#papua

This is also a genocide that should be talked about. It needs to be addressed, but it’s ignored on the global stage.

Jayapura — At least nine civilians, including a five-year-old child, have reportedly been killed and dozens more injured in a shooting incident during a military operation in Puncak Regency, Central Papua.

A local source, Yumbunik Murib, said the fatalities occurred following what he described as an indiscriminate attack by Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) personnel in Tenoti and Kumikomo villages, Kembru District, on Tuesday (April 14, 2026).

“The victims died from gunshot wounds after a widespread assault by security forces across several villages in Kembru District. Nine individuals have been identified, evacuated, and laid to rest according to customary Lani traditions,” Murib told Jubi by phone on Friday (April 17, 2026).

People have been getting indiscriminately shot at by the Indonesian army at the guise of fighting for separatists forces. The army denies this involvement and stated that it was the separatists who shot civilians first, but everyone who ever kept up with this knows this is a pattern for them for decades. Just recently, similar things happens in Dogiyai, and back ini 2024, a video went viral where a several indonesian army officers tortured a Papuan man. I'm not linking the video btw, im linking an article of this news

The constant conflict also has made at least 79 thousand people becoming internal refugees, sheltering in the wilderness with no proper access to food or medical care.

Outside of the violent incidents, i also want to bring up how much of this is motivated by capitalism. landgrabbing are very common in periphery regions of indonesia, oftentimes backed by the army or the police themselves. Illegal mining operations are common, and the legal ones tend to operate without proper consent by the local communities and without care for the environemt. In Papua this is even more pronounced compounded with decades of unequal development, and it has caused environmental damage and harm to the indigenous communities.

By the way, the largest gold mining company currently in Papua, Freeport Indonesia, was only recently (in 2018) has Indonesia as majority stakes. From the start of its operations in 1967, it was primarily owned by Freeport-McMoran, a USAmerican mining company.

As I'm writing this I don't really know if there's a way to help in a concrete way. There are alternative medias in Papua that would do well with some financial help, however the methods are all in done with Indonesian payment processors, not dollars. I saw petitions going around but I'm gonna be honest I don't want to make people have false hope and think their imperialist country would have a change of heart from a bunch of signatures.

Portrait of a Papuan man from an unidentified tribe