2) Resilience from Indigenous Communities through the Film Teman Tegar Maira
https://islandsbusiness.com/news-break/take-charge-papua-media-owner-tells-scribes/
1) Take charge, Papua media owner tells scribes
January 20, 2026 _ NETANI RIKA
A WEST Papuan media owner has urged journalists in his country to become key players in covering major issues in Papua, rather than mere spectators dominated by foreign media.
Victor Mambor – owner of the pro-democracy news site, Jubi – made the call during the 1st Papua Media Festival in Nabire Regency, Central Papua.
Mambor emphasized that Indigenous Papuan journalists should be the main actors in covering the potential of their own region, rather than relying on media from outside Papua.
The workshop was moderated by Roni Hisage and attended by university students and journalists at a festival initiated by the Papuan Journalists Association.
Meanwhile, North Jayapura Police have closed their investigation into the detonation of an explosive device outside Mambor’s home in January.
The investigation has been criticised for irregularities, as well as a lack of transparency, with Mambor only informed of the letter in October through the Papuan representative for the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights.
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2) Resilience from Indigenous Communities through the Film Teman Tegar Maira
January 20, 2026 in Mamta Reading Time: 3 mins read
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Author: Fitri Ramadhani - Editor: Arjuna Pademme
Jayapura, Jubi – The film "Teman Tegar Maira Whisper From Papua" depicts the message of resilience of indigenous communities through their close relationship with the forest. The film will be shown in cinemas across Indonesia starting February 5, 2026.
The film's producer, Chandra Sembiring, said the message conveyed in the film is learning resilience from indigenous communities.
"We want to convey the climate crisis from the perspective of indigenous communities, their resilience, and their closeness to nature," said Chandra Sembiring after the film screening at a cinema in Jayapura Mall, Jayapura City, Papua Province, Monday evening (January 19, 2025).
The film, directed by Anggi Frisca, tells the story of how two children from different backgrounds embark on a journey that changes their lives.
It all started with curiosity about birds of paradise, and ultimately led to a fight for forest rights for their future.
Amidst the misty mountains of Papua, a brave 12-year-old girl named Maira fights to defend the forest she lives in. Enter Tegar, an 11-year-old boy with a physical disability from the city, who wants to learn more about the forest his grandfather once told him about.
Through a blend of music, storytelling, and stunning landscapes, Maira is a tribute to friendship, resilience, and the unheard voices of nature.
The film is expected to contribute to and encourage stakeholders, including artists, to mitigate the damaging impacts of the irreversible climate crisis.
The 97-minute film also depicts how indigenous peoples use nature or forests as a source of food, medicine, and to live in harmony with nature.
Chandra said that through the film, he wants to inspire future generations to speak up for indigenous peoples, making them a subject and issue of public discussion.
"When I went [to several remote areas in Indonesia], I saw what resilience truly is. So, regarding indigenous peoples, I always want to highlight the importance of resilience," he said.
According to him, this film doesn't simply use Papua as a backdrop, but as a subject, not an object. Therefore, the cast and crew involved are local people to open access and a space for expression.
"It may be more popular to bring national artists to the region to make films, but we're trying to open up access and space for Papuan children to become actors and actresses to express their art. They have artistic blood, and quite good motor skills," he said.
Joanita Chatarine Wakum, an Indonesian Idol graduate who plays Teh Isy, Tegar's nanny in the film, stated that the film not only showcases the beauty of nature through images, but also tells a story through every movement and lyric.
Like the lyrics, "Passing rain, rivers, swamps, forests again, passing behind the mountain. Aaah, just a short distance away, by boat, in the same village behind that mountain."
Joanita Wakum believes that music is universal and can touch the hearts of even children.
"Beyond being a singer, I feel this is my way of expressing Papua through my work [film]. This film isn't selfish, just because I brought a team from Jakarta, no. But it involves fellow artists from Kaimana, and ultimately, we can proudly say, 'This is our film,'" said Joanita Chatarine Wakum.
In her role as Teh Isy, Joanita Wakum explains that good intentions alone are not enough, reflecting the challenges faced by Papua, not just in Papua. However, she believes there is always a better path, orchestrated by God.
"We should be proud of our traditions. If we love our land, we will surely know how to preserve it," she said.
Joanita Wakum encouraged the younger generation, especially in Papua, to grow in caring and preserving Papuan culture, saying it's both cool and extraordinary.
Meanwhile, a member of the audience, Afny Fadilla Rahmadani (23), said the film not only addresses environmental issues but also culture and folk songs.
"They dared to bring out the regional language of Papua itself, so that many people outside Papua can learn the local language," Afny said.
