Indonesian Police Kill West Papuan Freedom Fighter

Yesterday Indonesian Police shot Kelly Kwalik, a leader of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), while conducting a raid on a house in Timika, West Papua.  Kwalik later died in hospital.  Five others, including a 10 year old boy were arrested during the raid.

Kwalik, aged 60, had been a leader of the Timika region OPM since 1977.  The OPM has been struggling for the rights of indigenous West Papuans since the Indonesian Military invaded in the 1960s. The Indonesian Military and Police continue to commit serious human rights abuses in Papua.  A large number of West Papuans have been imprisoned for simply flying the West Papuan flag, the Morning Star.  Papuans live in poverty and lack access to basic health and education services, while their land’s natural resources, such as copper, gold and kwila rainforest wood have been sold off to multinational corporations. 

During the 1990s Kwalik had been involved in the kidnapping of foreign nationals in Papua.  However, in recent years the OPM, along with other Papuan groups, have called for dialogue with the Indonesian government and for Papua to become a demilitarised ‘land of peace’.  The Indonesian Police claimed that Kwalik had been responsible for a number of killings of civilians in recent years around the infamous Freeport McMoRan copper and gold mine, including the 2002 shooting of two American teachers and the 2009 shooting of an Australian Freeport employee.  A number of human rights activists and Papuan leaders have disputed these claims.  The attacks were carried out with high powered assault rifles commonly found in the arsenals of the military and police.  The OPM is a poorly armed force.  Some believe the attacks may have been carried out by Indonesian soldiers, in order to justify their continued presence around the Freeport mine. [Impunity at the Freeport Mine: Will Indonesian Security Forces Get Away with it Again?] 

New Zealand and Australian Papua solidarity activists have condemned the killing of Kelly Kwalik.  The Australia West Papua Assocation (AWPA) is concerned that with the increasing tension in the Timika region the security forces may use such outpourings of grief and loss by local people as an excuse to crack down and conduct military operations in the area. [AWPA Press Release]

The New Zealand Indonesia Human Rights Committee (IHRC) has written to NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully calling for a ‘thorough and impartial investigation into all the circumstances of Kelly Kwalik’s death’. [IHRC Press Release] 

OPM leader embodied spirit of Papuan resistance in Indonesia

Article from 1996: "We Love Kelly Kwalik" - Indonesia's Other War