Introduction
On 20 October 2024, Prabowo Subianto was sworn in as president of Indonesia, having won the election in February 2024 with close to 60 per cent of the vote. Many civil society organisations (CSOs) and human rights activists expressed their deep concern, since before he became a politician, Prabowo was a military officer who was dishonourably discharged in 1998 for his involvement in the abduction of political opponents of former President Suharto. Thirteen of those abducted remain missing, yet Prabowo has never faced trial.
The CIVICUS Monitor, a civil society platform that tracks civic space around the world, has documented a decline of civic freedoms in Indonesia since Prabowo came to power. His presidency has seen attacks on media freedom, attempts to silence dissent and the targeting of human rights defenders (Human Rights Defenders) with attacks, harassment, intimidation and prosecutions. It has brought a severe crackdown on protests with arrests and excessive force and an escalation of repression in the Papua region. It has come with censorship, the passing of restrictive laws and ongoing impunity for past crimes.
Due to this, Indonesia’s civic space is rated as obstructed by the CIVICUS Monitor. In July 2025, Indonesia was added to the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist, which tracks countries where civic space is rapidly deteriorating.
These civic space violations are inconsistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Indonesia ratified in 2005. The ICCPR imposes international obligations on the state to respect and protect civic freedoms, including freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly. These rights are enshrined in Indonesia’s constitution.
Indonesia’s actions are also inconsistent with recommendations made by states to the government in November 2022 at its Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council. The government was urged to ensure the rights to freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly and media freedom and to take measures to foster a safe, respectful and enabling environment for civil society and Human Rights Defenders, particularly in the Papua region.
Further, Indonesia’s civic space restrictions are at odds with the concluding observations issued by the UN Human Rights Committee during the review of Indonesia’s implementation of the ICCPR in October 2024. The committee urged the government to ensure that any restrictions on the rights of peaceful assembly comply with the ICCPR, all allegations of excessive use of force, harassment, intimidation and surveillance are investigated promptly, thoroughly and impartially and those found responsible are prosecuted. The committee also called on the government to adopt measures to effectively protect people who exercise their freedom of expression and conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into all reports of harassment, intimidation and reprisals against Human Rights Defenders.
Human rights situation in West Papua
In the Papua region, at the east end of the Indonesian archipelago, there have been reports of gross human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrest of activists by security forces under the pretext of suppressing separatism. Although the government continues to promise to address the grievances of Papuan people, they face ongoing discrimination, exploitation and repression. The authorities have also restricted access to Papua for international CSOs and observers.
In the last two years, the CIVICUS Monitor has continued to document incidents of civic space repression in the region, including arbitrary arrests, the disruption of protests with excessive force and intimidation of Papuan activists.
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3) Southern Papua’s last conservation stronghold threatened by fires and development
Nuevaterra Mambor October 19, 2026
Jayapura, Jubi – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) Papua says forest and land fires in South Papua province have also affected Wasur National Park in Merauke regency, one of the region’s last remaining conservation strongholds.
WALHI Papua executive director Maikel Primus Peuki said the 431,425.12-hectare national park was among the areas affected by fires during the 2026 El Niño-related dry season.
“Based on our monitoring and statements from the Jayapura Region V Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), South Papua has experienced a surge in forest and land fires, with a total of 573 hotspots detected,” Peuki said during a discussion on environmental issues and forest degradation in South Papua at Jubi’s newsroom on Tuesday (13/10/2026).
He said Wasur National Park was a vital conservation area and protected a source of drinking water at Rawa Biru in Merauke. However, he warned that the area would face increasing threats if it was not properly protected and maintained.
“The Trans-Papua road to Boven Digoel regency runs through Wasur National Park. We conducted an investigation yesterday and found that the park had experienced fires,” he said.
Peuki said Wasur National Park was also among the sources of smoke affecting South Papua. At least 133 hotspots were recorded in the park, while another 71 were detected in Pulau Dolok Wildlife Reserve.
The Pulau Dolok Wildlife Reserve covers 664,627.97 hectares on Dolok Island in Kimaam district, Merauke Regency, South Papua.
A further 294 smoke sources were detected within a forest-area use approval zone managed by the Ministry of Defence, near the 135-kilometre road connecting Wanam and Muting, he said.
Dr. Ignasius Ngari, OFM, a lecturer in artificial intelligence and environmental studies at Fajar Timur Catholic University in Jayapura, expressed similar concerns.
“Wasur National Park should be protected. However, some time ago, the Forestry Department granted the Ministry of Defence permission to clear land for a development battalion headquarters along the 135-kilometre road from Wanam to Muting. This area is also close to Wasur National Park,” Ngari said.
The Ministry of Forestry previously issued a Forest Area Use Approval (PPKH) covering 961.33 hectares for the construction of territorial development infantry battalion bases in several regions, including Papua.
