1) ‘THE TRANSMIGRATION PLAN THREATENS PAPUA’S AUTONOMY AND INDIGENOUS WAYS OF LIFE’

2) Indonesia Considers Amnesty for Imprisoned Papuans

3) Kiwi pilot Phillip Mehrtens hostage drama in Papua: Inside the mission to bring him home

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https://lens.civicus.org/interview/the-transmigration-plan-threatens-papuas-autonomy-and-indigenous-ways-of-life/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIP70RleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZGscKpcs070JO3KKO82gk_kAzlKodlU3Hy3sHtTEkDam5xeYOE3xmZCAw_aem_LlChqq0Pus6ZQHiuVbUvjg

1) ‘THE TRANSMIGRATION PLAN THREATENS PAPUA’S AUTONOMY AND INDIGENOUS WAYS OF LIFE’

 Budi Hernawan | INDONESIA

03.FEB.2025

 By CIVICUS staff

CIVICUS speaks to Budi Hernawan, human rights defender and senior lecturer at Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Jakarta.

Indonesia’s new president, Prabowo Subianto, plans to revive an old relocation programme that originated under Dutch colonial government and continued after independence. The programme aims to move people from densely populated areas to less populated ones, including Papua, the easternmost province that has been home to an active independence movement for decades. While the government claims the plan will enhance welfare and address food insecurity, critics argue it will displace Indigenous Papuans, erode their cultural identity, deepen the inequality gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Papuans and accelerate environmental degradation.

What’s the proposed transmigration plan?

This is in fact a proposal by the new administration to revive a policy of President Suharto’s New Order that was dismantled during the 1998 Reformasi movement that ended his authoritarian regime. The very idea of bringing it back has shocked many people.

The programme targets five provinces – Central Kalimantan, Papua, South Sulawesi, Sumatra and West Sulawesi – and the government justifies it by arguing it will bring three key benefits: prosperity, accelerated development and equality in development.

However, the programme’s underlying logic is facing increased scrutiny when compared to its implementation in the past. It no longer enjoys broad public acceptance and has encountered significant opposition in the national parliament.

How does this programme relate to broader development and autonomy issues in Papua?

Papua has already been divided into six provinces, and the government plans to revitalise existing transmigration sites in areas including Fakfak, Jayapura, Manokwari, Merauke and Sorong.

The government claims the programme will accelerate development and improve Indigenous communities’ wellbeing, and insists it will only facilitate internal migration within Papua rather than bringing in outside populations. But this approach conflicts with existing legal frameworks: according to the Special Autonomy Law, any transmigration programme must receive approval from local governments. It cannot be imposed by the central government, and in this case it would require approval from all six Papuan governors.

Despite this legal requirement, the central government has proceeded unilaterally. Surprisingly, the Papuan governors haven’t publicly expressed any opposition, suggesting political and ideological considerations are taking precedence and highlighting the asymmetries of power between national and Papuan authorities.

How has the transmigration programme historically affected Indigenous Papuans?

The programme has had devastating consequences for Indigenous Papuans, land grabbing being one of the most significant impacts. Much of the land allocated to transmigrants was taken without consent, either through state directives or sheer force. This led to widespread dispossession of Indigenous landowners, with little regard for their traditional rights.

The central government has consistently failed to acknowledge the deep cultural and spiritual connection that Indigenous Papuans have to their land. For these communities, land is not merely property. It is integral to their existence and cosmology. Separating them from their land disrupts their entire way of life.

On top of this, many Papuans who lost their land were forced into wage labour on palm oil plantations or industries established on the land that used to be theirs. This turned self-sufficient landowners into poor workers in an unfamiliar economic system.

Environmental destruction has also been severe. Large-scale deforestation and the establishment of monoculture plantations, particularly for palm oil, have devastated Papua’s diverse ecosystems. The conversion of biodiverse forests into single-crop plantations has caused irreversible environmental damage, negatively affecting the health and nutrition of local communities who once relied on these lands for natural, highly nutritious food.

How have civil society and Papuan communities reacted to the policy’s revival?

Most human rights groups and Indigenous Papuan communities have strongly opposed the policy through media campaigns and public protests. While some student activists in Jayapura clashed with local police during protests, strong national and international attention has helped prevent severe repression or criminalisation of protesters.

Although the protests haven’t led to significant legal changes, they have effectively communicated public opposition. Some people still support the programme, but they don’t represent the majority opinion. Under pressure, the government has suspended the programme, but it hasn’t officially revoked it, so its future is uncertain.

How can the international community help address human rights and environmental concerns in Papua?

