Rights activists have called on the Indonesian government to return four treason-charged Papuans to their home province from South Sulawesi province to ensure their safety and a fair trial.
They are charged with treason for issuing a letter in April requesting the governor of Southwest Papua, Elias Kambu, to facilitate peace negotiations between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Forkorus Yaboisembut, president of the pro-independence organization, the Federal Republic of West Papua, to discuss independence for the restive province.
They were arrested and charged with violating articles 106 and 110 of the Indonesian Criminal Code that criminalize secession.
The defendants were transferred to Makassar last week after the police cited security reasons to hold their trial in Sorong, the capital of Southwest Papua. The transfer triggered public protests and a police crackdown in Sorong led to the arrest of 10 people.
However, rights activists say the ongoing deadly riots across Indonesia over allowance raises for parliamentarians have made Makassar even more unsafe.
On Aug. 29, the local parliament building in Makassar was set ablaze after protesters clashed with police, leaving a trail of devastation.
"It is clear that Makassar is not a safe area. In fact, they have made a fatal error that threatens the safety of the four political prisoners," Leonardo Ijie, director of the Sorong-based Kaki Abu Legal Aid Institute, told UCA News.
"We must not allow anything to endanger their lives, as that would be a black mark on the state," Ijie said.
Yan Warinussy, the defendants' lawyer, said the alleged security threat in Sorong was baseless because it has a large security presence, including police and military.
“This was a fabricated excuse. Sufficient security infrastructure exists in Sorong,” he told UCA News.
Indonesian judicial system allows transfer of a trial from one court to another with the approval of the Supreme Court in cases of security risks and natural disasters.
Rights activists say none of the causes was evident in the case of four Papuan prisoners.
UK-based TAPOL, a rights group focused on human rights, peace and democracy in Indonesia, termed the transfer of Papuan prisoners “discriminatory” and noted that such actions are often “only carried out against West Papuans who hold political views that differ from those of the authorities.""We have recorded the deaths of two West Papuan political prisoners in South Sulawesi — one while undergoing trial in Makassar, the other while serving his sentence in Takalar Prison," the group said in a statement.
The current case shows the Indonesian government’s suppression of the peaceful dissent of Papuans, says Usman Hamid from Amnesty International Indonesia office.
"They were convicted for treason, simply for peacefully expressing their political views, something the founding fathers of the Indonesian republic also did when fighting against colonialism,” he told UCA News.
Catholic and rights activist Emanuel Gobay of the Papua Legal Aid Foundation said the defendants committed no crime in seeking a peaceful solution, but the state response was excessive.
“It seems the government is moving away from a peaceful path to resolve the conflict in Papua and even defying the 2021 Special Autonomy Law,” he told UCA News.
Indonesian security forces opened fire on a peaceful protest in Sorong, West Papua, on August 27, killing one person and injuring several others, according to eyewitness reports received by Green Left.
Indonesian security forces also made 20 arrests. They released 16 detainees two days later, but have arrested another four pro-democracy activists.
Among those detained is the husband of respected pro-democracy leader and former political prisoner, Sayang Mandabayan, who is being hunted down by the Indonesian occupation forces.
Democracy activists are demanding immediate international attention to ensure Mandabayan’s safety.
Australia West Papua Association spokesperson Joe Collins said the demonstrators were peacefully protesting the transfer of four Papuan political prisoners — Goram Goram Gaman, Maksi Sangkek, Piter Robaha and Nikson Mai — from the Sorong State Court to Makassar.
The four are facing trumped-up treason charges.
“[The protesters] were calling on the authorities to allow the prisoners to remain in West Papua, where they would have the support of their families and friends,” Collins said. “The security forces responded with their usual heavy-handed approach to peaceful rallies in West Papua with intimidation and arbitrary arrests.”
Jubi reported that Papuan mothers and the families of prisoners carried out a spontaneous action by occupying the yard of the Sorong City police headquarters on August 29. That day, according to Jubi, 16 detainees were released. Eight others remain in detention, including the four who were arrested on August 29.
“Of the eight residents still under arrest, five are activists from the Pro-Democracy Papuan People’s Solidarity Front throughout Greater Sorong,” said Jubi.
Snap actions calling for an end to the repression were held at the Indonesian embassy in Canberra and its Naarm/Melbourne and Garramilla/Darwin consulates on September 2.
Indonesia’s repression of the West Papua pro-independence movement has escalated, with dozens of activists jailed on treason charges for seeking peaceful dialogue with the occupying Indonesian administration.
Mandabayan’s home was raided twice in the past week. “This is a deliberate campaign to criminalise political leadership, intimidate women defenders, and silence West Papua’s democratic voices,” Australian West Papuan rights activist Ronny Kareni said.
“In West Papua, talking about peace is seen as treason. These raids, transfers and arrests are not isolated. They are part of a long-standing pattern of state systemic violence designed to crush West Papua’s movement for justice. Leaders like Sayang Mandabayan are not criminals — they are voices of democracy that the Pacific must defend.”
These attacks come as Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, long accused of war crimes and notorious for his poor human rights record, tightens his grip on power.
Protesters across Indonesia are rejecting his authoritarianism — the parliament building in Makassar was set alight as thousands demanded democracy and an end to state violence.
“While the Indonesian military persecutes urban activists, up in the mountains [of West Papua] they are torching villages and murdering with impunity,” Naarm activist Zelda Grimshaw said.
“The new generation of Indonesians understands that West Papua is Indonesia’s colony, and that whatever crimes the army commits there may one day be committed against them. They will not stand for another dictatorial government. Neither should we.”
The 54th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders’ meeting will begin in the Solomon Islands on September 8. According to Australian West Papua Association (AWPA), at PIF’s 46th meeting, held in Papua New Guinea in 2015, forum leaders pushed for it to “convey the views of the Forum to the Indonesian Government and to consult on a fact-finding mission to discuss the situation in Papua with the parties involved”.
“Ten years later, there still has been no positive response from Jakarta,” Collins said.
AWPA is urging PIF leaders to “vigorously follow up on their original request”. Jakarta must be pressured to “allow a PIF fact-finding mission to visit West Papua” and “invite the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the territory”.
The riots in Indonesia have so far taken eight lives with 700 injured, according to Reuters.
The situation is chaotic and evolving differently in separate locations. It seems there’s a pause in the Jakarta protests; this follows intervention by Prabowo Subianto in a televised speech on Sunday night from the safety of the Palace.
Here was a chance for the president to take to the streets and show he’s the fearless toughie he portrays, and listen to the mobs. His predecessor President Jokowi in 2015 took PM Malcolm Turnbull on _blusukan_ – public walkabouts, though that was in a time of peace.
Hard glass bottles — essential for Molotov cocktails — are now hard to find as plastic has taken over, so the rioters have little ammunition against tear gas and water cannon.
Prabowo warned that the riots were leading to makar (treason, subversion, rebellion and terrorism.) Using these ill-defined terms is adding to the fear. Unproven stories of business people and lawmakers fleeing to Singapore and Hong Kong are flooding social media.
“The right to gather peacefully must be respected and protected,” he said. “But we cannot deny that symptoms have begun to appear that there are actions outside of the law, even against the law.”
He said he’d given orders to Polri (National Police) and the TNI (Indonesian Military) to take “appropriate action against all forms of destruction of public facilities, the looting of individual homes, or public places, or economic centres”, and then added “in accordance with prevailing laws.”
Jakarta, Indonesia. Aug, 2025. Protesters throw stones at the House of Representatives building during the chaos in Jakarta, Indonesia. The protesters, consisting of students and members of the public, opposed the policies of Indonesian parliamentarians, which they considered detrimental to the people. (Credit Image: © Claudio Pramana/ZUMA Press Wire) Contributor: ZUMA Press, Inc. Image ID:3CG08T4
The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.
Indonesia is in chaos, as massive protests have erupted over corruption, economic hardship, and police brutality. I call on all my people to get ready for another escalation back home. West Papua is ready to depart from this dying empire.
This time, the protestors’ conflict is not only with the TNI, but with the DPR, the Parliament that is supposed to represent them. The Indonesian government is showing that they do not have the trust of their own people. How can they claim legitimacy over a different nation, illegally occupied for sixty years?
Protests were triggered by the killing of a taxi driver in Jakarta by the Brimob police unit. These murderers have terrorised West Papua for years. As well as killing ten civilians during the 2023 Wamena massacre, they are also responsible for the recent executions of Tobias Silak, Charles Kogoya, Yosia Keiya, and 13-year-old Ronaldus Duwitau. Indonesians are now experiencing a tiny fraction of what West Papuans go through every day.
At the same time as protests have engulfed Jakarta, a massive wave of repression is occurring in Sorong, West Papua. Indonesia must stop the transfer of the four Papuan political prisoners to Makassar, and immediately release Sayang Mandabayan, along with her husband Yan Manggaprouw and the sixteen other activists arrested for refusing the prisoners’ transfer out of West Papua.
Through transmigration, increased militarisation, and the industrial developments in Merauke, Raja Ampat and Intan Jaya, the war criminal Prabowo is speeding up the destruction of West Papua. Now his own people have turned on him. He has only been in power for a year, and yet Indonesia is collapsing.
While the ULMWP supports the anti-government action, this is not our struggle. West Papuans oppose Prabowo as we have opposed every leader of the Indonesian occupation. We are fighting for the liberation of West Papua, not for the improvement of Indonesia’s democracy. For over half a century we have suffered rape, torture, arbitrary arrest, exploitation, political imprisonment, genocide, ecocide, and the destruction of our ancestral land. We are ready to leave.
The ULMWP calls on the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to provide assurances for West Papuans during these dangerous times. The escalating situation in Indonesia is a reminder that we are not safe under colonial rule. West Papuans are a Pacific and Melanesian people and for our own security we need a voice in these political forums.
To my people, I ask you to be vigilant. West Papuans living in Jakarta or other parts of Indonesia should make preparations to return home. Remember that in 1998, similar protests led to the fall of Suharto, and ultimately the freedom of East Timor and the Papuan Spring. During that revolutionary process we came close to gaining freedom through the Papua Presidium Council (PDP), before our momentum was thwarted by the execution of Theys Eluay and the imprisonment of other leaders, including myself. The ULMWP is ready to play the role of the PDP and take charge of our country when the coloniser leaves. West Papuans are ready to run our own affairs.
Benny Wenda
President
ULMWP
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