Arnold Belau, Nabire – Victor Yeimo, international spokesperson for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), has revealed that over the last three years the state has sent 21,369 Indonesian troops to the land of Papua.

Oleh Farid M. Ibrahim – Welcoming December 1, 2019 yesterday, activists from the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) and its supporters in a number of different countries held actions in which they brought and flew the Morning Star independence flag. Several activities were coordinated on social media through the hashtag #GlobalFlagRaising.

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.

Eva Mazrieva, Washington DC – In mid-April Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its annual report and world press freedom index. Surprisingly, Indonesia was still in 124th place meaning press freedom has stagnated and there has been absolutely no progress since 2018.

Dandhy Dwi Laksono – As in the case of the song Genjer-Genjer which was composed by M. Arief, the song Garuda Pancasila was also written by an artist from the People’s Cultural Institute (Lekra). His name was Sudharnoto.

Anggi Kusumadewi, Jakarta – Animal names and racist insults could be heard shouted at midday on Friday July 15. The shouts originated from members of social organisations besieging the Kamasan I Papua student dormitory on Jalan Kusumanegara in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta.

Bastian Tebai, Yogyakarta – Every year July 1 is commemorated by Papuans as West Papua proclamation day. The proclamation was read out at the Victoria Headquarters in Waris Village, Jayapura, in 1971.

Yogyakarta – Scores of Papuans from the group Solidarity for Papua (SUP) held a protest action at the Yogyakarta monument in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Monday June 21.

Jakarta – The judges in the Central Jakarta District Court have had to postpone the court hearing into the shooting of three PT Freeport employees. In addition to the defense attorney not being ready, Antonius Wamang and his six colleagues are still refusing to be tried in Jakarta.

Jakarta – Non-government organisations (NGOs) are concerned about Indonesia’s nomination to chair the United Nations Human Rights Commission because it will actually silence the human rights movement in Indonesia itself.

On October 12, the world was shocked by the explosion at the Sari Club on Legian road in Kuta, Bali. It is appropriate that we feel great sorrow and condemn the bombing which killed almost 200 people. The perpetrators of the bombing must be arrested and tried as quickly as possible.