New interactive mapping platform exposes accelerating environmental destruction in West Papua

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Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 30 July 2025 

Groundbreaking satellite data analysis and interactive mapping tools have revealed the unprecedented scale of deforestation and ecosystem destruction across West Papua, with the National Strategic Projects driving 24% of the forest loss in 2024. A comprehensive new study published by Nusantara Atlas has unveiled a detailed analysis of land clearing trends across West Papua, revealing alarming acceleration in environmental destruction driven by government mega-projects and corporate expansion. The research introduces powerful new data visualization tools that allow interactive monitoring of ecological changes across one of the world’s last intact tropical wilderness areas.

The research methodology combines multiple data sources, including satellite imagery analysis, land-use planning documents obtained through information requests, and ground-based verification, to create a comprehensive picture of environmental change across West Papua. The publication’s combination of scientific analysis and accessible data visualisation tools marks a new era in environmental monitoring, providing the evidence base necessary for urgent policy intervention to protect one of Earth’s most biodiverse regions.

The Nusantara Atlas publication represents a breakthrough in environmental transparency by opening public access to civil society organisations, researchers, and policymakers with sophisticated tools previously available only to government agencies and large corporations. The interactive mapping platform allows public access to environmental monitoring data, enabling real-time tracking of ecological destruction and corporate accountability.

New data platform transforms environmental monitoring

The publication introduces “Papua Watch,” an interactive story map that provides unprecedented access to satellite-based monitoring of land clearing activities across 13 key locations in West Papua. The platform combines high-resolution satellite imagery, land-use planning data, and comparative analysis tools to track the ongoing expansion of food estates, oil palm plantations, mining operations, and infrastructure development in the region.

The mapping application’s most significant innovation lies in its ability to provide comparative satellite imagery analysis, allowing users to observe environmental changes over time with precision previously unavailable to the public. Users can visualize the exact locations where deforestation occurred, identify which ecosystems were affected, and track the companies responsible for the destruction.

Key data visualisation features include:

  • Time-series satellite imagery comparison showing before-and-after environmental changes
  • Detailed mapping of forest loss by driver and geographic location
  • Interactive overlay of protected areas, indigenous territories, and development projects
  • Real-time tracking of road construction and infrastructure expansion
  • Ecosystem-specific analysis distinguishing between primary forest, swamp forest, savanna, and grassland conversion

Alarming acceleration of environmental destruction

The research reveals that primary forest loss in West Papua rose 10% from 2023 to 2024, reaching 25,300 hectares, with preliminary 2025 data indicating the pace is accelerating further. Most significantly, the Merauke National Strategic Project (PSN) emerged as the top driver of deforestation in 2024, resulting in the loss of 5,936 hectares of primary forest. This figure equals 24% of all recorded forest destruction.

The satellite data shows that from January 2024 to June 2025, the Merauke PSN cleared 22,272 hectares of natural ecosystems, including primary forest (9,835 ha), Melaleuca swamp forest, natural savanna, and grassland. This represents only a fraction of the project’s ultimate target of converting up to 3 million hectares for rice fields and sugarcane plantations.

Interactive tools reveal corporate networks behind destruction

The mapping platform’s corporate tracking capabilities expose the key players driving environmental destruction in West Papua. The analysis identifies the Jhonlin, Fangiono, and Salim groups as the three primary actors. The interactive data allows users to trace specific concessions to their corporate owners and track their clearing activities over time.

Major findings through the mapping analysis revealed that PT Global Papua Abadi (linked to the Fangiono family) cleared 11,751 hectares between January 2024 and June 2025. Land clearings associated with the oil palm expansion in the first half of 2025 are already equal to those of all of 2024, indicating an accelerating pressure on land and resources. According to the satellite imagery analysis on the infrastructure development, 40 km of a planned 135 km access road have been completed, opening new areas for exploitation that have previously been inaccessible.

