A rogue Indonesian military unit is roaming Intan Jaya Regency, slaughtering West Papuans at will.

Yonif Raider 509 Balawara Yudha have killed at least four West Papuan civilians so far, including three minors. They are acting with total impunity, clearly confident that their crimes will not be punished by the TNI command or their genocidal President. As shown by a new Human Rights Monitor report, their actions are part of a broader, ongoing crime against humanity being committed in Intan Jaya, constituted by widespread killings, mass displacement, and the destruction of homes and other infrastructure.

Yonif 509’s reign of terror in Intan Jaya began on October 9th 2024, when they abducted Alex Sondegau, a 30-year-old Papuan suffering from a mental disorder.  They tortured Mr Sondegau to death and dumped him in an unknown location. His body has still not been recovered by his family. Killing disabled people, those who cannot fully understand what is happening to them, is a war crime. As we have come to expect from the Indonesian military, Yonif 509 attempted to justify the atrocity by claiming Mr Sondegau was a TPNPB combatant. This disgusting lie was immediately denied by the TPNPB themselves.

Following this, on October 12th Yonif 509 members abducted and tortured two high school students. Only one returned home, having had kerosene poured over him and being threatened with burning alive. Like Alex Sondegau, his friend is missing and feared dead.

The very next day, the battalion murdered another high school student 18-year-old Pianus Sani. Another student, 15-year-old Sepe Bagubau, was abducted first and tortured in a Yonif 509 military post. The unit refused to release him until Sani gave himself up. After surrendering himself in exchange for Bagubau’s release, Sani was tortured to death inside the military post.

Finally, Yonif 509 troops tortured and killed 16-year-old Yulianus Abugau in Sugapa, Intan Jaya. Soldiers captured the high school student, took him into the forest, and stabbed him with bayonets until he died.

This is only the latest massacre by the Indonesian colonial occupiers. In recent months numerous individuals have been tortured, shot, and killed, while thousands of our people have been forced from their homes by increased military operations. These killings are reminiscent of the massacre and mutilation of four civilians in Mimika in 2022, or the 2014 Paniai massacre, when numerous children were beaten and four shot dead during a demonstration.

Under Prabowo’s rule, Indonesia have also restarted the illegal transmigration settlement programme and deployed 5000 additional troops to protect their ecocidal investment in Merauke. Expropriation and ethnic cleansing: these are two poles of Indonesian colonialism in West Papua.

The crimes of Yonif 509 also demonstrates that Indonesia is again targeting the next generation of West Papuans. It is not a coincidence that three of the dead were youngsters: the TNI has shown over and over that they are willing to murder children in order to crush the spirit of Papua Merdeka. Young people have also been the main victims of mass internal displacement since 2019, with tens of thousands of children forced to grow up in the bush, without schooling, medical care, and often without food or water. Many have died due to the harsh conditions created by the coloniser.

This is a reminder to the international community to pay close attention to ongoing humanitarian crisis in West Papua. Indonesia have shown time and time again that they will not punish soldiers who have committed crimes against humanity in West Papua. The culture of impunity that exists within battalions like Yonif 509 is a direct result of government policy in Papua. There can be no justice for the victim in the courts of the coloniser. The ULMWP therefore calls upon human rights organisations, civil society groups, and solidarity allies around the world, to increase their focus on West Papua and the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in our land.

We also call upon the Indonesian government to finally allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua, in line with last year’s Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) call; to repeal their decades-long ban on foreign media and NGOs; to immediately cease military operations in Intan Jaya; to withdraw their troops across the highlands in order to allow refugees to return home; and to engage with the root source of this conflict – the ongoing violation of West Papuan self-determination. Only by granting us the referendum we have long been denied will Indonesia resolve the West Papua issue. Until freedom, struggle.

Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP