For the last fifty years, a movement favoring independence for resource-rich West Papua has called for a redo of a 1969 referendum that merged the region with Indonesia. Papuans insist the referendum was illegitimate—the few allowed to vote were forced at gunpoint to support joining Indonesia. However, the Indonesian government has rejected all demands to hold a second referendum. With little room for negotiation, a movement seeking secession from Indonesia has been locked in violent conflict. Papuan militants have engaged with the government’s security forces for decades, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths. The Papuans continue to reject Indonesian control over their land and resources as well as non-Papuan migration from other Indonesian islands. Today, Papuan groups continue to fight an armed struggle against Indonesian authorities.Share