Mining threats exposed through island-specific analysis

The research platform also provides a detailed analysis of mining impacts on West Papua’s ecologically sensitive small islands, particularly in Raja Ampat. The mapping reveals that PT Gag Nikel cleared 35 hectares between January 2024 and June 2025, while PT Kawei Sejahtera Mining cleared an additional 35 hectares on Kawe Island.

The platform’s ecosystem-specific analysis demonstrates why island mining poses exceptional risks. Smaller islands are home to globally significant biodiversity, which cannot regenerate once damaged by industrial operations due to their geographical limitation and their exposure to various forms of erosion.

Infrastructure development catalyses environmental destruction

The mapping shows that completion of planned infrastructure will inevitably increase accessibility to protected areas, including Danau Bian and Bupul Nature Reserves, facilitate speculative land clearing as road access increases land values, and enable expansion of transmigration sites with associated population pressure.

The platform’s road network analysis reveals the strategic nature of current development. The new PSN road, when completed, will connect to the existing Trans-Papua Highway and MIFEE road networks, creating a continuous corridor across southern Papua’s wilderness. The mapping illustrates that this corridor ends less than 1 km from the Danau Bian Nature Reserve, putting this protected ecosystem at immediate risk.

The comparative satellite imagery supports the observation that road construction acts as a catalyst for broader environmental destruction, with clearing expanding along transport corridors and facilitating industrial access to previously protected areas.

Scientific validation of environmental concerns

The research validates concerns about the environmental suitability of current projects through detailed ecosystem analysis. The mapping reveals that much of the targeted area consists of acidic peat soils and seasonally flooded wetlands, conditions that have caused similar food estate projects to fail elsewhere in Indonesia.

The platform’s soil and climate data integration shows that Merauke’s tropical wet-dry savanna climate, combined with naturally occurring annual wildfires and highly acidic soils, creates conditions “far from ideal for rice cultivation.” The research notes that while the Indonesian government claims a successful first rice harvest on a 4-hectare plot in May 2025, initial yields often succeed due to residual soil nutrients before productivity typically declines as tropical soils become increasingly acidic and nutrient-poor.

International implications and conservation priorities

The research platform positions West Papua’s environmental crisis within global conservation priorities, noting that the region represents one of the world’s last intact tropical wilderness areas. The mapping demonstrates that without urgent intervention, such as Indigenous land rights recognition, science-based land use planning, and a permanent halt to the Merauke Strategic National Project, West Papua is at high risk of losing irreplaceable ecosystems.

Interestingly, the study warns that continued destruction could jeopardize Indonesia’s 2030 net-zero emissions target, as the clearing of carbon-rich peat forests and wetlands releases significant greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Urgent call for policy response

The research concludes with specific policy recommendations based on the mapping analysis. Recommendations include implementing a moratorium on forest conversion to oil palm, banning mining on small islands, recognizing Indigenous land rights, and adopting science-based land use planning. The interactive platform provides policymakers with the precise geographic and temporal data needed to implement targeted conservation measures.

Military members accused of fatally torturing Papuan youth in Intan Jaya for wearing a t-shirt with Morning Star

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Cases, Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 25 July 2025 

On the evening of 17 July 2025, members of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) reportedly tortured and executed Mr Obert Mirip, an 18-year-old student, inside the Titigi Military Post, Sugapa District, Intan Jaya Regency, Papua Tengah Province (see photo on top, source: Jubi). The incident occurred after Obert was accused of being a member of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) for wearing a shirt displaying the Morning Star Flag and the Papua New Guinea flag. Multiple reports affirm that Mr Mirip was not affiliated with any armed group but was summarily executed in military custody. His body was later returned to his village by order of the local TNI commander, without formal investigation or due process.

According to reports from multiple independent sources, TNI personnel deployed drone surveillance over Ndugusiga Village on 17 July 2025, at approximately 7:00 pm. After identifying Mr Obert Mirip based on his clothing, TNI soldiers reportedly descended from their post, forcibly arrested him at his home, and escorted him to the Titigi military post. That same night, he was allegedly tortured and eventually succumbed to the injuries he sustained as a result of torture. The next day, TNI soldiers informed nearby villagers that a TPNPB member had been shot and demanded that the body be collected for burial. Upon verification, community members confirmed that the deceased was Mr Obert Mirip.

