Online Newsletter

April 2020

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN

WEST PAPUA AMID THE PANDEMIC
From forced displacements, extrajudicial
killings, to arbitrary arrests, state-perpetrated
violence remain rampant in West Papua amid
the COVID pandemic.
Photo:
ANTARA /
Evarianus
Mama Ema Natkime, Supar

an elder from the

Amungme tribe in Ivan Sambom, a Freeport employee, was
Timika, was arbitrarily arrested on April 9 in Timika, for allegations
arrested on April 7 of being a West Papua National Committee
while she was out to (KNPB) member and informant of the West
deliver food to Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB) which was
refugees. Mama Ema denied by both organizations.
is active in the
struggle against the On April 10, Freeport workers held a
Mama
Freeport mine. protest action calling for the company to
Ema
stop its operations due to the pandemic and
ongoing shootings between the Indonesian
Army (TNI) and the TPNPB in Timika. The
protest was dispersed by company and
state security forces.

On the same day, 16 year-old high school

student Melki Maiseni was shot dead by
security forces.

Freeport Melki
workers Maiseni
 On April 13, Roni Wandik and Eden Berari were shot
dead by the TNI in Timika while on their way to go
fishing. The TNI claims that both are members of the
TPNPB. Roni was a university student.

On May 2, high school students who were celebrating

their graduation by drawing the Morning Star design
on their uniform were arrested.

Military operations continue in the regencies of Mimika, Star Mountains, Deiyai, Maybrat,
Intan Jaya, Nduga, and Jayawijaya resulting in massive displacements, arrests, and insecurity
for thousands of Indigenous Peoples.
NEWS & MEDIA
Click underlined links to be re-directed

On the state of Memory ‘77

Nduga refugees
Papuan novelist
Dolia Ubruangge, Aprila Wayar writes a
one of the IDPs from short story on a case
Nduga, and also a of sexual violence
community volunteer, committed by the
talks about the military against
situation of the IDPs young girls
in Papua’s central
highlands

Urgent appeal to
On the brink of a
free political
coal boom,
prisoners
Papuans ask who
Jennifer Robinson
will benefit
and Veronica Koman,
Journalist Febriana
with HR organization
Firdaus writes an
TAPOL appeals to UN
exposition on
to free 63 political
booming extractive
prisoners in
industry in West
Indonesia charged
with treason

WATCH NEW VIDEOS ON OUR IG TV

 STATEMENT

CONDEMN THE RACIST AND

ANTI-WORKERS REGIME
On the 57th Year of Indonesia’s Occupation of West Papua

May 1, 2020

On May 1st 1963, occupation of West New

Guinea of the former Dutch New Guinea
territory was undertaken by the Indonesian
military under the barrel of the gun, with
blessings from the United Nations (UN) and
the Netherlands. Since then, a conservative
estimate of 500,000 Indigenous Papuans have
been wiped out in what has been referred to
as slow-motion genocide.

The region now collectively known as West

Papua consists of what Indonesia considers
the provinces of Papua and West Papua. It was
granted a special autonomy status in 2001
that would supposedly bring development in
the region and respect the social and cultural
life of the people. But West Papuans,
especially the Indigenous Peoples, cannot
practice the fundamental right to freedom of
expression and assembly without getting
arrested, threatened, or killed.
Moreover, the peoples of Papua still have no
control over their natural resources - far from
what the special autonomy has promised.
Giant corporations like Freeport McMoran
(Mimika), the British Petroleum (Bintuni), and
the state’s agribusiness program, Merauke
Integrated Food and Energy Estate, have
brought more havoc than benefits for the
communities in which they operate and have
violated the rights of their workers as well.
Recently, Freeport has reportedly refused to
grant paid leave for its workers despite the
pandemic. It has also dispersed a workers
protest in April which demanded a temporary
stop to the company operations given the
active armed clashes in the area between the
Indonesian Army (TNI) and the West Papua
Liberation Army (TPNPB). The TNI’s presence
is especially heavy in the areas where these
big businesses are, as they function as the
companies’ private security to suppress the
resistance from communities who are affected
by their disastrous operations.
May 1st is also celebrated globally as
International Workers’ Day. The West Papuans’
We wish to express our solidarity with the
struggle against racism,
working class of West Papua and Indonesia militarization, and
who will be protesting online and offline on
this day to voice out the issues that they are
ultimately for self-
facing and to assert their basic rights. determination, is linked
Despite the ongoing pandemic, the to the Indonesian
Indonesian Government insists on the people’s struggle for
passage of the anti-people Omnibus Law.
The draft law has already drawn flak from economic political
various groups, including workers who have
sovereignty through
pointed out how the law shall worsen the
state of the working people in the country by national land reform and
reducing, if not completely eliminating the
national
rights to job security, income security, and
statutory benefits among other rights. The industrialization, as both
law practically strips off the right to dignified
struggles are rooted on
living for ordinary workers in Indonesia while
favoring big businesses by removing the desire to break free
sanctions on employers who do not follow
from the same system
the minimum wage.
that lives off of
Aside from the labor aspect, the law also
poses the threat of environmental hazards exploitation of labor and
by relaxing requirements for business natural resources.
licenses and other investments. This will
greatly affect Indigenous Peoples living in
resource-rich territories such as the West
Defend the right to work, decent
Papua. The Omnibus Law works on the
wage, and humane working
general framework of boosting foreign
conditions!
investments at the expense of the workers,
the Indigenous Peoples, and the Reject the anti-people OMNIBUS Law!
environment.
Stop the plunder of ancestral lands!
The Indonesian Government has employed
various tactics to divide the oppressed and Reject Indonesia’s occupation of West
Papua!
exploited peoples of Indonesia and West
Papua but the devastating impacts of Long live the workers of the world!
neoliberal policies on the toiling masses
push the peoples of Indonesia and West Long live international solidarity!
Papua to unite and fight for their democratic
rights and interests.
REMEMBERING ARNOLD AP
by Free West Papua Campaign