The international community should focus on building alliances and strengthening collaborations with Papuan activists to amplify human rights concerns and ensure Papuan voices are heard globally. Instead of imposing top-down solutions, it should treat Indigenous communities as equal partners. And instead of reinventing the wheel, it should support existing Papuan civil society organisations advocating for human rights and monitoring the situation.

While Papua is often discussed in international forums such as the United Nations Human Rights Council, it remains largely ignored in Asia-Pacific political discussions. Many governments overlook human rights and environmental violations in their own regions due to economic and political interests. This needs to change. Papua’s situation should be back in regional discussions, particularly within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Islands Forum.

Greater south-south cooperation among Asia-Pacific nations should also be encouraged. States in the region currently engage more with global north counterparts than their own neighbours. Strengthening regional alliances could create a united front to address pressing issues.

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https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/02/04/indonesia-considers-amnesty-imprisoned-papuans

Human Rights Watch

February 4, 2025 6:52PM EST | Dispatches

2) Indonesia Considers Amnesty for Imprisoned Papuans

Thousands Jailed, Facing Charges under Laws Denying Peaceful Expression

 Meenakshi Ganguly

 Deputy Asia Director  

mg2411

The Indonesian administration of President Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo is sending mixed signals about a proposed amnesty to tens of thousands of Papuans convicted or facing charges for allegedly backing the armed secessionist movement in West Papua. The lack of clarity is generating confusion rather than a thoughtful approach to addressing the eastern province’s longstanding human rights problems.

A low-intensity conflict has been ongoing in West Papua since the 1960s, when the United Nations-sponsored Act of Free Choice resulted in West Papua coming under Indonesian rule. Since then, Indonesian security forces have committed arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, and forced displacement in the name of quelling the insurgency, but are seldom held to account for these abuses.

In January, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a government minister, said that President Prabowo was planning to grant amnesty to all Papuans convicted or awaiting trials if they renounced violence and pledged allegiance to the Indonesian state, explaining that it was an effort “to resolve the conflict by prioritizing law and human rights.” However, a week later another minister, Supratman Andi Agtas, said that while his office was verifying up to 44,000 names that have been proposed for amnesty, this “does not cover criminals convicted of involvement in armed insurgencies.”

In West Papua, political groups treated the proposal with skepticism. Markus Haluk of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua said it was a “public relations stunt.” Sebby Sambom, the spokesman for the West Papua National Liberation Army, said that core issues had to be resolved, not merely “granting amnesty and expecting the conflict to end.”

For decades, many Indigenous Papuans have denounced the 1969 referendum that led to the integration of West Papua as an unfair process. Generations have peacefully protested racism and discrimination, for which they have faced arbitrary arrests, beating, and unjust treason charges. Papuans Behind Bars, a coalition of West Papua human rights groups, reports that the authorities are currently imprisoning 83 Papuans for separatism, mostly for peacefully celebrating the Morning Star flag, the flag of the independence movement and forbidden under Indonesian law.

As a first step for durable change, President Prabowo should acknowledge the historical, economic and political grievances of Papuans, including their root causes and effects, and ensure justice and redress for human rights violations, past and present.

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3) Kiwi pilot Phillip Mehrtens hostage drama in Papua: Inside the mission to bring him home

 

By Kurt Bayer

South Island Head of News·NZ Herald·

4 Feb, 2025 05:00 AM10 mins to read

NOW PLAYING • Kiwi pilot hostage in Papua

Kiwi pilot Phillip Mehrtens spent 594 days as a hostage of a rebel group in West Papua. Video / NZ Herald, Getty, AFP

In February 2023, New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens was kidnapped by armed rebels in Indonesia’s volatile Papua region. He would spend 594 days in captivity before he was finally released, after a fraught, behind-closed-doors diplomatic effort. Briefing papers obtained by the Herald reveal the delicate tightrope officials walked in getting him home. Kurt Bayer reports on a long walk to freedom.

Surrounded by dense hilly jungle and armed rebels wielding automatic weapons, spears, bows and arrows, Phillip Mehrtens cut a forlorn figure.

Wearing a soiled denim jacket and black Papua independence T-shirt, he stares into the camera as one camo-clad captor holds a hand while another clasps his wrist.

It had been a week since the Christchurch-born Mehrtens' freedom was brutally snatched away from him.

And the New Zealand Government, with no idea where in the remote, unruly region he was, was seemingly being held to ransom.

 

“I took him hostage for Papua independence, not for food or drinks,” one of the rebel leaders says in the video. “He will be safe with me as long as Indonesia does not use its arms, either from the air or on the ground.”

Phillip Mehrtens photographed with his rebel captors in February 2023.