The TPNPB Central Headquarters released a statement according to which Obert Mirip was not associated with the TPNPB and condemned the killing as a deliberate act of intimidation aimed at suppressing civilians. Local civil society actors denounced the TNI’s narrative as disinformation and accused state authorities of violating the civil and political rights of the indigenous population. The dissemination of false claims labeling Mr Obert Mirip as a TPNPB member was widely criticised as a defamatory tactic aimed at justifying unlawful violence against civilians.

Relatives and civil society representatives have called upon Indonesian authorities to conduct an independent, impartial, and transparent investigation into the killing of Mr Obert Mirip and to ensure that all perpetrators, including those with command responsibility, are held accountable. The Indonesian National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) should monitor the situation in Intan Jaya and other conflict areas and timely investigate allegations of grave human rights violations in West Papua.

Background

The killing of Obert Mirip underscores the urgent need for the Indonesian state to demilitarise West Papua and to guarantee the right to freedom of expression, cultural identity, and political opinion without fear of retaliation or violence. The Titigi area already became an area of conflict in April 2023, as Indonesian security forces conducted raids on four villages in the Intan Jaya Regency of West Papua, covering an area of 2.7 square kilometres. The raids destroyed at least 28 houses. Security forces reportedly killed four civilians and injured three others, including two minors. More than 3,000 indigenous Papuans were internally displaced   as a result of these operations, facing dire living conditions without access to adequate food, healthcare, or education

Legal analysis

This incident constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, notably the right to life, the prohibition of torture, and the protection of civilians under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The summary execution of an unarmed civilian without judicial process is a potential crime against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), especially in the context of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population.

Photo of Mr Obert Mirip’s body taken on 18 July 2025, after being tortured by TNI members in Titigi, Intan Jaya

The West Papuan Legislative Council Has Held Its Inaugural Meeting in Jayapura

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BY PAUL GREGOIRE PUBLISHED ON 17 JUL 2025 

The 5 July 2025 inauguration of the West Papuan Legislative Council in West Papua’s Jayapura City “marked the rebirth of the West Papuan state”, remarked United Liberation Movement West Papua president Benny Wenda in a 10 July 2025 statement, adding that the globe  “should respect” that it has “fulfilled all international requirements to be recognised as a government-in-waiting”.

According to reports, 350 members were inaugurated into the West Papuan Legislative Council on 5 July, along with thousands of regional council members, to represent the Indigenous peoples of the land across the seven customary regions that the ULMWP government recognises in West Papua: not the six provinces that the colonial Indonesian administration has imposed upon the region.

The establishment of the West Papuan government-in-waiting is the latest stage in a heightened push by the West Papuan liberation movement began with the September 2017 presentation of the West Papuan People’s Petition to the United Nations General Assembly, prior to the December 2020 founding of a provisional government and subsequent establishing of infrastructure on the ground.

These bounds towards independence, however, have also seen an intensification of Indonesian military attacks on occupied West Papuans, which began on villages in Nduga Regency, and continues to the present day, while the inauguration of alleged habitual war crimes perpetrator Prabowo Subianto as Indonesian president last year neither bodes well for the Melanesian region.

But as ULMWP Legislative Council chair Buchtar Tabuni led thousands of West Papuans, who’d just attended the first session of the West Papuan Legislative Council held in Jayapura City, in a procession through the main streets of one of the nation of West Papua’s largest cities, the message was clear: West Papua now has a government-in-waiting, and it does not want to wait too long.

A nation-in-waiting

“We have now completed our internal structure, implementing democracy even before winning independence,” said ULMWP president Benny Wenda, who currently lives in exile. “The world should respect the fact that we have fulfilled all international requirements to be recognised as a government-in-waiting,”

“We have our own provisional government, cabinet, laws, constitution and Green State Vision for a liberated West Papua,” the president-in-waiting continued, as he noted the commitment an independent West Papua has made to becoming a truly green state. “We also have a network of diplomatic representatives around the world, ready to engage with international diplomats.”

