYNNIE KERO and SYLVESTER WEMURU

PNG Acting Police Commissioner David Manning and Former PM Peter O’Neill

POLICE will investigate Ialibu-Pangia MP and former prime minister Peter O’Neill for alleged official corruption and have obtained a warrant for his arrest from the court.

Acting Police Commissioner David Manning said the warrant was based on the “weight of the evidence brought by the investigators”. The warrant was to have been served on O’Neill yesterday but according to Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Operations Donald Yamasombi, he could not be located.

O’Neill however told The National late yesterday that he only became aware of the warrant for his arrest yesterday when it was posted on social media by Manning. He denied that anyone from the constabulary had officially communicated the matter to him or his legal representative.

“I will make myself available (to police) at any time to hear this complaint,” he said.

Manning said investigation into the case had been ongoing and police detectives after collating all the “evidence” called for an application to the court for an arrest warrant.

Manning said he had made contact with O’Neill yesterday and had requested him directly to accompany Yamasombi to the Boroko Police Station but he refused to cooperate.

“I am now appealing to the former prime minister to make himself available to the investigators for the investigation process to be completed,” Manning said.

“He will be processed by police after which he has the right to bail and defend himself in court.

“Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law so O’Neill’s constitutional rights are being respected.”

O’Neill criticised the way police had gone about the process of investigating him.

“The fact that the acting commissioner would choose to make this announcement on social media and not through official representation to my office, is telling that this is a political move,” he said.

“I was not informed or presented with a warrant to appear anywhere today (yesterday) by any member of the (constabulary).

“If this was a serious matter, not a political power play, a formal process would be in place that would have seen legal representation made to my office.”

O’Neill suspects that the investigation may have something to do with “renovations to the Yagaum health centre in Madang”.

“The question must also be asked: Since when is it criminal to help community projects for health and education?” he said.

“If someone has mismanaged the funds, they should be dealt with, not people trying to assist.

“As (former) prime minister, I was never the custodian of the funds sent to Madang for the Yagaum health centre for renovations to repair the run-down hospital.”

O’Neill said “this blatant interference in police operations must be referred to the Ombudsman Commission.”

He claimed that Manning and Madang MP and Police Minister Bryan Kramer were behind the move to have him arrested and questioned.

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via IFTTT October 16, 2019 at 03:13PM

West Papuan refugees welcome in PNG – PM

© Getty Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape listens to Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a meeting at Parliament House in Canberra on July 22, 2019. – Marape is on a six-day visit to Australia. (Photo by MICK TSIKAS / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read MICK TSIKAS/AFP/Getty Images)

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister says his country stands ready to welcome more refugees from West Papua.

James Marape was responding to questions in Parliament yesterday about the deteriorating human rights situation on the Indonesian side of the border.

He said PNG respected Indonesia’s sovereignty over West Papua and what happened there was Jakarta’s responsibility.

However, Mr Marape said he supported the Pacific Islands Forum call for an independent investigation, and personally summoned Indonesia’s ambassador.

West Papuan refugees would always be welcome in PNG, he said.

Source: https://www.msn.com/

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via IFTTT October 16, 2019 at 03:10PM

Papua Police name 13 suspects for deadly Wamena unrest

Papua Police name 13 suspects for deadly Wamena unrest – National – The Jakarta Post

The Papua Police have named 13 people suspects for allegedly having been behind the recent deadly unrest in Wamena, Jayawijaya regency, which caused tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes.

Ten suspects, whose ages range from 16 to 40 years, were already in the custody, while the remaining three are still at large and being hunted by the police, Papua Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. AM Kamal said on Monday.

“The three wanted [suspects] are categorized as provocateurs and are allegedly involved in the KNPB [National Committee of West Papua] and the ULMWP [United Liberation Movement for West Papua],” Kamal said as quoted by kompas.com.

The Indonesian government has blamed both the ULMWP, led by UK-based Papuan exile Benny Wenda, and the affiliated KNPB for orchestrating the unrest that broke out on Sept. 23.

Police investigators claimed they found indications the three were involved with the groups after collecting the testimony of the arrested suspects and witnesses, he said.

Wamena saw violent unrest on Sept. 23 as a mob, reportedly of native Papuans, set hundreds of buildings, including shophouses and government offices, and cars on fire and attacked other residents with weapons.

The turmoil, which the government estimated to have caused material losses amounting to Rp 479.5 billion (US$33.8 million), claimed the lives of at least 33 people, most of whom were non-native Papuans, and injured at least 76 others, according to authorities.

