Seasons Greetings. Selamat tahun baru
AWPA -West Papua Update No 7/2025
30 December 2025
There has been no improvement in the human rights situation in West Papua. Clashes have continued between the TPNPB and the security forces. The latest military operation occurred on the 10 December when the Indonesian Security Forces conducted surveillance using three helicopters in the skies over Gearek District, Nduga Regency. The helicopters landed and dropped officers in Wene Worasosa Village. Before landing troops one of the helicopters fired from above and near a resident's house, firing three mortar rounds. Villagers fled to the forest and other districts in fear of their lives. (Report below).
Villagers flee military operation
A google translate Original Bahasa link
7-year-old Arestina Giban was shot in Nduga, and her body was never found.
December 27, 2025 in Press Releases Reading Time: 3 mins read
Author: Jubi Admin - Editor: Syofiardi Bachyul
Refugees from Gearek District, Nduga Regency, met the sub-district head's entourage and students in six vehicles. (Doc: YKKMP/Humanitarian Team)
Jayapura, Jubi – A written report by Yefta Lengka (Humanitarian Activist and member of the Humanitarian Team) was sent to Jubi.id as a press release. The report was written based on the results of a nine-day investigation by the Papua Justice and Human Integrity Foundation (YKKMP) and the Humanitarian Team in Nduga Regency, Papua Highlands Province. The Humanitarian Team was led by Theo Hesegem, Executive Director of YKKMP.
The report states that on December 10, 2025, the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) conducted surveillance using three helicopters in the skies over Gearek District, Nduga Regency, without any reason. "The community was confused and wondering. Fear gripped them."The following day, on December 11, 2025, three helicopters and three drones monitored the skies over Gearek District. The helicopters landed and dropped officers in Wene Worasosa Village."Prior to this, one of the helicopters fired from above at the edge of a resident's house and fired three mortar rounds," the report stated.
Seeing this, the residents fled towards the Kali Mbunu forest to save themselves. They took shelter in the forest for a day. From there, they fled to Enggolok and spent the night there. Afterward, they continued their journey to Wendama Terminal towards Kenyam.
They walked to Nggeni Village and met the sub-district head's entourage and students in six cars. They arrived in Kenyam on December 14, 2025. There, they were housed at the Kenyam Elementary School. The evacuees were given three rooms to stay in.
The total number of affected residents reached 580. Seventy-one of them fled to Kenyam. The rest of the population fled to the forest and neighboring villages. Sixty-one of them fled to Kali Mbunu in two locations, and they have not yet returned to their villages.
Other refugees are located in seven villages: Sanelak (49 people, who returned on December 14, 2025), Pasir Putih (13 people, who have not yet returned), Engglok (1 person, who has returned), Tribit Village (14 people, who have not yet returned), Yunusugu Village (315 people, who have returned), Kenyeam (71 people, who have not yet returned), and Nggebem (2 people who went to the Bethel congregation, who have not yet returned). "The attack was carried out indiscriminately. There was no resistance or retaliation from local residents," the report stated. Refugees from Gearek District, Nduga Regency, encountered the sub-district head's entourage and students traveling in six cars. (Doc: YKKMP/Humanitarian Team). "The people of Wene Worasosa Village, Gearek District, were confused and didn't understand what was happening, as were the neighboring villages," the report continued.
The report stated that due to the sound of helicopters, gunfire, and mortar explosions, local residents fled into the surrounding forest. "Under duress. Without carrying anything. Without retaliating with anything. Survival was the primary goal at that time."
The Humanitarian Team report explained that after the Indonesian Military (TNI) conducted a one-day and one-night operation, they left Wene Worasosa Village, Gearek District, Nduga Regency, at 7:30 a.m. WIT the following day. They did not return until the humanitarian team went into the field to investigate, monitor, and install billboards.
7-Year-Old Child (Arestina Giban) Shot in the Head
In this incident, according to an investigative report by the Papua Justice and Human Integrity Foundation (YKKMP) and the Humanitarian Team, a 7-year-old child named Arestina Giban was shot from a plane while her mother was running with her eldest child into the forest. "The child was shot in the head (the back of the brain penetrated the front), destroying her head and face. Seeing her child shot and falling from her shoulder, the mother tried to save her eldest child and hid him behind her aunt's grave," the report stated. After hiding her eldest child, she couldn't resist going to retrieve her child's body. As she was about to visit the child's body, which lay on its back, she was hit by shrapnel from a mortar shell dropped from a nearby helicopter. The shrapnel lodged in her right thigh. Because she was shot, she couldn't visit her child's body. She simply lay down on the road, closed her eyes, and covered herself with a cloth. She then fled and hid not far from her house. "At that time, the deployed troops conducted an operation and destroyed all the residents' houses. One of the TNI officers who passed by the victim's body kicked it, causing it to fall into a ditch. This happened while the mother and her eldest child were watching from hiding," the report stated. Due to the uncontrolled gunfire and extensive drone surveillance, they fled into the forest and away from the settlement.
Arestina Giban's body 'forcibly disappeared'
After the incident, the report stated that a day later, several people searched for Arestina Giban. However, she was not found at the scene. They searched for the victim for three days, but still, she was nowhere to be found. Arestina Giban's mother (7 years old) recounted her experience to the Papua Justice and Human Integrity Foundation (YKKMP) and the Humanitarian Team. (Doc: YKKMP/Humanitarian Team) "To date, the Humanitarian Team conducting the investigation has not been able to find [the victim's body]. The team did find indications of burial nearby, due to a fishy odor. However, the team hesitated to exhume the site because they suspected the Indonesian military had planted a mine with Arestina Giban's child's body. Therefore, the Humanitarian Team left the scene and left." The victim's mother is said to be still recovering and remains in a refugee camp because her house was severely damaged.
Elius Baye (35 years old) dies in refugee camp
After two days of refuge, Elius Baye, the head of a family with a child, died in a refugee camp in Yunusugu Village, Tomor District, Asmat Regency. Elius Baye had previously been ill in his village. However, due to the attack, he fled to save his family. Baye died one day in the refugee camp. (*)
Human Rights Monitor
Military operations in Papuan highlands continue as people launch series of protests against militarism, demanding withdrawal of troops
Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 12 November 2025
People across West Papua have been protesting against the growing militarisation and ongoing expansion of military operations in the Papuan central highlands. Between late October and early November 2025, Papuans in the towns of Nabire, Enarotali, Sugapa, and Jayapura went to the streets to protest against the central Government’s approach to settling the longstanding conflict in West Papua through the expansion of military presence and military operations, which are frequently accompanied by extra-judicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, and ill-treatment of civilians. Most victims are indigenous Papuans, caught in the crossfire between the military and the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), or being executed or tortured because security forces suspect them of being associated with the TPNPB.
The central Government has been ignoring the people’s call to put an end to the military expansion in West Papua. As a former military general under the military dictator Suharto, President Prabowo Subianto continues the path of his predecessors, pursuing a security-based approach to end the armed conflict in West Papua through violent means. Meanwhile, calls for peaceful dialogue keep emerging from cultural and political institutions in West Papua.
In late June 2025, The Forum for Communication and Aspirations of the Papuan People (FOR PAPUA MPR RI), comprising members of both the Regional Representatives Council (DPD RI) and National Parliament (DPR RI), issued urgent calls for the Indonesian government to abandon its security-based approach to the ongoing armed conflict in West Papua. Following the Soanggama tragedy in October 2025 that reportedly killed 12 civilians and 3 TPNPB members, the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) and political figures urged President Subianto to enter into dialogue to prevent further civilian casualties. Papua lawmaker, Mr Laurenzus Kadepa, called on the president to address the root causes of Papua’s 60-year conflict, including political status issues, human rights violations, discrimination against indigenous Papuans, and failed development policies.
Churches in West Papua expressed similar demands. Bishop Bernardus Baru has initiated nine consecutive days of mass for peace and called for an end to armed violence and the deployment of non-organic troops to West Papua.........................
https://humanrightsmonitor.org/news/military-operations-in-papuan-highlands-continue-as-people-launch-series-of-protests-against-militarism-demanding-withdrawal-of-troops/West Papuan National Flag Day
This year marked the 64th anniversary of the first official flying of the Morning Star flag in 1961, in the then Dutch colony of Netherlands New Guinea. As the Dutch prepared to give the West Papuan people their freedom, it is one of the great tragedies that at their moment of freedom it was cruelly crushed and West Papua was basically handed over to Indonesia in 1963 by the international community. A betrayal of a whole people. Sixty-four years later, the West Papuan people are still struggling for their right to self-determination.