In the lead up to the Netherland colonisers 1962 departure, the West New Guinea Council, which was made up of West Papuans, celebrated their nation’s coming independence on 1 December 1961, Wenda recalled, with the raising of the Morning Star flag, and diplomats from the UK, France, Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Netherlands all bore witness to the ceremony.

As Wenda explains the roll out of the Legislative Council finishes the process of actualising an entire Indigenous government on the ground, which commenced with the first meeting of the West Papuan congress in November 2023.

This finishes the establishment of the legislative framework for an independent West Papua, as well as produces a body to legitimise this point on the global stage.

“With the 2020 provisional government, we built a legitimate governance structure and declared Indonesian presence in West Papua to be illegal,” Wenda underscored. 

“With this inauguration, we have deepened our sovereignty on the ground. The ULMWP is now present at every level of West Papuan life.”

Never any choice

As it was leaving West Papua, the Netherlands handed control of the territory to the United Nations, as per the 1962 New York Agreement, and then in May 1963, it passed on interim administration to Indonesia, another country that had been colonised by the Dutch, who’d left in 1949. This handover was done on the basis that Jakarta let the West Papuans hold a referendum on independence.

Indonesia then held the 1969 UN-brokered “Act of Free Choice”, which saw the Indonesian military select 1,026 West Papuans to take part in, and via threat of gunpoint, they all voted to remain with Jakarta. So, the New York Agreement was never honoured, a fraud vote occurred and the 1.8 million West Papuans, or 70 percent of the population, who signed the petition, want a real referendum.

Since 1 May 1963, Jakarta has killed over half a million West Papuans, and, as Indonesia has been running a transmigration program into the Melanesian region since the 1970s, the 90 percent of the population that the locals, the West Papuans, had made up at that time, has now dropped down to comprising of less than 50 percent of the people living in the region.

The attacks on villages and displacement of local West Papuans has picked up since 2018, and this has been accompanied by the construction of the Trans-Papua Road project, which is a highway needlessly being rolled out that harms the West Papuan landscape and people. The attacks on people in the highlands and coastal regions across the nation of West Papua continue to this day.

The real choice awaits

Former Kopassus general and now Indonesian president Prabowo has a notorious reputation for the brutal manner in which he carried out operations in the former colony of East Timor and the continuing colony of West Papua.

Under the new president’s watch, the aerial bombing of West Papuan villages has heightened recently and the world’s largest act of deforestation is being committed on West Papuan soil in the name of sugarcane farming.

But so too has the West Papuan Legislative Council just met for the first time under Prabowo’s watch, and Wenda points out that for the United Liberation Movement of West Papua to be recognised as legitimate on the international stage has precedent, and he raised the Vanuatu People’s provisional government and the Palestine Liberation Organisation as examples of this.

ULMWP Legislative Council chair Tabuni said a fortnight ago that the 5 July plenary council meeting was an “historical milestone” that involved “the formation of a legitimate and representative legislative structure”, which has “strengthened the foundation of our government, as a nation ready for sovereignty”.

“The ULMWP is ready to play that role,” Wenda underscored. “We are ready to take our seat at the table, to help find a diplomatic political solution to the West Papuan issue through international political mechanisms.”

 PAUL GREGOIRE 

Paul Gregoire is a Sydney-based journalist and writer. He’s the winner of the 2021 NSW Council for Civil Liberties Award For Excellence In Civil Liberties Journalism. Prior to Sydney Criminal Lawyers®, Paul wrote for VICE and was the news editor at Sydney’s City Hub.

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New Gecko Project documentary exposes the dark reality of Indonesia’s Strategic National Project in Merauke

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Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 17 July 2025 

A new documentary reveals the devastating impact of Indonesia’s National Strategic Project (PSN) in Merauke, Papua Selatan Province, exposing how large-scale agricultural expansion under the guise of national food security results in the systematic violation of indigenous rights and environmental degradation. The project aims to convert at least 1.6 million hectares of indigenous Malind territory into rice fields and sugarcane plantations, backed by heavy equipment and military presence. Indigenous communities report land seizures without giving their free, prior informed consent (FPIC), while military forces secure the project areas, underscoring the militarisation of development in West Papua.

