Monday, August 11, 2025

1) Battalion 754 members allegedly assaulted civilians and destroyed vehicle in Timika

 


2) Arbitrary arrest of Mr Aprianus Nabelau in Nabire

3) Security forces kill 14-year-old and injure two other minors in Dogiyai

4) Jayapura police urges residents to join war on PNG's marijuana  

5) Papua grants seeds, tools to boost food security


6) Indonesia's Highland Papua empowers youth to grow creative economy 



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Human rights Monitor


1) Battalion 754 members allegedly assaulted civilians and destroyed vehicle in Timika

By / 11 August 2025 
On 14 July 2025, at approximately 8:00 pm, lawyer Mr Joshua Rumbiak and six companions, including Wenior Pakage, Head of the Religious Affairs Working Group of the Central Papua People’s Assembly), were allegedly assaulted by a dozen members of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) Battalion 754 in front of the battalion’s headquarters in Timika. The victims’ vehicle, an Isuzu Panther, was severely damaged, with all windows smashed (see video below, source: independent HRD). All seven victims sustained injuries and were hospitalised at Mimika Regional General Hospital. The attack reportedly occurred without provocation, while the victims were passing the battalion compound on their way through town.
According to victim testimonies, several TNI personnel stopped the car as the victims’ vehicle passed the 754th Infantry Battalion post and began destroying the vehicle’s windows before physically assaulting all occupants. The military members reportedly punched and kicked the seven men, resulting in head injuries and bruises requiring hospital care. Mr Joshua Rumbiak stated that no questions were asked before the assault began, describing the attack as “like terrorists” and “completely without cause.” On 15 July 2025, he lodged a formal complaint with the Military Police in Timika, demanding justice and accountability.

Human rights analysis

This incident constitutes a serious violation of the victims’ rights to personal security, bodily integrity, and freedom from arbitrary violence under both Indonesian law and international human rights standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Indonesia is a State party. The assault appears to be an arbitrary and disproportionate use of force by state security personnel against unarmed civilians, in violation of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. It also raises concerns regarding impunity for military personnel operating in West Papua, where similar cases have historically gone unpunished.

Video of the damaged car recorded shortly after the assault in front of the Battalion 754 Mimka military post on 14 July 2025

Detailed Case Data
Location: GRXJ+V8J, Utikini Baru, Kuala Kencana, Mimika Regency, Papua 99910, Indonesia (-4.4502658, 136.8307549) Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) Battalion 754 Mimika headquarters
Region: Indonesia, Central Papua, Mimika, Kuala Kencana
Total number of victims: 7
#Number of VictimsName, DetailsGenderAgeGroup AffiliationViolations
1.1 Joshua Rumbiak
maleunknown Lawyer
2.1 Wenior Pakage
unknown Indigenous Peoples
3.5 
unknown Indigenous Peoples
Period of incident: 14/07/2025 – 14/07/2025
Perpetrator: , Indonesian Military (TNI)
Perpetrator details: Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) Battalion 754 Mimika
Issues: indigenous peoples, security force violence

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Human rights Monitor

2) Arbitrary arrest of Mr Aprianus Nabelau in Nabire

By / 11 August 2025 
According to information received from local human rights observers, 22-year-old Aprianus Nabelau, was arbitrarily detained in SP2, Nabire Town, Central Papua Province, by members of the Indonesian military on 8 July 2025, without presenting any legal grounds or arrest warrant. The arrest occurred without explanation, raising serious concerns about potential due process violations and the right to liberty. The military members reportedly brought Mr Nabelau to the Nabire Police Station, where he remained in custody with no official charges disclosed.
No public statement was issued by the authorities in response to the arrest. The absence of a warrant and the lack of clear charges suggest that the arrest did not follow Indonesia’s criminal procedure safeguards.

Human rights analysis

From a human rights perspective, this case appears to constitute arbitrary arrest and detention under Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Indonesia is a State party. The alleged involvement of military personnel in the arrest of a civilian further raises concerns regarding the militarisation of law enforcement functions in West Papua, contrary to international human rights standards.
Detailed Case Data
Location: HFF7+J3W, Wadio, Nabire Barat, Nabire Regency, Papua 98856, Indonesia (-3.4259891, 135.4628078) 
Region: Indonesia, Central Papua, Nabire, Nabire
Total number of victims: 1
#Number of VictimsName, DetailsGenderAgeGroup AffiliationViolations
1.1 Aprianus Nabelau
diverse22 Indigenous Peoples
Period of incident: 08/07/2025 – 08/07/2025
Perpetrator: , Indonesian Military (TNI)
Issues: indigenous peoples

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Human rights Monitor
https://humanrightsmonitor.org/case/security-forces-kill-14-year-old-and-injure-two-other-minors-in-dogiyai/

3) Security forces kill 14-year-old and injure two other minors in Dogiyai

By / 11 August 2025 
On 10 August 2025, Indonesian security forces opened fire on a group of indigenous Papuans, predominantly children, without prior warning in the Moanemani Airport area of Kamu District, Dogiyai Regency, Central Papua Province. The shooting reportedly resulted in the death of 14-year-old Martinus Tebai and serious injuries to two other minors named Yuvensius Degei and Edion Tebai. The incident followed an altercation involving local youths and a migrant, reportedly linked to alcohol consumption in the area. Witnesses stated that the security forces’ response was immediate and lethal, with no attempt at de-escalation, constituting a grave breach of police procedure under national and international human rights law.
According to the information from local informants and media sources, a group of youths was consuming alcoholic beverages at the Moanemani Airport area around 2:20 pm. An altercation occurred between a resident and an immigrant, who subsequently reported the incident to nearby Indonesian military personnel. Upon arrival, the military members immediately dispersed the group, releasing shots with live ammunition. Some of the shots were reportedly directed at the crowd. Yuvensius Degei and Edion Tebai, both fourteen years old, sustained gunshot wounds to their left shoulder during another shooting around 5 pm (see photos below, source: independent HRDs).
Tensions persisted until the night. At around 10:00 pm, another security force shooting inEkemanida Village resulted in the death of Martinus Tebai. He was struck in the thigh with the bullet penetrating the genital area. Witnesses reported that residents, fearing further violence, treated the injured themselves in a remote location without medical facilities, including manually extracting bullets (see video below, source: independent HRDs). Shootings reportedly continued until the early morning of 11 August 2025.

Human rights analysis

The deliberate use of lethal force against unarmed minors without warning violates fundamental principles under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Indonesia is a State party, particularly Articles 6 (Right to Life) and 9 (Liberty and Security of Person). It also contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), specifically Articles 6 and 37, which require States to protect children from unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life and violence by State actors. The indiscriminate nature of the shootings constitutes an excessive and disproportionate use of force, in violation of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. The militarised approach to civilian unrest in Dogiyai reflects a pattern of impunity and disregard for the principle of necessity and proportionality in law enforcement.

Victims of security force violence in Moanemani and Ekemanida, Dogiyai Regency, on 19 August 2025

Residents in Ekamanide try to remove the bullet projectile at the site of the incident


Detailed Case Data
Location: Ekemanida, Kamu, Dogiyai Regency, Papua, Indonesia (-3.9892706, 136.0491689)Ekemanida Village and Moanemani Airport area
Region: Indonesia, Central Papua, Dogiyai, Kamu
Total number of victims: 3
#Number of VictimsName, DetailsGenderAgeGroup AffiliationViolations
1.1 Martinus Tebai
diverse14 Indigenous Peoples, Student
2.1 Yuvensius Degei
14 Indigenous Peoples, Student
3.1 Edion Tebai
14 Indigenous Peoples, Student
Period of incident: 10/08/2025 – 10/08/2025
Perpetrator: , Indonesian Security Forces
Issues: indigenous peoples, security force violence, women and children



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4) Jayapura police urges residents to join war on PNG's marijuana  
August 11, 2025 23:59 GMT+700

Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - The Jayapura city police has called on residents to support efforts to combat the spread of marijuana that increasingly gets trafficked across the Papua New Guinea (PNG) border and poses a serious threat to younger generation.

"Community support is crucial in preventing the circulation of marijuana, which greatly impacts our younger generation," Jayapura City Police Narcotics Unit Chief Adjunct Commissioner Febry Pardede said here on Monday.

According to Pardede, most of the marijuana the police confiscated in Jayapura was smuggled into the city from PNG through footpaths along the Indonesia-PNG border.

