Journalist Victor Mambor, who is the chief editor of the West Papuan newspaper and website Jubi, has received the Oktovianus Pogau Award from the Indonesian-based Pantau Foundation for courage in journalism.

The foundation’s Andreas Harsono said Mambor’s decision to return to his father’s homeland and defend the rights of indigenous Papuans through journalism, as well as being steadfast in the face of “intimidation after intimidation”, made the jury agree he was a courageous journalist.

Late last month a bomb exploded outside Mambor’s home in Jayapura in an apparent planned attack and he has faced other incidents of intimidation.

Mambor suspected it was related to Jubi’s coverage of the murder and mutilation of four indigenous Papuans in October 2022, which led to four soldiers being charged with “premeditated murder”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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A prominent Papuan journalist has said a recent bombing near his home is the latest in a string of attacks against him, reports ABC Pacific Beat.

Victor Mambor said he heard motorbikes ride past his home before a bomb exploded about 3 metres from his house on Monday.

He suspects his attackers wished to scare him.

“It’s not the first time, I have had more threats before,” Mambor said.

“They broke my my car, they threatened me through SMS texts and WhatsApp messenger.”

Mambor, editor of the Papuan news website Jubi, suspects the work he has done reporting on Indonesian-ruled West Papua has led to these threats.

“I think they think I’m a journalist who supports the West Papua freedom movement,” he said.

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A veteran journalist known for covering rights abuses in Indonesia’s militarised Papua region says a bomb exploded outside his home yesterday and a journalists group has called it an act of “intimidation” threatening press freedom.

No one was injured in the blast near his home in the provincial capital Jayapura, said Victor Mambor, editor of Papua’s leading news website Jubi, who visited New Zealand in 2014.

Police said they were investigating the explosion and that no one had yet claimed responsibility.

“Yes, someone threw a bomb,” Papua Police spokesperson Ignatius Benny told Benar News. “The motive and perpetrators are unknown.”

The Jayapura branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned the explosion as a “terrorist bombing”.

In Sydney, the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) and Pacific Media Watch in New Zealand protested over the incident and called for a full investigation.

Mambor said he heard the sound of a motorcycle at about 4 am and then an explosion about a minute later.

‘Shook like earthquake’
“It was so loud that my house shook like there was an earthquake,” he told Benar News as reported by Radio Free Asia.

“I also checked the source of the explosion and smelt sulfur coming from the side of the house.”

The explosion left a hole in the road, he said.

The incident was not the first to occur outside Mambor’s home. In April 2021, windows were smashed and paint sprayed on his car in the middle of the night.

Mambor is also an advocate for press freedom in Papua. In that role, he has criticised Jakarta’s restrictions on the media in Papua, as well as its other policies in his troubled home province.

The AJI awarded Mambor its press freedom award in August 2022, saying that through Jubi, “Victor brings more voices from Papua, amid domination of information that is biased, one-sided and discriminatory.”

“AJI in Jayapura strongly condemns the terrorist bombing and considers this an act of intimidation that threatens press freedom in Papua,” it said in a statement.

‘Voice the truth’ call
“AJI Jayapura calls on all journalists in the land of Papua to continue to voice the truth despite obstacles. Justice should be upheld even though the sky is falling,” said AJI chair Lucky Ireeuw.

Amnesty International Indonesia urged the police to find those responsible.

“The police must thoroughly investigate this incident, because this is not the first time … meaning there was an omission that made the perpetrators feel free to do it again, to intimidate and threaten journalists,” Amnesty’s campaign manager in Indonesia, Nurina Savitri, told BenarNews.

The Papua region, located at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, has been the site of a decades-old pro-independence insurgency where both government security forces and rebels have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians.

Foreign journalists have been largely barred from the area, with the government insisting it could not guarantee their safety. Indonesian journalists allege that officials make their work difficult by refusing to provide information.

The armed elements of the independence movement have stepped up lethal attacks on Indonesian security forces, civilians and targets such as construction of a trans-Papua highway that would make the Papuan highlands more accessible.

Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, has accused Indonesian security forces of intimidation, arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and mass forced displacement in Papua.

Security forces kill 36
Last month, Indonesian activist group KontraS said 36 people were killed by security forces and pro-independence rebels in the Papua and West Papua provinces in 2022, an increase from 28 in 2021.

In Sydney, Joe Collins of the AWPA said in a statement: “These acts of intimidation against local journalists in West Papua  threaten freedom of the press.

“It is the local media in West Papua that first report on human rights abuses and local journalists are crucial in reporting information on what is happening in West Papua”.

Collins said Canberra remained silent on the issue — ‘the Australian government is very selective in who it criticises over their human rights record.”

There was no problem raising concerns about China or Russia over their record, “but Canberra seems to have great difficulty in raising the human rights abuses in West Papua with Jakarta.”

Republished from Free Radio Asia with additional reporting by Pacific Media Watch.

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Two foreign nationals have lost their lives in the Solomon Islands during a bomb blast last night at their home in Tasahe, West Honiara.

Police said the two, an Australian and a British citizen, were working for a Norwegian aid agency conducting a survey on unexploded ordnance, RNZ News reports.

The agency, Norwegian Peoples Aid, has named them as Trent Lee and Stephen Atkinson.

READ MORE: Australian and Briton killed in Solomon Islands bomb blast

Inspector Clifford Tunuki said police were working overnight to clear the site of the explosion which went off between 7.30pm and 8pm.

Witnesses said the sound of the blast ranged through nearby homes.

Some compared the sound of the blast to a vehicle tyre bursting.

Following the blast, people rushed to the scene where they discovered the men badly injured.

Ambulance called
An ambulance was immediately called to bring the men to the National Referral Hospital (NRH).

Reports said one of the men died at the scene while the other was confirmed dead later at the hospital.

Last night the area around the home was sealed off as police began investigating the incident.

A statement issued by the Police Media Unit last night said officers of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team and Forensics Department were at the scene following the fatal bomb blast.

The statement said medical authorities at NRH had confirmed last night that the two foreign nationals had died as a result of the blast.

The two expats were working for the Norwegian non-government organisation, Norwegian Peoples Aid, that is conducting a non-technical survey on the contamination of Unexploded Ordnances (UXOs) in Solomon Islands, the police media statement said.

The US State Department funds the project.

Police at the scene
Inspector Tunuki said the police had received a report on the incident yesterday evening and were at the scene of the tragic incident.

EOD officers have rendered the scene safe before the RSIPF Forensics and other investigators were able to access the scene to find out what happened, he added.

“We call on members of the public in the Tasahe area to please stay well away from the area of the incident and allow RSIPF officers to do their work as we investigate this tragic incident,” Inspector Tunuki said.

He also confirmed that none of the RSIPF EOD officers were at the scene when the bomb blast happened, despite the fact that they work together with the project.

He explained the survey team usually went out to confirm the location of the UXOs following reports from the communities and the information was relayed to them.

“We determine what to do with the UXOs after the survey has located them,” Inspector Tunuki explained.

On behalf of the RSIPF, Inspector Tunuki conveyed his sincere condolences to family and relatives of those two foreign nationals who had died.

Many locals expressed shock about the news last night.

Social media was flooded with message of condolences and sympathy to the families of the dead men.

Moffat Mamu is a Solomon Star news reporter.

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