Interim President of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda, has called for Indonesia to be stripped of its Associate Membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and Dialogue Partner status in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) following recent killings in West Papua.
Wenda accused Indonesian security forces of escalating violence and intimidation against West Papuans.
“On behalf of the ULMWP and West Papuan people, I demand that Indonesia’s Associate Membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and Dialogue Partner status in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) are immediately revoked,” Wenda said in a statement.
He alleged that recent incidents in Timika and Intan Jaya involved explosives being placed on the bodies of West Papuans killed by Indonesian military forces.
“Following the massacres last week, the latest examples of the TNI’s colonial brutality took place in Timika and Intan Jaya, where soldiers planted bombs on the bodies of West Papuans killed in Tembagapura by the military.”
“In Timika, when the victim’s family went to collect their dead kin, the bombs exploded, injuring a number of elders. Neither the police nor army informed the family that the body had been booby trapped.”
“A similar situation occurred in Intan Jaya, where family members also suffered injuries.”
Wenda claimed the Indonesian military had previously used similar tactics.
“Indonesia has a history of hiding explosives on murdered Papuans: the TNI used this method after killing Hetina Mirip in June 2025, in an attempt to injure her family upon discovering her shallow grave.”
He urged Pacific leaders to take stronger action against Indonesia over the situation in West Papua.
“Pacific leaders must ask themselves how much bloodshed they are prepared to tolerate. How many Papuans must die? How much humiliation must our elders suffer?”
“Over the past fifteen years, I have raised our issue in countless meetings with Pacific leaders, but the only change has been for the worse,” he said.
Wenda said West Papua was facing growing militarisation and suppression.
“No element of West Papuan life is safe from Indonesian militarisation. Massacres occur on a weekly basis, our people are displaced every day, our churches and schools are forcibly emptied and then occupied as military posts.”
He also accused Indonesian authorities of suppressing freedom of expression outside West Papua.
“Indonesia’s suppression of the West Papuan voice is now even spreading to Java and Sumatra.”
“Screenings of Pesta Babi, a documentary about the displacement of indigenous Papuans by the rice and sugarcane corporate mega-project in Merauke, are currently being violently broken up by police authorities across Indonesia,” said Wenda.
He further claimed restrictions remained on reporting and publications relating to West Papua.
“No journalists are allowed to report from West Papua; books about West Papuan history are strictly forbidden; even the ULMWP and Free West Papua websites are completely banned.”
“Indonesia has turned West Papua into the Pacific North Korea,” he said.
Wenda also renewed calls for the ULMWP to be granted full membership in the MSG.
“The ULMWP needs full membership of the MSG in order for West Papuans to have an assurance of safety.”
“Without a voice, we will never be able to defend ourselves from the coloniser seeking to wipe us out.”
“Above all, they must take a stand and expel Indonesia from PIF and the MSG. Anything less will increase Indonesia’s sense of impunity and continue the current violence,” he said.