As of Sunday, about 1,726 residents were still staying at a number of evacuation sites, while another 15,544 had left Wamena for other cities across the country after the riots, the Social Ministry said.

Kamal said the police would possibly name more suspects. (gis)

Papua Police name 13 suspects for deadly Wamena unrest – National – The Jakarta Post

• News Desk The Jakarta Post

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via IFTTT October 08, 2019 at 07:51PM

Melanesian Spearhead Group Role on West Papua Issue

By Ambassador Brian Yombon-Copio

West Papua has ongoing issues on human rights abuses and atrocities committed by Indonesia’s guided democracy regime. They have suffered for far too long on their motherland and felt that they should exist as an independent nation state which would guarantee them absolute freedom from these issues. Most importantly West Papuans view that they belong to a Melanesian race and they fear continued suffering at the hands of a populous mongoloid race. The West Papuans are an ethnic minority which has resultant ethnic similarities to Melanesians where they have same features, cultural values and norms and importantly they have closer proximity with PNG based on ancestral ties especially West Sepik and Western Provinces which draws back to many years.

The Melanesian countries have witnessed and sympathised on the sufferings of the West Papuans and they have overwhelming views against the abuse of human rights and atrocities. The Melanesian Spearhead Group (‘MSG’) which is the central forum for Melanesian peoples has indicated support for West Papua with their aspirations for a fully pledge independent nation. However PNG being the largest Melanesian country which is viewed to have potential influence has different views under successive political leaders and supported West Papua with reservations at the MSG level.

Nevertheless West Papua was admitted as an observer recently in the Melanesian bloc instead of a full membership. The current government views PNG’s regional standing and reputation which have been shaped by its commitment to Melanesian values which include stronger democracy, maintaining the rule of law, protection of human rights and increasing trade and economic aspects of development as significantly important. The MSG is an important partner in the pursuit of these values regionally. PNG is therefore viewed as a strong influence and ‘bread winner’ for other Melanesian countries and ethnic minorities within the region. Accordingly PNG Government’s change of politics on West Papua is timely.

Historically PNG has been forced into a difficult situation as previous governments reached an understanding with Indonesia that West Papua remains an integral part of the country and PNG should not offend Indonesia in supporting West Papua’s independence aspirations. As a result PNG’s position on the West Papua issues has been grasped with mixed reactions by other Melanesian countries which expected PNG to equally support West Papua’s agenda on its political future.

The Melanesian countries do not duly consider PNG’s closer proximity to Indonesia and the strong bilateral relationship between the two countries. However the MSG countries view PNG as a ‘bread winner’ for the rest of the smaller island nations. In other words, PNG is expected to act on behalf of smaller island countries regardless of its own position and pursue the interest of smaller island nations and other minor ethnic groups like West Papua and New Caledonia. Given PNG’s perceived leadership in the region, the MSG views that PNG has an obligation to deliver desired results for the benefit of minor ethnic groups which have formidable issues. However MSG solidarity is important and if collective determinations are reached, PNG has no option but to respect such and support the decisions for realisation in the interest of the MSG bloc. At the MSG level there has to be solidarity in most of the decisions reached by the MSG for a common good of Melanesian peoples.

There is overwhelming support for West Papua for its aspiration for self-determination from majority of the MSG members and PNG’s change in position should impact certainty to a larger degree. PNG should play a lead role in encouraging the MSG bloc to make representation to Indonesia with its collective determinations to address the issues of West Papua. It is strongly believed that Indonesia would respect PNG and sense that the collective determinations reflect the views of the MSG.

The major regional players like Australia and New Zealand also have vested interests and are aware that the West Papua agenda on independence has potential issues with their own interests with Indonesia. On the other, Australia and New Zealand might have their own foreign policies on PNG-Indonesian relations as they are absolutely aware of the impeding position of PNG. Given the scenario, Australia and New Zealand should support on the West Papua issues through regional dialogues to reach solutions which would satisfy both West Papua and Indonesia.

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via IFTTT October 10, 2019 at 10:13AM

We changed the nation, says O’Neill

By GYNNIE KERO. The National PNG

FORMER Prime Minister Peter O’Neill

FORMER Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, pictured, has defended the record of the government he led up to May, saying “we changed the nation by building infrastructure needed”.

He also condemned plans by the current government to cut back on expenditure in the Supplementary Budget to be tabled by Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey on Thursday.

“Ian Ling-Stuckey condemns the eight years of economic management under myself, James Marape as Finance Minister and Patrick Pruaitch as Treasurer,” O’Neill said.

“This is just political opportunism from the treasurer and is causing a great deal of internal conflict in Cabinet.

“No one can deny that we changed the nation by building the infrastructure our country badly needed.

“Cabinet with James and Patrick saw a rise in debt. But you just have to look around and ask if we advanced the country.

“Did we build the infrastructure that Port Moresby needed – roads, bridges, the flyovers and port facilities? Yes we did.

“Around the country, did we build new hospitals and care centres? Did we build teacher training colleges? Did we build new air strips? Yes we did.”
He said the supplementary budget “appears to be a turn-out-the-lights budget”.

“This ridiculous cost-cutting for the sake of politics will bring our country to its knees and hurt our people who are in the most challenging circumstances,” he said.

He said Ling-Stuckey had claimed that under his management of the economy there would be no more debt.

“But Prime Minister (Marape) overruled him and said debt would be consolidated in Australia and China,” O’Neill said.

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via IFTTT October 08, 2019 at 06:34PM

Jihad is coming to the Pacific

Open statement of Jihad Group in Central Java, Indonesia

It’s not just West Papua‘s 2 million Christians who are vulnerable but all in our region. If these jihadist have Indonesian government and military approval then this should be a red line for Australia and the region. It’s an abrogation of the Lombok Treaty and Indonesia’s founding principles of Pancasila.

The creep of Islamic militia into West Papua began at least 18 years ago when Laskar Jihad first sent members into Sorong and Jayapura. In 2001 I interviewed the Commander of Laskar Jihad, Jafar Umar Thalib, in Ambon during the war. He told me directly he was sending jihadis to train in West Papua. After the liberation of Timor Leste, General Wiranto and the TNI moved much of their security apparatus from Timor to Papua.

For years I’ve heard from OPM sources of jihadi camps around Merauke in the southeast corner, close to the borders of PNG and Australia, but they could never get photo evidence. Now phone cameras are capturing all as would-be jihadis demonstrate in Java and arrive on ships in Papua.

The plight of the West Papuans can no longer be ignored.

No-one wants an un-holy war here, one that would spread…

Source: Facebook.com

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via IFTTT October 08, 2019 at 04:14PM

Indonesia’s Widodo willing to meet Papua pro-independence groups

Indonesia's president Joko Widodo Photo: AFP

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has told media he is prepared to meet West Papuan pro-independence groups to discuss problems in Papua.

Viva News reports that President Widodo, known as Jokowi, indicated he was willing to meet anyone to discuss important issues in his country.

Papua region has been gripped by weeks of protests, a security forces crackdown and violent unrest which has left over 40 people dead, according to authorities.

The proposal to meet pro-independence groups was put forward by representatives of the Papua and West Papua regional legislature

The representatives made the proposal when meeting with President Jokowi's Chief of Staff, Moeldoko, and Interior Minister Tjahjo Kumolo.

While the president did not single out groups to meet, Papuan representatives have suggested the United Liberation Movement for West Papua and the West Papua National Committee.

The Chairperson of the Maybrat Regency Parliament in West Papua, Ferdinando Solossa, made the suggestion at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta.

Both the Liberation Movement and the Committee are pro-independence organisations calling for West Papuans to be granted an independence referendum.

Last week, Detik News reported that Moeldoko said that he would himself be willing to meet with the government's opponents in Papua, and even mentioned the Liberation Movement's leader, Benny Wenda.

Moeldoko said he was willing to meet Mr Wenda in the interest of finding solutions to the ongoing problems in Papua.

The chief of staff was responding after meeting with Mr Solossa last week, with the Papuan representative emphasising that dialogue should involve an independent, neutral and objective third party in resolving the roots of political problems.

Sour: RNZ

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via IFTTT October 02, 2019 at 04:52PM

Vanuatu PM calls for UN action on West Papua

Charlot Salwai Photo: UNGA

Vanuatu's prime minister has again pressed the United Nations General Assembly over human rights abuses in West Papua.

During his speech in New York, Charlot Salwai lamented how some Pacific territories are yet to break the shackles of colonialism.

Mr Salwai cited France's territories of New Caledonia and French Polynesia, as well as Indonesian-ruled West Papua.

He called on the administering powers to respect UN processes and ensure people in these territories can have their self-determination views heard.

Mr Salwai called for use of the UN system to find solutions to violations of West Papuans' human rights.

"The resolution of the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum calls on the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua to conduct an assessment based on concrete proof regarding the human rights situation."

Rayyanul Sangadji, a junior Indonesian diplomat from Ambon, Maluku, exercised the country's right of reply to Vanuatu's statement.

"As an Indonesian with Melanesian roots, I can tell you we do not like to be clustered, categorised, or worse, divided by another, faraway country," he said.

"Papua is, has [been] and will always be, part of Indonesia."

Source: RNZ

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via IFTTT September 30, 2019 at 04:56PM

West Papua unrest: Shootout prompts border closure

The Wutung entry facility at the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea is an important trading access point. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades

Land and sea access between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea has been closed after a shootout at the border.

This follows reports of an Indonesian troop build-up along the border from communities in PNG’s West Sepik province.

Indonesian-ruled West Papua has been gripped by weeks of protests and violent unrest which has left dozens of people dead.

Amid a security forces crackdown, concern has been raised in neighbouring PNG about another potential influx of West Papuan refugees

PNG’s Immigration and Citizenship Authority has advised that following a shootout the border is closed to nationals from both sides until further notice.

It said shopping at the Batas market, close to the border on the Indonesian side, as well as movement into the West Papuan capital Jayapura was “completely banned”.

Earlier this week, PNG’s EMTV reported villagers at Wutung on the PNG side of the border as saying school children were ordered to return home.

Usually, most land and sea cross-border movement occurs around Papua New Guinea’s north coast.

Our Story:

1. West Papua – PNG Border Incident: 2 Indonesian Soldiers Killed Today
2. West Papua – PNG Border Incident: 2 Indonesian Soldiers Killed Today
3. Chief Gen. WPRA Mathias Wenda: West Papua Revolutionary Army is Responsible for the Action at Wutung, PNG-West Papua Border that Killed 2 Indonesian Soldiers Today 1 October 2019

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via IFTTT October 03, 2019 at 03:49PM

Shop closed at border

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK and REBECCA KUKU

Indonesian Military Patrol along the Indonesian side of the border

AN Indonesian shopping centre frequented by Papua New Guineans at the border with Indonesia has been closed indefinitely after a clash between rebels and Indonesian soldiers.

This was confirmed yesterday by PNG Consular-General Geoffrey Wiri.

“The Operassi Papua Merdeka (OPM) rebels came across the border into PNG and fired shots back targeting the Indonesian military base on Tuesday,” he said. “There were no reports of casualties. The situation has calmed down (but) business activities at the border (remain) closed.”

Wiri, who is based in Jayapura, said the clash occurred near Wutung village in West Sepik.

PNG and Indonesian border authorities plan to meet next week to decide what to do next.

Meanwhile, Morehead Station manager Maninanzang Gantau said the situation along the southern part of the border in Western was normal.

“Indonesian officials will advise us when to stop villagers crossing into the Indonesian border town of Sota when they feel that it is not safe,” he said.

Gantau said the shooting near Wutung was probably a lead-up to the OPM flag-raising ceremony in November.

“Right now there is a heavy buildup of Indonesian military along the southern part of the border.”

He said West Papuans involved in the OPM and living outside West Papua usually return home to take part in the ceremony.

Meanwhile, West Sepik police commander Moses Ibsagi has warned PNG citizens living along the border not cross to Indonesia yet.

“The situation is still tense on the other side of the border (even though) our side is very quiet,” he said.

“We have two PNG Defense Force platoons on the ground and I have a manpower of 32 with me. Our instruction is to ensure the safety of PNG citizens living along the border and that government facilities are protected.”

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via IFTTT October 03, 2019 at 03:39PM

Indonesia: Jokowi Says Ready to Meet with Papuan Pro-Independence Leaders

Victor Mambor and Arie Firdaus = Jayapura, Indonesia and Jakarta

Residents drive past a burning government building in Wamena, in Indonesia’s Papua province, Sept. 23, 2019.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Monday he was ready to hold talks with separatist leaders to solve the conflict in Indonesia’s Papua region, as thousands of Indonesians who had migrated there were evacuated from Wamena, a highland town where 33 people died in violence last week.

A protest involving hundreds of high school students that was provoked by alleged racist remarks from an instructor descended into chaos in Wamena on Sept. 23, with crowds setting fire to government buildings, shops and homes, authorities said. On the same day, security forces clashed with student protesters in the provincial capital Jayapura, leaving three civilians and a soldier dead, police said.

“I will meet anyone who wants to meet me,” Jokowi told reporters at the Bogor Presidential Palace, when asked if he was ready for dialogue with pro-independence groups such as the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) and the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB).

The government has blamed ULMWP and KNPB for the unrest that has gripped Papua and West Papua provinces since last month, when thousands of protestors took to the streets across the mainly Melanesian region demanding a vote on self-determination. The protests broke out over alleged racist epithets that had been used against Papuan students on Java island.

Authorities said five people were killed during the initial violence in August and early September, but Papuan activists said they recorded at least 13 deaths.

Officials said the unrest was intended to draw international attention to Papuans’ demand for a referendum during the ongoing 74th U.N. General Assembly in New York.

ULMWP chairman Benny Wenda, who is based in Britain, welcomed Jokowi’s gesture.

“We welcome what was conveyed by the government of Indonesia. But we will only hold dialogue if all soldiers and police are withdrawn from the land of Papua without conditions,” Wenda told BenarNews.

The chairman of Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) urged Jakarta to engage Papuan leaders in a dialogue.

“In my opinion, this is the best solution. If it is not resolved through dialogue, we are worried there will be greater ramifications, including an international intervention,” Ahmad Taufan Damanik told reporters in Jakarta.

Almost 7,300 people have sought refuge in police and military headquarters, as well in church and government buildings in Wamena after last week’s violence, said John Richard Banua, the administrative head of Jayawijaya regency, of which Wamena is the main town.

Tensions rose in Papua in December after separatist rebels allegedly killed 19 members of a crew building a highway in Nduga regency. Authorities immediately sent more than 750 soldiers and police to the region after the killings.

Five people tagged as suspects

Police have said that most of 33 people who were killed in last week’s violence were migrants from outside Papua. Five people had been named suspects over the riot, officials said.

The military said more than 3,100 migrants who feared they would be targeted had been evacuated to the provincial capital Jayapura.

“They will be helped to return to their home provinces, especially women and children,” armed forces chief Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters, adding that men had been advised to return to Wamena to rebuild the town’s economy.

Security Affairs Minister Wiranto also urged those who fled Wamena to return.

“You can imagine, if they flock out of Wamena, who will drive the economy?” Wiranto told reporters in Jakarta.

The Papua region, which makes up the Indonesian half of New Guinea island, was incorporated formally into Indonesia in 1969 following a U.N.-administered ballot known as the Act of Free Choice. Many Papuans and rights groups said the vote was a sham because it involved only 1,000 people.

Wamena resident Obelom Wakerkwa told BenarNews that the students who took part in the protests did not engage in vandalism and arson attacks.

He said he saw security forces firing warning shots in front of the protesters.

“That enraged the high school students and the situation became out of control,” he said.

Ahmad Syamsudin in Jakarta contributed to this report.

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via IFTTT September 30, 2019 at 03:21PM

‘Unprecedented crackdown’: Indonesia trying to silence West Papuan advocates, lawyer says

Let’s Have a Massive Rally on Friday October 11th, 2019!

Let’s Do Our Part to End Misery, Shame and Despair Our People Have Endured for 57 Years!

West Papua solidarity march in PNG draws thousands

By Natalius Pigai, Defender of the Weak / Commissioner of the National Commission on Human Rights 2012-2017

I write this article based on the reality faced by the people of Papua for 57 years. I was born in a remote place in the interior of Papua, the center of war and conflict. Eventually, I became an activist in the struggle for civil rights and reached the peak of my career as a commissioner of the 2012-2017 Indonesian Human Rights Commission. Today I am still active as a humanitarian activist.

Since I was a child, I have seen, monitored, listened and recorded all the contents that were checked directly to the people of Papua as well as stories with no less than 15 regents / former regents and officials still active, and also based on the results of investigations and monitoring. I write this as a professional investigator who has handled no less than 15 thousand cases in Indonesia.

This paper is my contribution to the common good and improvement (bonum commune).

57 Years of Papua living in misery, hundreds of thousands of Papuans were arrested, tortured, slaughtered and killed based on racial hatred of the black Papuan people and curly hair.

Words that contain verbal violence such as monkeys, apes, and gorillas have long been received by Papuans. Perpetrators are not only ordinary Malay people but also state officials both in Papua and outside. More and more newcomers are behaving racistly and with the segregative attitude toward the people of Papua. Today they showcase the racial and segregative behavior of apartheid, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism which had developed in the past century in Africa, America, and Europe. Today, Indonesia is the only country on earth that has allowed racism to develop not only in the civilian population but also in Government, especially to the Papuan-Melanesians.

Even more ironic is that the intelligence officers, the military, and the police have made the migrants as partners to smooth the politics of occupation in Papua, to collect information, and even actually to form militia forces to hack and kill civilians in Papua.

Intentionally or not, the officers herded migrants who were innocent civilians to try their luck in the land of Papua as a militia group. That is the trigger of the acute hatred of the people of Papua against migrants. So when Papuans are angry and commit violence against migrants, why are the Indonesian people not angry at the officers that lead migrants and innocent civilians do to play in the embers of Papua, which is indeed a conflict area.

Did we ever know that in Wamena, the city center and in other areas HIV / AIDS is growing rapidly, threatening the extinction of the Papuan Melanesian, not because Malay women commercial sex colonizers sell themselves in “lokalisasi”, but because there is no localization, yet they make small huts and migrant restaurants, in “what do you want to eat, raw or cooked meat?” Raw meat means sex, cooked meat means food. That is the illustration if a native Papuan eats. And that was done openly in the center of the city, the authorities also witnessed it without going to prevent or even curb it. We have never witnessed an operation to curb social pathology or operation of justice.

When there were protests by Papuans in urban centers, the authorities often searched Papuans in migrant houses or kiosks and migrant restaurants, even straying bullets towards Papuans. Too many Papuans have died because of this pattern. This method is witnessed by the Papuans because Papua is a small town brightly lit.

All of this is recorded in the memory of the suffering Papuan people. Oral speech spread throughout the Papuans and these modes are widely known. Once again not migrants but migrants led by officials, inevitably “obedient” to participate in the wishes of the state in the name of integration in conflict areas.

But one of the behaviors that are not beautifully exhibited by migrants is when they conflict with Papuans, migrants always ask for or take cover behind the barrel of weapons, they do not follow legal channels, I have never found a migrant sought justice in court against the Papuan people fairly.

Papuans are herded in Togel gambling games everywhere in the cities; they have no more saving for the family because they have finished it playing Togel gambling. While Indonesia has banned gambling firmly, it is still rampant in Papua. The migrants, the Togel bandars, are surrounded by officials. Selling liquor is managed by migrants and accompanied by officials. There is even liquor whose alcohol reaches 40 percent written specifically for Papua.

Did we ever know that illegal mining areas are controlled by migrants, backed by authorities, selling liquor, narcotics and even operating prostitution such as in Degeuwo, Tembagapura, Mamberamo areas, etc? Residents pay gold pieces for liquor or prostitution under pressure and gunpoint.

The authorities are backing migrants to control 3 main sources of Papuan ownership:

1. seizing natural resources by illegal mining, fishing, and extraction of wood.
2. Seizing the economic resources of Papuans in all city centers, the distribution of goods and services is controlled by migrants, economic resources are controlled. Stalls, markets and even public transportation and motorcycle taxis are controlled by migrants. Papuans are only as vegetable sellers on the porch or the roadside. Even then, the nimble mamas, as women do everywhere they dared to make a living and provide enough education for their children. As is common in the world mothers are more militant; Papuan men are locked in to compete so they cannot make ends meet.
3. Depriving the political rights of the people of Papua, deprivation today has penetrated the world of bureaucracy and politics. Newcomers are too hungry for power, they want to be regents, deputies, people’s representatives utilizing bribery, scattering money here, scattering money there, today’s election is almost controlled by migrants. There are regencies whose members of the House of Representatives are almost 100% migrants, there are regencies where a family has 7 members in the house of representatives. The police are also marginalized Papuans when recruiting.

Recruitment filled with corruption, collusion, and nepotism.

Recruitment of civil servants in Papua often witness the coming of migrants’ relatives who were born, grew up and went to schools in Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi; they were called to join the test in Papua, and with a bribe, they could pass. There was also a graduate of agriculture test who passed as a doctor and was accepted when he was placed in a clinic (puskesmas). It happened in Intan Jaya Regency. This is one mode of taking the land of Papuan by migrants.

If the 3 main sources of life for Papuans are controlled, is there any hope of life for Papuans? The future is certainly bleak. There is no hope of living in their homeland.