The Morning Star flag was raised on Leichhardt Town Hall.
AWPA thanks the Inner West Council and all West Papuan supporters for their support in raising the West Papuan flag in Sydney.
West Papua flag raised in solidarity over Leichhardt Town Hall
Green Left December 2, 2025, Issue 1444
Supporters of self-determination for West Papua joined together on December 1 for the annual Morning Star flag raising at Leichhardt Town Hall.
This is the 19th year in a row that the West Papuan flag was raised above this historic building in Sydney’s inner west…………….
Photos from Green Left for Ecosocialist Action's Post
From Free West Papua Campaign webpage
December 1st commemorated across West Papua and the world
DECEMBER 2, 2025
December 1st marked the 64th anniversary of West Papua’s original Independence Day in 1961. The Morning Star was raised in all seven regencies across West Papua, in a firm rejection of Indonesia’s strict ban on the flag.
In Oxford, UK, the Morning Star flag was raised above the Oxford Town Hall while ULMWP President Benny Wenda gave an address inside. President Wenda’s pre-December 1st address can be viewed here and his speech can be read here.
An incomplete round up of December 1st flag raisings is included below:
https://www.freewestpapua.org/2025/12/02/december-1st-commemorated-across-west-papua-and-the-world/
On the 3 December a film and forum event: West Papua's Food Estate – An assault on land and people was hosted by Green Left and The Gecko Project at the Resistance Centre & Bookshop in Sydney. https://www.greenleft.org.au/2025-12/event/film-and-forum-west-papuas-food-estate-assault-land-and-people
A very informative night.
Papuan Skies: On the frontlines of Indonesia's "food estate" project (Bahasa Indonesia & English)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3TodspXXUDs
Photos from Green Left
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New Greenpeace report
https://www.greenpeace.org/southeastasia/publication/68196/inside-merauke-sugarcane-project/
Sweet Promises, Bitter Reality: Inside the Merauke Sugarcane Project
Igor ONeill December 19, 2025
[Download Inside the Merauke Sugarcane Project report]
Travellers flying over Merauke, on West Papua’s southern coast, have long been treated to a sight that’s hard to find remaining anywhere in the world: an expansive lowland filled with natural forests, savannahs, and vast wetlands. But these days, they’re also likely to see a landscape in the midst of change. Excavators turning green cover and blue creeks into brown mud. Felled logs piling up in rows.
In the forests and riverside villages, Indigenous Marind, Yei Nan, and Muyu communities are anxious. This new destruction stalks their livelihoods and threatens land passed down through generations. Companies are even encroaching upon the customary territories of Indigenous Peoples who refuse to surrender their land.
In the Marind homeland, land grabbing and forest destruction are taking hold in the name of the Indonesian government’s program for food and energy self-sufficiency – designated as a National Strategic Project (PSN). President Prabowo Subianto has framed this ambition as strengthening national resilience to legitimize massive military involvement. A new Regional Military Command has been established in Merauke, estimated to house over 5,000 combat personnel. On the roads of Merauke, military vehicles and soldiers passing by have become a common sight. But for Indigenous West Papuans, given the military’s long history of brutal violence, their presence is a terror in itself.
The government’s rhetoric is harshly ironic, because in reality the project enhances neither food security nor political security. For many Marind, food security and political freedom means moving through their natural forests, savannas and wetlands, encountering abundant wild foods. Converting those landscapes into intensive monocultures such as sugar or oil palm plantations amounts to enslaving living organisms. As Marind woman Rafaela explained to environmental anthropologist Sophie Chao: “Free beings make free food. Forest foods taste of freedom. And nothing tastes as good as freedom.”
Greenpeace Indonesia investigated one of these government food and energy projects in West Papua, namely the Merauke Sugarcane PSN, which targets an area of 560,000 hectares – the size of the island of Bali. A consortium of ten companies is set to work on the project. Nine out of the ten are connected to two corporate groups with long track records in the palm oil industry.
If this sugarcane plantation project is not stopped, it will sow disaster through the destruction of West Papuan forests, which now serve as a global climate and biodiversity shield. Greenpeace Indonesia invites you, the reader, to join us in urging the government to stop the Merauke Sugar PSN and save Papua’s forests. As West Papuans say, ‘Papua bukan tanah kosong’ – Papua is not an empty land. Read the Inside the Merauke Sugarcane Project report here (also available in Indonesian).
West Papuan Protest Against Merauke Sugarcane Nat. Strategic Project
Igor ONeill December 19, 2025
Jakarta, 18 December 2025 – Greenpeace Indonesia today brought the voices of West Papuan environmental protesters to the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs. Through creative performance, West Papuan youth and impacted landowners portrayed the struggle of Indigenous Peoples whose ancestral lands are being seized for the Merauke Sugarcane National Strategic Project (PSN) that the ministry is overseeing. Activists also erected an art installation crafted from sugarcane stalks reading “STOP PSN”.
Alongside messages in Indonesian and English, protesters carried banners in the Yei language, spoken by one of several Indigenous Peoples in the south of West Papua threatened by the sugarcane project. Slogans included “West Papua is Not an Empty Land”, “PSN Out of Our Lands” and “Save Forests, Stop Sugarcane”.
The action highlighted massive deforestation looming over Merauke, a threat promoted this week by President Prabowo Subianto during a meeting on the government’s plans for West Papuan development. Addressing regional heads from across West Papua, with the heads of the Indonesian Armed Forces, National Police, and State Intelligence Agency in attendance, Prabowo revealed plans to expand oil palm, sugarcane, and cassava plantations to secure fuel and bioethanol supplies.
The President’s statements are deeply ironic, delivered as parts of Sumatra remain paralyzed by a deadly ecological disaster that has claimed over a thousand lives, driven by climate change and decades of industrial deforestation. The devastation in western Indonesia has evidently failed to dampen the government’s ambition to pursue “false solutions” that would sacrifice pristine landscapes in the east of the country.....................
https://www.greenpeace.org/southeastasia/press/68202/merauke-sugarcane-protest/
Human Rights Monitor
Military drone attack on civilian house in Dekai kills Papuan 17-year-old pupil – one person injured
26 November 2025 / 2 minutes of reading
On 25 November 2025, at around 9.00 pm, residents on Gunung Street in Dekai District, Yahukimo Regency, Papua Pegunungan province, observed a military drone repeatedly circling above their neighbourhood. According to eyewitnesses, the drone flew several loops over the area and then hovered for a few minutes above a cluster of civilian houses. The aircraft reportedly switched on a green light, followed by a yellow and then a white light, illuminating one particular house before releasing an aerial explosive.
The explosive fell onto a civilian house and detonated with a powerful explosion in the middle of the residential area. Inside the building, a 17-year-old senior high school student named Listin Sam and another young man, Mr Yondinus Dapla, were asleep in the same room when the blast struck the house. Both were hit by shrapnel and debris (see photos below, source: independent HRD). Neighbours and family members rushed to the house, evacuated the victims, and brought them to the Dekai Regional Public Hospital (RSUD Dekai) at around midnight. Despite receiving emergency medical treatment, Listin Sam died at approximately 2.05 am at RSUD Dekai, while Mr Yondinus Dapla survived and remains under medical care.
On the morning of 26 November 2025, at about 6.00 am Papua time, the victim’s family returned to RSUD Dekai to negotiate with police officers to retrieve Listin Sam’s body for burial. The family and the head of Duram District stressed that the victims and the wider Duram community are civilians with no involvement in the West Papua National Liberation Army (see photos and videos, source: independent HRD). The family also brought a photocopy of Listin Sam’s school diploma to underline that he was a student at SMA Negeri in Dekai and not affiliated with any armed group. Community representatives and relatives went to the Yahukimo Police Station to demand accountability for the drone attack, while local human rights defenders and church-based legal aid networks began documenting the incident and issuing urgent calls for advocacy. They called upon all armed actors to move hostilities away from civilian residential areas……………………
Full report with photos
A google translate. Original Bahasa link
Amnesty International urges investigation into the drone attack in Yahukimo
November 27, 2025 in Press Releases Reading Time: 2 mins read
Author: Jubi Admin - Editor: Arjuna Pademme
Jayapura, Jubi – Amnesty International Indonesia is urging a thorough investigation into the drone attack in Dekai City, the capital of Yahukimo Regency, Papua Mountains.
