On behalf of the ULMWP and the people of West Papua, I condemn Indonesia’s cruel and humiliating arbitrary arrest of twelve West Papuans in Tambrauw Regency this week.
The arrests took place on the March 18th, after Indonesia conducted military operations in the Fef and Bamus Bama districts. People were dragged out of their homes, tortured, and detained without any warrants or explanation. This is how Indonesia treats West Papuans, as less than human.
The twelve men arrested in Tambrauw have been labelled TPNPB and stigmatised as terrorists and criminals by the Indonesian colonisers.
But who is the real terrorist? These men are the customary landowners, simply defending their forest, their homes, from the military who come to destroy everything. They have been there for thousands of years, long before Indonesia invaded and stole our sovereignty. They didn’t go to Jakarta; Indonesia came to them with bombs and guns.
And who is the real criminal? The people of Tambrauw have been tending their gardens in peace for generations. It is Indonesia who has come and stolen our resources, torn down our forest to plant rice and sugar so people in Jakarta can eat. There is no real development in West Papua, only business for Indonesia.
When I look at the pictures of these boys with their hands tied, forced face down on a police station floor, I see my own people. They represent all West Papuans – humiliated and degraded in their own land.
Indonesia knows they can never defeat our spirit. You can arrest us, torture us, kill us, but the spirit of freedom lives on in every West Papuan. Whether they are in the bush, the city, in exile, or even working in the Indonesian government, every West Papuan has experienced trauma at the hands of the Indonesian military and police. Every single one of us has an uncle who has been killed, a mother who has been raped, or a brother who has been tortured in police custody. We all long for merdeka. That is why Indonesia has deployed over 80,000 security forces to terrorise our land – because they are terrified of our desire for freedom.
On behalf of the ULMWP, I demand that Indonesia immediately release the twelve West Papuans arbitrarily arrested in Tambrauw on March 18th. Indonesia must also finally allow journalists to report on West Papua and immediately facilitate a visit to West Papua by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. This visit has been promised since 2018, and demanded by 113 countries, including all member states of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS), and the European Commission.
There is only one path to peace in West Papua: the withdrawal of all Indonesian troops, followed by an internationally mediated self-determination referendum.
Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP
