West Papuan journalist Victor Mambor has vowed not to be silenced despite years of threats, harassment and even a bomb attack on his home.

The 51-year-old founder and editor-in-chief of Jubi, West Papua’s leading media outlet, was in Fiji this week, where he spoke exclusively to The Fiji Times about his fight to expose human rights abuses.

“Despite them bombing my home and office with molotov bombs, I am still doing journalism today because my people are hurting — and I won’t stop,” Mambor said.

In January 2023, an improvised explosive device detonated outside his home in Jayapura in what he describes as a “terror” attack.

Police later closed the case citing “lack of evidence”.

He was in Suva on Tuesday night as Jubi Media Papua, in collaboration with University of the South Pacific Journalism and PANG, screened its documentary Pepera 1969: A Democratic Integration?

“I believe good journalism is journalism that makes society better,” he said.

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

Victor Mambor: ‘I need to do better for my people and my land.’   Video: The Fiji Times

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

It has been 60 years since Indonesia has been refused humanitarian agencies and international media access to enter West Papua, says a leading West Papuan leader and advocate.

According to Benny Wenda, president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Indonesia is “comparable to North Korea” in terms of media access.

North Korea does not allow international media visits, and the situation in West Papua is similar.

Speaking with the Vanuatu Daily Post on Friday in response to claims by the Indonesia ambassador Dr Siswo Pramono last Thursday, Wenda said organisations such as the Red Cross, International Peace Brigades, human rights agencies, and even the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had been banned from West Papua for 60 years.

The ULMWP also issued a statement stating that more than 100,000 West Papuans were internally displaced between December 2018 and March 2022 as a result of an escalation in Indonesian militarisation.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

When Papuan journalist Victor Mambor visited New Zealand almost nine years ago, he impressed student journalists from the Pacific Media Centre and community activists with his refreshing candour and courage.

As the founder of the Jubi news media group, he remained defiant that he would tell the truth no matter what the risk while facing an oppressive and vindictive regime.

“Journalists need to break down the wall and learn freely about our struggle,” he said in a message to New Zealand media via an interview with Pacific Media Watch.

Now the 49-year-old journalist and editor finds that the risks are growing exponentially as his media network has expanded — with an English language website and Jubi TV becoming add-ons — and the exposure of his networks have also widened.

He writes for the Jakarta Post, Benar News and contributes to international news services. Two years ago he was also co-producer of an award-winning Al Jazeera 101 East documentary about the plunder of West Papuan forests for oil palm plantations.

But last week the timing was impeccable over his latest award, the Oktonianus Pogau Prize for courageous journalism. It came just eight days after a bomb blast had happened in the street outside his Jayapura home.

The blast has been described as a “terror” attack as a warning over his journalism.

Police investigating
Police are investigating but nothing of substance has been reported so far.

Less than two years ago, on 21 May 2021, another (of many) attempts were made to intimidate Mambor — a glass window in his Isuzu car was smashed and the backdoor and lefthand door spray-painted while the vehicle was parked outside his house in Jayapura.

No prosecution, or even an arrest of a suspect.

“This act of terror and intimidation is clearly a form of violence against journalists and threatens press freedom in Papua and more broadly in Indonesia,” said Lucky Ireeuw, chair of the Jayapura chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) at the time.

“It is strongly suspected that the terrorism suffered by Victor is related to reporting by Tabloid Jubi which a certain party dislikes,” he added without being more specific.

Mambor was actually born at Muara Enim, Sumatra in 1974, the son of Rachmawati Saibuna and John Simon Mambor, a poet from Rasiey, Wondama Bay. His father was also a leader of the Papua Presidium Council and he died as a political prisoner in Jakarta in 2003 at the age of 55.

Presidium chair at the time was chief Theys Eluay, who was murdered by Indonesian soldiers in the following year at Sentani, Papua. Eluay was a colleague of John Mambor.
Victor Mambor often quotes his father, saying: “Be proud of yourselves as Papuans who have never begged in their rich land.”

Pantau citation
The Pantau Foundation began awarding the Pogau prize for courage in journalism in 2017 to honour the bravery of the founder of news media Suara Papua, Oktovianus Pogau.

A Papuan journalist and activist born in Sugapa on 5 August 1992, Pogau died at the age of 23 in Jayapura. The award is given annually to commemorate his bravery.

Pogau reported on violence against hundreds of indigenous Papuans during the Third Papuan Congress in Jayapura in 2011. At the time, three Papuans were killed and five jailed on treason charges — but no Indonesian official was questioned or punished.

Frustrated by the fact that hardly any Indonesian news media were reporting these human rights violations, Pogau launched Suara Papua in 2011.

Speaking for the Pantau Foundation, human rights advocate Andreas Harsono delivered this citation in part:

“Victor 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 that he was a courageous journalist.

“Victor Mambor’s name was recently mentioned in the media after a bomb was detonated outside his house on January 23 in Jayapura. Mambor suspected the terror was related to Jubi’s coverage of the murder and mutilation of four indigenous Papuans from Nduga in Timika in October 2022, when four soldiers were charged with “premeditated murder” . . .

“Victor Mambor grew up in Muara Enim until he graduated from SMAN 1. In 1992, he moved to Bandung, where he later worked as a journalist for Pikiran Rakyat daily. In Bandung, he was mentored by Suyatna Anirun, an actor and director from the Bandung Study Theatre Club.

“In 2004, after his father died, young Victor Mambor decided to work as a journalist in Jayapura. He was appointed editor of Jubi, later general manager, expanding into television and using drones.

“On his blog, Victor Mambor posts important texts he created or translated between 2005 and 2017, including the abduction of Papuan children to Java and his criticism [about] Jakarta journalists’ perspectives, which often only talk about Indonesian nationalism and not giving much space for Papuan perspectives.

“In May 2015, Victor Mambor interviewed President Joko Widodo in Merauke about restrictions on foreign journalists entering Papua since 1967. Jokowi replied that all foreign journalists were free to enter Papua without restrictions.

“Ironically, to this day President Jokowi’s statement has not come true. Foreign journalists are still restricted from entering Papua.

“In 2019, together with several journalists in Pacific Island countries, he founded the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum (MMFF).

“Mambor has also increased coverage of the Pacific region through Jubi, a natural thing for Papuan media, as well as working with media outlets such as Radio New Zealand, Solomon Star, Vanuatu Daily Post, Melanesia News, Fiji Times, Islands Business, Cook Islands News, Post-Courier, and Marshall Islands Journal.

