A brutal killing of three Papuan civilians in Puncak Jaya reveals that occupied West Papua is a ticking time bomb under Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto, claims the leader of an advocacy group.

And United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Benny Wenda says the Melanesian region risks becoming “another East Timor”.

The victims have been named as Tonda Wanimbo, 33; Dominus Enumbi, and Murib Government.

Their killings were followed by riots in Puncak Jaya as angry indigenous residents protested in front of the local police station and set fire to police cars, said Wenda in a statement.

“This incident is merely the most recent example of Indonesia’s military and business strategy in West Papua,” he said.

“Indonesia deliberately creates escalations to justify deploying more troops, particularly in mineral-rich areas, causing our people to scatter and allowing international corporations to exploit the empty land – starting the cycle of bloodshed all over again.”

According to the ULMWP, 4500 Indonesian troops have recently been deployed to Paniai, one of the centres of West Papuan resistance.

An estimated 100,000 West Papuans have been displaced since 2018, while recent figures show more than 76,000 Papuans remain internally displaced — “living as refugees in the bush”.

Indonesia ‘wants our land’
“Indonesia wants our land and our resources, not our people,” Wenda said.

The Indonesian military claimed that the three men were members of the resistance movement TPNPB (West Papua National Liberation Army), but this has been denied.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Candra Kurniawan claimed one of the men had been sought by security forces for six years for alleged shootings of civilians and security personnel.

“This is the same lie they told about Enius Tabuni and the five Papuan teenagers murdered in Yahukimo in September 2023,” Wenda said.

“The military line was quickly refuted by a community leader in Puncak Jaya, who clarified that the three men were all civilians.”

Concern over Warinussy
Wenda said he was also “profoundly concerned” over the shooting of lawyer and human rights defender Christian Warinussy.

Warinussy has spent his career defending indigenous Papuans who have expelled from their ancestral land to make way for oil palm plantations and industrial mines.

“Although we don’t know who shot him, his shooting acts as a clear warning to any Papuans who stand up for their customary land rights or investigates Indonesia’s crimes,” Wenda said.

Indonesia’s latest violence is taking place “in the shadow of Prabowo Subianto”, who is due to take office as President on October 20.

Prabowo has been widely accused over human rights abuses during his period in Timor-Leste.

“Will he form militias to crush the West Papua liberation movement, as he previously did in East Timor?” asked Wenda.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A West Papuan pro-independence leader has accused Indonesia of new human rights atrocities this week while the republic has apparently elected a new president with a past record of violations in Timor-Leste and West Papua.

Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto has declared victory in the presidential election on Wednesday after unofficial vote counts showed him with a significant lead over his rivals, reports Al Jazeera.

The 72-year-old former Kopassus special forces commander, who had run unsuccessfully for president twice before, was given a dishonourable discharge in 1998 after claims that his force kidnapped and tortured political opponents of Soeharto as his regime crumbled.

He has also been accused of human rights abuses in East Timor, which won independence from Indonesia amid the collapse of the Soeharto regime, and also in West West Papua.

On the day that Indonesia went to the polls — Valentine’s Day, February 14 — Benny Wenda, president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), accused Jakarta’s military of continuing its “reign of terror” in rural West Papua.

“The latest tragedy they have inflicted on my people occurred in the Puncak regency,” Wenda said in a statement.

“Military raids on the February 3 and 4 devastated a number of highland villages.

‘Villagers tortured, houses burnt’
“Numerous houses were burnt to the ground, villagers were tortured, and at least one Papuan died from his wounds — though Indonesian control of information makes it difficult to know whether others were also killed.”

Wenda said that “as always”, the military had claimed the victims were TPNPB resistance fighters — “a grotesque lie, immediately denied by the villagers and their relatives”.

Wenda also accused Indonesia of “hypocrisy” over Israel’s war on Gaza.

“We have complete sympathy with [Palestinians over their suffering] in what is happening in Gaza,” he said.

“But Indonesian hypocrisy on Palestine cannot be ignored. They are bringing a legal case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about Israel’s occupation of Palestine while intensifying their own brutal and bloody military occupation of West Papua.

“They are supporting South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ while conducting their own genocide in West Papua.

Denying West Papuan rights
“They are crying about Palestinians’ right to self-determination while continuing to deny West Papuans that same right.”

More than 500,000 West Papuans have been killed since the occupation began in 1963, says the ULMWP.

In the past six years, more than 100,000 Papuans were estimated to have been displaced, made refugees in their own land as a result of Indonesian military operations.

“Genocide, ecocide, and ethnic cleansing — West Papuans are victims of all three. The world must pay attention to our plight.”

There were no reports of reaction from the Jakarta authorities.