Amnesty International Indonesia's Executive Director, Usman Hamid, stated that his organization condemns the attack, which killed one civilian and injured another, on Tuesday evening (November 25, 2025).
"We strongly condemn the cruelty of the drone attack that killed one civilian and injured another in Yahukimo. This incident shows that residents continue to be victims of the escalating conflict in Papua between security forces and armed groups without serious efforts to protect the community," Usaman Hamid said in a written press release on Thursday evening (November 27, 2025).
He stated that the drone attack, which resulted in the death of civilians, violates international law. Furthermore, news reports indicate that the drone attack destroyed a house in Dekai City.
"Indonesian authorities are obliged to comply with their obligations under international law, which require all parties to armed conflict to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and to refrain from carrying out indiscriminate attacks targeting civilians," he said.
Amnesty International also called on Indonesian authorities, including the police, to conduct a prompt, independent, impartial, and effective investigation into this deadly drone attack. Amnesty International is urging all parties to immediately form a joint fact-finding team to investigate this bloody incident. The police must also immediately reveal to the public who owned the drone.
"We also urge the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and other independent institutions to actively conduct an open and impartial investigation to ensure justice for the victims' families," he said. He stated that regardless of the perpetrators, whether state or non-state actors, the case must be tried through a general court as stipulated in the Criminal Code. This step is considered crucial to ensure the principle of equality before the law and to avoid impunity, which has often been the pattern when security forces commit violence in Papua.
Previously, a drone strike killed one civilian and injured another on Jalan Gunung, Dekai City, Yahukimo Regency. The drone strike hit a civilian's house in Dekai City and killed a student at SMK Negeri 2 Dekai who was sleeping at the time of the attack. The deceased victim was identified as Listin Atin Sam, also known as Bulmak Sam (17), and the injured victim was Yondinus Dapla, who was sleeping in the same room at the time of the incident. (*)
https://papuansbehindbars.org/q3-2025/
Papuans Behind Bars
Quarterly Update July–September 2025 Report |
31 October 2025
Summary
In the third quarter of 2025, we received reports of at least 54 cases of arbitrary arrests. Thirty-nine people who were arrested have been released, while 14 others remain in detention, and one person died. Of the 14 people detained, one has been transferred to the state prosecutor’s office. Of all the cases, at least 37 people were arbitrarily detained, 30 people were tortured or subjected to other ill-treatment, and six were minors.
During the same period, courts handed down prison sentences to at least seven prisoners who were arrested in previous periods. Almost all were found guilty of violating articles of the criminal code related to the possession of weapons, while two others were accused of involvement in murder and theft. Their sentences ranged from 10 months to 10 years in prison.
By the end of the period, at least 79 West Papuan political prisoners were either on trial or imprisoned after being convicted by a court. At least 55 West Papuan political prisoners were still serving sentences in prison. In addition, 24 others were still on trial in various courts, such as in Wamena, Papua Pegunungan, Nabire, Papua Tengah, Sorong, Papua Barat Daya, and Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan.
English version
https://papuansbehindbars.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/PBB-Q3-2025-3.pdf
STATEMENTS BY SENATORS
Senator Lidia Thorpe-West Papua
Chamber Senateon 5/11/2025
Item STATEMENTS BY SENATORS - West Papua
Speaker : Thorpe, Sen Lidia
Bottom of Form
Senator THORPE (Victoria—Independent VIC Whip) (13:54): I send my strength and solidarity to my brothers and sisters in West Papua, where 15 civilians were recently massacred by the Indonesian military. Reports from West Papuan advocates detail door-to-door raids, homes destroyed, civilians killed and communities terrorised. Since Indonesia's occupation began in 1962, more than 500,000 West Papuans have been killed in what has been described as a slow motion genocide. This is a devastating continuation of settler colonial dispossession and resource extraction.
West Papuans have been forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands while the military drives the destruction of two million hectares of rainforest for palm oil and the obliteration of a sacred mountain for a foreign-owned gold mine. Indonesia continues to ban journalists, UN fact-finding missions, NGOs and aid agencies, seeking to silence witnesses to its crimes. In the words of West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda, this is a David versus Goliath battle. West Papuans are defending their ancestral lands with bows and arrows and a few guns taken from raids, while the Indonesian military uses drones, missiles, helicopters, sniper rifles and fighter jets.
