Presented by Bill Birtles – Indonesia's President is considering an amnesty for detained political activists in the country's far eastern Papua region. The area's armed pro-independence movement regularly clashes with Indonesian security forces. Activists are cautious about the olive branch.

Andy Park: Indonesia's president is considering an amnesty for detained political activists in the country's far eastern Papua region. The area's armed pro-independence movement regularly clashes with Indonesian security forces. Activists are cautious about the olive branch, as Indonesia correspondent Bill Birtles reports.

Bill Birtles: About 500 kilometres to the north of the Northern Territory is the closest thing our immediate region has to a battlefield. Each year, dozens of people are killed, either armed separatist fighters, armed Indonesian security force members or civilians. Just last week, two police officers were shot dead. Last year, this sometimes forgotten conflict hit the headlines when a faction of armed rebels holding a New Zealand pilot hostage for more than a year released him.

Hostage: The Papuan military have taken me captive in their efforts to fight for Papuan independence.

Bill Birtles: Now with a relatively new Indonesian president at the helm, the country is trying a fresh approach. The top law Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra says President Prabowo Subianto is considering an amnesty for prisoners in Papua who were detained for non-violent political actions.

Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra: Our law minister is currently working on collecting details of inmates who will get amnesty from President Prabowo. We are working on it and hopefully in the near future the amnesty will be granted.

Bill Birtles: It's part of a broader nationwide push to reduce overcrowded prisons. But in Indonesian-controlled Papua, it's being seen as an olive branch. An exiled spokesman for the broader pro-independence movement, Sebby Sambom, is wary.

Sebby Sambom: And who will get this amnesty? Was Papuan political prisoner or always Papuan leaders or freedom fighters? We don't understand. We will not compromise with any Indonesian request for amnesty or any because we are fighting for our right to independence.

Bill Birtles: The Indonesian government says the amnesty could be a new hope to find solutions to the long conflict in Papua, even if some of the rebels are cautious. An Indonesian political activist who might potentially benefit from such a move is Veronica Koman. She was effectively exiled to Australia for her advocacy of Papuan rights issues in 2019.

Veronica Koman: What we are hearing so far is that those who want to be released from prisons have to pledge loyalty to the Indonesian state and that makes it pardon, not amnesty. And this is what is going to be a major problem in the process.

Bill Birtles: She says actions by the Indonesian military and police have continued in the months since Prabowo Subianto took power.

Veronica Koman: Prabowo has been deploying thousands, if not hundreds of troops to West Papua since he was elected.

Bill Birtles: For now, the amnesty is still a work in progress, but it's likely to happen. But the broader root of the conflict, a view by many Papuans that they're being forcefully colonised by Indonesia, remains. This is Bill Birtles in Jakarta, reporting for The World Today.

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/worldtoday/amnesty-considered-for-papua-activists/10486743