West Papua Liberation Movement Condemns Racist Slurs
RNZ, January 29, 2021
he United Liberation Movement of West Papua has condemned more racist slurs directed at West Papuans from members of Indonesia’s elite.
Two incidents have provoked fresh outrage, with at least one case prompting Indonesian police to make an arrest before public anger spills over.
Last month a former head of the Indonesian intelligence agency and special forces, General Hendropriyono, said that West Papuans should be resettled away from their homeland on the island of Manado.
He explained that the idea to move two million West Papuans was so Indonesia “could racially separate them from Papuans in PNG, so that they could feel more like Indonesians instead of foreigners”.
The United Liberation Movement of West Papua has condemned more racist slurs directed at West Papuans from members of Indonesia s elite.
Two incidents have provoked fresh outrage, with at least one case prompting Indonesian police to make an arrest before public anger spills over.
A former head of Indonesia s intelligence agency and special forces, General Hendropriyono.
Photo: TEMPO/Dhemas Reviyanto
Last month a former head of the Indonesian intelligence agency and special forces, General Hendropriyono, said that West Papuans should be resettled away from their homeland on the island of Manado.
He explained that the idea to move two million West Papuans was so Indonesia could racially separate them from Papuans in PNG, so that they could feel more like Indonesians instead of foreigners .
“This is racial ethnic cleansing, a genocidal fantasy at the highest levels of the Indonesian state,” Wenda said.
Ambronicus Nababan, chair of the Pro Jokowi-Amin Volunteers (Projamin), made the racial comment about Natalius Pigai, former head of Indonesia’s leading human rights group.
“These remarks stand in a long tradition. When Indonesia invaded our land, General Ali Moertopo said the Papuan people should be transferred to the moon,” Wenda said in the statement.
‘Obstacle to development’
“In 2016, General Luhut Panjaitan said the Papuans should be transferred to the Pacific. Indonesia’s rulers have always seen us as sub-human, as an obstacle to ‘development’ that needs to be ethnically cleansed and killed.