In Merauke, these units have been deployed to support national strategic projects involving large-scale rice cultivation and sugarcane plantation.
The units include Infantry Battalion 802/Wimane Mambe Jaya, whose headquarters is in the Keco area of Merauke.
The location lies along Merauke’s main land corridor, near an access route bordering the outer area of Wasur National Park.
Infantry Battalion 817/AOBA is being established in Jagebob district, in the north of Merauke, near the remaining expanse of Agodai Forest, which is customary land belonging to the Kwipalo clan.
Infantry Battalion 861/Maleo Kamur is based in Wanam village, Ilwayab district, and is intended to support food protection projects in north-western Merauke.
The Pusaka Bentala Rakyat Foundation and WALHI Papua have raised concerns that land clearing for the development areas often proceeds without the consent of customary landowners or overlaps with vulnerable forest areas.
However, the Wasur National Park Office (BTNW) has maintained that food production, road and settlement projects in the Sota and Yanggandur areas are located within Other Land Use Areas (APL) and do not fall within the boundaries of the park’s core conservation zone.
According to information published on the Ministry of Forestry’s website, the Wasur area was initially designated a nature reserve under Agriculture Ministerial Decree No. 252/Kpts/Um/5/1978, dated 2 May 1978. It comprised two conservation areas: the Wasur Wildlife Reserve and the Rawa Biru Nature Reserve.
The Wasur Wildlife Reserve was established to protect wildlife, while the Rawa Biru Nature Reserve was intended to safeguard the drinking water source for Merauke residents.
The two areas initially covered 206,000 hectares and 4,000 hectares respectively. A further 15,000 hectares was later proposed for inclusion, bringing the proposed total area to 225,000 hectares.
The expansion was proposed by the governor of Irian Jaya province through letter No. 1125/DJ/I/1898, dated 10 March 1981. The following year, under Agriculture Ministerial Decree No. 15/Kpts/Um/5/1982, dated 4 January 1982, the area was expanded by a further 98,000 hectares, bringing the total to 323,000 hectares.
On 6 March 1990, the area was declared Wasur National Park, covering 308,000 hectares, under Forestry Ministerial Decree No. 448/Menhut-VI/1990.
In May 1997, Wasur National Park in Merauke regency, now part of South Papua province, was designated as a national park covering 413,810 hectares under Forestry Ministerial Decree No. SK.2549/Menhut-VII/KUH/2014.
About 70 per cent of the park consists of savanna grassland. The remaining area comprises swamp forest, monsoon forests, coastal forest, bamboo forest, sago forest and eucalyptus trees, known locally among the Marind people as bush or minyak kayu putih trees.
Rawa Biru village is located within the park area, administratively part of Sota district in Merauke regency, South Papua.
The village is also home to Lake Rawa Biru, a water source used by the Merauke regional government to supply clean water through the local regional drinking water company (PDAM) for the daily needs of Merauke city residents.
The village is predominantly inhabited by the Kanume subgroup of the Marind people, including the Ndimar, Sanggra, Mayuwa, and Mbanggu clans.
Residents of Rawa Biru also maintain a traditional sasi practice, known in the Kanume language as misar. Under this customary system, members of the Sanggra and Mayua clans prohibit residents and outsiders from hunting wildlife, collecting bird eggs, cutting down trees and catching fish in Lake Rawa Biru.
Men in the village traditionally hunt and farm. Animals hunted include saham (the local term for kangaroos), deer, pigs and cassowaries.
Deer are not native to Merauke. According to Professor Ronald Petocz, the animals were introduced by the Dutch in 1928, after which the population of Timor deer (Cervus timorensis) grew.
The deer population is now reportedly under threat, with many animals crossing into Papua New Guinea, where the Trans-Fly region remains relatively protected and its natural environment better preserved.
Amid differing views over development, WALHI Papua executive director Maikel Primus Peuki has urged people to consider the distinction between developing Papua and development in Papua.
He warned that the latter approach could sideline Indigenous Papuans while prioritising the exploitation of the natural resources beneath their land.
The ecological impacts, including fires and the growing number of hotspots in Wasur National Park, are signs that the environment is under increasing pressure, he said.
“This is not the apocalypse, but we ourselves are turning it into the end of life on Earth. When we talk about the environment, we must also talk about justice and conservation,” Peuki said during a discussion on Jubi TV’s podcast on Tuesday (13/10/2026). (*)
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4) GUEST BLOG: Marie Leadbeater – An Ethical/Independent Foreign Policy??
By The Daily Blog 19 October 2026
I did not hear an uproar when Prime Minister Luxon announced he planned to reduce non-Pacific overseas aid spending. When one in ten of the global community live in extreme poverty and we only spend a miserly 0.27 percent of gross national income on overseas aid it is an outrageous suggestion. Too bad for the Nepalese when they suffer disasters caused by ice melt and global warming we rich countries are mostly responsible for.