The Albanese government remains silent and complicit, allowing these atrocities to continue with impunity and even providing military equipment to Indonesia. I join with West Papuan advocates in calling for this government to demand that Indonesia permits a UN human rights fact-finding mission, lifts the blackout and facilitates access to journalists.
Human Rights Monitor
Kinmom-Snerbo Villagers set up road blockade in protest against Indonesian Air Force’s land eviction
7 November 2025
On 27 October 2025, residents of Kinmom-Snerbo Village in Biak Regency, Papua Province, staged a road blockade to protest the Indonesian Air Force’s (AURI) continued construction activities on their traditional farmland. The protest began in the morning hours as the community, consisting mostly of subsistence farmers, expressed outrage over the destruction of their gardens. The gardens are their main source of food, income, and education for their children. The villagers accused the Air Force of forcibly evicting them without prior consultation or compensation, in disregard for their customary land rights.
According to local accounts, the conflict escalated after AURI personnel and contractors began clearing and building on land that has been cultivated by the community for generations. The Kinmom-Snerbo villagers, whose livelihoods depend on these farmlands, have long used the area for planting staple crops and supporting family welfare. The construction resulted in damage to mature crops and newly planted gardens, effectively depriving the families of their primary means of subsistence. In response, the villagers blocked access roads to the construction site to halt further destruction and demand dialogue (see photos below, source: independent HRD).
For decades, the people of Kinmom-Snerbo have maintained peaceful and productive use of the area, in line with traditional Papuan land stewardship practices. The current military intrusion represents a violation of the community’s customary rights and raises concerns regarding Indonesia’s compliance with national and international human rights standards, including the right to property, livelihood, and participation in decisions affecting indigenous land (as enshrined in Articles 17 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and ILO Convention No. 169).
The affected communities have urged the Indonesian government and the Air Force to immediately cease all construction activities, enter into transparent consultations with the affected community, and provide restitution for destroyed farmland. The local government is called upon to respect the principles of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and to ensure that the rights of indigenous Papuans are fully protected in all military and development projects in the regency.
Kinmom-Snerbo Villagers in Biak, Papua Province, staged a road blockade on 27 October 2025
Detailed Case Data
Location: R38Q+PVW, Mandala, Biak Kota, Biak Numfor Regency, Papua 98111, Indonesia (-1.1831466, 136.0897124) Villages Kinmom and Snerbo
Region: Indonesia, Papua, Biak Numfor, Biak Kota
Total number of victims: hundreds
Number of Victims | Name, Details | Gender | Age | Group Affiliation | Violations | |
1. | hundreds | mixed | unknown | Indigenous Peoples, Peasant | cultural rights, right to food |
Period of incident: 27/10/2025 – 27/10/2025
Perpetrator: , Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU)
Perpetrator details: AURI in Biak
President Prabowo Subianto visits Australia
AWPA Statement 11 November 2025
Will PM Albanese raise West Papua?
https://awpasydneynews.blogspot.com/2025/11/indonesian-president-prabowo-visits.html
Joint media statement - Sydney | Prime Minister of Australia
https://www.pm.gov.au/media/joint-media-statement-sydney
AUSTRALIAN GREENS STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT PRABOWO'S VISIT TO AUSTRALIA
2025-11-12
As President Prabowo Subianto visits Australia this week, we must not let diplomatic pleasantries overshadow serious human rights concerns. Indonesia is a friend of Australia and friends must be prepared to share hard truths, each way.
We are deeply troubled by reports that 959 people, including 295 minors, have been charged following peaceful protests in Indonesia in August 2025. The National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia documented hundreds of injuries and arbitrary arrests during police crackdowns. We call for the immediate release of all detained protesters and accountability for police brutality.
We acknowledge the many achievements of Indonesia in the decades since serious democratic reforms were initiated. We also acknowledge Indonesia’s leadership in the non-aligned movement including its leading Australia by acceding to the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.
While acknowledging these and other achievements there continue to be grave concerns about the ongoing human rights situation in West Papua, including restrictions on press freedom, peaceful assembly, the use of arbitrary force and the right to self-determination for Indigenous Papuans.
We join with many in urging President Prabowo to abandon the designation of Suharto as a national hero. His regime was responsible for mass killings, arbitrary detention, and gross human rights violations in East Timor, West Papua, and Aceh.