Today we remember
legendary West Papuan folk
singer Arnold Ap. He was
executed by the Indonesian
military for singing songs of
freedom on April 26th 1984.

Arnold was the singer in the

group Mambesak, Members of youth group SONAMAPPA
Bass player Eddie Mofu was also excecuted. commemorates the 36th death anniversary with
a candle lighting activity | Photo: Sonamappa
Arnold Ap was a West Papuan cultural leader,
His prominent study and performance of
anthropologist and musician. Arnold was the leader
Papuan culture and music was seen by
of the group Mambesak, and Curator of the
many as a challenge to the efforts of the
Cenderawasih University Museum. He also broadcast
Indonesian government against Papuan
Papuan culture on his weekly radio show.
nationalism and identity.
As a student, he organized a demonstration against
At the time of Ap's death, strong attempts
the so-called Act of Free Choice of 1969. He was sent
were being made to unify Indonesian
to prison at Ifar Gunung.
peoples under a more Javanese culture.
After his release, he began collecting traditional
In November 1983, he was arrested by the
Papuan songs. After graduating, he became Curator
Indonesian military special forces Kopassus
at the University Museum. He had a popular radio
and imprisoned and tortured for suspected
program, Pelangi Budaya Irian Jaya (The Rainbow of
sympathies with the Free Papua
Irian Jaya Culture), with Papuan songs, stories, poems
Movement, although no charges were laid.
and interviews.
In April 1984, he was killed by a gunshot to
his back. Indonesian military accounts
KNPB in Manokwari hold prayer and worship
claim he was trying to escape. Many
for Arnold Ap | Photo: Free West Papua
supporters believe Ap was executed by
Kopassus. Another musician, Eddie Mofu,
was also killed.

Music is still a potent source of cultural

resistance in West Papua. Arnold Ap and
Mambesak are still popular in West Papua,
and their works are seen as symbols of
West Papuan identity.

We fight on in your name.

We will be free people.

 CAMPAIGN
Paulus “Suryanta”
Ginting | Arrested: 31/8/19
Surya is spokesperson for
the Indonesian People’s
Front for West Papua. He is
the first non-Papuan
Indonesian to be charged
with treason in relation to
the West Papuan self-
determination movement.
Contact Us!
merdeka.sec@gmail.com
merdeka.wp
merdeka_wp
papuabarat.wixsite.com/
merdeka
On April 24, the Jakarta 6 were Dano
sentenced to 8-9 months in Tabuni
prison for treason. They were
arrested in August last year in the
heat of the West Papua Uprising
for participating in anti-racism
protest and allegedly raising
West Papua’s Morning Star Flag.
Charles
Source: Veronica Koman (Twitter)
Kossay
Arrested without warrants: 30/8/19
They are student activists. During
their arrest, a police officer
Ariana Elopere | Arrested pointed a gun at both of them,
without a warrant: 31/8/19; along with their housemates.
When she asked
permission to change her
clothes, a police officer
rejected her request saying,
“you Papuans usually don’t
wear clothes anyway”. She’s
one of only 3 West Papuan
women to be charged with
treason since 2000. Ambrosius Mulait | Arrested:
31/8/19; while protesting with
dozens other West Papuan
students in front of the Jakarta
police HQ demanding the
release of Dano Tabuni and
Charles Kossay. He is the head
Isay Wenda of ‘Association of Papuan
Central Highlands Students in
Arrested: 31/8/19; while protesting Indonesia’ (AMPTPI).
with dozens other West Papuan
students in front of the Jakarta
police HQ demanding the release of
Dano Tabuni and Charles Kossay.