So, it might seem like a good thing that Foreign Minister Winston Peters defended our overseas aid spending, but he did not state ethical or humanitarian reasons. Rather that aid helps to enhance our relationships in ‘the very markets we need to grow our economy.’
I don’t discern any ethics in his approach to diplomacy either. Peters rejects ‘megaphone’ diplomacy. That is nothing new, his predecessors used the same expression when they were seen to be fudging on human rights issues. In his final speech of the parliamentary term, he also said that we do still have an independent foreign policy but just not one that is ‘loudly disagreeing with the United States.’
He could have added that our independence excludes ‘loudly disagreeing’ with Israel. By some inverse logic Mr Peters claims that our failure to recognise the state of Palestine is an example of an ‘independent multi-directional foreign policy.’ Surely this is Orwellian double-speak. Ditto for the government’s decision to take a wait and see attitude on the question of genocide. The case brought by South Africa to the International Court of Justice is yet to reach final determination, but it is now a year since an independent Commission backed by the UN concluded that Israel was indeed committing genocide. And there is no ambiguity about our obligation under the Genocide Convention to take action to prevent genocide.
Winston Peters prefers quiet ‘behind the scenes’ talk but that kind of diplomacy usually shades into complicity. How else to describe the failure to take a stand when our own citizens are attacked as they attempt to ameliorate the suffering of Palestinian people? Hāhona Ormsby, a member of the Global Sumud humanitarian aid team was among 430 activists who were kidnapped in international waters earlier this year and taken to Israel. Still showing the clear signs of the beating he endured in Israeli custody, he attended a Select Committee meeting in June where an incensed Minister Peters called him a liar.
During the long dark days of the Indonesian occupation of Timor Leste, successive Foreign Ministers found oblique ways to refer to human rights, while at the same time extending defence cooperation with the occupying power, Indonesia. No one could find the megaphone then, even on the occasions when one of our own was killed by the Indonesian military. In 1975 New Zealander Gary Cunninghman and his journalist colleagues were executed to prevent them revealing the truth about Indonesia’s full-scale invasion. Sixteen years on fellow New Zealander, Kamal Bamadhaj, was trying to protect peaceful student demonstrators when he was shot in cold blood, one of the estimated 271 victims of the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre.
Then there is our Melanesian neighbour West Papua, which desperately needs a principled advocate to speak out against human rights atrocities and a hidden ongoing war. West Papua has been under Indonesian control since the 1960s, when the Dutch were forced to abandon their decolonisation plans after Indonesian military intervention and US manipulation. Indonesian control was ‘legitimised’ in a manifestly phony referendum in 1969, but the indigenous Papuan people have never stopped resisting using both peaceful means and armed struggle. The number of military deployed to West Papua is estimated at a staggering 56,000 Indonesian soldiers or one soldier per 100 civilians. That compares with a national ratio of one soldier per 696 civilians.
I am sure Minister Peters knows of the post-takeover death toll estimated at 100,000 to 500,000, the deadly clashes this year in the highlands, the tragic displacement of over 120,000 villagers, and the ongoing ecocide as the territory is stripped of forests, savannah and wetlands to make way for the President’s much vaunted food and energy project.
However, Winston Peters has had a two convivial meetings recently with his Indonesian Foreign Affairs counterpart, Sugiono, one in Manila and the second here at the 13th Indonesia-New Zealand Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in New Zealand. They talked about strengthening defence cooperation through the establishment of a Navy-to-Navy Talks forum. This would complement our long-standing programme of sponsoring Indonesian officers to attend our six-month New Zealand Defence Force Advanced Command and Staff Course and facilitating other bilateral officer workshops and meetings.
Thankfully there have been standout moments in our history when we have taken an ethical and independent stand. Our anti-nuclear stand meant standing against the US, but it also meant taking bold initiatives with our neighbours – like putting forward a South Pacific nuclear weapon free zone at the UN with Fiji and Papua New Guinea back in 1975 and in 1996 successfully initiating a historic case to the World Court to achieve a determination concerning the illegality of nuclear weapons. There are other examples of independent action including our mediation support which helped to end the conflict in Bougainville in the late 1990s.
Acting independently didn’t so much rely on a megaphone as on straightforward advocacy and on working with the international legal framework and with the UN. To be clear I refer to international law, put in place by democratic international decision-making, not the slippery self-serving concept of the ‘rules-based order’. There is plenty of opportunity to take up the challenge again for the besieged people of Palestine and our neighbours in West Papua.
Maire Leadbeater is one of Aotearoa’s leading Human Rights Activist, she is the sister of Kieth Locke.
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