Papua in Crisis
- Xihao Huang
- Jul 5
- 8 min read
A naked man lies dead on a grassy hillside in West Papua. His body is surrounded by onlookers, fellow victims who were also inches from the same fate.
Three dark-green undetonated bombs, handled not by a bomb crew donning EOD suits, but by a crowd of civilians from a rural village wearing T-shirts, pants. Amongst them, faces of young children can be seen, standing huddled with the villagers around the bombs.
These images are the only haunting remnants of atrocities committed upon civilians by their own government in West Papua. The victims often remain nameless, their stories unheard, and their anguished pleas for justice met by deafening silence on the international stage, almost as if the mortar explosions and indiscriminate gunfire was silenced by their isolation from civilisation. To this day, the conflict in Papua remains one of the most under-documented humanitarian crises in recent history.
A tumultuous history
In 1828, at the peak of the colonial era, the Dutch claimed the western half of the island of Papua. They raised settlements, constructed trading posts, and brought with them Christianity, which remains the dominant religion of the indigenous peoples to this day. In the 1940s, after a brutal and bloody struggle for independence, Indonesia broke away from the control of the Dutch. In the next 20 years, the heavily militarised, Muslim-majority country prepares for a military incursion to the western half of Papua, which until then, remained under Dutch rule.
In an effort to preserve peace and prevent widespread bloodshed, the United Nations drafted the New York Agreement of 1962, which was signed by both the Netherlands and Indonesia. Under the terms of the agreement, the United Nations would administer the territory for a few years. Throughout the duration, UN leadership would gradually be swapped out by Indonesian administrators. This will be followed up by the “Act of Free Choice”, where local peoples were allowed to cast a vote to decide whether they wish to be independent, or were agreeable to Indonesian rule.
This agreement was heavily backed by the United States, which, while initially pandering to the “anti-Soviet” narrative, would soon have their less-than-benevolent motives revealed.
The Bureau of European Affairs was sympathetic to the Dutch view that annexation by Indonesia would simply trade white for brown colonialism. ~US Department of State, 1962
Almost as if competing for the title of the “most poorly named agreement in history”, the “Act of Free Choice” saw 1025 Papuans, handpicked by the Indonesian Military vote unanimously in favour of Indonesian rule. Most were coerced with threats of violence against themselves or their family members should they choose the wrong option. Some were made to read off prepared scripts to international journalists, and young people who protested the vote were taken away in military vehicles. Just like that, the voice of the indigenous Papuans, the 800,000 people who have inhabited those lands for the past 40,000 or so years, have been silenced, once again, by foreigners fueled by greed.
A one-sided affair
As Indonesia continued on its journey of rapid development, it soon became apparent that the native peoples of West Papua were not part of the common quest for prosperity. Upon gaining control, transmigration policies, funded by The World Bank, were implemented by the Indonesian government, encouraging citizens from its densely populated inner islands of Java and Bali to move to less populated regions such as Irian Jaya (what is now known as West Papua). What followed was a slew of multi-billion dollar mining corporations, chief among them being the American-based company Freeport, taking control over large swathes of pristine rainforests and areas with some of the last remaining equatorial glaciers.
The profits from the mines were then funneled into the pockets of the Indonesian government (with Freeport being one of their largest taxpayers) and the corporations themselves, which was able to gain access to the resource-rich lands with ease. It was almost as if it were the payment for US’s support for Indonesia’s take over just a few years before.
The wealth of natural resources in West Papua does not stop at its ores. In 2011, Papuan caretaker governor Syamsul Arief Rivai claimed Papua's forests cover 42 million hectares and was worth an estimated Rp 700 trillion (US$78 billion) and that if the forests were managed properly and sustainably, they could produce over 500 million cubic meters of logs per annum. In spite of such riches, Papua and West Papua remain, by far, the poorest provinces in Indonesia with the highest unemployment levels.
In response to the oppression and violence, the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM), otherwise known as the Free Papua Movement, was formed to fight against Indonesian rule. The group has waged low-intensity guerrilla warfare against the Indonesia administration, as well as activism and peaceful protests, ever since its formation after Indonesia’s take over in 1962.
However, the fight has been far from fair. The OPM militants, mostly consisting of loosely organised, young men from villages scattered across Papua, are armed with wooden spears, poison arrows and stone axes. On the other hand, the Indonesian military is largely unashamed to use the large arsenal of conventional weaponry at its disposal, as highlighted below.
The bombing at Kiwirok
Kiwirok is a small district in the Bintang Mountains Regency of West Papua. It is situated close to the border between West and Papua New Guinea, near the center of the island of Papua, and is one of the most isolated and remote regions of Papua Island. In September of 2021, Indonesian media reports surfaced of an incident regarding militants from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), claiming that the militant group had set fire to construction equipment used to build the Trans-Papua Highway. Among them, uncorroborated reports of violence against healthcare workers by the TPNPB (otherwise known as the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement) were published by Indonesian media. The Indonesian government eventually deployed (more) troops to suppress protests that later broke out in the area.
In the following month, violence in the Kiwirok area persists, and simmering tensions between the locals and the Indonesian military worsen. Instead of attempting to negotiate for a peaceful resolution, however, on the 10th of October the same year, the Indonesian military began an aerial bombardment campaign of civilian houses in the area. This campaign, according to eyewitness counts, spanned the area of 4 villages and lasted the next 11 days.
Due to the sheer isolation of the district, obtaining accurate, consistent accounts of this humanitarian crisis proved to be a challenge for reporters. Subsequent tallies place the number of bombs dropped between 42 and more than 150. The evidence of the bombings are in plain sight. Pictures surface of houses flattened by mortar shells, craters jutting out of rural farmland, victims killed by blast or shrapnel, and the most jarring of all, refugees from Kiwirok, carrying bags full of shrapnel, alongside unexploded bombs and haunting photographs of the aftermath.
The impact of the military campaign remains unclear, with various media sources giving wildly varying numbers. Indonesian media only reported on the displacement caused, placing the tally at around 500 people displaced. However, later reports (such as one compiled by the PNG Integral Human Development Trust) that are based on eyewitness accounts, placed the number of people displaced at a staggering 2000 or more. These reports also confirmed at least 15 deaths as a direct result of the bombings, as well as close to 300 deaths as the result of starvation, as villagers were forced to abandon their livestock and farmland.
Individual stories from eyewitness accounts are even more chilling. One victim details the story of his uncle. After the bombing campaign, his uncle attempted to return to the village to retrieve his pigs, but was spotted by a drone and shot dead by snipers from 100m away. The man was given no chance to defend himself, surrender or flee, and the Indonesian media even shamelessly reports the incident as a success, framing it as the task force successfully killing a member of the Armed Criminal Group (kelompok kriminal bersenjata, or KKB for short), a name used by the Indonesian government in local media to refer to the OPM.
In this under-documented humanitarian crisis, in which facts are hard to find, one thing, however, is clear. The Indonesian military has used its military prowess to the detriment of civilians. Among the bombs and drones identified by eyewitness accounts and shrapnel analysis are Thales FZ-68 rockets and Chinese Ziyan Blowfish A3 drones, both of which were purchased legitimately for national defense purposes.
Yet, they are used on the very people these arms were made to protect, in order to serve a government that has largely shown little interest in bettering the lives of these people. An independent investigation by Australia-based journalists revealed that the French defense corporation Thales had taken few steps towards improving accountability surrounding the circumstances in which its rockets were used. These weapons, after being left in the hands of Indonesia, have become unchecked power used to silence and suppress, protecting only the very elite that stand to gain from the vast riches plundered from West Papua.
Little is expected to change in the near future. Sporadic outbursts of localised skirmishes between TPNPB members and security forces have continued in the months and years since, with the most recent incidents occurring just last month (June 2025).
The release of a 2nd Australian investigative documentary Frontier War in 2024 has attempted to draw well-deserved attention to this corner of the world, and hopefully expedite a long-delayed site visit by UN Human Rights experts. Yet, one-sided reporting of the continuing violence continues to paint a warped picture of the indigenous people’s struggle towards independence, ensuring all but a grim future ahead for the natives of West Papua.
References
Adriana Sri Adhiati, M., & Bobsien, A. (2001, July). Transmigration in Indonesia: an update. Www.downtoearth-Indonesia.org. https://www.downtoearth-indonesia.org/old-site/ctrans.htm
Corporate Accountability Lab. (2022, February 28). Fifty years of corporate exploitation: the story of us mining giant freeport & papua’s stolen sovereignty (part i). https://corpaccountabilitylab.org/calblog/2022/2/28/fifty-years-of-corporate-exploitation-the-story-of-us-mining-giant-freeport-amp-papuas-stolen-sovereignty-part-i
Human Rights Watch. (2025, May 29). Indonesia: Renewed Fighting Threatens West Papua Civilians. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/05/29/indonesia-renewed-fighting-threatens-west-papua-civilians
Jamieson, M. (2023, August 4). Report on the continuing aggravated attack and serious human rights violations of Ngalum Kupel people. PNG Integral Human Development Trust (PNG Trust). https://macmillan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/final_report_4_august_2023_ba00172994.pdf
Janki, M. (n.d.).West Papua and the Right to Self Determination under International Law . United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). https://www.ulmwp.org/west-papua-and-the-right-to-self-determination-under-international-law-melinda-janki
Jay, L. (2024, June 22). Indonesia and Brutal Policies Against West Papua (Paradise Bombed). Modern Tokyo Times. https://moderntokyotimes.com/indonesia-and-brutal-policies-against-west-papua-paradise-bombed/
Langker, K. (2023, September 11). Free-Fire Zone, West Papua. Declassified Australia. https://declassifiedaus.org/2023/09/11/free-fire-zone-west-papua/
Langker, K. (2024, December 22). Frontier War. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35279374/
RNZ News. (2011, August 25). Papua forests valued at 78 billion US dollars. https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/199163/papua-forests-valued-at-78-billion-us-dollars
Shanks-Markovina, J. (2023, August 4). Paradise Bombed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSf3268tAbg
TAPOL. (2022, October 21). West Papua 2021 Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Assembly Full Report. https://tapol.org/publications/west-papua-2021-freedom-expression-and-freedom-assembly-full-report
The Jakarta Globe. (2021, September 16). Papuan Gunmen Attack Medical Workers, Burn Facilities: Police. https://jakartaglobe.id/news/papuan-gunmen-attack-medical-workers-burn-facilities-police
Wenda, B. (2021, September 22). President Wenda responds to death of health worker in Kiwirok District. United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). https://www.ulmwp.org/president-wenda-responds-to-death-of-health-worker-in-kiwirok-district
West Papua Daily. (2021, September 20). TPNPB allegedly attacks health center in Papua’s Kiwirok District, murders a nurse. https://en.jubi.id/tpnpb-allegedly-attacks-health-center-in-kiwirok-murders-nurse/
West Papua Now. (2020, August 18). Facts on the New York Agreement. https://westpapuanow.com/2020/08/18/facts-on-the-new-york-agreement/
Comments