A West Papuan independence advocate has accused Indonesia of “continuing to murder children” while escalating its military operations across the Melanesian region.
United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda says West Papua faces two connected crimes — ecocide and genocide.
Two schoolchildren were killed by the occupying military in the build up to Indonesian Independence Day this month on August 17, Wenda said in a statement yesterday.
He said security forces had killed a 14-year-old girl in Puncak Jaya, while 13-year-old Martinus Tebai was slain in Dogiyai a week earlier on August 10 after soldiers opened fire on a group of youngsters.
“These killings are the inevitable result of the intensified militarisation that has taken place in West Papua since the election of the war criminal Prabowo [Subianto, as President, last year], Wenda said.
Thousands of additional troops have been deployed to “terrorise West Papua”, while the new administration had also created an independent military command for all five newly created West Papuan provinces, “reinforcing the military infrastucture across our land”, he said.
More than 100,000 civilians were still displaced, and there had been no justice for the forced disappearance of 12 villagers in Intan Jaya in May.
Violence linked to forest destruction
Increased violence and displacement in the cities and villages was inseparable from increased destruction in the forest, Wenda said.
Soldiers were being sent to Merauke, Dogiyai, and Intan Jaya in order to protect Indonesia’s investment in these regions, he said.
“We are crying out to the world, over and over again, screaming that Indonesia is ripping apart our ancestral forest, endangering the entire planet in the process,” Wenda said.
The Merauke sugarcane and rice plantation was the “most destructive deforestation project in history — it will more than double Indonesia’s CO2 emissions”.
Wenda asked what it would take for the global environmental movement to take a stand?
Indonesia has shown just how fragile its grip on West Papua really is,” he said.
Forced flag raising
“After the ULMWP declared that no West Papuan should celebrate Indonesian Independence Day, soldiers went across the country forcing civilians to raise the Indonesian flag.
“Indonesia is desperate. Even as they increase their violence, they know their occupation will eventually end.
“We remember what happened in East Timor, where the worst violence took place in the dying days of the occupation.
“West Papuans have always spoken with one voice in demanding independence. We never accepted Indonesia, we never raised the Red and White flag – we had our own flag, our own anthem, our own Independence Day.”
West Papua
Unrest in Sorong has continued for a third consecutive day. At least 19 people have been arrested, and one person was shot.
Similar unrest erupted today in Manokwari, as anger spreads over the transfer of four political prisoners out of West Papua. pic.twitter.com/zFkUU9Ateo
— Veronica Koman 許愛茜 (@VeronicaKoman) August 29, 2025