In the first half of this year, police seized 22.6 kilograms of marijuana allegedly smuggled from PNG, leading to the arrest of 30 suspects across 22 investigation files, he said.

The amount marks a sharp increase from the 7.5 kilograms seized during the same period in 2024.

The marijuana is not only sold in Jayapura but also transported to other cities in the Papua region, including Manokwari in West Papua, Nabire in Central Papua, and Sorong in Southwest Papua.

According to police, traffickers often use ships departing from Jayapura Port to smuggle the drugs to other islands.

Pardede urged the public not to hesitate in reporting suspected drug activity, particularly involving marijuana, to help break the supply chain.

"Don't be afraid to speak up. Your information can help disrupt the marijuana trafficking network," he said, adding that police remain committed to working with communities to curb drug distribution in the region.

The Indonesia-PNG border has long been vulnerable to cross-border criminal activity, particularly drug trafficking.

On July 8, 2025, for instance, the RI-PNG border security task force secured a big bag containing 128 packs of marijuana during a routine military patrol in a forest near Skofro Village, Arso Timur Subdistrict, Keerom District, Papua.

On May 9, 2024, the Indonesian Navy's quick-response team thwarted an attempt by six drug traffickers to smuggle 13.43 kilograms of dried marijuana from PNG into Papua.

Earlier, on March 21, 2024, at around 2:15 a.m. local time, Papua police arrested two PNG citizens for allegedly smuggling 51 packages of marijuana into Jayapura. The suspects, identified as Junior Lenga and Rindox, had hidden the drugs inside four sacks of rice.

Related news: Indonesian Navy steps up patrols to curb drug smuggling from PNG

Related news: TNI border patrol uncovers marijuana field near Papua border

Translator: Evarukdijati, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Primayanti



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5) Papua grants seeds, tools to boost food security

  •  August 11, 2025 13:24 GMT+700
Jayapura (ANTARA) - The Papua provincial government has distributed agricultural assistance, including taro and paddy seeds, to four coastal regions as part of the efforts to strengthen food security and help local farmers improve productivity and welfare.

Speaking in Jayapura on Sunday (August 10), Head of the Papua Crop, Horticulture, and Food Office Lunanka Daimboa stated that the assistance was aimed at residents in the coastal districts of Biak Numfor, Waropen, Yapen Islands, and Supiori.

"Through the provision of superior seeds, we can expect farmers to increase the quality and quantity of their yields, which can be consumed or marketed," she stated.

Daimboa noted that in line with regulations from the National Food Agency (Bapanas), the Papua government aims to make better use of local food sources beyond the commonly cultivated sweet potatoes and sago.

Along with taro and paddy seeds, the aid package included fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, machetes, watering cans, mini chainsaws, and a rice power thresher.

Daimboa affirmed that the assistance also aims to support the Free Nutritious Meals program in the four districts.

Related news: President Prabowo reviews food security measures in South Papua

Related news: Women in Papua village grow taro to support food security

Related news: West Papua allocates 14 tons of rice for 2024 food security reserve

Translator: Qadri P, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala





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6) Indonesia's Highland Papua empowers youth to grow creative economy 
 August 10, 2025 18:41 GMT+700

Wamena (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Highland Papua Province is seeking to harness the potential of young people in its eight districts to grow the creative economy sector.

Timotius Matuan, head of the provincial Department of Youth, Sports, Tourism, and Creative Economy, said Sunday that promoting the creative economy is key to boosting the region’s income.

"Young people in the eight districts must turn their local potential into valuable products that generate income," Matuan said.

He noted that the sector can strengthen the economy by tapping into various local resources.

"Young people with skills in wood carving, weaving noken [traditional bags], and sustainable coffee processing should continue to hone their expertise," he said, adding that the provincial government will provide training and funding support.

To advance the sector, Matuan's office is working with technical agencies in each district to empower local communities.

"We continue to coordinate to ensure this program reaches indigenous Papuans, with the main goal of increasing their income and welfare," he said.

Matuan added that his office offers business capital of about Rp50 million (US$3,076) per group for initiatives such as coffee, honey, noken production, and batik. Groups will be evaluated annually — if a business fails to develop, funding will be redirected to others.

This year, the province has allocated around Rp3 billion to support creative economy players in the eight districts.

"In Jayawijaya District, there are dozens of assisted players with clear records, while in the other seven districts, monitoring is still lacking," Matuan said. "Going forward, evaluation and monitoring will be strengthened to ensure all players are well accommodated."

Related news: Committee backs Prabowo's plan for 2,200 new homes in Highland Papua
Related news: Free meals program running in eight districts of Highland Papua: Govt

Translator: Primayanti
Editor: Anton Santoso


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Saturday, August 9, 2025

March for Humanity -Sydney

March for Humanity -Sydney

 Sunday 3 August 2025








































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1) The World’s Largest Deforestation Project


2) Govt to fast-track 61-km Trans-Jayapura-Wamena road  
3) Indonesia fast-tracks development of first bioethanol plant in South Papua
4) Tourism Ministry pushes unique, well-run festivals to attract tourists  

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London Review of Books

8 AUGUST 2025

1) The World’s Largest Deforestation Project

Douglas Gerrard

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In the West Papuan regency of Merauke, close to the border with Papua New Guinea, Indonesia is rapidly clearing land in the world’s largest ever deforestation project: three million hectares for sugarcane and rice production. Within three years, Indonesia plans to convert an expanse of forest roughly the size of Belgium into profitable monoculture. The ambition and destructiveness of the development distinguish it from previous mining or agribusiness initiatives in West Papua, which has been under Indonesian occupation since the 1960s. 

At a ground-breaking ceremony in June 2024, Indonesia’s then president, Joko Widodo, described Merauke as Indonesia’s future ‘food barn’. He also touted the potential of converting sugarcane into bioethanol fuel. (On the Raja Ampat islands meanwhile, Papuan activists are fighting plans to exploit nickel reserves for electric vehicle batteries.)

Since formalising its control of West Papua in a fraudulent 1969 referendum, Indonesia has carried out genocidal military assaults – up to a quarter of West Papuans have been killed under occupation – and ‘transmigration’ settlement programmes that have reduced the Indigenous population to a minority. 

In the nine months since he took office, Indonesia’s new president, Prabowo Subianto, has both restarted the transmigration programme and accelarated deforestation in West Papua. Widodo designated Merauke a ‘National Strategic Project’ (PSN), giving the state eminent domain powers to expel civilians. Fifty thousand Indigenous Papuans face displacement over the project’s lifespan; already, people are finding vast tracts of their customary land have been closed to them, with wooden stakes signalling the expropriation by the Indonesian military.

The human costs of the PSN, while severe, are eclipsed by its possible environmental consequences. The destruction of Merauke is set to release over 780 million additional tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, more than doubling Indonesia’s yearly emissions and leading to irreversible ecosystem collapse in one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. Officials have pressed on with the development while trying to conceal its impact. The energy minister, Bahlil Lahadalia, in charge of parcelling out land to developers, has claimed there is ‘no forest in the middle of Merauke ... only eucalyptus, swamps and savannahs’. But though the sago and paperbark mangroves that cover much of the Merauke landscape may appear sparse from above, they store up to 381 tons of carbon per hectare – a higher concentration than the Amazon rainforest. 

The PSN is not Indonesia’s first attempt to convert Merauke into profitable farmland. In the 2010s, huge swathes of the rainforest were razed to make way for a palm oil mega-project, the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE). It has been described by one researcher as effecting an ‘ecologically-induced genocide’ of the Marind tribe, whose gardens and hunting grounds also extend into the territory now threatened by the PSN. As their forest recedes, the Marind are forced to rely on remittances from the corporations that have seized their land. Rice and instant noodles are replacing traditional sago cultivation. 

In her book In the Shadow of the Palms, Sophie Chao describes the warping effects that MIFEE has had on both the environment and the Marind worldview. Before palm oil arrived, the forest provided a rich network of relationships between people, plants and animals. Under the monocrop regime, everything is ‘abu-abu’ – grey, uncertain. In a new documentaryabout Merauke, a Yei tribesman describes the transformation of his land in similarly alienated terms: ‘Before, when I went there [to the forest], I could catch deer, pigs, fish ... Now it’s like I’m half dead.’