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Indonesia’s Papua police chief Inspector-General Mathius D Fakhiri has called for action to ensure that “security disturbances” in the Puncak Jaya highlands do not widen in the face of escalating attacks by pro-independence militants.

“For Puncak, we will take immediate action,” he said.

According to General Fakhiri, attacks by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) had happened repeatedly since early 2023.

A number of attacks had caused casualties with soldiers, police, and civilians.

General Fakhiri urged civilians not to travel to places far from the observation of security forces, both the police and the Indonesian Military (TNI).

“I have also called on TPNPB members to immediately cooperate with all stakeholders, while providing security guarantees so that security disturbances do not recur,” General Fakhiri said.

Cited incidents
He cited these “disturbances” in Puncak Regency:

• On January 23, 2023, an armed group shot dead a motorcycle taxi driver on the Ilame Bridge, Wako Village, Gome District.
• On January 24, 2023, armed groups attacked a member of the Indonesian military (TNI) at Sinak Market, Sinak District.
• On February 18, 2023, armed groups burned down a house and engaged in a shootout with security forces in Ilaga.
• On March 3, 2023, armed groups attacked a TNI post and shot dead one TIN soldier and a civilian in Pamebut Village, Yugu Muak District. However, TPNPB claimed that the civilian was shot by security forces.
• On March 22, 2023, armed groups shot dead a motorcycle taxi driver at the Kimak road junction, Ilaga District.

General Fakhiri also reminded his forces not to respond excessively to the burning of houses and the Gome District Office, Puncak Regency, Central Papua Province last Tuesday.

Arson ‘a strategy’
According to him, such arson was a strategy of the militants to provoke the security forces into pursuing them

“I ask the officers in the field not to respond excessively. Because usually the motive for the West Papua National Liberation Army armed group to burn is hoping that the officers will respond and then be shot at,” General Fakhiri said.

“I have reminded every rank, if there is an incident in the afternoon or evening do not respond immediately. Wait for the afternoon, then respond and carry out crime scene processing,” he said.

General Fakhiri said that the series of incidents in several vulnerable areas was motivated by an attempt to show the existence of each armed group.

He considered that the various attacks were uncoordinated.

“That’s why I hope the authorities in the field can scrutinise them well. Except for the incidents in Nduga and Lanny Jaya, of course it is of more concern, because it can interfere with the efforts of the authorities to rescue the Susi Air pilot who is currently still being held hostage by the Egianus Kogoya group,” he said.

New Zealand hostage pilot Phillip Merhtens was captured by a TPNPB group on February 7 and has remained a captive since.

Meanwhile, the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) has claimed that Indonesian authorities have arrested 32 Papuans taking part in fund-raising for the Vanuatu tropical cyclones.

Republished from Tabloid Jubi with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organisation (TPNPB-OPM) has warned the Papuan people not to trust that the TNI (Indonesian military) and the Polri (Indonesian police) can provide them with security guarantees in the region.

OPM spokesperson Sebby Sambom said that they had “sounded the drums of war” against the security forces so civilian population that were still in certain areas could avoid becoming casualties, reports CNN Indonesia.

“You (the civilian population) shouldn’t listen to the orders by the TNI-Polri saying, ‘We guarantee [the safety of] the civilian population’– there’s no such guarantee, the TNI-Polri are deceiving you,” said Sambom in a video release received by journalists.

Sambom is appealing civilian populations from all groups to leave regions which the OPM had designated as “war zones”. He said that there were several such conflict areas. including Intan Jaya, Puncak Jaya, Ndugama, the Bintang Highlands and Yahukimo.

Sambom said that the OPM — which has been labeled as a “terrorist” organisation by Jakarta — would not be responsible for civilians that died.

“If you’re a construction worker, a motorcycle taxi driver, all of you [must] leave the conflict areas. Because we cannot be responsible for your lives, we have warned you,” he said.

“But you listen to the TNI-Polri which deceives you by saying we guarantee [your safety], they are deceiving you,” Sambom said.

OPM call criticised
Joint Defence Area Command III (Kogabwilhan III) spokesperson Colonel Czi Gusti Nyoman Suriastawa responded by claiming that the OPM’s call was “a deception” which had been endlessly repeated by the group.

He said that there were no regions in Papua which are war zones. According to Suriastawa, every incident which had occurred was due to the OPM “terrorist movement”.

Moreover, he claimed that the OPM was becoming increasingly isolated.

“Let them (the OPM) say what they want. Up until now, there are no conflict areas that are war zones, what there is the OPM terrorist movement which is increasingly being squeezed because their capacity to move [is limited because] they are constantly being pursued by TNI-Polri personnel”, Suriastawa told CNN Indonesia.

He said that the Papuan people were increasingly showing their opposition to armed pro-independence groups which the government had now designated as terrorists.

