Free West Papua campaign protests Prabowo’s UK visit: Benny Wenda statement

The following statement by ULMWP President Benny Wenda was read out at the picket outside 10 Downing Street against UK PM Keir Starmer’s meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto:

On behalf of the ULMWP and the West Papuan people, I want to state very clearly: the UK government should not be welcoming the war criminal Prabowo Subianto.

Prabowo is complicit in genocide in East Timor and West Papua. As a General of Kopassus, he led the Kraras massacre, in which over 300 innocent Timorese people were slaughtered. Some accounts have alleged that he personally tortured victims during Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor.

He belongs in the International Criminal Court, not in 10 Downing Street.

The UK cannot make climate agreements with Indonesia while Indonesia destroys West Papua’s forest for the largest deforestation project in the history of the world. Indonesia has recently seen the effects of climate catastrophe: the mass floods in Aceh and Sumatra, which killed over 1000 people and wrecked many more homes and livelihoods.

How can Indonesia manage West Papua when they cannot even keep their own people safe? How can they destroy our forest, a lung of the world, when their own people are dying due to climate change?

To support their climate destruction, more than eighty thousand Indonesian security forces, including 56,000 soldiers and 26,000 police, are currently posted across West Papua’s towns and villages.

The result is the mass displacement of West Papuan civilians – mostly women, children, and elders. Over 105,000 West Papuans are currently displaced due to Indonesian military operations. They are living as refugees in the bush, without food, medical care, or education for the children. Thousands have died due to starvation or disease.

Prabowo is also visiting Kings College London, as part of Indonesia’s soft power efforts to strengthen their ties with UK universities. Three universities – Kings, Queen Mary, and Liverpool – have made agreements with Indonesia. They also recently sent delegations to Jakarta to personally meet with Prabowo.

I call on all students and staff at these universities to protest these deals. No university should be dealing with this war criminal. He has West Papuan blood on his hands.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the UK government must understand the gravity of their actions. By welcoming Prabowo Subianto, you are shaking hands with a man accused of mass murder. This week three of our people have been executed by the Indonesian army. Two of them were students – and the UK is welcoming Prabowo into its universities. The other was only a seven year old child, Arestina Giban.