MIFEE was intended not only to boost Indonesia’s food security, but also to make it a net exporter of rice and palm oil – to ‘feed Indonesia, then the world’. The profit motive is harder to identify in the Merauke PSN. Its advocates have instead emphasised national self-sufficiency, partly in response to the precarity of global supply chains exposed by the Covid pandemic. Even a staunch rightwinger like Prabowo can sound like an anti-colonial nationalist when discussing the project: ‘How can a country be independent if it cannot feed its people?’ he asked in 2023, when he was defence minister. 

During Indonesia’s three decades of dictatorship under Suharto (Prabowo’s father-in-law), more than a third of its national revenue came from West Papua, much of it from the world’s largest gold mine, which was operated until 2017 by the US company Freeport McMoran. But while the Freeport mine primarily enriched foreign and domestic elites, the Merauke PSN is designed to insulate ordinary Indonesians from food and energy shocks – caused by a climate crisis that the PSN will drastically worsen. Both ventures aimed to secure the future of the regime, though in different ways. West Papua has gone from being Indonesia’s gold mine to its larder.

Where private interests are involved in the PSN, the principal beneficiaries are not foreign corporations but politically connected Indonesian entrepreneurs. Co-ordinating the project is the palm oil magnate Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, also known as Haji Isam (or the ‘new poster boy of Indonesia’s oligarchy’). Isam owns the Jhonlin Group, which has bought two thousand excavators from a Chinese company to begin the deforestation. His cousin, Amran Sulaiman, is the agriculture minister. 

The military role in the development of the PSN goes far beyond their normal land-grabbing and security remit. Following a large recruitment drive in Java, more than three thousand additional troops have been deployed to Merauke, where they are directly engaged in felling and crop cultivation. Instagram posts show fresh-faced soldiers playing at farmers, ineptly watering crops or operating Isam’s excavators. 

Sulaiman has insisted that ‘the military support is there because of a lack of manpower’ – but while most of the soldiers deployed to Merauke may be new recruits, photographs have also surfaced of some sporting the insignia of Yonif Raiders, an elite combat unit notorious among West Papuans for their brutality. In August 2022, a troop of Raiders murdered four Papuan villagers and dumped their dismembered bodies in a local river. Such atrocities are commonplace in the West Papuan highlands, where the armed resistance movement is strongest and international scrutiny all but non-existent. 

Merauke is a lowlands region, which may be one reason the PSN hasn’t yet been met with violence from its opponents. Nonetheless, resistance has been immediate and widespread: there have been mass protests throughout West Papua, while a coalition of NGOs and Indigenous groups has drawn the UN’s attention to the project. A UN fact-finding mission has long been a demand of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), a proto-governmental organisation uniting the three most significant independence factions, operating under the stewardship of the exiled leader Benny Wenda (I have worked with them). 

While the forces arrayed against the ULMWP are forbidding – not least a decades-long ban on foreign media that has kept West Papua from international attention – the climate crisis gives their liberation struggle a global dimension. The New Guinea rainforest is the world’s third largest, after the Amazon and the Congo. Uniquely, tribal struggles for land rights in West Papua form part of a wider revolutionary movement that seeks to replace military-corporate domination with Indigenous sovereignty and a ‘green state’. Wenda has urged environmental activists to ‘accept climate catastrophe or fight for a free West Papua’. Merauke will determine their choice. 

 

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https://en.antaranews.com/news/372393/govt-to-fast-track-61-km-trans-jayapura-wamena-road

2) Govt to fast-track 61-km Trans-Jayapura-Wamena road  

August 10, 2025 00:21 GMT+700

Wamena, Highland Papua (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Public Works is accelerating the construction of a 61-kilometer segment of the Trans-Jayapura-Wamena road in Highland Papua province in 2025.

Governor of Highland Papua, John Tabo, said here on Saturday that he recently met with President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta to discuss efforts to speed up development of the new autonomous regions (DOB) in Papua, especially Highland Papua province.

“One of the topics we discussed was the roadwork from the Mamberamo River bridge to Elelim in Yalimo, Highland Papua, which spans 61 kilometers,” he informed.

According to Tabo, severe damage on the road segment between the Mamberamo River bridge and Elelim, Yalimo, has significantly slowed the flow of traffic from Jayapura to Wamena.

