Season's Geetings. Selamat Hari Natal dan Selamat tahun baru
AWPA -West Papua Update No 7
16 December 2024
There was no improvement in the human rights situation in West Papua with clashes continuing between the TPNPB and the Indonesian security forces. The latest clash occurred on Wednesday the 11th December. The attack occurred in Yokibak Village, Nogi Sub-district, Lanny Jaya District. One police officer died while another was wounded. The spokesperson for TPNPB-OPM, Sebby Sambom, said that the shooting was carried out by the OPM military group under the command of Major General Lekagak Telenggen.
Human Rights Monitor
Photos etc. in update
Human Rights News, Reports / Indonesia, West Papua / 13 December 2024
As of December 2024, more than 83,295 people in West Papua [1] remain internally displaced as a result of armed conflict between Indonesian security forces and the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB). Between October and December 2024, new internal displacements were reported in the regencies of Tambrauw and Pegunungan Bintang. In Tambrauw, people fled in fear of raids after the TPNPB attacked security forces in the Bamusbama District. The internal displacement in Oksop was triggered by the deployment of a significant number of military members in the district without informing local communities about the purpose of the deployment.
The Papua Council of Churches (DGP) and Native Pastors (Pastor Pribumi) organised an exhibition on the situation of IDPs in West Papua. The exhibition was launched in Jayapura on 7 December, 2024 to bring more public attention to the plight of conflict-related IDPs who continue to be widely neglected by the Indonesian Central Government.
Human Rights Monitor has not received updated information on the condition and numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Maybrat, Intan Jaya, Yahukimo, Fakfak, Paniai, and Puncak regencies in the past three months.
Districts Bamusbama and Fef, Tambrauw Regency
New internal displacements in Tambrauw, Papua Barat Province, were reported from the districts of Bamusbama and Fef after joint security forces raided the Bamusbama village on 30 November 2024. According to human rights defenders in Tambrauw, 128 people from the villages Bamuswayman, Wormon, Babak, Bamusbama, Bano, Syarwom, and Banfot fled their homes in fear of the potential further raids or armed clashes in the area. The security force raids followed an armed clash between security forces and TPNPB members in Bamusbama Town on 30 November 2024. The TPNPB claimed to have killed three security personnel during the clash.
Despite the trauma and fear, the residents chose to return home because the forest was no safe place for them. The village head, elders, and community leaders who participated in the evacuation decided to bring the residents back to the village, and they began to return on 3 and 4 December 2024. Even though they have returned home, they are still under pressure and living in fear, preventing them from resuming normal activities as they remain constantly vigilant.
Following reports of the internal displacements circulating on social and local media, the Tambrauw Police Chief, Commissioner Aries Dwi Cahyanto, claimed in a media statement on 8 December 2024 that the situation in Tambrauw had normalised and that the information about the internal displacements was a hoax.
IDPs in the Tambrauw Regency, December 2024…………..
Full update
Military operation in the Tambrauw Regency.
Local media and civil society groups on social media have reported that up to 106 People had fled to the Forest after a clash between the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) and a Brimob Force of the Tambrauw Police. The clash occurred on the 27 November 2024 .
Local people reported being very afraid because of the military activities and reports of gunfights in the region. On the 1st December the Bamusbama District Office was also burned by persons unknown.
The police chief said that 20 TNI/Polri personnel were divided into two teams. Ten personnel to guard the scene and ten others members would conduct patrols throughout the Bamusbama District.
During military operations local people will always flee because they have learned from past that the result of military operations can mean houses/ villages destroyed, intimidation, arrests and torture.
A number of civilians from Tambrauw district who fled after a gunfight in Bamusbama district, November 27, 2024. (Supplied for Suara Papua)
The Australian Government continues to ignore what is going on in West Papua as if the issue will somehow disappear. The West Papuan people are not going to give up their struggle for self-determination and the sooner DFAT starts raising the ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua with Jakarta the better. A small step that could help improve the situation”.
The 1st December marked the 63rd anniversary of the first official flying of the Morning Star flag, in 1961, in the then-Dutch colony of Netherlands New Guinea. In West Papua and around the world, West Papuans and their supporters celebrate this important date in Papuan history by raising the Morning Star Flag and holding commemorative events.
Part of the commemorations this year were protests against the reintroduction of the Transmigration Programme and the planned food estates such as sugar cane, palm oil and rice farms, which will also lead to the destruction of tropical rainforests, biodiversity and customary land. Both major threats to the Papuan people.
AWPA raised the flag on the Leichhardt Town Hall on the 29 November as council was closed on the 1st Dec.). Thanks to Council for their support (the 18th year in a row).
From Green Left
The Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) and supporters raised the West Papua flag at Leichhardt Town Hall on November 29, to show their solidarity with West Papuan’s struggle for self-determination. This year’s National Flag day, on December 1, marks the 63rd anniversary of the first official flying of the Morning Star flag, in 1961, in the then-Dutch colony of Netherlands New Guinea.
“The Dutch were prepared to give West Papuans their freedom. It is one of the great tragedies that their freedom was cruelly crushed, when West Papua was handed to Indonesia in 1963,” AWPA’s Joe Collins said. “It was a betrayal of a whole people.”
Sixty-three years later, while the West Papuan people maintain their right to self-determination, human rights abuses continue and the security situation in the territory continues to deteriorate…………….
West Papuan supporters also joined in the Palestine rally in Gadigal//Sydney on the 1st December. The link, between Palestine, the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander struggle and West Papua is settler colonialism.
And in Naarm/Melbourne
West Papuan activist Cyndi Makabory speaking at the December 1 Palestine rally in Naarm/Melbourne.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvV1MIGNOwc
Marking December 1, Papuan students reject strategic national projects, transmigration
Jubi Papua – December 3, 2024
Sorong – The Papua Student Alliance (AMP), the Indonesian People's Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) and the All-Surabaya Papua High School and University Students Association (IPMAPA Surabaya) have expressed their firm opposition to National Strategic Projects (PSN), the transmigration program and military mobilisation in Papua. This statement was made on December 1 during a commemoration marking 63 years since the declaration of West Papua's independence in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya. AMP field coordinator Yulius Magai highlighted the revival of the regular transmigration program, which he called a form of "settler colonialism". This program is considered to be aimed at suppressing the existence of indigenous Papuans (OAP) and is similar to the colonial practices against Aboriginal tribes in Australia.
"Since 1964, this program has transferred 78,000 families from outside Papua. After being stopped in 1998, waves of migration continued to occur, moreover it was exacerbated by the new autonomous regional policy (DOB)", said Magai in a press release received by Jubi.
As a consequence, the migrant population in Papua is now almost equivalent to the number of indigenous Papuans with a ratio of 50:50.
The alliance also criticized national strategic projects which are seen as damaging the environment and violating the rights of indigenous peoples. Projects such as the Warim Block and the Wabu Block are said to accelerate the exploitation of natural resources, worsen deforestation and damage customary land……………………..
In Yogyakarta a clash against the police broke out during the Free West Papua protest on Sunday night as a protester tried to raise the Morning Star (Bintang Kejora) flag. ( The Jakarta Post December 2, 2024)
Protests against the transmigration program
Possible reenactment of transmigration program triggers West Papua-wide protests – Police crackdown on protesters in Jayapura and Nabire
Human Rights Monitor
Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 6 December 2024
On 15 November 2024, thousands of Papuans went to the streets after the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) called for peaceful Papua-wide demonstrations against the central Government’s plan to relaunch the transmigration program, with West Papua being one of the target areas. Indigenous Papuans are concerned that the influx of population from more developed areas will inevitably contribute to the marginalisation of Papuans, exacerbate land grabbing and exploitation of natural resources instead of bringing benefits for indigenous communities. Many fear a loss of their culture and growing economic competition concerning labour possibilities and entrepreneurship. Besides concerns on transmigration, the protests addressed the conversion of 2 million hectares of customary land for rice field production in the Merauke Regency, Papua Selatan Province since August 2024, as part of the central government’s Strategic National Projects (PSN) on food security.
