Saturday, November 16, 2024

1) Residents upset at being hit by tear gas from security forces after KNPB action


2) Connecting Aotearoa and West Papua: culture, activism and struggle
3) PAPUA 2024 October  -A list of sources of information/links in Bahasa and Englis
4) Plea to bar Prabowo from UK as Indonesian security forces crack down on Papuan rally 
5) New Zealand PM Praises Prabowo for the Release of Susi Air Pilot
6) Prabowo, Albanese strengthen Indonesia-Australia cooperation 
7) Interim President: UK Government should not welcome Prabowo


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A google translate.
Original Bahasa link


1) Residents upset at being hit by tear gas from security forces after KNPB action
Arga Reysamputra
Last updated: November 16, 2024 6:02 pm
Author: Larius Kogoya
Editor: Zely Ariane








Jayapura, Jubi – Lince Rosumbre, a two-year-old baby, and Lince Kafiar, a sick grandmother, were rushed to the Abepura Regional General Hospital or RSUD after being hit by tear gas when security forces repelled the peaceful KNPB action rejecting transmigration to Papua, at the Abepura Circle, Jayapura City, Papua on Thursday (11/15/2024).

When the officers released tear gas, a number of residents who were not involved in the action were also hit by the tear gas, and they regretted the situation. Several residents who were met by Jubi at that time seemed angry with the security forces.

There were residents who tried to splash their faces with water to relieve the stinging of their eyes. The impact of the tear gas that was fired spread to the residential areas around the Abepura circle. Their houses were filled with smoke from the tear gas, which caused sore eyes and difficulty breathing. One of the residents who lives around the Abepura circle, Rikardo Rosumbre, said that his house was filled with tear gas smoke. He regretted that the security forces who fired the tear gas were not on target, considering that around the location of the action in the Abepura Circle there are many residential areas, children and elderly people who are vulnerable.

"This is my mother, Lince Kafiar, who is old and has another underlying disease, so she had difficulty breathing. Luckily, she was quickly taken to the hospital and was treated quickly. Her grandson, Lince Ronsumbre, was also taken to the hospital and has now gone home," said Rikardo Ronsumbre. He explained that the smoke that filled the area around the residential area made the eyes sting and made it difficult to breathe. Residents even fought over water to wash their stinging eyes. Some also ran out of the house because there was too much smoke in the residents' houses.

"There was a girl earlier who said that my father could not breathe and was half dead. Luckily there was an older sister who went to the house to fetch water and then poured it on the girl," Ronsumbre continued.
According to Rikardo Ronsumbre, because this country is a democratic country, so anyone should be allowed and have the right to express their opinions in public or aspirations as long as it is peaceful, especially if it is guaranteed by law.
"The police's job is only to secure, but I think that was excessive earlier, throwing tear gas carelessly so that the local residents here were more affected... [because the police] shot indiscriminately," he said.
He regretted that the demonstration ended in chaos even though the action should have been peaceful if it had been properly guarded.
"This demonstration did not bring war equipment or sharp tools, they were only expressing their aspirations. The officers had weapons, tear gas, water cannons, so I think this was a very excessive handling," he said.
In the same place, Mama Linda Imbiri said that she also saw that the handling of the KNPB protesters was excessive. "I saw the excessive handling by the authorities because the residents in this area were affected by the tear gas," he said.
He also felt annoyed because there was so much tear gas that his neighborhood was filled with tear gas smoke that entered the houses. "This makes many residents' eyes sore, especially children and the elderly, it's really a shame," he continued.
"I ask the Regional Police Chief, Police Chief, and Resort Police Chief to reprimand their subordinates so that they don't do anything carelessly. Because this place has many residents, it's not an empty place, so if you shoot tear gas, don't overdo it, just enough. Because the children who are demonstrating don't have weapons like that, they must have run away, there's no way they could survive," he said regretfully. (*)


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2) Connecting Aotearoa and West Papua: culture, activism and struggle

Human rights activist Rosa Moiwend links Māori culture to her advocacy, highlights military occupation, human rights violations, and resource exploitation in West Papua.

In 2009 Moiwend was a student at Unitec learning English as a tool to use in political debate and negotiation to help her people of West Papua.
For part of her studies she wrote about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and she said she cried and thought, “this is like us in West Papua”.