“Victor Mambor was one of three co-producers of an investigative video entitled Selling Out West Papua broadcast by Al Jazeera in June 2020. He collaborated with Mongabay, the Gecko Project and the Korea Centre for Investigative Journalism.

“This was about how a South Korean company, Korindo, seized land and destroyed Papua’s forests. The documentary makers received the Wincott Award for video journalism.

“On May 21, 2021, Mambor was intimidated. His car glass was broken, and the door was spray-painted, while parked at night in front of his house in Jayapura. The police have yet to find the perpetrators of this vandalism.

“In September 2021, António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, issued an annual report on international cooperation in the field of human rights. Guterres named Victor Mambor as one of five human rights defenders who frequently experienced intimidation, harassment and threats in covering issues in Papua and West Papua provinces.

“Yayasan Pantau calls on the Indonesian police, especially in Papua, to keep Victor Mambor safe, and to find the people who damaged his car and placed a bomb in front of his house.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Posted on August 6 on the International Federation of Journalists website, the article described the contents of the latest issue of the Pacific Journalism Review, a research journal published by the Pacific Media Centre.

READ MORE: PJR warns growing risks and hostile laws ‘silencing’ Melanesian media

Facebook’s algorithms censored it because, according to an automatic message sent to Dr Robie, “some audiences are sensitive to different things when it comes to nudity”.

The closest thing to nudity in the IFJ article was a photo of an anti-racism protest by Papuan students showing two of the participants in traditional highlands costume – consisting of necklaces and penis sheaths.

‘Tyranny’ of algorithms
“Anybody with common sense would see that the photograph in question was not ’nudity’ in the community standards sense of Facebook’s guidelines,” Dr Robie said, condemning the “tyranny” of the platform’s algorithms.

A former journalist himself as well as an academic, Dr Robie tried to report the mistake to Facebook three times on August 7, without success.

“There is no proper process to challenge or appeal against such arbitrary rulings,” he said.

RSF contacted Mia Garlick, the person responsible for Australian and New Zealand policy at Facebook, to get her position on this issue, but had not received any substantive response at the time of writing.

“This utterly absurd case of censorship shows the degree to which Facebook’s arbitrary algorithms pose serious threats to the free flow of information and, by extension, to press freedom,” said Daniel Bastard, head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

“As Facebook has imposed itself as a leading conveyor of news and information and, as such, is bound by the requirements of responsibility and transparency, we call on its regional desk to immediately lift the censorship on this article.”

Exploiting algorithms
This is not the first time that Facebook has censored content about the rights of Indonesia’s Papuan population on “nudity” grounds. It deleted a Vanuatu Daily Post article in April 2018 because it was accompanied by a photo of Papuan warriors in traditional costume taken by the Australian photographer Ben Bohane in 1995.

Pro-Indonesia trolls and fake Facebook accounts are known to report this kind of photo to Facebook, exploiting its algorithms to get content they dislike censored.

The issue of West Papua, the Indonesian-ruled western half of the island of New Guinea, is taboo in Indonesia and accessing its two provinces is very difficult for independent journalists, who need a special visa to go there.

When pro-independence demonstrations erupted in August 2019, the Indonesian authorities imposed an internet blackout on the region, preventing journalists from covering the protests.

Indonesia is ranked 119th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

Republished from the Pacific Media Centre’s partner Reporters Without Borders’ website.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A panel of judges at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) has granted a lawsuit filed by civil society groups against the Indonesian government’s decision to impose an internet blackout during weeks of protests in Papua and West Papua provinces last year, declaring that such a move violated the law.

The petitioners – the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), among other groups – filed a lawsuit against President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and the Communications and Information Ministry in January.

They said the blackout, which officials argued was put in place to prevent fake news from spreading, was flawed in authority, substance and procedure.

READ MORE: Blackout lacks ‘substance, procedures’: Jokowi sued over govt-imposed internet ban in Papua

“The court declares [the internet blackout] was a violation of the law by government bodies or officials,” the presiding judge said reading the verdict during the hearing yesterday, as reported by YLBHI activist M Isnur through his Twitter account, @madisnur.

The judges argued the government had imposed the internet blackout without the prior declaration of a state of emergency; therefore, violating the 1959 State of Emergency Law.

The bench said the government failed to prove during the trial that Indonesia was in a state of emergency that required authorities to shut down the internet.

Judges also said any decision that limited people’s right to information should be made in accordance with the law and not merely based on the government’s discretion.

Use Criminal Code for fake news, says bench
The government initially claimed that its move to shut down internet access across Papua was in line with the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law. However, judges said the law could only be enforced to block access to electronic information and documents violating the law, not the entire internet.

The bench also argued that fake news should be handled by using provisions in the Criminal Code or blocking the accounts spreading such false information, rather than shutting down internet access.

The petitioners lauded the court for the verdict. “The verdict also opens the possibility for affected parties to sue the government and ask for compensation,” Isnur tweeted.

The government throttled back internet access in parts of the country’s easternmost provinces on August 19, 2019 between 1 pm and 8:30 pm shortly after widespread protests escalated in the regions in response to incidents of racial abuse suffered by Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java.

According to the lawsuit, the government imposed a blackout between August 21 and September 4, affecting 29 cities and regencies in Papua and 13 cities and regencies in West Papua.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

SPECIAL REPORT: By Arnold Belau, Ligia Giay, Febriana Firdaus and Belinda Lopez of Voice of Papua

Everything about what happened in the Papuan provincial regency of Nduga just over a year ago is still a blur and closed off. It remains an elephant in the room, just like another mass killing case in West Papua during the 1970s.

No case has been brought to justice. The killing is still happening until now.

Let us start explaining what happened there by showing this map of where Nduga is located (the red loop marked Papua).

Since December 2018, Nduga has made headlines in national media and some international media after the military attempted to crush Papuan independence fighters who attacked workers of the Trans-Papua Highway construction project (killing at least 17 people).

The Indonesian military bombed the villages and forced 45.000 Ndugans to flee into the jungle and nearby regencies for safety. Many of them are women and children.

Historical background
What makes Nduga so unique as the centre of the rebellion?

In 1969, Indonesia took control the of the western half of New Guinea by handpicking only 1,026 people to vote in favour for integration in a plebiscite backed by the United Nations.

It is one of the biggest scandals in world history. The event prompted the Papuan rebels to form the West Papua National Liberation Army (then called Organisasi Papua Merdeka – OPM), which has continued the struggle for independence ever since, including in Nduga.

Nduga is a mountainous area with pristine tropical forests, well-known for its cultural diversity and is part of the World Heritage-listed Lorentz National Park. It is inhabited by indigenous Melanesian people who were largely cut off from the outside world until missionaries arrived well into the 20th century.

They are widely known as the most resistant of Papuans across the region in the struggle against the Indonesian government. The people refuse to admit their region is part of Indonesia and refuse to speak Bahasa Indonesian.

Even for other Papuans – who are suspected of “working together” with the Indonesian government – it is difficult to gain their trust. Therefore, it is hard even for other Papuans to approach them.

Until today, the Indonesian military is still struggling to occupy the region. The challenge for the Indonesian army is to adapt to the weather — the mountains in Nduga are covered by glaciers and it is bitterly cold.

Joining the rebels
But the Ndugans are used to being guerrillas in the mountains. Traditionally, they have followed their elders to join rebels to take revenge on the killing of their parents and family members, and training themselves to survive under the cold weather.

One of the well-known events that have marked the history of violence in West Papua, particularly Nduga, is the Mapenduma Operation in 1996. Then, a group of environmental researchers were kidnapped by the rebels.

The military rescue operation and its aftermath are shrouded with stories of trauma, when the effort to capture Kelly Kwalik and his group allegedly caused numerous deaths among the civilian villagers.

Tirto published a short article (in Indonesian) about this event last week.

However, it is hard to find evidence of anything.

Back to the IDP.

Aside from the difficulties in communicating with Ndugans, fortunately, they still open the door for the Christian church.

One of the Protestant churches in Baliem Valley has managed to distribute food and clothes to them. Even the emergency school has been built just next to the church.

Collecting data
But is that enough to help them survive?

The Voice of Papua’s team is collecting data on the ground because last month marked one year since the Ndugans became refugees. These are important issues for the Nduga IDP (internally displaced people) that need to be addressed soon by local and central government.

So far, 238 people have died. On 10 December 2019, we published a special report on “one year of Nduga Internally Displaced Persons or IDP” by interviewing Raga Kogoya, one of the leading volunteers in the highlands of Wamena.

“At least 238 (of the IDP) have died, some of them suffered from gun wounds, and some of them were ill,” she told us. This number is higher than the one released by the Indonesian Social Affairs ministry (MoSA).

Raga added that the number is higher, but some of the Ndugan IDP people did not report their case to the volunteers. Here are some of the details.

A thousand students were not able to join national exams. Back when one of our editors visited the Ndugan shelter in 2019, there was an emergency school for the children run by churches and volunteers.

The school is built from wood and tarpaulin with students sitting on wooden benches beneath a tin roof.

During the monsoon season, the classroom is flooded by rainwater.

No exams or credits
Even though they can attend the class, the students find it difficult to get access to national exams.

Raga said the volunteers and the teachers are unable or do not have enough legal standing to issue reports for them. Therefore, they cannot get any credit for their hard work studying at the emergency school.

“The government is very ignorant. They don’t want to open their hands and serve these children,” she said.

Also, the local hospital also refuses to serve the children, saying that they only serve Wamena’s residents.

Hence, the children among the Nduga IDPs lack access to education and health services.

Children join rebels
As many children do not get this access to education and health services, some of them prefer to stay in the jungle and even join the rebels.

Father Jon Djonga called it a “cycle of revenge”. Take a look at the case of the current leader of the West Papua Liberation Army-Free Papua Movement in Nduga, Egianus Kogoya. He is apparently the youngest son of the group’s former leader Silas Kogoya who was killed during the Mapenduma Operation.

Last week on January 11, one police officer was shot and injured when the Kogoya group attacked a security post at Kenyam Airport. The police are now hunting the group – it seems this is far from over.

A trauma healing centre is urgently needed. The Indonesian government, via the Social Affairs ministry, has not yet provided any trauma healing therapy for the Nduga Children’s IDP.

The volunteer has requested the treatment since the first wave of Nduga IDP flooded into Wamena in 2018. Children in Nduga are still traumatised from the incident, as some of them witnessed how the military bombed their village, and how their friends and siblings were shot to death or were starving while fleeing to the forest.

The volunteer told us, if only the government would provide the trauma healing therapy, perhaps we could cut the “cycle of revenge” and prevent the children from joining the rebel army.

The killing is still happening. Residents and human rights activists found a total of five bodies, suspected to be victims of shootings by unscrupulous members of the Indonesian military in Iniye village, Mbua District, on Thursday, 10 October 2019.

The five bodies were three women and two young men. They were found in a hole covered with leaves before being buried in the ground.

The family of Samuel Tabuni, one of the Nduga youth leaders who died, explained that on 20 September 2019 the victim brought food from Wamena, driving a Strada car to Nduga via the Trans-Papua Highway. He was allegedly shot by the Indonesian military.

In another case in Nduga, a driver named Hendrik Lobere was shot dead by the Indonesian military, prompting Nduga’s vice-regent Wentius Nimiangge to resign in protest. Security Minister Mahfud MD denied the accusation that it was the military forces who had killed the driver.

However, a fact-finding team has been formed to investigate the case.

Nduga’s IDP have been living in 23 shelters in Wamena city, Jayawijaya regency, without decent toilets and proper beds.

The latest story we published was about the plan of the regent of Jayawijaya to invite his Nduga counterpart and their officials to talk about the IDP. One of the crucial topics of discussion will be the budget allocation for the IDP which reached Rp 75 billion (about NZ$8.3 million).

The question is where did the money go?

The Indonesian military wields iinternet “news” as a weapon in Papua. A Reuters investigation found that the Indonesian military funds 10 websites, some of which have been operating since mid-2017. The websites uniformly publish positive coverage of government, military and police alongside articles that demonise government critics and human rights investigators.

The subjects of some stories told Reuters the websites attributed invented quotes to them and published other falsehoods.

Sarawak’s logging tycoons
Over the past 50 years it has been common for certain leaders, particularly in East Malaysia, to criticise past colonial ills while at the same time embarking on their own unprecedented rampage of resource grabbing, first within their own borders and then throughout the region.

The consequences have been described by many victims in Papua New Guinea to Sarawak Report as “worse than colonialism” – a sentiment echoed by many of the native peoples of Sarawak whose lands were snatched by outside interests aided and abetted by corrupt local leaders.

Arnold Belau is chief editor of Suara Papua; Ligia Giay is a Papuan writer and historian-in-training; Febriana Firdaus is an Indonesian investigative journalist and Voice of Papua newsletter co-founder; and Belinda Lopez is an Australian journalist, researcher and audio documentary maker.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

ANALYSIS: By David Robie

Indonesia recently hosted a bold public relations window-dressing expo in Auckland presenting itself as a “Pacific” nation while attempting to provide an unconvincing impression of normality in the two Melanesian provinces known collectively as West Papua.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi hailed “a new era of Pacific partnership – a Pacific Elevation” while New Zealand’s counterpart Winston Peters responded to human rights questions with a remarkably naïve statement that Indonesia was “making progress” by welcoming a press pack to West Papua.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Papuan critics have dismissed this Pacific Expo as effectively “fake news” – a cover-up of more than a half-century of repression and distortion.

READ MORE: ‘It opened my eyes’: The Indonesian woman fighting for West Papuan rights

Frequent reports from human rights agencies have detailed a litany of abuse, violence and repression tantamount to “slow genocide”, as at least one author has described it.

The atrocious current conditions in West Papua were highlighted yet again last week with a report by the relief aid group Solidarity Team for Nduga claiming that at least 139 people have died in internal refugee camps in the Highlands of West Papua and more than 5000 people have been displaced since renewed fighting broke out between the Indonesian military and West Papua pro-independence rebels last December.

Among the latest human rights violation reports has been a document presented to Britain’s House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee last month.

Prepared by researcher Pelagio Da Costa Sarmento of the respected London-based Indonesian human rights agency Tapol and editor Victor Mambor of the Jayapura-based newspaper and website Tabloid Jubi, the submission was in response to an inquiry by the Commons Select Committee into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Global Media Freedom in an effort to combat disinformation.

A covering declaration accompanying the submission made it clear it was exposing the current state of lack of media freedom in West Papua.

“Over the last 10 years, journalists and news organisations have faced serious threats to their personal security, as well as being targeted by digital disinformation campaigns that aimed to disrupt the work of legitimate news sources and reporting,” the declaration said.

“The death of two local journalists, assaults on multiple others and several cases of international journalists being deported from Indonesia for reporting on or in West Papua underscores the lack of media freedom of West Papua.”

Promises not kept
Indonesia ranks 124th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders Global Press Freedom Index, which states “President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo did not keep his campaign promises during his five-year term.

“His presidency was marked by serious media freedom violations, including drastic restrictions on media access to West Papua … where violence against local journalists keeps on growing.”

Victor Mambor and I shared the podium in an “alternative” media freedom forum in Jakarta at the time of the UN World Press Freedom Day conference in May 2017 and my Media Asia article about the crisis outlined efforts to “gag” discussion about media freedom in West Papua.

Mambor has been a strong advocate for the Alliance for Independent Journalists (AJI) over the West Papuan media freedom cause.

The submission by Tapol and Jubi declares:

• There are patterns of threats that implicate the safety and security of local journalists in West Papua.
• A clearing house, “an intricate red-tape”, was re-introduced in May 2019 to select foreign journalists coming to West Papua. (Once a permit is granted, security forces supervise the selected journalists during their work in West Papua).
• Over the past 10 years, there have been two deaths, multiple assaults, arrests on local journalists and deportation of international journalists. (Most of the cases remain open with no clear investigation process).
• Disinformation using bogus online media disrupts the work of legitimate news sources.

Human rights violations
“West Papuans have been experiencing serious human rights violations including torture, imprisonment and extrajudicial killings by the Indonesian security forces (police and military),” the submission says.

“The West Papuans have long expressed their desire for self-determination since Indonesia took over the territory in 1963. It was officially incorporated into the Indonesian state in 1969 after the ‘Act of Free Choice’.

“Simmering low level conflict between various pro-independence groups and the Indonesian army have been ongoing since then, with the continued existence of local armed groups in West Papua. Indonesia has maintained a significant military presence in the region.”

However, in recent years “civil resistance movements have gained traction organising protests against human rights violations in West Papua and demanding the right to self-determination”.

The submission says that as a result the Indonesian government has “tightened security control over West Papua by maintaining the presence of both military and police forces and deploying these state security forces to stop rallies or discussions on human rights and/or political issues, and clamp down on the freedoms of expression, association, and assembly”.

Human rights violations and extrajudicial killings by the military and police in West Papua “rarely make the headlines in the mainstream media,” says the submission.

There have been many cases since where access to foreign media has been limited or refused. There have also been several cases of foreigners visiting West Papua being deported from Indonesia “on suspicion of being journalists”.

Relaxed media rules
While four journalists from New Zealand (from RNZ Pacific and Māori Television) took advantage of a brief period of relaxed media rules in 2015 after President Widodo took office to visit West Papua, none have been there since.

In May 2019, the head of the immigration division in the regional office of the Ministry for Law and Human Rights in Papua Province reaffirmed a “clearing house” system for any foreign journalists wanting to visit West Papua.

If a permit is granted the foreign journalist would then be supervised by the security forces during their entire working trip in West Papua.

Here is a list of human rights violations against journalists documented by Tapol and Jubi researchers over the past decade:

Local journalists:
2010: Journalist Ardiansyah Matrais, a correspondent for Jubi and Merauke TV, was reported missing on July 28. Two days later, his tortured body was retrieved from the Gudang Arang Merauke river. The police autopsy report said he was still alive when he had been thrown into the river. His case remains unresolved.

2011: Journalist Banjir Ambarita, correspondent of the Jakarta Globe daily and Vivanews.com, was stabbed while driving a motorbike. It is suspected that the motive was related to an article he had written on the sexual abuse of a detainee by three police officers. No further investigation undertaken.

2012: Leiron Kogoya, a journalist for Pasific Post and Papua Pos Nabire, died when gunmen plane shot down his plane at an airport in Papua province. Though he was not specifically the target, his death served as a reminder of the dangers that journalists face in West Papua.

2015: Abeth You, a journalist writing for Jubi was attacked by police in October when covering a demonstration on human rights violations in West Papua.

2017: Journalist Ardi Bayage, a reporter for Suarapapua.com, was arrested when covering a protest during World Press Freedom Day in 2016. Bayage showed his press card to the police, however the police ignored and accused him of lying. He was held for several hours in the police headquarters in Jayapura.

2018: Journalist Abeth You of Jubi in May captured the police beating his colleague Mando Mote on his mobile phone. He was choked by a member of the police; his mobile phone was taken away and his press card was destroyed.

Foreign journalists:
2006: Five Australian journalists from Channel Seven were detained and put under surveillance in Jayapura, Papua province, and then deported. Naomi Robson, Rohan Travis, Peter Andrew, Paul Richard and David John were detained on charges of entering the province with tourist visas. They were forced on a flight back to Jakarta on September 14 from where they were expelled from the country.

2014: Two French journalists, Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat, were detained in August in Papua province. They were doing a report on West Papua for the Franco-German TV channel Arte. They were charged with violation of immigration regulations and promoting instability. Their local guide and interpreter were also arrested and interrogated by the police for 36 hours.

2016: A visa was denied for French journalist Cyril Payen to report in Papua. On January 8, the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok informed Payen that his application for a visa to visit Indonesia and carry out reporting in Papua province had been denied. The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials later informed the French Embassy in Jakarta that the denial was because his previous reporting on the pro-independence movement was “biased and unbalanced”.

2017: French journalist Basil Longchamp and his camera crew were deported from Indonesia after being granted permission to work on a documentary in Indonesia covering West Papua. On their arrival in Indonesia, they were expelled and banned from returning to Indonesia.

2018: Rebecca Henschke, an Australian journalist working for the BBC and her crew received an official permit to cover a military aid operation in West Papua. However, when the authorities found out about her Twitter post showing troops providing only non-nutritious foodstuffs, the journalist and her crew were expelled on the grounds that her post “hurt the feelings” of the soldiers.

2018: Australian doctoral candidate Belinda Lopez doing Indonesian studies at Macquarie University, Sydney, was detained in Denpasar, Bali, after arriving from Australia for her honeymoon in Indonesia.

“She was also planning to visit West Papua to attend a festival. Immigration officials told her that her name was blacklisted without offering any justification She had formerly worked as a reporter in Jakarta and had already been deported from West Papua once in 2016 on suspicion of being a journalist.”

The researchers said the evidence demonstrated “acute risks and barriers for journalists working in West Papua”.

‘Bogus online media’
The submission also declared that West Papua suffered from the existence of “bogus online media”.

According to a 2018 investigation by Jubi and a Jakarta-based website, Tirto, there were about 18 online media platforms that were “dubious and bogus”.

“Their style of reporting includes producing hoaxes and propaganda regarding West Papua, quoting fictitious sources and conveying strong bias in favour of the police and the military in West Papua,” stated the submission.

“Their work severely disrupts the work of genuine media organisations which also have an online presence. They make a major contribution to the spread of disinformation to the public regarding the issues in West Papua.

“They also affect the work of civil society organisations that have limited access to the region, and that rely on the online news reporting that comes out of West Papua.”

In their report, Tapol and Jubi cite an example of how a bogus online media had “disrupted critical humanitarian work”.

Describing the difficulties in verifying information and human rights violations allegedly taking place in Nduga regency, in the Central Highland of West Papua, the submission explains how Indonesian police and military have been conducting a joint operation against the West Papua Liberation Army since last December.

Nduga lockdown
“Independent sources have been very difficult to reach, and the military has been the sole source of information. Any accounts differing from the military are declared as a hoax, whereas not a single press worker can access Nduga due to the lockdown,” states the submission.

“A local Papuan senator was reported to police when he stated that there were civilian deaths resulting from the operation. This makes balanced and accurate reporting from the ground nigh on impossible.

“It is also undermining the image of a free and fair media in Indonesia – one of the largest democratic nations in the world. There is very limited accountability on the part of the authorities towards the ongoing human rights crisis in West Papua.”

In the past two UN Universal Periodic Reviews of Indonesian human rights, New Zealand and France have called for Indonesia to respect press freedom and open access to national and international journalists to West Papua.

Call for protection
Among recommendations by Tapol and Jubi are:

• The United Kingdom – as host of the recent Global Media Freedom conference – should ensure freedom of the press is upheld universally, including in West Papua.
• Indonesia ought to “maintain its credibility” by providing access to national and international media so that they can provide unrestricted coverage in West Papua.
• Indonesia should be pressed to protect journalists working in West Papua and ensure that they are free from any harassment by security forces.
• Indonesia must bring to justice those responsible for attacks and killings of journalists in West Papua.
• Development aid funding should be increased to strengthen capacities of local organisations, media outlets, and journalists in West Papua, and to enable greater transparency and credible documentation of the ongoing human rights crisis in West Papua.
• More West Papua reports
• Māori Television’s Native Affairs in West Papua
• Tapol
• Tabloid Jubi

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Two damning and contrasting books about Indonesian colonialism in the Pacific, both by activist participants in Europe and New Zealand, have recently been published. Overall, they are excellent exposes of the harsh repression of the Melanesian people of West Papua and a world that has largely closed a blind eye to to human rights violations.

In Papua Blood, Danish photographer Peter Bang provides a deeply personal account of his more than three decades of experience in West Papua that is a testament to the resilience and patience of the people in the face of “slow genocide” with an estimated 500,000 Papuans dying over the past half century.

With See No Evil, Maire Leadbeater, peace movement advocate and spokesperson of West Papua Action Auckland, offers a meticulously researched historical account of New Zealand’s originally supportive stance for the independence aspirations of the Papuan people while still a Dutch colony and then its unprincipled slide into betrayal amid Cold War realpolitik.

Peter Bang’s book features 188 examples of his evocative imagery, providing colourful insights into changing lifestyles in West Papua, ranging through pristine rainforest, waterfalls, villages and urban cityscapes to dramatic scenes of resistance to oppression and the defiant displays of the Morning Star flag of independence.

Some of the most poignant images are photographs of use of the traditional koteka (penis gourds) and traditional attire, which are under threat in some parts of West Papua, and customary life in remote parts of the Highlands and the tree houses of the coastal marshlands.

Besides the photographs, Bang also has a narrative about the various episodes of his life in West Papua.

Never far from his account, are the reflections of life under Indonesian colonialism, and extreme racism displayed towards the Papuan people and their culture and traditions. From the beginning in 1963 when Indonesia under Sukarno wrested control of West Papua from the Dutch with United Nations approval under a sham “Act of Free Choice” against the local people’s wishes, followed by the so-called ‘Transmigrassi’ programme encouraging thousands of Javanese migrants to settle, the Papuans have been treated with repression.