According to Suriastawa, the public was no longer influenced by the “propaganda” of the OPM which he alleged was acting outside the law and even killed Papuan people themselves.

“This shows just how angry the ordinary people are at seeing the brutality and arbitrary actions of the OPM,” he claimed.

Workers fired on
Earlier, an armed group is alleged to have fired on five construction workers working on the Kuk River Bridge in Samboga village, Seradala district, Yahukimo regency, last Thuraday.

Four of the five have been declared dead while the surviving victim is being treated for injuries sustained from broken glass.

During the incident, an armed group numbering about 30 militants fired on a convoy of trucks carrying workers. They were attacked with a variety of weapons including knives, arrows, machetes, samurai swards and rifles.

Based on witness testimonies gathered by police, four other workers were being held hostage by the armed group at an unknown location.

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “OPM Tuding Aparat Abaikan Warga, TNI Sebut Gertakan Teroris”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Indonesia is unleashing a massive military crackdown in West Papua with the use of “demon troops” and spurning human rights, warns a Papuan leader.

Benny Wenda, interim president of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), said in a statement today that cutting off the internet was a repeat of the “Papuan spring” uprising of August-September 2019 when the Indonesian military concealed bloodshed and massacres.

He claimed the situation was shaping up as the “biggest military operation since the late 1970s”.

“I issue this urgent warning [to] the world – huge Indonesian military operations, some of the largest in years, are imminent in West Papua,” Wenda said.

“The internet is being cut off, hundreds more troops are being deployed, and we are receiving reports that West Papuan civilians are fleeing from their villages in Intan Jaya, Puncak Jaya, and Nduga regencies.”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered a “crackdown” in West Papua following the killing of an Indonesian intelligence officer, Brigadier General I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha, in clashes last week.

The People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker, Bambang Soesatyo, has said that they will “discuss human rights matters later” after eliminating the Papuan resistance movement.

“Just last week 400 new specialist soldiers, known as ‘demon troops’, were deployed to Nduga regency, where more than 50,000 people have already been displaced since December 2018.

Recent reports said more than 21,000 Indonesian troops had been deployed to the West Papua region in the past three years.

Internet shutdown cover
The internet shutdown provided cover for the military operations.

“The Jala Mangkara Detachment (Denjaka), elite troops of the Indonesian Navy, are being deployed. I myself witnessed the consequences of these military operations when I was a child, seeing my village bombed and my family killed,” Wenda said.

“I had to flee and live in the bush for six years. It makes my heart cry that this is about to happen to so many more of my people.”

These military operations follow the Indonesian government deciding to label West Papuan resistance groups as ‘terrorists’, a move condemned by Amnesty and Indonesia’s own human rights commission.

“Those in West Papua who take up arms are not terrorists. They are not connected to a religious ideology or international funding networks,” said Wenda.

“They are just defending their land against an illegal occupier. They have little knowledge of the outside world, they are fighting barefoot to defend their people against a modern military.

“Maybe a few hundred of them face an army of over 20,000 troops, including D88, trained in how to kill my people for years by the West.

Only ‘state terrorism’
“There is only one actor – the Indonesian state that has been killing pastors and high school children for political purposes, who has driven over 400 women and children to their death in the bush.

“Indonesian police and military this year have beaten three brothers to death in a hospital, executed teenagers, and killed peaceful activists in prison.

“The new military operations are already striking fear into West Papuans across the country. This is state terrorism.”

Wenda said the killing of the Indonesian intelligence general was the justification that Indonesia needed to carry out these operations.

“How can the killing of a leading official in an occupying army justify killing civilians and attacking villages? The Indonesian military often carries out attacks and blames it on West Papuans in order to justify its operations.

“They never provide any evidence of who carried out the killing.”

Wenda asked why Indonesia had refused to allow international journalists into West Papua to investigate these issues.

‘Desperate to hide killings’
““Why does it ban human rights monitors, including even the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights?” asked Wenda.

“Indonesia is so desperate to hide its killing and torture that it is willing to defy the will of 84 international states calling for the UN to be allowed access. Indonesia has got away with impunity for the 1977-79 genocidal military operations, the 1998 Biak Massacre, the 2014 Paniai Massacre, and so many more [human rights violations].”

More than 500,000 Papuans had already been killed, claimed Wenda, who warned that the number was going to rise even further – “a genocide is in motion”.

“This is my cry to the world, to the UN, to the Pacific Islands Forum, to Melanesian leaders, to the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP), and to the UK, Australian, New Zealand, Dutch and US governments,” said Wenda.

“We are about to witness another massacre in West Papua. You have the power to intervene and help us find a peaceful solution to the crisis.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz