The international reaction -- and especially the US' -- to the West Papua riot might influence Pacific geopolitics by potentially pushing Indonesia to choose a side in the New Cold War.
The eastern Indonesian region of West Papua was rocked by a riot in its capital city of Manokwari on Monday that resulted in the torching of the local parliament and was
sparked by reports that the authorities used disproportionate force over the weekend when responding to claims that students from that part of the country who are studying in East Java supposedly disrespected the national flag on Independence Day. The police are accused of using tear gas to clear out a dormitory full of students and then temporarily detaining 43 of them after humiliatingly forcing them to "squat and waddle across the ground" first, according to Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman as quoted by
The Guardian. She also said that racist chants and death threats were shouted against the students at that time too, which naturally inflamed the restive residents of West Papua who have long complained of continuous human rights abuses against them ever since their
controversial incorporation into Indonesia following a UN-backed vote by a little more than 1,000 locals hand-picked by Jakarta to participate (they unanimously agreed to it).
The mineral- and LNG-rich but sparsely populated jungled territory
remains woefully underdeveloped to this day
despite having the world's largest and second-largest gold and copper mines, respectively, thus
feeding into a simmering separatist movement that carried out two high-profile attacks last summer in the run-up to local elections there. The author analyzed the significance of this event at that time in his piece about how "
The Papua Attacks Prove That Insurgency Is Still Alive In Indonesia", which builds upon earlier analyses about
Indonesia's Hybrid War vulnerabilities and its
future role in the
emerging Multipolar World Order. Judging by what just took place on Monday,
anti-government sentiment is extremely high in the region and capable of spilling over into violence if the indigenous society there feels like their people are being collectively humiliated in front of the eyes of the entire country after the nationwide scandal that erupted over the weekend following the flag incident. About that, the
Indonesia Expat online information outlet quoted police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo as saying that
the entire thing was based on a hoax and that the authorities are searching for the person who spread the initial reports on social media that ultimately led to the riot.
Comment: As the simmering tensions ignited,
The Guardian reported that the protests in Jayapura and Manokwari were the largest in years, as rioters set fire to the local parliament building and blocked streets:
On Monday morning, Papuan protesters set fire to the legislative council building and blocked streets in the provincial capital of West Papua, Manokwari, by burning tyres and tree branches, deputy governor Mohamad Lakotani said.
"The city centre, market, the port are next to the parliament building, as well as shopping centres. Everything's affected. Practically, the whole city is not running, if not to say completely paralysed," Lakotani told Kompas TV.
Television footage showed a group of about 150 people marching on the streets in Manokwari, as well as footage of smoke billowing from a parliament building.
Veronica Koman's tweets showing the resulting fire and damages:
Comment: While the West attempts to isolate and criticize China's endeavor to profile its population, we should become better able to identify similar goals and procedures by our own governments. These include data farming agreements with social networks and information giants - such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, tech platforms - as well as what is processed through visible and covert government agencies. There is an agenda at-large to be exposed and its goal is not 'for the safety and facilitation of the public'. It is about complete societal control. China claims its 'program' is in beginning stages of development. How far along is our government on this issue? What restrictions/punishments will some mathematical formula determine are in our future and what can we do about it?