Global protests throw spotlight on alleged police abuses in West Papua | Global development | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/11/global-protests-throw-spotlight-on-alleged-police-abuses-in-west-papua
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The #PapuanLivesMatter protests also inspired a team to create an interactive graphic, We Need To Talk About Papua, for progressive teenage art magazine, Kudeta. The graphic, which has been widely shared on social media, including by the singer Isyana Sarasvati, who has 7 million Instagram followers, contains a history of Indonesia’s colonialism in West Papua, links to petitions against police violence and a list of the names of the Papuans allegedly killed by Indonesian security forces.
“The discussion about Black Lives Matter must also be followed by an awareness that racism still occurs in our country,” says writer Bageur Al Ikhsan, part of the creative team.
West Papua is a former Dutch colony that was absorbed into Indonesia in 1969 following a controversial referendum. An existing movement agitating for independence from Dutch rule has refocused its energies on the Jakarta government, which maintains tight control over the region.
At the far east of Indonesia, West Papua remains physically and ideologically separate from the rest of the country. Indigenous Papuans make up about half of the population. Locals claim racism is rife among the police and the military, and there have been allegations of human rights abuses and exploitation against the local population. In August 2019, protests erupted in the region over alleged police abuse against ethnic Papuan students. It was the biggest protest since 1998.