Te Ao Māori News spoke to Moiwend at Hui Oranga 2024 from AUT’s Ngā Wai o Horotiu where the wharenui is adorned in beautiful carvings.
Moiwend reflected on the first time she saw whakairo when she studied here. She showed her father, and he told her they looked like dema and that was the first time she heard of dema - Papuan spiritual ancestors.

Read explainer on the ecocide and genocide and history of how Indonesia gained power of West Papua.

Loss of language


Moiwend said she could not speak her Indigenous languages fluently but was slowly learning her mother’s and father’s language because she believes it is important.
“I’m here in Aotearoa on Maori land. I feel so privileged because Māori lands actually changed my life a lot in terms of my commitment to the movement,” she said.
“When I came here a few years ago to study, I saw how Māori people, especially young people really have a deep connection with their elders and learn about their culture and language and language was one of the key issues that I found.
“It really touched me because of my own history, so that’s why I said that Māori land is actually bringing the blessing for me to make my strong commitment to my own struggle back home.”


Coerced vote against independence and military occupation

Moiwend said one of the key issues in West Papua was the continuing military operation.
“Especially in the Highlands and in the area rich of mineral and resources,” she said.
“That’s where the main target of military operation and Indonesian military operation came.”

Te Ao Māori News spoke to Ocot Mote, the vice-president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) who said “the UN allowed Indonesia to cut us into pieces, and they didn’t say anything when Indonesia manipulated our right for self-determination”.
The manipulation Mote referred to is the Act of Free Choice. Instead of a national referendum, the Indonesian military hand-picked 1,025 West Papuan “representatives” to vote on behalf of the 816,000 people. The representatives were allegedly threatened, bribed and some were held at gunpoint to ensure a unanimous vote.
Moiwend emphasised the act happened after six years of violent military occupation, human rights violations and exploitation of their resources, which meant the destruction of the environment that was tied to their cultural identity and spirituality.
An example of human rights violations and breaking of international laws was the bombings of Kiwirok civilians by the Indonesian National Armed Forces in 2021.
“Until today, the military operation is still going,” Moiwend said.
“We tried to push the Indonesian government to withdraw all the military and let people go back to their village but it seems like it’s so difficult with the recent situation related to the New Zealand pilot who was being [held hostage] by freedom fighters.”


New Zealand pilot released

West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has released Philip Mehrtens, the New Zealand pilot who was held hostage for 19 months.
Mehrtens wasn’t physically harmed but his brother created a givealittle page to raise funds to pay for food, rent, power, schooling, so that he can spend time processing his trauma before re-integrating back to ‘normal’ life.

Moiwend said she wasn’t justifying holding him captive but explained TPNPB wanted to send a message to the New Zealand government to take a serious concern about the political situation and human rights.
Moiwend said she believes they treated him well because they gave him two chickens to take home, which was a cultural way of showing care.

“I hope that this kind of message also can resonate to the New Zealand community but also to the government to look at the situation.”
She said given New Zealand’s foreign policies and relationship with Indonesia and considering she thought the government could talk to Indonesia and send a message: “Can you please just stop military operation because people are suffering from that not only West Papuan indigenous who are suffering from the military operations but also many Indonesian people who work in West Papua.”

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3) PAPUA 2024 October  -A list of sources of information/links in Bahasa and English 

compiled by Theo

 PAPUA 2024

OKTOBER     daftar sumber informasi  [tentu dapat dilengkapi ]     

oleh  Theo van den Broek  



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4) Plea to bar Prabowo from UK as Indonesian security forces crack down on Papuan rally 
By APR editor -  


Asia Pacific Report

A West Papuan advocacy group for self-determination for the colonised Melanesians has appealed to the United Kingdom government to cancel its planned reception for new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

“Prabowo is a blood-stained war criminal who is complicit in genocide in East Timor and West Papua,” claimed an exiled leader of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda.

He said he hoped the government would stand up for human rights and a “habitable planet” by cancelling its reception for Prabowo.

Prabowo, who was inaugurated last month, is on a 12-day trip to China, the United States, Peru, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.

He is due in the UK on Monday, November 19.