“We hope that with the road improvements, four- and six-wheeled vehicles can reach Wamena more quickly, which will help boost the local economy,” he said.

He added that the poor condition of the Trans-Jayapura-Wamena road segment has led to delays in the distribution of staple goods and heavy materials, contributing to high prices in the province.

“High inflation here is partly caused by the slow distribution of basic needs and other heavy goods. However, if the road is improved, then the prices of basic goods and others here can be kept under control,” he added.

Furthermore, Tabo informed that the construction of the 61-kilometer road is being fully funded by the state budget (APBN).

“We do not know the exact amount of the funding, as that falls under the authority of the central government, in this case, the Ministry of Public Works,” he said. 



Related news: New toll road segment in Papua to ease logistics costs, says minister

Related news: Jayapura settles customary rights of land for PON Games roads

Related news: Jayapura-Wamena road temporarily closed for repairs: BPJN



Translator: Yudhi, Kenzu

Editor: Azis Kurmala 




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3) Indonesia fast-tracks development of first bioethanol plant in South Papua
 By Vivek Waghmode - Saturday, 9 August 2025


Jakarta: The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has set a target for Merauke, South Papua to begin producing bioethanol by 2027, as part of key projects under the region’s food estate development program.

“We’re aiming to have bioethanol production up and running in Merauke by 2027,” said Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Yuliot Tanjung during a meeting at the ministry’s Jakarta office on Friday.

To meet the deadline, Tanjung said the ministry is speeding up the construction of a bioethanol plant this week to help meet the country’s fuel needs. “Right now, we’re focusing on getting the necessary work done,” he said.

Merauke District has been named one of the government’s priority food estate areas. Its development plan includes three major projects: establishing a 500,000-hectare sugarcane plantation for bioethanol production, expanding cultivated land from 40,000 hectares to 100,000 hectares, and creating one million hectares of new rice fields to be managed jointly by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia, who also serves as the Daily Chair of the National Energy Council, voiced his support for expanding sugarcane plantations in Merauke to produce both ethanol and methanol.

“The key step for Merauke is to turn its sugarcane into ethanol and methanol,” Lahadalia said on July 18, noting that the bioethanol would follow Brazil’s example of using sugarcane as a renewable energy source.


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4) Tourism Ministry pushes unique, well-run festivals to attract tourists  

August 9, 2025 02:58 GMT+700


Wamena (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Tourism has urged organizers of cultural and tourism festivals to ensure their events are unique, well-managed, and professionally executed to attract more foreign tourists to host regions.

Fajar Hutomo, expert staff to the Minister of Tourism for crisis management, said in Wamena, Highland Papua province, on Friday that the participation of foreign tourists in cultural and tourism festivals can directly boost the economy, particularly in the host districts.

“With the appeal of cultural and tourism activities, we believe this can increase visits from both domestic and international tourists,” he said.

He emphasized that, in the future, organizers across Indonesia—especially in Jayawijaya district, Highland Papua—must wisely and creatively manage their tourism potential, creative economy, arts, and culture, while fostering community pride.

“We know Jayawijaya district has extraordinary natural beauty, tourism potential, and cultural heritage, so it must be managed properly to attract not only foreign but also domestic tourists,” he added.

Related news: Raja Ampat remains safe for tourists: Indonesian govt



According to Hutomo, if managed well, the tourism potential of Jayawijaya will generate pride within the local community.

“From that sense of pride, the intention, enthusiasm, and efforts to preserve and develop the region’s potential will grow,” he said.

He cited the example of the Baliem Valley Cultural Festival of Highland Papua, which was selected for the third consecutive time this year as one of the 110 Karisma Event Nusantara by the Ministry of Tourism.

“We hope the Highland Papua provincial government and the Jayawijaya district government will continue to develop their cultural and tourism potential, and collaborate with various stakeholders to be more innovative and creative in holding sustainable cultural events that positively impact the tourism industry,” he said.



Related news: Jogja kite festival draws global crowd to Parangkusumo 

Related news: Tampo Lore Festival spotlights C Sulawesi’s cultural riches

Related news: Krisna-Saba Festival furthers Bali's cultural preservation: ministry

Translator: Yudhi Efendi, Primayanti
Editor: M Razi Rahman

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