Do you know that the regional heads and officials in Papua are held hostage by the contractors and his subordinates who are mostly migrants? The contractors use state officials to smooth the project, even disburse money before the project runs.

The Regent is almost certain to be held hostage by the head of services with large budgets such as Public Works and Finance and has to cooperate with the Police and the District Attorney.

Throughout Papua, the Auditor of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) came or was visited by local officials to bribe the BPK to issue a letter called “finished checking”, once again the letter was named “finished checking” even though the BPK had never checked it. As a result, all the people of Papua are surprised why almost all districts in Papua each year can get the title WTP (Fair Without Exception), robbing public money in large amounts without physical development.

If I may be honest “as is”, then hospitals in Papua have been labeled as “places of death” not human nurseries, not places of life, especially government hospitals including those of the Police, and now Papuans have begun to suspect private hospitals even though they belong to the church. Papuans are very afraid to go to the hospital, they prefer natural remedies. The hospital has long been suspected by Papuans as a place for ethnic Papuan cleansing, on average young mothers who have been hospitalized during pregnancy or after childbirth cannot give birth, some mothers are injected with anti-fertilities without their husbands’ and their consent (maybe asked when experiencing pain during childbirth). So today the average young mothers cannot give birth.

Indeed, the average physical appearance of the building and inside the hospital is very “rotten” even when I see firsthand the water of the faucets in the number one hospital in Papua, the water faucets are dead a week. Even though water is vital, the water of life without human water must die, especially in hospitals. Indeed, in this world, medical personnel and medics are special / they are God’s representatives in the world, but for Papua, the assessment is different. It is an old saga. One indicator of the threat of Papuans, in particular, is the increasing ratio of maternal and child mortality because until this moment there are no maternal and child hospitals throughout Papua. In contrast to outside Papua, each district has a mother and child hospital even more than one.

Not only hospitals, Papuans today have lost respect for priests, priests especially Kiai, have long lost the prophetic voice in the land of Papua Melanesia. The church becomes an instrument of authority, a tool of the mysterious clique. Add God who defends the Papuans die suddenly in the interior, facing a gun barrel.

In remote areas of the island, they often sell expired items: biscuits, sardines, noodles, etc. People do not understand because they are uneducated and, as a result, many people get sick and die.

One of the crimes of migrants in Papua is that Papuans are forced to convert to Islam. Many modes have been found. In Wamena, an officer herded a village under gunpoint and took some students to convert to a religion that is not a religion. In several areas, migrants take children with the argument of being foster parents or educating them, to be sent to some Islamic boarding schools and become converts.

There is no law in Papua, no justice before the law for Papuans. Justice only applies to those who are migrants. Unless Papuans pay a “bribe” to a judge. Papuans who are young and quick can get a court decision and a copy of the decision in a matter of days, while poor Papuans find it difficult to get justice. Nearly 58 years the court has sentenced non-Papuans or police officers, I have never seen and read one document of the police being jailed for torturing and killing (Extra Judicial Killing).

All the groans lament, the sadness of the Papuans are silenced in the hearts of the people of Papua. The Papuan people have no room for expression, the mass media is silenced as a propaganda tool for the authorities and migrants. Civil society organizations and political parties as instruments of articulation of the interests of the people of Papua are silenced, freedom of expression is limited. As a result, what happened today was the explosion of the tip of the iceberg that had frozen for so long. That is what is not understood by the state and the people of Indonesia.

The Nation (Inter-Ethnic and Religious National Leaders) should find a solution to the problem of Papua in a dignified and more progressive manner, not in favor of military repression in Papua. If you ask for a military operation, then you don’t need to ask because 58 years of military operations have taken place, the people of Papua are living every day under threat in their bloody land.

I have to be honest to say that we are two different races namely the Melanesian Negro Race and the Malay Mongoloid Race. Like Oil and Water, it will never be able to unite unless racism, Papuan phobia, and discrimination are eliminated from this country and it seems impossible because discrimination in this country is already too acute.

(A Heart Wrenching reflection of a Papua man lamenting the plight and disaster facing our people of West Papua. 57 years of these abuses and suppression has exploded. The fear and submission has been replaced by anger and bravery. Nothing can stop it now! Only referendum will solve this crisis. We can’t rest or sit back having read with tears the cry of our people. Let’s us make sure we have a massive October 11^th, 2019 Rally)

Source: Facebook.com

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via IFTTT October 03, 2019 at 10:56AM