The trip comes as Indonesian security forces brutally suppressed a protest against Indonesia’s new transmigration strategy in the Papuan region.

Wenda, an interim president of ULMWP, said Indonesia was sending thousands of industrial excavators to destroy 5 million hectares of Papuan forest along wiith thousands of troops to violently suppress any resistance.

“Prabowo has also restarted the transmigration settlement programme that has made us a minority in our own land. He wants to destroy West Papua,” the UK-based Wenda said in a statement.

‘Ghost of Suharto’ returns
“For West Papuans, the ghost of Suharto has returned — the New Order regime still exists, it has just changed its clothes.

“It is gravely disappointing that the UK government has signed a ‘critical minerals’ deal with Indonesia, which will likely cover West Papua’s nickel reserves in Tabi and Raja Ampat.

“The UK must understand that there can be no real ‘green deal’ with Indonesia while they are destroying the third largest rainforest on earth.”

Wenda said he was glad to see five members of the House of Lords — Lords Harries, Purvis, Gold, Lexden, and Baroness Bennett — hold the government to account on the issues of self-determination, ecocide, and a long-delayed UN fact-finding visit.

“We need this kind of scrutiny from our parliamentary supporters more than ever now,” he said.

Prabowo is due to visit Oxford Library as part of his diplomatic visit.

“Why Oxford? The answer is clearly because the peaceful Free West Papua Campaign is based here; because the Town Hall flies our national flag every December 1st; and because I have been given Freedom of the City, along with other independence leaders like Nelson Mandela,” Wenda said.

This visit was not an isolated incident, he said. A recent cultural promotion had been held in Oxford Town Centre, addressed by the Indonesian ambassador in an Oxford United scarf.


Takeover of Oxford United
“There was the takeover of Oxford United by Anindya Bakrie, one of Indonesia’s richest men, and Erick Thohir, an Indonesian government minister.

“This is not about business — it is a targeted campaign to undermine West Papua’s international connections. The Indonesian Embassy has sponsored the Cowley Road Carnival and attempted to ban displays of the Morning Star, our national flag.

“They have called a bomb threat in on our office and lobbied to have my Freedom of the City award revoked. Indonesia is using every dirty trick they have in order to destroy my connection with this city.”

Wenda said Indonesia was a poor country, and he blamed the fact that West Papua was its poorest province on six decades of colonialism.

“There are giant slums in Jakarta, with homeless people sleeping under bridges. So why are they pouring money into Oxford, one of the wealthiest cities in Europe?” Wenda said.

“The UK has been my home ever since I escaped an Indonesian prison in the early 2000s. My family and I have been welcomed here, and it will continue to be our home until my country is free and we can return to West Papua.”



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5) New Zealand PM Praises Prabowo for the Release of Susi Air Pilot

Reporter Daniel A. Fajri November 16, 2024 | 06:17 pm  

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto held a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon in Lima, Peru on Friday, November 15, 2024. Prabowo and Luxon discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries.

Luxon expressed special appreciation for Indonesia's cooperation in resolving a highly sensitive issue regarding the release of New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens. The Susi Air pilot was released by the West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Movement or TPNPB-OPM on September 21, 2024, after being held hostage in Papua for 20 months. Philip was taken hostage when his plane landed at Paro Airport in Nduga Regency in February 2023.

"We highly appreciate your efforts, your entire government, and the previous government for what we have achieved, which is very good," Luxon said, as quoted from a statement by the presidential secretariat.

Prabowo and Luxon met during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC High-level Conference. Through social media X, Luxon said New Zealand and Indonesia aimed to increase bilateral trade to NZ$6 billion or Rp55 trillion by 2029. "This will help grow the economies of both countries," he said.

Meanwhile, Prabowo reiterated his commitment to strengthening the well-established strategic relationship between Indonesia and New Zealand. President Prabowo described New Zealand as a friend and strategic partner of Indonesia.

President Prabowo expressed Indonesia's willingness to strengthen bilateral trade relations, open markets and support Indonesia's participation in Pacific country forums. He thanked New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters for attending his inauguration as President of Indonesia on October 20.

"We are in the same region and share common values and interests. I would like to reaffirm our commitment to continue this good relationship and strengthen the cooperation and friendship between our two countries," Prabowo said.



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6) Prabowo, Albanese strengthen Indonesia-Australia cooperation 
 November 15, 2024 14:19 GMT+700 

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have agreed to step up their countries' strategic bilateral cooperation in the agriculture, education, and health sectors.

Prabowo's office stated on Thursday evening that the agreement was reached when Prabowo received a courtesy call from Albanese in Lima, Peru, earlier that day.

"In Indonesia's view, Australia is a good friend. We are keen to bolster cooperation in various fields and look forward to witnessing Australia intensifying its participation in Indonesia's economy," Prabowo was quoted as saying.

His office noted that the bilateral meeting provided Prabowo and Albanese with a valuable opportunity to further enhance Indonesia-Australia diplomatic ties while strengthening multifaceted strategic cooperation between the two nations.

Prabowo affirmed his commitment to further advancing cooperation with Australia in various sectors. He also applauded the well-established bond between the two countries.

"In general, I believe that we have been successful in maintaining our relations. I am determined to step up relations with all of our neighboring countries," he pointed out.

Albanese commended the balanced geopolitical maneuver taken by the Indonesian president during his state visits to China and the United States.

He expressed hope that Indonesia and Australia would be able to reach a new level in their cooperation, especially in the sectors of agriculture, education, and health.

Prabowo arrived in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday. He is scheduled to attend the 2024 APEC Summit and meet with leaders of several countries during his third state visit.

Related news: 19 Australian companies keen to invest in technology: Minister
Related news: Australia keen to bolster partnership with new Indonesian government

Translator: Andi F, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Anton Santoso


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7) Interim President: UK Government should not welcome Prabowo

November 14, 2024 in Statement

On behalf of the colonised people of West Papua, I am asking the UK government to cancel their reception of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. Prabowo is a blood-stained war criminal who is complicit in genocide in East Timor and West Papua. Right now, Indonesia is sending thousands of industrial excavators to destroy 5 million hectares of Papuan forest, and thousands of troops to violently put down any resistance. Prabowo has also restarted the transmigration settlement programme that has made us a minority in our own land. He wants to destroy West Papua.

For West Papuans, the ghost of Suharto has returned; the New Order regime still exists, it has just changed its clothes. It is gravely disappointing that the UK government has signed a ‘critical minerals’ deal with Indonesia, which will likely cover West Papua’s nickel reserves in Tabi and Raja Ampat. The UK must understand: there can be no real ‘green deal’ with Indonesia while they are destroying the third largest rainforest on earth. I was very glad to see five members of the House of Lords – Lords Harries, Purvis, Gold, Lexden, and Baroness Bennett – hold the government to account on the issues of self-determination, ecocide, and the long-delayed UN visit. We need this kind of scrutiny from our Parliamentary supporters more than ever now.

Prabowo will also be visiting Oxford Library as part of his diplomatic visit. Why Oxford? The answer is clearly because the peaceful Free West Papua Campaign is based here; because the Town Hall flies our national flag every December 1st; because I have been given Freedom of the City, along with other independence leaders like Nelson Mandela.

This visit is not an isolated incident: there was the recent cultural promotion in Oxford Town Centre, addressed by the Indonesian ambassador in an Oxford United scarf. There was the takeover of Oxford United by Anindya Bakrie, one of Indonesia’s richest men, and Erick Thohir, an Indonesian government minister. This is not about business – it is a targeted campaign to undermine West Papua’s international connections. The Indonesian Embassy has sponsored the Cowley Road Carnival and attempted to ban displays of the Morning Star, our national flag. They have called a bomb threat in on our office and lobbied to have my Freedom of the City award revoked. Indonesia is using every dirty trick they have in order to destroy my connection with this city.

Indonesia is a poor country, and due to six decades of colonialism West Papua is its poorest province. There are giant slums in Jakarta, with homeless people sleeping under bridges. So why are they pouring money into Oxford, one of the wealthiest cities in Europe?

The UK has been my home ever since I escaped an Indonesian prison in the early 2000s. My family and I have been welcomed here, and it will continue to be our home until my country is free and we can return to West Papua.

I hope the government will stand up for human rights and a habitable planet by cancelling its reception of Prabowo.

Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP Provisional Government

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