As violence escalates in West Papua, Indonesian political leaders have again turned to the military to address what is, at base, a political issue while West Papuan leaders call for dialogue without response. Neither approach is likely to be any more successful at ending the conflict than they have been for the past half century. […]
Tag Archives: Indonesia
On the last day of January 2019, the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) announced in Port Moresby that it recognized that West Papua was in a state of war with Indonesia and supported the OPM’s military wing, the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB) is its own declaration of war against Indonesia early in 2018. […]
The Pacific Ocean may have been named for its peaceful winds, but this year’s 18 nation Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) has been among the most combative in its five-decade history. At issue was a confluence of sharply competing interests, with China’s growing role at the centre of them. China’s delegation stormed out of the meeting […]
The visit to Indonesia by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, within days of taking office, has been widely hailed as a success, with the signing of an effective free trade agreement and a further tilt towards a closer strategic relationship. The five point agreement visit was said to ‘add ballast’ to the bilateral relationship, reprising […]
Text (rough translation – I had two meetings with the West Papuan groups, not ‘several’, as well as some other minor factual errors): Ten years ago Professor Damien Kingsbury held several meetings with representatives of Papuan groups. The goal is to discuss and find ways to speak in a single voice. At that time, President […]
I have been sent a link by an Indonesian acquaintance about being accused, on CNN Indonesia, by a senior former Indonesian general of being involved in, or behind, recent unrest in West Papua. https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20171215172134-12-262710/akademisi-australia-diduga-terlibat-gejolak-papua This allegation is quite untrue. In that same statement, the former general also vastly exaggerated my role in Timor-Leste in 1999. […]
In a move that is expected to wind Indonesia’s military into a frenzy and which will again start an Indonesian witch-hunt for Australian supporters, a West Papuan petition calling for a vote on independence has been presented to the United Nations’ Decolonisation Committee. The petition demands a free vote on West Papua’s independence as well […]
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo’s decree on Wednesday banning organisations that do not support the state ideology of ‘Pancasila’ (Five Principles) has sparked strong protest from both human rights and Islamist groups in Indonesia and sparked some alarm abroad. It’s the first time such a presidential decree has been issued since Indonesia’s hard-line leader Suharto was […]
Reporting of two gay men being publically whipped in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh has sparked concerns that Indonesia’s long-vaunted ‘tolerant’ Islam is turning fundamentalist. Islam in Indonesia is in a process of change and a more fundamentalist version of the faith is increasingly prominent. The ‘Aceh whippings’, however, may be misleading. Aceh was […]
The execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran has had a riveting, almost cathartic, effect on many Australians, including its political leaders. The overwhelming response has been one of rejection, sadness and, in some cases, anger. Given that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said last year that this issue would not be allowed to affect […]