President Wenda: Pacific leaders should not trust war criminal Prabowo

August 23, 2024

As President of the ULMWP, I condemn the meeting between incoming Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape.

Melanesian leaders cannot trust this dangerous war criminal. Prabowo may speak softly, but he is complicit in genocide. Tens of thousands of West Papuans and East Timorese were killed under his jurisdiction while he was a Kopassus commander. He is directly complicit in numerous massacres and has never repented or faced justice. Rather than the support of Pacific leaders, Prabowo deserves an Interpol red notice and an international arrest warrant.

While Prabowo attempted to deceive Papua New Guinea, the police crackdown in West Papua revealed true face of Indonesia occupation. On the 15th of August, KNPB activists gathered peacefully to commemorate the anniversary of West Papua’s betrayal at the New York Agreement in 1962. These were peaceful rallies, with the KNPB having obtained a police permit to march, and yet they were broken up with teargas and rubber bullets. Some activists were beaten. As expected, Indonesian soldiers also went from village to village, forcing West Papuans to bow in front of the Indonesian flag for their Independence Day on August 17th.

In the last few weeks, we have seen an innocent Papuan shot dead while riding his bike, without any reason or provocation; we have seen three Papuans murdered in Puncak Jaya; we have seen a well-known human rights defender shot and gravely injured by an unknown assailant. For Prabowo to travel to Papua New Guinea and talk about defending our culture and protecting our rights, is a sick joke. Prabowo is a killer of Papuans and, through his family’s mining and palm oil interests, a destroyer of Papuan land. He should not be welcomed by Papuans.

A journalist of West Papuan heritage by the name of Harlyne Joku was barred from attending Prabowo’s press conference in Port Moresby, at the request of the Indonesian Embassy. These bully tactics are exactly what we have come to expect from Indonesia. For sixty years they have imposed a media blackout in our country, by banning foreign journalists and intimidating domestic reporters.

I want to remind Melanesian leaders that West Papua is not an internal issue or a matter of Indonesian sovereignty. Our sovereignty was stolen from us in 1969 via the Act of No Choice, when 1026 Papuans were forced at gunpoint to vote against our dream of Merdeka. Indonesia said we were too primitive for self-determination. This racism is still in evidence today, when the military and police beat West Papuans for holding a peaceful protest.

Prabowo’s propaganda tour is simply a distraction. There is only one long-term solution to the West Papuan issue: an internationally-supervised independence referendum.

Benny Wenda 
President
ULMWP