The ‘Transmigrasi’ Program envisaged the population transfer from overpopulated Indonesian islands like Java to remote rural areas on a large scale, mainly to West Papua and Kalimantan. It was initiated under Indonesia’s first President Sukarno and later retained under military dictator Suharto. During the Reformation, the program was restructured and downsized.
One day after President Prabowo Subianto’s inauguration on 20 October 2024, the minister for Transmigration, Muhammad Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara, announced plans to continue transmigration programs in eastern Indonesia, particularly West Papua, to improve the national unity and welfare of the local population. This together with several follow-up statements triggered a public debate in West Papua.
Following the statements, the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) called for peaceful demonstrations for the rejection of Jakarta’s transmigration plans across West Papua. Larger protests were held in Jayapura, Nabire, Sorong, Dekai (Yahukimo Regency), and Yalimo, but also in some Indonesian cities outside of West Papua, such as Manado. Police officers in the towns of Jayapura and Nabire reportedly cracked down on protesters using water cannons, tear gas, wooden sticks, and rubber ammunition. According to reports received, 14 protesters were arbitrarily detained, while at least 16 protesters were injured as a result of police violence…………..
More including video footage at
Indonesia: Survey warning on Papua mega project appears to go unheeded
Land clearance was underway even before the feasibility study was completed.
Stephen Wright for RFA 2024.11.13
Security personnel watch from behind barbed wire as indigenous Papuans from Merauke in eastern Indonesia protest in Jakarta against plans to convert indigenous and conservation lands into sugar cane plantations and rice fields, Oct. 16, 2024. [Pusaka Bentala Rakyat]
Indonesia’s plan to convert over 5 million acres of conservation and indigenous lands into agriculture will cause long-term damage to the environment, create conflict and add to greenhouse gas emissions, according to a feasibility study document for the Papua region mega-project. The 96-page presentation reviewed by Radio Free Asia was drawn up by Sucofindo, the Indonesian government’s inspection and land surveying company. Dated July 4, it analyzes the risks and benefits of the sugar cane and rice estate in Merauke regency on Indonesia’s border with Papua New Guinea and outlines a feasibility study that was to be completed by mid-August.
Though replete with warnings that “comprehensive” environmental impact assessments should take place before any land is cleared, the feasibility process appears to have been a box-ticking exercise. Sucofindo did not respond to questions from RFA, a news service affiliated with BenarNews, about the document……………….
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/deforestation-plan-11132024085527.html
Torture in the Postcolony of Papua, Indonesia
Budi Hernawan3
Abstract: Drawing on Achilles Mbembe’s concept of postcolony and long-term field research in Papua since 1998, I argue that torture in Papua, Indonesia, constitutes an integral part of construction of Papua as a postcolony by the Indonesian state over the last five decades. The construction develops in two ways. First, it asserts control and dominance over the land and people of Papua through private indirect government that condones extractive industry, land grabbing and coercive military power, which includes theatrical torture and excessive violence with impunity against any opposition to the state. Second, Indonesian state power instills a mindset of inferiority in the indigenous Papuans toward the nation as a whole, characterizing Papuans as savages and labeling them with animalistic traits. However, the postcolony of Papua does not solely involve a binary opposition between the Indonesian state and Papua. Rather, it instills “the logic of conviviality” among all Papuans and Indonesians, creating a fluid power dynamic in which the state, Papuans, and Indonesians coexist.
Introduction
Despite growing national and international human rights scrutiny, the five-decade-long conflict in Papua remains unresolved. Since 2018, the conflict has escalated, with Tentara Nasional Pembe- basan Papua Barat (TPNPB/the West Papua National Liberation Army) and the Indonesian se- curity forces intensifying military operations, as documented by both national (Aliansi Demokrasi Untuk Papua 2023) and international human rights organisations (Human Rights Monitor 2023; Amnesty International Indonesia 2018, 2020). Among the persistent patterns of abuse, torture and excessive use of violence are the most frequently reported to the public and will be analyzed in this article. Other abuses, such as extrajudicial killings and indiscriminate attacks on civilian objects, are beyond the scope of this article.
Based on extensive field research on torture in Papua since 1998, including 12 years of liv- ing and working in the region, I argue that torture in Papua functions as a mode of governance (Hernawan 2018). Torture refers to acts that “broadly involve state authorities inflicting pain on the body for a particular purpose” (Hernawan 2018, 9). It consists of four key elements: pain, intentionality, instrumentality, and control (see Kenny 2010 in Hernawan 2018, 10).
Torture in Papua is not merely a means of obtaining information but is much more problematic and disturbing. It constitutes a spectacle of the sovereign power of the state that both outcasts and simultaneously colonizes Papua and Papuans(Hernawan 2018, 215). As a result, torture has become part of the governing instruments of the Indonesian state to dominate and control Papua. Torture also has a theatrical element intended to display the power of the state publicly (Her- nawan 2018, Ch. 5). In other words, torture extends beyond interrogation techniques to represent a broader machinery of domination that seeks to pacify and control the bodies and minds of the Papuans. However, torture is not the only tool deployed by the Indonesian state apparatus. Other forms of Indonesian state control and domination are exercised through extractive industries, land grab- bing (Pusaka 2024b, 2024a), and the regulatory framework of the new Papua Autonomous Regions …………………...
Human Rights Monitor
Papua Quarterly Report Q3 2024: Civil Society Resistance and Human Rights Advocacy
Human Rights News, Reports / Indonesia, West Papua / 23 October 2024
This comprehensive 11-page document lists cases and developments including human rights violations and their patterns; escalation of armed conflict and its impact on civilians; significant political shifts in Indonesia affecting West Papua; and international responses and initiatives. It covers the period from 1 July to 30 September 2024……………
https://humanrightsmonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/HRM-PMR-2024-3-Papua-Monitor-Oct-2024.pdf
Comments/media releases/reports/etc.
Indonesia’s new govt draws concerns about human rights accountability
VIDEO: Indonesia’s secret war in West Papua
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-11/indonesia%E2%80%99s-secret-war-in-west-papua/104460220
The uncomfortable topic of West Papua in the Melanesian Spearhead Group
https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/the-uncomfortable-topic-of-west-papua/104630470
Media Statement 63 Years of Resistance: A Call for Pacific Solidarity to Stand for West Papua’s Freedom, Self-Determination, and Human Rights
https://pang.org.fj/63-years-of-resistance-a-call-for-pacific-solidarity-to-stand-for-west-papuas-freedom/
Kiwi pilot kidnapping in West Papua leads to police raids in Australia
Papuan women's mangrove forest in Indonesia is increasingly threatened by development and pollution
West Papua, an Australian and UN crime scene
https://johnmenadue.com/west-papua-an-australian-and-un-crime-scene/
DR BUDI HERNAWAN – WEST PAPUA – “LET’S BULLDOZE AND OCCUPY THEM NOW!”
(Photos etc in story)
The hopes and fears of displaced West Papuans as a Prabowo presidency looms
Photos of West Papuan Flag raising in Sydney
https://awpasydneynews.blogspot.com/2024/11/1-photos-of-west-papuan-flag-raising-in.html
Come in now Indonesian democracy, your time is up
https://johnmenadue.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8074bf8ebb1d809ea8da4b14a&id=e0e9da49da&e=b296877116
Wenda calls for West Papuan unity in the face of Jakarta’s renewed ‘colonial grip’
Church leaders ask Indonesia to scrap transmigration plan
https://www.ucanews.com/news/church-leaders-ask-indonesia-to-scrap-transmigration-plan/106965
A list of sources of information/links in Bahasa for Nov. 2024
https://awpasydneynews.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-list-of-sources-of-informationlinks.html
The lawyers fighting for West Papua’s independence
https://lsj.com.au/articles/the-lawyers-fighting-for-west-papuas-independence/
AWPA condemns the joint Australian and Indonesian exercise "Keris Woomera"
https://awpasydneynews.blogspot.com/2024/11/awpa-condemns-joint-australian-and.html
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