Michael Andrew – The Indonesian media is contributing to resentment and racism toward Papuans, according to a human rights researcher and former journalist.
Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Jakarta told Pacific Media Watch many Indonesian journalists either view Papuans as enemy "separatists" or deviants and their reporting tends to convey these stereotypes.
Caesar Akbar, Jakarta – Chairman of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia, Abdul Manan, condemned the internet block applied in Papua and West Papua by the government starting on Wednesday, August 21, 2019. He claimed that the policy disturbed Papuan citizens from receiving and delivering information.
Caesar Akbar, Jakarta – The Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) urges Communication and Informatics Ministry (Kominfo) to immediately lift the internet blocking policy as it has been applied since Wednesday night, August 21, in Papua and West Papua Province.
Fajar Pebrianto, Jakarta – Thousands of people protested the internet blocking policy implemented by Communication and Informatics Ministry in Papua and West Papua. They demanded Minister Rudiantara reopen the network access by signing an online petition with a hashtag #NyalakanLagi or #KeepItOn on Change.org.
Fikri Arigi, Jakarta – Brawijaya Military Command (Kodam) V is examining its six personnel who are suspected to have thrown racist remarks against Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, on Saturday, August 17.
Iqbal Tawakal Lazuardi, Jakarta – West Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Trunoyudo announced that the policeman who gave liquor to a group of Papua university students in Bandung was under the scrutiny of the police's internal affairs division (Propam).
The policeman in question, a commissioner, has undergone extensive investigation since Thursday night, August 22.
Following riots and demonstrations in Papua and West Papua, the internet has been blocked in Indonesia's eastern most provinces since Wednesday, August 21.
Senator the Hon Marise Payne
Minister for Foreign Affairs
PO Box 6100
Senate, Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
23 August 2019
Dear Foreign Minister,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Australia West Papua Association in Sydney concerning the increasing tension in West Papua.
Andita Rahma, Jakarta – The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) assessed that the government has violated the public constitutional rights by temporarily blocking the access to the internet in Papua and West Papua.
Even, the United Nations Human Rights Council condemned such a practice as a disruptive act against access to online information.
Jakarta – Mimika Police in Papua have named 34 people suspects for rioting in the town of Timika, where rallies protesting racism and violence against Papuan students escalated into extreme unrest on Wednesday.Police officers arrested on Wednesday morning 13 people who had allegedly blocked roads and forcefully demanded several repair shops to hand over car tires, which were later
Seto Wardhana, Jakarta – A string of protests condemning the recent racial abuse against Papuan students has spread nationwide, with Thursday seeing hundreds of Papuans and activists staging an anti-racism rally in Central Jakarta.
Kate Lamb in Jakarta, and Ben Doherty – Indonesia has deployed more than 1,000 security personnel to West Papua and cut internet access, amid days of violent demonstrations in what activists say are the largest protests to occur in the region in years.
Jakarta – The Morning Star flag was flown by more than 100 Papuan protesters from the Student Alliance Against Racism, Capitalism, Colonialism and Militarism during a rally in front of the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Thursday August 22.
The small flag was flown as demonstrators were dancing and singing a song with lyrics demanding Papuan independence.
Noval Dhwinuari Antony, Jakarta – Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko believes that there is an armed group and political axis that is exploiting the issue of racism to ferment riots in Papua. The Free Papua Movement (OPM) is one of them.
Iqbal Tawakal Lazuardi, Jakarta – Papuan students in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung feel hurt and angry after being given two boxes of alcohol by a police officer.
"It's the same as demeaning our dignity. We immediately took it to the protest action and returned it to police", said Miles C Jikwa, the student who received the alcohol.
Islami Adisubrata, Jayawijaya – The shooting over some construction workers of PT Istaka Karya in Yigi, Nduga Regency on 2 December 2018 has still left a scarce in the heart of local people. They are now still living with physical and mental injuries.
Yeremia Sukoyo & Faraouk Arnaz, Jakarta – The government has blocked internet access and deployed large numbers of security personnel in Papua to contain island-wide unrest, as protests over racist slurs allegedly directed at Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, last week ran into a third day on Wednesday.
Febriana Firdaus, Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia has deployed more troops to West Papua as demonstrations calling for the region's independence spread.
Government buildings have been torched and reports of unrest belie earlier assurances by the government that the unrest had been contained.
Jakarta – The outbreak of violent protests in West Papua and Papua provinces over racial abuse against Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday should give this nation an impetus to revisit its yearning for the realization of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, or NKRI.
Tasha Wibawa – Indonesian police say they have regained control of West Papua after sending close to 1,000 extra officers to the restive province.
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Papua and West Papua in the past few days, torching tyres and government buildings as well as damaging an airport in Indonesia's easternmost provinces.
Camellia Webb-Gannon – Last weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny).
Jakarta – Tri Susanti, the field coordinator of a recent protest that ended with racist abuse being hurled at Papuan university students in Surabaya, East Java, has apologized for the insults.
Johnny Blades – Protests are spreading in Indonesia-ruled West Papua in response to harassment of Papuans during explosive incidents in Javanese cities last week.
Indonesia's president has urged calm after some of the protests turned violent, but he's been criticised for not directly addressing a festering racism problem.
Indonesia's Papua was hit by fresh unrest Wednesday as more than 1,000 security personnel were sent to the restive region after violent protests that saw buildings torched and street battles between police and demonstrators.
Jakarta – The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has called once again for the United Nations to visit Papua and West Papua following the racial abuse that sparked widespread protests in the country's easternmost regions.
Jakarta – At least 258 inmates detained in Sorong Penitentiary in West Papua have escaped their prison cells after the building caught on fire during protests in the city that were in response to racist abuse being hurled at Papuan students on Java.
Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is set to visit Papua and West Papua following rioting that broke out in the provinces' capitals on Monday. The demonstrators protested racial abuse against Papuan students in East Java during the commemoration of Indonesia's Independence Day over the weekend.
Helen Davidson and Ben Doherty – The Indonesian president has called for calm after days of violent protests against and by ethnic West Papuans.
President Joko Widodo urged people to forgive each other "as fellow countrymen" instead of getting angry, while pledging to look after the "honour and welfare of all people in Papua and West Papua".
Jakarta – The National Police have called on the public to refrain from sharing unverified information about the riots in Papua, as authorities track down social media accounts suspected of sowing discord.
Jakarta – East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parwansa has apologized on behalf of the people of his province after racial abuse of Papuan students in Surabaya triggered widespread protests in cities across Indonesia's easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua.
Jakarta (Antara) – The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher on Papuan studies, Rosita Dewi, assessed the non-completion of several cases regarding human rights violations in Papua resulted in the resolution failure of conflicts related to the region.
Nedi Putra AW, Jakarta and Malang, East Java – Regional leaders and authorities have scrambled to diffuse tensions stemming from the recent racial abuse against Papuan students, which has triggered widespread protests in Papua and West Papua.
Guruh Permadi, Jakarta – The coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Yati Andriyani, believes that the statement by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on the riots in Papua was totally inadequate.
Muhammad Irfan, Jakarta – Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Coordinator Yati Andriani is calling on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to learn from Indonesia's fourth president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in how to deal with the problems in Papua, including the flying of the symbolic Morning Star flag.
Telly NathaliaJakarta – Alleged racism and police brutality against Papuan students in East Java on Saturday triggered violent protests in cities in Indonesia's two easternmost provinces on Monday.
Makassar – Students living at the Papuan dormitory in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar clashed with a group of people from an ormas (social or mass organisations) this evening, Monday August 19.
Medan/Bandung/Jakarta – Scores of student from Papua studying in the North Sumatra city of Medan have protested the persecution, intimidation and racism against fellow Papuan students in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya.
Kukuh S. Wibowo, Jakarta – Public defender of the Surabaya Legal Aid (LBH), Sahura, said that the situation around the Papuan students' dormitory at Kalasan Street in Surabaya is gradually turning conducive after 43 college students from Papua on Friday were involved in a clash with local groups of people over a flag incident.
Nurhadi, Jakarta – Indonesian National Police (Polri) Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian expressed anguish over the riots that broke out in Manokwari, West Papua.
He maintained again that the unfortunate widespread incidents were caused by misinformation and misunderstanding of recent incidents involving Papuan students in Malang and Surabaya, East Java.
Adi Ahdiat, Jakarta – The Papua Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) says that since the beginning of Indonesian independence up until now, the country has never been free of racist practices.
Febriana Firdaus, Jakarta, Indonesia – Large demonstrations in Indonesia's West Papua region have turned violent as thousands of protesters, angered by alleged police abuse against ethnic Papuan students, burned public facilities and blocked roads.
Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Tabita Diela, Jakarta – Indonesia's police chief said on Monday that authorities in the easternmost Papua region were regaining control after protesters set fire to tyres and torched a local parliament building over the recent detention of scores of Papuan students.
Johnny Blades – Large public demonstrations are underway in cities in West Papua after the reported harassment of Papuans in Indonesia over recent days.
Papua's provincial governor has also spoken out after dozens of Papuan university students were set upon by a mob and later arrested in Surabaya, as well as incidents in other Javanese cities of Semarang and Malang.
Tasha Wibawa – Indonesian police have defended their decision to storm into a dormitory of West Papuan students alongside the nation's military, over vigilante allegations that someone had committed slander on the national symbol.
Ben Doherty and agencies – Protestors in the West Papuan provincial capital of Manokwari have set fire to the local parliament building after a demonstration against the arrest and detention of scores of Papuan students.
Following yesterday's events in West Papua Province, during which the local parliament building and a penitentiary were burned down and homes were destroyed, Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia's Executive Director said:
Helen Davidson – Indonesian authorities raided a university dormitory in Surabaya on Saturday and arrested dozens of West Papuan students after a standoff over allegations the Indonesian flag was thrown into a sewer.
Hengky Yeimo, Jayapura – Scores of Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) members in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta held a spontaneous action in front of the Yogyakarta regional police headquarters on Friday August 16.
An Indonesian lawyer says more than 150 West Papuan independence activists were arrested on Thursday.
Veronica Koman says 65 remain detained in Jayapura after rallying for the support of their cause being raised at this week's Pacific Islands Forum summit. Demonstrations also took place in several other cities.
Ghinan Salman, Surabaya – As many as 43 Papuan students were taken to the district police headquarters after police fired teargas and forced their way into a Papua student dormitory in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya on Saturday August 17.