It was the first of many demands made by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) insurgent group – designated as terrorists by the Indonesian Government – in videos of their Kiwi hostage.

And it would take a protracted response, led by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) officials, along with a hastily put-together Papua Hostage Taskforce, more than 18 months to secure Mehrtens’ safe release.

In previously-restricted documents obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act, the story of how the New Zealand Government worked to get Mehrtens home can be told for the first time.

It was a drawn-out affair that Foreign Minister Winston Peters would later admit was “nerve-racking”.

 

Mehrtens, a 38-year-old well-respected, experienced pilot from Canterbury, had been living in Bali with his wife and son for a number of years.

He had been working for Indonesian airline Susi Air when he landed a small single-engine commercial passenger plane at the isolated Paro airport in Ndguga, the centre of the growing Papua insurgency in the highlands of Indonesia’s West Papua region, on February 7, 2023.

After landing, his plane was suddenly surrounded. Gunmen from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) insurgent group emerged from the jungle and ordered Mehrtens out of the cockpit. All five of his indigenous Papuan passengers, including a young child, were released.

His plane was torched on the spot.

Mehrtens disappeared.

Mehrtens' plane was torched after he was kidnapped. Photo / Supplied

Soon after the ambush, a spokesman for the rebels issued a statement, saying they had grabbed Mehrtens because New Zealand – like Australia and the US - had co-operated militarily with Indonesia.

“We will never release the pilot we are holding hostage unless Indonesia recognises and frees Papua from Indonesian colonialism,” said TPNPB spokesman Sebby Sambom.

According to a situation update document released under the OIA, the group listed ways New Zealand could support recognition for their movement in the United Nations.

But there was little that could be done on that front.

Although the Government’s response would be underpinned by a 2008 Cabinet Framework on hostage-taking that would always put the “well-being and safety” of the New Zealand citizen at the heart of its response, they couldn’t cave into threats.

The official framework stipulates that the New Zealand Government “does not agree to demands from hostage takers for payment of ransoms, or modification of our foreign, defence or security policies”.

Instead, it would take a careful “consular response”, which would be led by MFAT officials.

Papua rebels posed with Mehrtens several times in videos and images the group released.

The day after Mehrtens was snatched, the Officials’ Committee for Domestic and External Security Co-ordination (ODESC) system was formally activated.

A Wellington-based “Papua Hostage Taskforce” was set up dealing with the New Zealand Embassy in Indonesia’s bustling capital city of Jakarta some 7700km away who were engaging “with the Indonesian system at a range of levels to reiterate the importance of a peaceful outcome”.

A two-person “Emergency Response Team” would also make regular forays to the Papua mining city of Timika, but as documents clearly show, there were “significant geographical and political challenges” at play.

Just where Mehrtens was being held was unknown, but they knew he was somewhere in the highlands; a remote, mountainous area, with dense tropical jungle and cold temperatures at altitude. The area is home to 276 living languages, with different dialects and tribal factions.

Electronic communications are limited and “couriers” on foot are often used to deliver messages and supplies.

“Even that is challenging as we understand the hostage-takers are constantly on the move to avoid discovery,” says a “Papua Hostage Situation” update obtained by the Herald.

“TPNPB itself is highly fragmented, with factions split along tribal and sub-regional boundaries and significant distrust between groups. The area is inhospitable for anyone who is not local. These factors mean it is very difficult to verify information.”

Every Tuesday and Friday updates were going across the desks at various agencies, including the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

The official framework stipulates that the New Zealand Government “does not agree to demands from hostage takers for payment of ransoms, or modification of our foreign, defence or security policies”.

Instead, it would take a careful “consular response”, which would be led by MFAT officials.

It was never clear just where Mehrtens was being held.

It soon emerged that the group of hostage-takers were operating autonomously within the TPNPB and, according to one situation report, was known for “impulsive and politically motivated acts of violence”.

And just a month into the hostage crisis, the seriousness of Mehrtens’ plight became even clearer to the Government. Another video, released on March 10, 2023, showed him well but reiterated demands for Papuan independence.

“However, his location remains unknown,” a Taskforce update said.

“The risks associated with this situation are significant. The risk of welfare of [Mehrtens] is our primary concern and all efforts are focused on preventing his death, injury or ill-health, to the extent we can.”

By now, Mehrtens’ family would have grown increasingly worried about his fate too.

His rebel captors gave little away, despite regular video updates to show that his health and wellbeing were their “top priority” and that he was not being mistreated.

The images that were released showed Mehrtens surrounded by separatist fighters armed with assault rifles and bows and arrows with a backdrop of mountains.

Mehrtens often appeared smiling in the videos. But just how relaxed and calm he was, or whether it was a show for the cameras, was not clear.

At one stage during his captivity, Mehrtens appealed to the Indonesian military not to bomb villages.

But in May 2023, things took an even more concerning turn.

The kidnappers said they would kill the Kiwi pilot if their independence demands were not met. They gave a two-month deadline.

Officially, the Government said they were doing everything they could to get Mehrtens home. But no details were given.

Behind the scenes, New Zealand diplomats and officials – with Australia largely absent from the closed-doors discussions - were plainly worried.

“While there is uncertainty about the seriousness of the intent behind the ‘deadline’ contained in the 26 May video and what the timeframe means, we cannot ignore the direct threat to [Mehrtens'] life,” said one situation update.

The deadline came and went. But the situation remained fraught.

“While we have received repeated assurances from Indonesian authorities that [Mehrtens] is alive, we have not sighted conclusive evidence of his condition since 26 May,” a September 14, 2023 update to ministers said.

Around that time, then-Prime Minister Chris Hipkins issued a public plea for his safe release, calling Mehrtens a “much-loved father, husband, brother and son”.

“As a pilot, he was helping to provide vital air links to connect remote communities in Papua,” Hipkins said, who added there was “absolutely no justification for taking hostages”. “The longer Phillip is held the more the risk there is to his wellbeing and the harder this becomes for him and his family,” he said.

Then-Prime Minister Chris Hipkins called for Mehrtens' safe release in September 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“Phillip’s safety and wellbeing remains our top priority. I am limited as to what else I can say publicly about the matter at this time but I want to once again extend our support to Phillip’s family, acknowledging that a six-month milestone is a significant one.”

The rebels’ demands “oscillated over time”, documents reveal, including dropping the independence demand.

And while videos and assurances periodically emerged, it was not clear just how he was being treated in captivity.

On the one-year anniversary of his capture, the TPNPB said it would free Mehrtens “in order to protect humanity and ensure human rights”.

Images released by the rebels this time showed a long-haired Mehrtens dishevelled and emaciated, sitting barefoot on a wooden log while flanked by two men brandishing rifles.

Mehrtens then addressed the camera, speaking to his wife and son, saying he loved and missed them both.

And he added that “the commander has said he’s able to help with a couple of things for me,” before asking for a medicine inhaler “just in case I get some asthma, and if possible, can I please get an e-book reader?”

Then, on September 21 last year, after 594 days of captivity, the Mehrtens family finally got the news they had been waiting and praying for: he was suddenly being released.

For most, it was a bolt from the blue. But behind the scenes, the New Zealand Government had worked hard to pave the way.

One of the last situation reports, which is undated and featured a section on “contingency planning”, spoke about how there was a “detailed response framework” in place for Mehrtens’ eventual release.

“We have previously engaged at length with Indonesia to clarify our understanding of what will occur in the immediate period following [Mehrtens’] release and in recent engagements with Indonesian ministers and senior officials have reiterated New Zealand’s consular responsibilities and Indonesia’s obligations to facilitate access to NZC at the earliest opportunity,” it said.

Surrounded by whirring cameras, the skinny, bearded Mehrtens sobbed as he called his family.

Later, at a news conference in Timika, he spoke of his relief.

“Today I have been freed,” he said. “I am very happy that shortly I will be able to go home and meet my family.”

Mehrtens speaks during a press conference following his release in Timika, Central Papua on September 21, 2024. Photo / AFP

His family then released a statement, speaking of the “very difficult” time they had endured, and thanked the authorities for the peaceful negotiations that helped keep him safe.

“As challenging as this has been, it would have been inordinately harder if we were not aware of how hard everyone was working and what actions were being taken.”

They also thanked a regional commander of the Free Papua Movement who helped get several reassuring messages to them during the spell of captivity.

“Those messages filled our souls and gave us hope that we would eventually see Phil again.”

After the “long and arduous ordeal”, they asked for further privacy.

Later, a Givealittle page, set up by Mehrtens’ older brother Chris, was launched to help raise money to help get him to reintegrate into normal life.

Mehrtens flew into Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma air force base just before midnight on the day he was released. He was met off the plane by local officials and relieved Kiwi diplomats.

After almost 600 days, he got a private reunion with his immediate family. He was checked over by an Australian doctor and found to be in “remarkably good shape” and got his first night, in a long time, sleeping in a bed.

Negotiations, Foreign Minister Winston Peters would admit, had been “nerve-racking”.

“It was always a concern of ours that we might not succeed. The hardest thing in an environment with no trust is to establish trust.”

Kurt Bayer is NZ Herald South Island head of news based in Christchurch. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2011.

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