‘Disaster for Papuans’
Bang describes the massive migration of Indonesians to West Papua as “not only a disaster for the Papuan people, but also a catastrophe for the rainforest, eartyn and wildlife” (p. 13).

“Police soldiers conducted frequent punitive expeditions with reference to violation of ‘laws’ that the indigenous people neither understood nor had heard about, partly because of language barriers and the huge cultural difference,’ writes Bang (p. 11). The list of atrocities has been endless.

“There were examples of Papuans who had been captured, and thrown out alive from helicopters, strangled or drowned after being put into plastic bags. Pregnant women killed by bayonets. Prisoners forced to dig their own graves before they were killed.” (p. 12)

A book that provided an early impetus while Bang was researching for his involvement in West Papua was Indonesia’s Secret War by journalist Robin Osborne, a former press secretary for Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan, the leader who was later ousted from office because of his bungled Sandline mercenary affair over the Bougainville civil war. Osborne’s book also influenced me when I first began writing about West Papua in the early 1980s.

After travelling through Asia, a young Peter Bang arrived in West Papua in 1986 for his first visit determined to journey to the remote Yali tribe as a photographer and writer interested in indigenous peoples. He wanted to find out how the Yali people had integrated with the outside world since missionaries had first entered the isolated tribal area just 25 years earlier.

When Bang visited the town of Angguruk for the first time, “the only wheels I saw at the mission station were punctured and sat on a wheelbarrow … It was only seven years ago that human flesh had been eaten in the area” (p. 16).

During this early period of jungle trekking, Bang rarely “encountered anything besides kindness – only twice did I experience being threatened with a bow and arrow” (p. 39). The first time was by a “mentally disabled” man confused over Bang’s presence, and he was scolded by the village chief.

Political change
Ten years later, Peter Bang again visited the Yali people and found the political climate had changed in the capital Jayapura – “we saw police and military everywhere” following an incident a few months earlier when OPM (Free Papua Movement) guerrillas had held 11 captives hostage in a cave.

He struck up a friendship with Wimmo, a Dani tribesman and son of a village witchdoctor and healer in the Baliem Valley, that was to endure for years, and he had an adoptive family.

On a return visit, Bang met Tebora, mother of the nine-year-old boy Puwul who was the subject of the author’s earlier book, Puwul’s World. At the age of 29, Puwul had walked barefooted hundreds of kilometres across the mountains from the Jaxólé Valley village to Jayapura, and then escaped across the border into Papua New Guinea. A well-worn copy of Puwul’s World was the only book in the village apart from a single copy of the Bible.

Years later, Bang met tribal leader and freedom fighter Benny Wenda who, with the help of Australian human rights activist and lawyer Jennifer Robinson, was granted asylum in the United Kingdom in 2003: “I felt great sympathy for Benny Wenda’s position on the fight for liberation. By many, he was compared to Nelson Mandela, although he was obviously playing his own ukelele” (p. 81)

Wenda and Filip Karma, at the time imprisoned by the Indonesian authorities for 15 years for “raising the Morning Star flag”, were nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.

Bang founded the Danish section of the Free West Papua Campaign and launched an activist Facebook page.

One of the book’s amusing and inspirational highlights is his secret “freedom paddle” on the Baliem River when Peter Bang used a yellow inflatable rubber boat and a pocket-sized Morning Star flag to make his own personal protest against Indonesia (p. 123). This was a courageous statement in itself given the continued arrests of journalists in West Papua by the military authorities in spite of the “open” policy of President Joko Widodo.

As a special section, Bang’s book devotes 26 pages to the indigenous people of West Papua, profiling some of the territory’s 300 tribes and their cultural and social systems, such as the Highlands communities of Dani and Yali, and the Asmat, Korowai and Kombai peoples.

Fascinating insight
This book is a fascinating insight into West Papuan life under duress, but would have benefitted with tighter and cleaner copy editing by the English-language volunteer editors. Nevertheless, it is a valuable work with a strong sociopolitical message.

Peter Bang concludes: “Nobody knows what the future holds. In 2018, the Indonesian regime continues the brutal crackdown on the native population of West Papua.”

In contrast to Bang’s authentic narrative of life in West Papua, Maire Leadbeater’s See No Evil book – launched yesterday – is an activist historical account of New Zealand’s shameful record over West Papua, which is just as disgraceful as Wellington’s record on Timor-Leste over 24 years of Indonesian illegal occupation (tempered by a quietly supportive post-independence role).

Surely there is a lesson here. For those New Zealand politicians, officials and conservative journalists who prefer to meekly accept the Indonesian status quo, the East Timor precedent is an indicator that we should be strongly advocating self-determination for the Papuans.

One of the many strengths of Leadbeater’s thoroughly researched book is she exposes the volte-face and hypocrisy of the stance of successive New Zealand governments since Walter Nash and his “united New Guinea” initiative (p. 66).

“A stroke of the pen in the shape of the 1962 New York Agreement, signed by the colonial Dutch and the Indonesian government, sealed the fate of the people of West Papua,” the author notes in her introduction. Prior to this “selling out” of a people arrangement, New Zealand had been a vocal supporter of the Dutch government’s preparations to decolonise the territory.

In fact, the Dutch had done much more to prepare West Papua for independence than Australia had done at that stage for neighbouring Papua New Guinea, which became independent in 1975.

Game changer
Indonesia’s so-called September 30th Movement crisis in 1965 – three years after paratroopers had been dropped on West Papua in a farcical “invasion” – was the game changer. The attempted coup triggered massive anti-communist massacres in Indonesia leading to an estimated 200,000 to 800,000 killings and eventually the seizure of power by General Suharto from the ageing nationalist President Sukarno in 1967 (Adam, 2015).

As Leadbeater notes, the bloodletting opened the door to Western foreign investment and “rich prizes” in West Papua such as the Freeport’s Grasberg gold and copper mine, one of the world’s richest.

“New Zealand politicians and diplomats welcomed Indonesia’s change in direction. Cold War anti-communist fervour trumped sympathy for the victims of the purge; and New Zealand was keen to increase its trade, investment and ties with the ‘new’ Indonesia.” (p. 22)

The first 13 chapters of the book, from “the Pleistocene period” to “Suharto goes but thwarted hope for West Papua”, are a methodical and insightful documentation of “recolonisation” and New Zealand’s changing relationship are an excellent record and useful tool for the advocates of West Papuan independence.

However, the last two contemporary chapters and conclusion, do not quite measure up to the quality of the rest of the book.

For example, a less than two-page section on “Media access” gives short change to the important media role in the West Papuan independence struggle. Leadbeater quite rightly castigates the mainstream New Zealand media for a lack of coverage for such a serious issue. Her explanation for the widespread ignorance about West Papua is simplistic:

“A major reason (setting aside Radio New Zealand’s consistent reporting) is that the issues are seldom covered in the mainstream media. It is a circular problem: lack of direct access results in a dearth of objective and fully rounded reporting; editors fear that material they do receive may be inaccurate or misrepresentative; so a media blackout prevails and editors conflate the resulting limited public debate with a lack of interest.” (p. 233)

Mainstream ‘silence’
Leadbeater points out that the mainstream media coverage of the “pre-internet 1960s did a better job”. Yet she fails to explain why, or credit those contemporary New Zealand journalists who have worked hard to break the mainstream “silence” (Robie, 2017).

She dismisses the courageous and successful groundbreaking attempts by at least two New Zealand media organisations – Māori Television and Radio New Zealand – to “test” President Widodo’s new policy in 2015 by sending crews to West Papua in merely three sentences. Since then, she admits, Indonesia’s media “shutters have mostly stayed shut” (p. 235).

One of the New Zealand journalists who has written extensively on West Papua and Melanesian issues for many years, RNZ Pacific’s Johnny Blades, is barely mentioned (apart from the RNZ visit to West Papua). Tabloid Jubi editor Victor Mambor, who visited New Zealand in 2014, Paul Bensemann (who travelled to West Papua disguised as a bird watcher in 2013), Scoop’s Gordon Campbell, Television New Zealand’s Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and Tere Harrison’s 2016 short documentary Run It Straight are just a few of those who have contributed to growing awareness of Papuan issues in this country who have not been given fair acknowledgement.

Also important has been the role of the alternative and independent New Zealand and Pacific media, such as Asia Pacific Report, Pacific Scoop (both via the Pacific Media Centre), West Papua Media and Evening Report that have provided relentless coverage of West Papua. Other community and activist groups deserve honourable mentions.

Even in my own case, a journalist and educator who has written on West Papuan affairs for more than three decades with countless articles and who wrote the first New Zealand book with an extensive section on the West Papuan struggle (Robie, 1989), there is a remarkable silence.

One has a strong impression that Leadbeater is reluctant to acknowledge her contemporaries (a characteristic of her previous books too) and thus the selective sourcing weakens her work as it relates to the millennial years.

The early history of the West Papuan agony is exemplary, but in view of the flawed final two chapters I look forward to another more nuanced account of the contemporary struggle. Merdeka!

David Robie is director of the Pacific Media Centre and editor of Pacific Journalism Review. He was awarded the 1983 NZ Media Peace Prize for his coverage of Timor-Leste and West Papua, “Blood on our hands”, published in New Outlook magazine.

Papua Blood: A Photographer’s Eyewitness Account of West Papua Over 30 Years, by Peter Bang. Copenhagen, Denmark: Remote Frontlines, 2018. 248 pages. ISBN 9788743001010.
See No Evil: New Zealand’s Betrayal of the People of West Papua, by Maire Leadbeater. Dunedin, NZ: Otago University Press, 2018. 310 pages. ISBN 9781988531212.

References
Adam, A. W. (2015, October 1). How Indonesia’s 1965-1966 anti-communist purge remade a nation and the world. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/how-indonesias-1965-1966-anti-communist-purge-remade-a-nation-and-the-world-48243

Bang, P. (1996). Duianya Puwul. [English edition (2018): Puwul’s World: Endangered native people]. Copenhagen, Denmark: Remote Frontlines.

Osborne, R. (1985). Indonesia’s secret war: The guerilla struggle in Irian Jaya. Sydney, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Robie, D. (1989). Blood on their banner: Nationalist struggles in the South Pacific. London, UK: Zed Books.

Robie, D. (2017). Tanah Papua, Asia-Pacific news blind spots and citizen media: From the ‘Act of Free Choice’ betrayal to a social media revolution. Pacific Journalism Review : Te Koakoa, 23(2), 159-178. https://doi.org/10.24135/pjr.v23i2.334

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

BRIEFING: By Colin Peacock of RNZ Mediawatch

While a former US President’s visit preoccupied the New Zealand media this week, the state visit of the current president of Indonesia went mostly under the radar. You’ll look in vain for reports about what was discussed at top-level talks about important issues.

Just before former US President Barack Obama flew in to New Zealand, a leader described as “Indonesia’s Obama” by Stuff this week touched down on Monday.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo represents the world’s fourth most populous country and he is an interesting leader. The former furniture maker is a heavy metal fan only turned to politics 12 years ago.

Briefing the reporters last Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters: “Indonesia is an incredibly important potential economic partner for New Zealand.”

LISTEN TO RNZ MEDIAWATCH

READ MORE: Open letter to PM Ardern: Raise Papua human rights crimes with Jokowi

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She went on to say that she had also raised some political sensitive issues including “freedom of speech and access of foreign media in the Papua region.”

The Indonesian Embassy promoted the state visit via social media.

That media freedom issue is important for the disputed Melanesian territory of West Papua. Reporters have found it very difficult to get in to find out what’s going on there.

Stuff, The New Zealand Herald, RNZ and Newshub all noted in their preview pieces that West Papua independence activists had been urging the Prime Minister to raise the issue too.

Witty remarks
On day one of the visit, most media outlets covered the photo opportunities and scheduled walkabouts in Wellington. President Widodo’s witty remarks about Indonesian coffee and New Zealand sheep made for a big headline in the Herald the next day.

RNZ Pacific reported that the President and his team were greeted by Free West Papua protesters and flag-waving Indonesian patriots on parliament grounds, who tried to drown out each other’s songs.

A sing-off on the steps of the New Zealand Parliament between protestors and Indonesians during President Joko Widodo’s visit to Wellington on Monday. Image: Johnny Blades/RNZ Pacific

A video of that by RNZ posted on Facebook has been viewed more than 35,000 times.

So far, so good.

But you’ll look in vain for media reports about what was said at those bilateral talks.

Photos were taken on behalf of all media by one photographer when the Indonesians met jacinda Ardern. Judging by the smiles on all the faces, it was going well at that point.

Similarly smiley pictures of a meeting with Simon Bridges appeared on his Twitter feed and that of the Indonesian Embassy afterwards.

Reporters ushered out
But the media reports of both meetings say reporters were ushered out of the room as President Widodo began to speak.

RNZ reported that the Indonesian government had requested “media opportunities for questions . . . were kept to a bare minimum”.

Joko Widodo and Jacinda Ardern did not hold a press conference.

“I’m advised—that as far as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalls, there has been never a requirement for post bilateral stand-ups. They’ve always been case by case,” Jacinda Ardern told reporters earlier

A joint statement was released on Tuesday covering areas of cooperation and common ground.

It said both leaders reaffirmed other’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity” – not a comfort to those who hoped he would be pressed on independence for West Papua.

But that was a document drafted by diplomats – not by journalists

No change
In his preview of Joko Widodo’s visit, on Scoop.co.nz Gordon Campbell predicted it would not change a situation once described by David Lange years ago.

“He had said it was almost impossible to get New Zealand to think about the huge nation sitting right on our doorstep,” Campbell wrote.

It seems he is still right about that.

And Joko Widodo seems capable of handling the media.

On The Panel on RNZ National last Tuesday Jim Mora noted Joko Widodo brought the house down with thoughts about politics and the media during a speech last week in Australia.

“Since the arrival of Netflix the politicians have no choice but to turn politics into reality TV, because if we don’t, all of you will watch House of Cards and Stranger Things instead of watching us,” he said.

Republished from RNZ Mediawatch by Pacific Media Watch.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has condemned a brutal attack against journalist Saldi Hermanto in Timika, Papua, and called for a campaign of letter protests.

Hermanto was attacked by the police after he criticised on Facebook the police handling of security at an entertainment show he attended.

Although the Mimika police chief pledged to “properly settle” the case, the public and media should monitor and ensure that the case was not merely settled by the internal police mechanism, AHRC said in a statement.

“The perpetrators must be criminally prosecuted,” it said.

AHRC’s case narrative said that on Saturday, 11 November 2017, at 10:50 pm, journalist Saldi Hermanto and his child were enjoying an entertainment show in the night market of Timika Indah, Papua.

As the show was going on, suddenly there was chaos among the audience. Subsequently, Hermanto wrote on his Facebook wall criticising the police failure to secure the entertainment show and guarantee security for visitors.

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Hermanto’s criticism angered the police officers, some of whom felt he had humiliated and offended the police institution.

Search for journalist
Some six to eight police officers of Mimika Police Office (Polres Mimika), then searched for Hermanto.

Finally, they found him in a small post where many journalists usually gather and send news to various media, located in front of the Mimika Traffic Police Unit of Mimika Police Office (Kantor Satuan Lalu Lintas Polres Mimika).

The police officers then brutally attacked Hermanto, they beat him repeatedly and brought him inside the integrated police post, the AHRC report said.

“The brutal attack caused serious injuries on Hermanto’s face and right rib, and Hermanto had difficulty breathing after the attack,” the report said.

On November 13, at 9 a.m. Timika journalists from the Association of Online Media (IWO) Timika and from the Association of Journalist Photo Indonesia (PFI) Timika organised a peaceful protest in front of the Mimika Police Office in Cendrawasih Street.

The protesters demanded that the chief of oolice of Mimika Police Office, Police Superintendent (AKBP) Viktor Dean Mackbon, “fairly and properly investigate” the brutal attack and violence against Saldi Hermanto, a journalist of Salam Papua and Okezone.

In responding to the protest, AKBP Dean Mackbon stated that nine of 13 police officers who had been examined, were detained for further investigation related to the attack.

Two investigations
In addition, AKBP Victor stated that the there would be two investigation processes, both internal and criminal prosecution. He also apologised to the journalists and promised to settle the case.

The AHRC notes that violence against journalists continues in Indonesia.

Another recent case occurred on 20 October 2017, when police brutally attacked Panji Bahari, a journalist of Banten Post in Banten province.

According to the Independence Journalist Alliance (AJI) Indonesia, in 2016 there were 78 cases of violence and attacks against journalists. This is a higher number compared to 2015, in which 40 cases of violence and attacks against journalists were recorded.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The face of West Papuan society is changing but RNZ International found that the core culture of the indigenous people of Indonesia’s Papua region is not easily destroyed. Video: RNZI

On an island with the third largest rainforest in the world live an indigenous people who are quickly becoming a minority in their own land.

Sitting north of Australia and occupying the western half of the island of New Guinea is West Papua – a territory rich in natural resources which was formally but controversially absorbed into Indonesia in the 1960s following the withdrawal of Dutch colonial administration.

West Papuans were largely excluded from that decision and for the past 50 years they have raised concerns about the infringement of their basic human rights in modern Indonesia.

Joko Widodo’s government has rejected these concerns saying living standards are improving for people in the Papua region, which appears at odds with the growing number of demonstrations by West Papuans calling for a legitimate self-determination process and an end to rights abuses.

Regardless, Indonesian rule means the face of West Papuan society is changing rapidly, but Radio New Zealand International journalists Johnny Blades and Koroi Hawkins found that the core ideology of these Melanesian people is not easily destroyed.

Written and produced by: Johnny Blades

Camera: Koroi Hawkins

Editor: Jeremy Brick

This documentary was first broadcast by RNZ International and has been republished here with permission.

An example of a documentary video made by a partner group of West Papua Media, AwasMIFEE. Since joining Indonesia officially in 1969, there were only seven oil palm companies in Papua until 2005. But in 2014 the number jumped to 21 companies, with another 20 companies gearing up to start operations. This documentary, Mahuzes, is part of Ekspedisi Indonesia Biru series, and tells of the now threatened life for a Papuan hunter and gather community.

By West Papua Media

For the first time in a decade, West Papua Media has been taking a break from regular publication to focus on improving our infrastructure, and work on several innovative new projects that will support credible, quality journalism on the ground in West Papua.

We feel without a current sustainable funding base and savings in the bank, we are unable to ethically provide the correct amount of support currently needed for our brave clandestine stringers and journalists to expose themselves in the field at this point.

We are working hard to create the mechanisms so that they are armed always with real time digital security and support when they do venture into the field, and are able to report safely.

These mechanisms we are working hard to develop so that anyone who needs to tell a story of their world – in Papua to begin with – is able to do so, and have their voice heard, and treated with respect.

Currently the amount of fake media, recycled
and out of context torture photos and misreporting is creating a situation where social media is now dismissed by the powerful around the world as rumour and propaganda.