Reverend Socrates Yoman, President of the West Papuan Baptist Church, addressed MPs today (24th March 2025) at a West Papua APPG meeting in the UK Parliament.
Reverend Yoman is a widely respected religious leader, academic, author, activist, and member of the West Papua Council of Churches (WPCC). He has long been an outspoken critic of the Indonesian occupation, and as a result two of his books are banned in Indonesia.
Below is a version of the speech that Reverend Yoman gave to MPs and Lords.
Rev. Yoman with Lord Harries
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, members of The House of Commons,
Thank you for having me on this golden opportunity to stand and to be here representing the West Papua Council of Churches on behalf of my indigenous people of West Papua.
I am bringing to you all warm greetings from the indigenous community of West Papua.
On this valuable time, I would like to draw your attention to the real-life challenges of my people on their own inheritance, the Land of West Papua.
As a matter of fact, my people have been living a long life full of suffering and poverty without the proper acknowledgement, protection and affirmative action from the world, more specifically from the Indonesia rulers who occupying, oppressing, and colonizing the indigenous people of West Papua.
So, on behalf of my people, the indigenous community of West Papua I would like to state the facts that West Papua is in possession of highly rich natural resources, such as gas, oil, gold and forest cover. However, for daily lives for us Papuans it is extremely the poorest in the world.
The question is: Who obtains the benefits and advantages from all this abundant natural resources?
There is such a big gap between the life of the indigenous people of West Papua and the life of the Indonesian migrants in West Papua economically, educationally, health, politically, culturally and historically.
The current life of my people is explicitly linked to marginalisation, destitution ultimately leading to abject poverty and sedentary.
Furthermore, the life of indigenous people in West Papua means being marginalised on their own inherited land, being paralyzed, and facing a degenerative process systematically, widely, and collectively committed by the Indonesian authority.
The Indonesian authority as the policy makers commits devastating ecocide, and ruination of all our life, our property, our forest, poisoning our water, land dispossession for oil palm plantation on behalf of a national development.
Meanwhile, the living standard of life of indigenous West Papuans is economically, educationally, medically, politically on average 95% subjected to abject poverty.
Environmental destruction is another factor that we are facing daily in West Papua. West Papua is described as the lungs and the Green State of the world. However, it is currently being destroyed and devastated by Indonesian authorities in the name of national development.
For example, the current situation in Merauke the Indonesia National Strategic Project, which is destroying and devastating the land as livelihood and source of daily life of lifetime of the Indigenous peoples of West Papua. The Indigenous people in Merauke are standing strongly in rejection and resistance every day for protection their inheritance land for their children and grandchildren’s future. A little fresh air, the Deputy Minister of Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia supports the resistance of Indigenous landowners.
Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is very obvious, that racism, human rights abuses, military operation, marginalization and environmental destruction and disappearance of people are all processes of extinction and mass genocide, which have been going on for many years in West Papua and has never been resolved.
The very sad fact is clearly visible within the government’s deliberate neglect of all cases of gross human rights violations committed by the Indonesian government for sixty years, which cannot be touched by the former Indonesian president Ir. Joko Widodo, even though he has visited West Papua nineteen times.
This is evidenced by, the gross human right abuses in the Biak case on July 6, 1998; Abepura case on December 7, 2000; Wasior case on June 13, 2001, Wamena Case April 3, 2003; Paniai case on December 8, 2014, the kidnapping and disappearance of the late Theys Eluay’s driver Aristitoles Masoka on November 10,2001 and also the mutilation of four innocent people in Timika on August 26, 2022 as well as other thousands of cases.
The fact is all perpetrators are untouchable people by the law. To which they have special impunity from decision makers and higher level of people in the Government’s authority. These perpetrators of gross human rights abuses have furthermore been granted and praised honourable position as national heroes.
Clearly, Indonesia’s policy in devastating, destroying, paralyzing and the extinction of indigenous communities from their own inherited land through the expansion of the numbers puppet provinces acts as a silent bullet.
As similar experience of South Africa under apartheid rulers, when Peter W. Botha became Prime Minister in 1978 Botha intentionally divided South Afrika 4 puppet states: Transkei; Bophutha Tswana; Venda; and Ciskei; though it finally led South Africa to obtain independence.
We understand profoundly the main purpose regarding division Indonesia’s puppet provinces in our inheritance, the Land of West Papua, the expansion of people from Indonesia to possess, dominate and monopolize the social and economy lives in West Papua. Many migrants spontaneously and uncontrollable come every day by plane and every week by ship. For example: The reality today is every day when we want to go to Wamena or other places around West Papua by plane, many of the passengers are hundreds of Indonesian migrants and among them only five Papuans. The consequence is that the indigenous people of West Papua are ultimately losing possession of land and are becoming marginalized.
And also, the migrants dominate and monopolize political and governmental employed positions as part of the occupation and colonialization of West Papua. For example: The members of the local parliament of the whole of West Papua are majority dominated by migrants, inevitably every five years extreme changes have taken place on the percentage of the members of the parliament. Candidates from the indigenous people of West Papua as a result lose their voters during election time because the indigenous people are becoming minorities gradually overtime. This is the real situation, the creeping genocide or the slow-motion genocide.
