Interim President: The ULMWP says no to dialogue with Indonesia

February 5, 2025

Dialogue with Indonesia is not the answer for West Papua.

The ULMWP has a clear stance on the question of dialogue: not until self-determination is on the table. West Papua is a colonised nation, not a province of Indonesia. We will not become another Aceh. The only long-term solution is for us to be allowed a genuine act of self-determination through an internationally-supervised vote.

As proven by the 2017 People’s Petition, the West Papuan people speak with one voice in demanding our freedom through a self-determination referendum – exactly what we were denied in 1969. Over 1.8 million West Papuans – more than 70% of the Indigenous population – signed the Petition, demonstrating the sincere and universal demand of West Papuans for liberation. Through the 2023 Congress, the ULMWP also has a people’s mandate for our agenda endorsed by over 5000 West Papuans drawn from all seven regions of our country. Anyone attempting an independent dialogue process is therefore acting against the people’s will.

The correct forum for dialogue with Indonesia is on the floor of the United Nations. Because our issue was born at the UN, it must be resolved at the UN. We must be assisted by the international community in righting the wrongs of the past and finally fulfilling the terms of the New York Agreement.

The question of dialogue has arisen once again because of the so-called ‘amnesty’ proposed by the Indonesian President Prabowo. Our position on this proposal is also clear: amnesty is a contradiction in terms if our right to self-determination and political expression remains illegal. Prabowo’s offer is a cheap stunt for the international media; another attempt to hide the ongoing genocide and ecocide the Indonesian state is committing against my people.

The ULMWP is an elected government-in-waiting, not an NGO. We are not fighting for Indonesia to improve their democratic processes in West Papua, to manage our lands better, or for more Papuan representation in the House of Representatives.

Internal dialogue, without international mediation or self-determination on the table, has the effect of making West Papua an internal matter for the Indonesian government. Again: West Papua is not an internal matter. The only correct description of our situation is colonisation. The only answer to colonisation is Merdeka.

God bless our peaceful struggle for freedom.

Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP