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23 February 2021Politics In August 2020, seven West Papuan political prisoners, held in Jakarta for protesting outside the Indonesian Presidential Palace, were released early following an international campaign. They received a rapturous reception on their return. Thousands gathered to greet them – a demonstration of the widespread opposition to Indonesian rule in this province on the island of New Guinea. A year earlier, hundreds of thousands marched, rioted and burned down state buildings across the country during a month-long uprising. Emboldened by this resistance, in December the largest West Papuan independentist group declared a provisional government-in-waiting, ready to form the world’s newest nation state. Jakarta’s political and media elites promptly went into meltdown. A star line-up of Indonesian officials, from the head of the military to the security minister, clamoured to denounce the liberation movement and its leader, the newly appointed Interim Preside ....
Indonesia’s former coloniser, the Netherlands, has become the 83rd international state calling for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be allowed into West Papua. Following questions posed by parliamentarians from seven Dutch political parties, Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Stef Blok said this week that, “it is important to have such a visit” by the High Commissioner “as soon as possible”, reports the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). Minister Blok also noted that the Dutch government was aware of a large number of organisations opposing the renewal of Indonesia’s “Special Autonomy” provisions in West Papua. ....