Australia’s cruel 2014 ban on refugees from Indonesia must be lifted. It is not the act of a friend and neighbor to so blatantly ignore international law and Indonesia knows the cost of this.
Australia's relationship with Indonesia should be built on shared values of human rights and democracy. The Prime Minister must raise these issues directly with President Prabowo during this visit.
Human rights are not negotiable and friends acknowledge this as we work together for a more peaceful and respectful world.
A google translate. Original Bahasa link. https://jubi.id/rilis-pers/2025/knpb-wilayah-makassar-pembakaran-bintang-kejora-oleh-ormas-adalah-tindakan-keliru/
KNPB Makassar Region: Burning of Morning Star Flag by Mass Organizations is Wrongful
December 18, 2025 in Press Release Reading Time: 2 mins read
Author: Jubi Admin - Editor: Arjuna Pademme
A group of mass organizations held a demonstration in front of the Makassar Police Headquarters on Wednesday (December 17, 2025). During the demonstration, the combined organizations burned the Morning Star flag - IST
Jayapura, Jubi – The West Papua National Committee (KNPB) of the Indonesian Consulate in Makassar stated that the burning of the Morning Star flag by mass organizations during a demonstration at the Makassar Police Headquarters, South Sulawesi, was wrongful. This statement was made by Jecky Richard Matuan, spokesperson for the KNPB Indonesian Consulate in Makassar Region, in a written press release on Thursday (12/18/2025).
Previously, a joint group of mass organizations, Laskar Monumen Mandala, Forbes Makassar, and the United Indonesian Youth Alliance, held a demonstration in front of the Makassar Police Headquarters on Wednesday (12/17/2025). During the demonstration, the combined mass organizations burned the Morning Star flag. They stated this as a form of rejection of the separatist movement, the Free Papua Movement (OPM), in South Sulawesi. They demanded that security forces take firm action against treasonous acts committed by pro-OPM groups in South Sulawesi, and reject all forms of support from groups supporting the OPM and other Papuan separatist movements.
"We believe that the actions of this mass organization are deeply wrong, because the mass organization burned the Morning Star flag and prohibited public expression of opinion under the pretext of nationalism for the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia," said Jecky Richard Matuan. He said that several local media outlets in Makassar are now accompanying their reporting by constructing wild, negative narratives about the KNPB and the activities of the KNPB in the Makassar region.
According to him, the actions taken by the KNPB Makassar region were not criminal acts, but rather aimed to encourage the public to increase local food production. They taught people not to depend on external food sources but to instead increase and preserve local food.
"Then, on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, mass organizations staged a demonstration and burned the Morning Star flag in front of the Makassar Police Headquarters. They prohibited the planned demonstration by Papuan students in Makassar on December 19, 2025, to commemorate Trikora," he said.
According to Matuan, at the same time, several mass organizations also staged a demonstration in front of the Kamasan 4 Papuan student dormitory in Makassar. The demonstration lasted about 10 minutes, after which they read a statement and dispersed. Jecky Richard Matuan stated that it is important to understand that the right to express opinions in public is guaranteed by the Indonesian constitution, as outlined in Law Number 9 of 1998. "This means that this group of mass organizations has the potential to undermine the nation, because they overly promote nationalism of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) without understanding the NKRI constitution. It's a different story altogether," he said. The KNPB Makassar Region also appealed to all Indonesians in general, and especially Makassar, that the KNPB is not a criminal group; it is a Papuan people's media outlet that engages with urban civil society. The KNPB's struggle is a peaceful, non-violent struggle, so don't be easily swayed by the narratives created by the media to marginalize the KNPB. (*)
Opinion pieces/reports/media releases etc.
London Review of Books- Escalation in West Papua
Indo-Oz treaty. Pandering to Prabowo, ignoring unrest, West Papua
https://michaelwest.com.au/indo-oz-treaty-pandering-to-prabowo-ignoring-unrest-west-papua/
Trick or treaty? Don't know, can't say
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/11/trick-or-treaty-dont-know-cant-say/
Rewriting Soeharto's story
‘Good neighbours are essential’: the history behind the Indonesia-Australia security treaty
Indonesia Calls in Military to Accelerate Forest Clearance Amid Environmental Concerns
Blood, silence and history: questioning Indonesia’s 1965 narrative
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/12/who-tells-truths-clash-of-the-historians/
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