Benny Wenda: Interim President: Prabowo reviving Suharto’s New Order in West Papua
February 28, 2025
Indonesia is now waking up to what I said after Prabowo Subianto was elected last year: that the ghost of Suharto has returned. The New Order dictatorship was buried twenty-five years ago, but under Prabowo’s rule it is being reborn. He is filling political posts with military figures, is sending his cabinet to army boot camps, and has reactivated the dual function of the military to operate in both military and civilian affairs.
As a result mainstream commentators and newspapers like the Jakarta Post are now worrying about the return of authoritarian rule. But for us, the dual function never disappeared: military occupation has been West Papua’s reality for the past sixty years. We were never integrated into Indonesian democracy, because we have never wanted to be part of that democracy. How can West Papua be democratic when our most basic desire – for Merdeka; self-determination and freedom – is illegal under Indonesian rule?
We must remember that the worst phase in West Papua’s recent history occurred under the supposed reformer Joko Widodo. Under his rule, more than one-hundred thousand West Papuans were forced from their homes; over eighty-five thousand of my people still live refugee lives in the bush, often without food, education or medical care. Since 2018, more than one-thousand West Papuans – mostly women and children – have died due to Indonesian military operations.
However, while insisting upon the basic continuity of Indonesian occupation, the ULMWP also recognises that Prabowo presents a unique threat to West Papua. Since his inauguration, Prabowo has deployed thousands of additional troops to West Papua, mainly to police the new ecocidal mega-plantations in Merauke and Boven Digoel. He has also created a new independent military command for all five newly-created provinces, building on Widodo’s illegal provincial division plan by introducing a more comprehensive system of military occupation. The latest example of Indonesia’s increased militarism is inauguration of the Papuan regional governors in Jakarta, where they were dressed in army uniforms. This is nothing less than the symbolic introduction of military rule.
Indonesia’s increased militarism is why Prabowo’s free school meal provision plan has been firmly rejected by thousands of students across West Papua. I applaud the bravery of these students, who have been teargassed, beaten, and arrested, simply for insisting on free education over free meals. Why is the military providing meals in schools, when thousands of refugees in Maybrat, Intan Jaya and other Regencies are going hungry? Students are right to be suspicious when Indonesia has poisoned thousands of our people. This is yet another example of military involvement in civil matters. The military has also taken over schools and homes in Puncak, in keeping with their long history of using civilian buildings for military purposes. Papuan hospitals, schools, churches and houses are frequently invaded without warning and transformed into military posts.
Indonesia must withdraw its troops from West Papua’s civilian infrastructure, end military operations in the highlands, and move towards a peaceful resolution to the West Papua conflict. Ultimately, the only answer to increased militarisation in West Papua is self-determination.
Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP
