2) WEST PAPUA YOUTH LEAD GLOBAL CALL TO DEFEND FORESTS

3) Indonesia must show its foundational pledge of ‘unity in diversity’ is a genuine commitment, not empty rhetoric

4) President Wenda: West Papua will never be an internal matter for Indonesia

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Human Rights Monitor

https://humanrightsmonitor.org/case/shooting-of-civilians-by-military-members-triggers-civil-unrest-in-agats-asmat-regency/

1) Shooting of civilians by military members triggers civil unrest in Agats, Asmat Regency

Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 29 September 2025 

On 27 September 2025, military members (TNI) of the 123/Rajawali Task Force opened fire on civilians in the town of Agats, Asmat Regency, South Papua Province, following an altercation. Mr Irenius Bawataipot, 21, was fatally shot at close range, while at least four other civilians, including a minor, Erik Yakonias Amiyaram, were injured. In the aftermath, angry residents carried the body of the victim to the nearby TNI post and set fire to military facilities. TNI personnel reportedly fired indiscriminately into the crowd and deployed a drone-dropped bomb on a civilian settlement, which failed to detonate (see photos below, source: independent HRDs).

Various sources confirmed that the incident began around 08:40 am, when 123/Rajawali Task Force personnel responded to reports of disturbances involving an intoxicated man who had injured two residents with a spear. In the ensuing confrontation, Task Force soldiers opened fire, resulting in the death of Mr Irenius Bawataipot. He sustained a lethal bullet wound on the head (lethalsee photos below, source: independent HRD). His body was carried by the community to a TNI post in protest, sparking anger and a violent confrontation. Residents attacked and set fire to at least two TNI posts (BLK Post and Mandala Post) and damaged public facilities. In response, joint security force personnel fired indiscriminately at the crowd, injuring multiple civilians, including minor Erik Yakonias Amiyaram, who sustained a gunshot wound to the left thigh. Drone-based munitions were also deployed, though one bomb reportedly did not explode.

The Asmat Regent, Mr Thomas Eppe Safanpo, publicly condemned the killing and called for the prosecution of the perpetrators under military law, stressing that Asmat is not a conflict area and demanding an evaluation of the TNI’s deployment in the region. Civil society actors, including the student groups, strongly denounced the incident as a serious violation of Indonesian criminal law(Article 338 of the Criminal Code on intentional killing) and the TNI’s own mandate under Law No. 34/2004 on the TNI.

Human rights analysis

This incident constitutes a violation of the right to life (Article 6, ICCPR), the prohibition of arbitrary killings, and the protection of civilians under both domestic and international law. While one of the victims was allegedly intoxicated and holding a weapon, the shooting of four unarmed civilians and the use of heavy weaponry, including drone-dropped explosives, in a civilian-populated area, amount to excessive use of force and potentially indiscriminate attacks. The injury of a child further breaches Indonesia’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Law No. 23/2002 on Child Protection.

The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (1990)stipulate that law enforcement officers may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty, and that lethal force may only be used as a last resort to protect life. The killing of Irenius Bawataipot, the indiscriminate firing on civilians, and the dropping of a bomb on a residential settlement starkly contravene these principles, representing a disproportionate and unlawful use of force.

Table of victims

No	Name	Age	Status	Additional information
1	Irenius Bawataipot	21	Deceased	Shot in the head at close range by TNI Task Force 123/Rajawali in Agats.
2	Erik Yakonias Amiyaram	Minor (exact age not confirmed)	Injured	Sustained gunshot wound to the left thigh.
3	Unidentified Butonese man	Adult	Injured	Shot and injured during indiscriminate firing by TNI.
4	Unidentified Asmat civilian 1	Adult	Injured	Shot and injured during clashes between residents and TNI.
5	Unidentified Asmat civilian 2	Adult	Injured	Gunshot wound on the left thumb

Civil victims of the shooting during civil unrest in Agats on 27 September 2025

Undetoneted mortar grenade dropped by a drone on a civilian settlement in Agats, 27 September 2025

Civil unrest in Agats on 27 September 2025

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https://tanahair.net/west-papua-youth-lead-global-call-to-defend-forests/

2) WEST PAPUA YOUTH LEAD GLOBAL CALL TO DEFEND FORESTS

 September 30, 2025

Jakarta — The voices of Indigenous youth must be at the centre of global climate negotiations, Greenpeace Indonesia urged, as forest defenders from West Papua and beyond gathered to launch a united call for action.

“Shamefully, the voices of youth, and especially Indigenous youth, are routinely sidelined in decision-making. My hope is that from this forest defender camp our voices will carry to the national and international stage,” said Nabot Sreklefat of the Knasaimos Indigenous Youth Community in West Papua.

Sreklefat’s words opened the Forest Defender Camp in Sira Village, Tehit-Knasaimos territory, where 89 Indigenous youth from across the world’s major tropical rainforests gathered to forge a united front against the twin climate and biodiversity crises. The week-long camp brought together representatives from all seven customary regions of West Papua, alongside delegates from the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Borneo.

Sira Declaration

The event culminated in the Sira Declaration, a joint call for world leaders to legally recognise Indigenous rights, grant direct access to climate finance, and protect ancestral territories. The declaration underscores how Indigenous communities—who act as frontline guardians of forests—face common threats from deforestation, land grabbing, and exclusion from policymaking.

For Indonesia, the declaration highlights West Papua’s forests, which are among the most biodiverse in the world. Greenpeace Indonesia called on global leaders to listen directly to the camp’s message.

“The twin climate and biodiversity crises pose an existential global threat to the future of the younger generation. The voices that reach the ears of world leaders must be those of the true protectors of our forests. Indigenous youth are the key to Earth’s future,” said Kiki Taufik, Global Head of Greenpeace’s Indonesia forests campaign.

A global alliance

Amazonian leader Nathalia Kycendekarun Apurinã echoed the urgency, stressing that Indigenous knowledge is central to addressing planetary crises. “The climate crisis requires everyone – governments, businesses, and international organisations to join us,” said the spokesperson for The Coordination of Indigenous Organisations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB).

She added that “the solution exists, and it is rooted in our traditional knowledge and our connection to nature. The time for action is now”.

The Sira Declaration will be carried forward to international talks, including the UN climate conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil, this November. (nsh)

Banner photo: A Papuan Indigenous woman of Tehit tribe stands under Merbau tree during the Forest Defender Camp 2025 in the Sira village forest, at Knasaimos customary area in South Sorong, Southwest Papua. 26 September 2025. © Jurnasyanto Sukarno / Greenpeace

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https://asiatimes.com/2025/09/yalimo-tragedy-exposes-indonesias-failed-pluralism-in-papua/

Yalimo tragedy exposes Indonesia’s failed pluralism in Papua

3) Indonesia must show its foundational pledge of ‘unity in diversity’ is a genuine commitment, not empty rhetoric

By KURNIAWAN ARIF MASPULSEPTEMBER 30, 2025

When a playground insult in Yalimo, Papua, escalated into a blaze that killed three people, wounded dozens and displaced more than 170 villagers, it exposed a stark truth about Indonesian democracy: laws, slogans and national ceremonies can mask a quieter illness —the everyday racism that, when triggered, turns neighbor against neighbor.

But more dangerous is what it stoked: an unresolved divide between Indonesia’s constitutional promise of unity and the experience of many Papuans. This is not a local dispute to be addressed by emergency aid; it is a national challenge of whether pluralism can become real beyond mere words.

Indonesia was founded on the promise of “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” — “unity in diversity” in Bahasa — and its constitution forbids racial discrimination. The state officially recognizessome 1,331 ethnic groups, and the post-1997-98 financial crisis-sparked reformasi era widened civic space in ways that once felt unimaginable.

Yet patterns persist: repeated episodes of anti-Papuan harassment in Java, the 2019 dormitory attacks that sent thousands of Papuan students home in fear and the more prominentcommunal clashes elsewhere in the archipelago – including the Sampit violence in Kalimantan and the anti-Chinese violence of 1998 –all reveal a recurring dynamic in which economic grievances, demographic shifts and toxic rumors turn identity into a fault line.

Human-rights monitors and UN experts have repeatedly warned of “deeply entrenched discrimination” against Papuans. Yalimo is the latest, stark confirmation.

If Indonesia is to move beyond mere rhetoric about tolerance, it must do three things simultaneously: make education the frontline of prevention, ensure the law is transparent and fair, and guarantee that local governance is inclusive and accountable.

First, education should be redesigned as democratic infrastructure. Curricula must include diverse histories, civic literacy and media resilience from the earliest years. Teacher training should prepare educators to mediate differences rather than inflame conflicts.

Practical pilots — such as mother-tongue early literacy programs in remote Papuan districts, exchange initiatives bringing Papuan and Javanese students together and vocational pathways linked to local economies — are inexpensive preventive measures compared to a destroyed village. 

UNESCO’s guidance on intercultural education and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets on equitable, quality education offer immediate blueprints Jakarta can expand.

At the same time, the state must enforce anti-discrimination laws swiftly and visibly. Indonesia’s penal code and hate speech provisions already criminalize incitement on SARA (Ethnicity, Religion, Race and Intergroup Relations) grounds, but enforcement remains uneven: victims often receive only belated apologies, while symbols of Papuan identity are often treated as security threats.

That selective application corrodes trust. The remedy is procedural: independent, public investigations for SARA incidents; transparent prosecutions when evidence supports them; and prompt, dignified compensation and rehabilitation for victims. Make prosecutions, not silence, the predictable outcome when race-based abuse tips toward violence. That is the clearest signal the rule of law can send.

As a further step, rebuild local social contracts through inclusive governance and equitable development. Papua’s chronic underinvestment, seen in persistent gaps in health, education and infrastructure, is the long fuse behind episodic flare-ups. Special autonomy was intended to devolve power and revenue, but implementationhas been halting.

Recommit to transparent revenue sharing from resource projects, legally recognize adat institutions’ land rights where appropriate and tie public procurement and hiring to measurable local employment targets. Simple, accountable local budgets that deliver clinics, classrooms and culturally appropriate services shift incentives away from grievance and into stakeholding.

Beyond these three pillars, the state must demonstrate its seriousness. It should urgently establish a national task force led by the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Commission on Human Rights to publish a comprehensive Yalimo incident report with provisional findings and coordinate an immediate, dignified relief plan for victims.

Roll out rapid intercultural teacher training across affected districts and create a public dashboard that tracks SARA complaints, prosecutions and case outcomes so justice is visible, not whispered. Fund and launch pilots in mother-tongue early literacy and interprovincial student exchanges to rebuild everyday trust.

Order a transparent audit of special autonomy revenue flows in Papua so communities see that resources reach them. Make these measures unmistakable signals: sympathy must be converted into accountability, and words into protection.

Indonesia should also learn from comparative practices without mimicry. Australian multicultural programs and anti-discrimination frameworks offer techniques — community harmony grants, mandated anti-bias curricula, hate-crime registries — that can be adapted to the Indonesian archipelago’s scale and complexity.

Equally, restorative justice mechanisms and community reconciliation models used elsewhere show that criminal justice must be coupled with rituals of repair: apologies, truth-telling and local agreements that rebuild trust between communities. These are not sentimental gestures; they are politically smart tools to defuse cycles of retribution.

Above all, this is both an international and domestic obligation. Indonesia’s claim to moral leadership within ASEAN and on the global stage rests in part on its pluralist model. If Jakarta fails to address racism at home, its credibility in promoting religious tolerance and human rights abroad will fade.

Conversely, decisive reforms that prevent another Yalimo will be a model for diverse democracies worldwide – showing how to turn heterogeneity from a governance challenge into a competitive advantage.

UN human rights mechanisms, the Global Centre for Pluralism and civil-society partners should be invited to help design, monitor and evaluate reforms — not as an erosion of sovereignty, but as a cooperative investment in resilience.

Yalimo should mark a turning point, not just a headline. The republic must decide whether its pledge of unity in diversity is empty rhetoric or a genuine commitment. That decision is practical: fund classrooms and clinics, prosecute those who spread hatred, decentralize power fairly and teach the next generation to see difference as an asset rather than a threat.

If it does, Indonesia will better embody its foundational philosophy of Pancasila, with social justice, unity and equality at the core of its national identity.

If it doesn’t, the country will repeatedly pay the price for a promise left unfulfilled. The time for action is now – morally, politically and strategically – and the true test will be whether leaders make reform unavoidable, not optional.

Kurniawan Arif Maspul is a researcher and interdisciplinary writer focusing on Islamic diplomacy and Southeast Asian political thought. He holds an MEd in advanced teaching, an MBA and MA in Islamic Studies, and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Islamic Banking and Finance at Al-Madinah International University in Malaysia. His articles have appeared in ASPI’s The Strategist, Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter and Southeast Asian academic forums.

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4) President Wenda: West Papua will never be an internal matter for Indonesia

SEPTEMBER 30, 2025

No matter what the Indonesian ambassador to Fiji might say, West Papua is not and will never be an internal matter for Indonesia. 

West Papua is a colonised country, not a province of Indonesia. In 1961 we celebrated our Independence Day, raised our flag, and sang our national anthem. West Papua was set to become the first free Melanesian state. Even after Indonesia invaded we were promised a referendum by the UN. Indonesia knew that we would vote overwhelmingly for independence; that’s why in 1969 they violated the terms of the New York Agreement by forcing 1026 elders to vote against freedom on behalf of more than 800,000. 

The only long-term solution is for us to be allowed a genuine act of self-determination through an internationally-supervised vote. Because our issue was born at the UN, it can only be resolved through the UN.

This is not a political issue, but a matter of history and international law. Self-determination is the heart of the West Papuan struggle. Its continual violation is at the heart of every injustice we suffer, from the destruction of our forest to the replacement of our people through transmigration. Every political action we take is directed towards fulfilling this fundamental right. If the world wants to know what a real referendum would look like, they should look to the 2017 People’s Petition. Over 1.8 million West Papuans – more than 70% of the Indigenous population – signed the Petition, demonstrating the sincere and universal demand of West Papuans for liberation. Though we come from many different tribes and political perspectives, the West Papuan people speak with one voice in demanding our freedom. Every West Papuan yearns for Merdeka.

Indonesia should follow the example set by MSG nations. Was Bougainville an internal matter for Papua New Guinea? Or Kanaky for France? In both cases referendums have been held in recent years. 

The Ambassador’s comments reflect Indonesia’s terror of a unified Pacific standing behind their Melanesian family in West Papua. They know that all Melanesians support our peaceful struggle and want to see us become full members of the MSG. That is why Indonesia practices their chequebook diplomacy, offering Melanesian countries generous aid packages and trade deals to ensure their silence on West Papua. But they will ultimately fail. In the end, the Pacific will do the right thing, just as they did by supporting Kanaky.

Indonesia wants to pretend that West Papua is a done deal. West Papua is a righteous anti-colonial struggle that the whole world should support. The answer to Indonesia’s media blackout is to give West Papua a voice at the MSG. The answer to colonisation is self-determination. 

Benny Wenda
President
ULMWP

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