According to her, this film educates the public, especially children, to protect the environment from an early age.
"[My impressions after watching this film] were mixed, sis. When I saw the scene where the forest was destroyed, I cried, and even my friend next to me was shocked. I cried because it was so relatable, as many indigenous people struggle to fight for their forests. So, I got carried away by the atmosphere and cried," said the 2025 Papuan Language Ambassador. (*)
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3) Merauke Solidarity Condemns the Issuance of HGU by the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning
January 20, 2026 in Press Release Reading Time: 3 mins read
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Author: Jubi Admin - Editor: Arjuna Pademme
Jayapura, Jubi – Merauke Solidarity condemns the issuance of the Right to Cultivate (HGU) by the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), Nusron Wahid.
The issuance of the HGU is considered to serve corporate interests, plundering nature and privatizing customary land in South Papua Province.
Minister of ATR/Head of BPN, Nusron Wahid, issued a Decree on the Right to Cultivate (HGU) and the Right to Build (HGB) covering 328,000 hectares, under the pretext of ensuring land availability and legal certainty of land rights for developers of national food, energy, and water self-sufficiency areas in South Papua Province.
The HGU and HGB decrees were issued to PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara. This was conveyed by Nusron Wahid to the media after a coordination meeting on the development of national food, energy, and water self-sufficiency areas at the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs in Jakarta on Monday, January 12, 2026.
Merauke Solidarity believes that the decision to change the designation of forest areas and large-scale HGU (HGU) rights, as well as the establishment of the South Papua Province Spatial Plan (RTRW) (Regional Regulation No. 3 of 2025), was made hastily, without the consent and consultation of the indigenous Papuan peoples, the Malind Anim, Yei, Wambon Kenemopte, and Awyu tribes.
"They (these tribes) reside in and own customary territories that are targeted for extractive zones in the National Strategic Project (PSN). The state ignores the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). The state fails to recognize, respect, and protect the authority and rights of indigenous peoples, their right to life, their right to land, and their customary territories," wrote Merauke Solidarity in a press release on Tuesday (January 20, 2026).
According to Merauke Solidarity, the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency (BPN) stated that the forest area targeted by the National Strategic Project (PSN) in South Papua is state-owned, uninhabited, and unsettled.
However, this statement is seen as indicating the persistence of colonialist paradigms and practices in state development policies. The perception of Papua as empty and unclaimed is still widespread, making it seemingly normal to control and occupy customary lands and forests, while denying the existence and rights of indigenous communities.
The decisions to establish the Provincial Spatial Plan (RTRWP), State Forest Areas, and grant HGU (Cultural Rights) are considered forms of natural plunder, land grabbing, and the privatization of customary lands within an extractive economy through regulations aimed at commodifying and serving the expansion of extractive industries such as agriculture, intensive plantations, biodiesel, biomass, and bioethanol, all in the name of achieving food and energy self-sufficiency.
Merauke Solidarity believes that the widespread plundering and exploitation of natural resources, neglect, and exclusion of the people's existence and rights, the dismantling of agricultural systems and community food businesses, the depletion of soil vitality, deforestation, and the destruction of High Conservation Value Areas (HCVA) are being carried out through violence, cunning, corruption, and cruelty.
They stated that these methods have been proven to cost lives and property, causing social unrest and conflict, and climate change and its inevitable impacts. The Sumatran disaster and others have provided lessons in socio-ecological disasters, which we must not repeat.
Merauke Solidarity states that the large-scale appropriation of indigenous peoples' livelihoods and privatization of customary lands in the name of development, and the abuse of law and power, constitute unjust acts and violate the 1945 Constitution, contradict laws and international instruments on human rights, indigenous peoples' rights, climate change, and biodiversity protection, and violate customary law.
"We, the coalition of civil society organizations and victims of the National Strategic Project, united in Merauke Solidarity, declare and strongly condemn the state's policy of issuing regulations and decrees, including the South Papua Provincial Spatial Plan (PPS Regulation No. 3/2025), the Minister of Forestry's Decree (No. 591/2025) concerning changes to the designation of Forest Areas, and the Decree on the granting of Cultivation Rights and Building Rights, which rob indigenous peoples of their rights, destroy their socio-cultural life, and damage and disrupt the balance of the ecosystem."
Merauke Solidarity calls on the president and regional governments to immediately halt the National Strategic Project and large-scale extractive economic development projects, which are unfair and sacrifice the people and the environment.
We fully support the efforts of the victims and people affected by the National Strategic Project to stand in solidarity in the struggle for justice and the right to life, to defend and secure indigenous territories. (*)
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