These includes the establishment and reinforcement of military and police deployment in West Papua on behalf of the national security, territorial integrity and protection of the sovereign state of Indonesia.
Furthermore, I frankly would speak with you that Special Autonomy is the political bargaining between West Papua and Indonesia. However, the Special Autonomy in 2001 totally FAILED. Special Autonomy is not the best way to resolve West Papua conflict. Because it is a part of a Development Resolution and not Conflict Resolution.
Why had Special Autonomy been granted and it was strongly supported by the EU including the British Government? The Indigenous people of West Papua unanimously support to obtain their political willingness for independence according to December 1, 1961. This political independence was annexed by international conspiracy through New York Agreement 15 August 1962 and Act of No Choice 1969.
In special Autonomy era, human rights violations in West Papua have increased significantly, including the killing of foreigners, military members, police members and civilians.
I have fundamental questions as follows:
1. Who shot dead Thomas Graeme Wall a New Zealand citizen in Kuala Kencana, Timika Tembagapura on March 30, 2020?
2. Who shot dead Pilot Glenn Malcolm Conning, a New Zealand citizen on August 5, 2024, in the Alama district, Timika, West Papua?
3. Who shot dead the general I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha on April 24, 2021?
4. Who shot dead Michelle Kurisi Doga on April 29, 2023?
As long as there has been no credible independent investigation involving the international community to investigate the murder of Thomas Grame Wall, Pilot Glenn Malcolm Conning, General I Putu Danny Karya Nugraha, Michelle Kurisi Doga above then all accusations by the state and the security forces of the Indonesia National Military (TNI) and the Republic of Indonesia Police against the West Papua National Liberation Army (TNPB) are untrue and cannot be trusted.
In a situation of unclear and uncertain accusations like this, proof is needed, so to prove who the real perpetrator of the shooting is, a neutral and credible investigation is needed. As far as there is no independent and fair investigation team, the accusations of both parties in conflict cannot be accepted and cannot be justified.
The current situation of the indigenous people from Nduga, Intan Jaya, Pegunungan Bintang and Maybrat are living under displacement and have not yet returned to their homeland.
In addition, I agree, and recommend the four roots of conflict which resulted to research by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in being a framework and reference for building the West Papua Conflict Resolution.
The four main roots of conflict were formulated by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) which are contained in the book Papua Road Map: Negotiating the Past, Improving the Present and Securing the Future (2008), namely:
1) History and political status of Papua’s integration into Indonesia;
(2) State violence and gross human rights violations since 1961 which have not been resolved;
(3) Discrimination and marginalization of indigenous Papuans in their own land;
(4) Failure of development including education, health, and the economy of the Papuan people.
The results of the research by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences consist of two very important parts, first is Development Resolution and second is Conflict Resolution.
Fundamentally, according to our understanding, special autonomy, the granting of money, the expansion of puppet provinces in West Papua are NOT part of the solution to the root of the conflict, but a part of the state’s obligations and the same with other provinces in Indonesia, as long as Indonesia recognizes West Papua as part of Indonesian territory. However, the government deliberately ignores the resolution of the West Papua conflict.
The Indonesian government must take strategic steps to accommodate the resolution of the chronic roots of the West Papua conflict by involving a neutral third party in a neutral place. For example, the government has made Free Aceh Movement (GAM) a dialogue partner in Helsinki on August 15, 2005.
Furthermore, I raise several questions as follows.
- Why does Indonesia not allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua?
- Why does the Indonesian government not give access to foreign diplomats and journalists to visit West Papua?
- What is Indonesia hiding in West Papua?
- What is the Indonesian government doing to the indigenous people of West Papua?
I would like to call for the following:
- The UN High Commission for Human Rights to immediately visit West Papua;
- Foreign diplomats and journalists are allowed to visit West Papua;
- Unconditional peace talks between the Indonesian Government and the Interim President of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, mediated by a third party and held in a neutral place;
- Review the Act of No Choice in 1969 Self-Determination Act which is legally and morally flawed against the international law and international conspiracy;
- International communities to genuinely and frankly recognize and accept December 1, 1961, as the Independence Day of the Nation of West Papua. The strong reason is the representation of five states: The British, French, Australian, Dutch and PNG who attended and witnessed the 1 December 1961 in Jayapura, West Papua;
- Stop the Indonesia National Strategic Project in Merauke which is robbing the land of the indigenous people of West Papua and again is putting these indigenous people in the vicious cycle of extreme poverty.
Finally, to conclude I would like to remind you that the majority of the indigenous people of West Papua in 1969 mostly voted 95% in rejection to the integration of being a part of Indonesia, and they strongly stand on their political willingness as being an independent state on their own inherited land. Even of today that 95% of aspirational hope for independence has never been reduced for five and a half decades since 1969 up to now.
Thank you very much for kindness and attention. God bless all of us.