The film highlights growing resistance from indigenous Malind communities, who reject all forms of corporate investment on their customary lands. In March 2025, over 250 participants at the ‘Merauke Solidarity’ forum condemned the PSN as a corporate-driven initiative that disregards indigenous rights and causes irreversible environmental harm. The project has already triggered deforestation, water contamination, and loss of livelihoods. A government decree has allowed the conversion of more than 13,000 hectares of forest, including protected areas and peatlands, raising serious concerns about Indonesia’s climate commitments.

Despite widespread protests and criticism, government officials, including President Prabowo Subianto, continue to promote the Merauke food estate as a modern agricultural hub. The project aligns with broader patterns of repression across West Papua, where opposition is met with violence and intimidation. Since August 2024, demonstrations against PSN and transmigration have faced heavy-handed crackdowns, reflecting a national strategy that prioritises economic interests over indigenous survival.

The documentary serves as a timely and urgent record of these developments, revealing the complex interplay between state power, corporate interests, and indigenous resistance. It underscores the need for international scrutiny and intervention, warning that the unchecked expansion of PSN projects will exacerbate land conflicts, environmental destruction, and cultural extinction in West Papua.


Joint security forces torture and arbitrarily arrest four KNPB activists in Dekai, Yahukimo

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Cases, Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 17 July 2025 

On the night of 12 July 2025, joint security forces consisting of Navy’s Marine Corps, Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob), and the local police raided the secretariat of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) in Dekai, Yahukimo Regency, Papua Pegunungan Province, and arbitrarily arrested the four KNPB members, Mr Sinduk Enggalim, Mr Deko Kobak, Mr Hulu Amosoho, and Mr Ronal Kobak. The four activists were subjected to severe physical abuse during and after their arrest, amounting to torture. They were released two days later, on 14 July 2025, in a physically injured state and without charges filed against them.

On 12 July 2025, at 10:35 pm, police forces arrived at the KNPB office in a patrol vehicle and remained parked on the main road for approximately 20 minutes. At 10:55 pm, joint security forces entered the KNPB office compound. Three police officers approached two activists sitting on the veranda, followed by dozens of Brimob and military personnel. Security forces entered the building and started searching the office while devastating the interior. Witnesses reported hearing cries of pain from inside the secretariat.

The four activists were then apprehended, their hands bound behind their backs, their eyes blindfolded with duct tape, and loaded onto a military vehicle. The activists testified they were severely beaten while en route to the Koramil military post, causing two of them to urinate involuntarily. Upon arrival, they were thrown onto the ground and subjected to a six-hour torture session that included burning of skin, electrocutions, beatings with hard objects to the head and body, and being submerged in drums filled with water, in an attempt to force confessions regarding alleged affiliations with the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB). Mr Hulu Amosoho was separated from the group and tortured in isolation.

On 13 July 2025, around 06:00 am, they were transferred to the Yahukimo Police Station, where the torture continued. Police officers reportedly burned their hair and beards. Despite a subsequent visit to the hospital, only minimal treatment was provided following instructions from military personnel. All four were released on 14 July 2025, at 3:00 pm, due to the lack of incriminating evidence.

Legal and human rights analysis

The arrest and detention of the four activists constitute grave violations of international human rights law, including the prohibition of torture under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), to which Indonesia is a party. The arrest was carried out without a warrant, at night, and in the absence of any visible or declared legal basis, violating Article 18 of Indonesia’s own Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP), which mandates due process safeguards.

Moreover, the involvement of military personnel in civilian law enforcement, particularly in the arbitrary arrest and inhumane treatment of political activists, further constitutes a breach of the principle of civilian supremacy and violates Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to liberty and security of person.

The prolonged incommunicado detention, denial of access to legal counsel and family members, and the lack of judicial oversight strongly suggest the presence of enforced disappearance-like practices during the initial hours of detention.

The Indonesian government is obliged under international human rights law to launch an independent investigation into acts of torture and arbitrary arrest committed by state agents, ensuring that those responsible will face criminal prosecution. The Indonesian Government should refrain from the use of military personnel in civilian law enforcement roles, particularly against political actors. All victims of arbitrary arrest and torture must receive comprehensive medical treatment, psychosocial support, and reparations, including compensation and rehabilitation in accordance with international standards.

Table of KNPB activists arrested and tortured during police detention in Dekai on 12 July 2025

NoNameAgeAffiliationAdditional information
1Sinduk Enggalim28Chairman, KNPB YahukimoBeaten, could not sit or stand for extended periods
2Deko Kobak25Activist, KNPB YahukimoChin laceration requiring stitches, unable to eat; he was beaten with a blunt object to the face, sustained a cut above the left eye
3Hulu Amosoho23Activist, KNPB YahukimoHead and facial injuries required stitches
4Ronal Hiben Ris Kobak23Activist, KNPB YahukimoBeaten, suffered from inability to sit or stand for long

Photos showing the physical condition of four KNPB activists after being tortured in Yahukimo

Video testimony by four KNPB activists after being released on 14 July’25

Not waving, drowning – Indonesia may lose warming battle

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This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a flooding: With apologies to T. S. Eliot

By Duncan Graham 11/7/25

Every year the UN runs a Climate Change Conference – the next is scheduled for November in Brazil. High on the agenda will be the plight of Pacific Islanders seeing their homes drown. There’s an equally pressing need close by, but the solutions seem doomed.

Indonesian authorities provide useful information for travellers checking if they’ve got to the right place: alongside the destination name is its height above sea level.

Surabaya, the capital of East Java, advertises it’s just two metres higher than the nearby waves. The Republic’s second-biggest city is a vital transport hub, a humid home to ten million and a trading and naval centre for more than a thousand years.

How many more is the figure to fear.

For the waters are rising and the beaches are drowning, most strikingly in the capital Jakarta 780km west along the coast of the Java Sea. It’s disappearing faster than any other city in the world, according to a BBC report:

“North Jakarta has sunk 2.5 metres in 10 years and is continuing to sink by as much as 25 centimetres a year in some parts, which is more than double the global average for coastal megacities.”

Global warming is a factor but the other culprits are illegal drilling for groundwater and excavating foundations for high-rise towers and a web of toll roads. Despite the predictions the rattle of pneumatic drills, the slurp of concrete pours and the nodding of dinosaur construction cranes continues day and night.

The BBC’s depressing information was broadcast seven years ago; horizontal lines drawn by shack owners on their timber walls to measure the rise are now invisible under the brown soup of plastics, nappies, cans and other trash that passes for water.

Lab-coated scientists taking samples to prove the pollutants are extreme would need extra protection because corrosives rot clothing.

So, what to do?

The last president Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo decided the solution was to move. He reckoned the right place to raise a memorial to his foresight was 1200 km north-east of the descending capital. The first building rising above the greenery has been the palace.

This is East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, the biggest in the sprawling 17,000-island archipelago where orangutans once outnumbered their human relatives. That was before the timber cutters and palm-oil planters arrived to turn the pristine into profit.

Java is five times smaller than Borneo but immeasurably more important – the political, administrative and cultural centre of the Republic and home to more than 158 million. It’s the world’s most densely populated island and super-fertile, though much of the landscape is mountainous.

The proverb rindu kampung halaman means more than just a longing for home. It embraces family, community, culture, local language and history. For the Javanese, these magnets of birthplace exercise a powerful pull.

So the four million bureaucrats and their families who call Jakarta their place are not dashing to shift to East Kalimantan with its different climate and culture – now grandly titled Ibu Kota Nusantara, the Mother City of the Outer Islands.

Despite their city’s mess, many workers will need more than subsidies and promises of promotion to get them to move, particularly if they have partners and kids embedded in schools, sports and friendships.

All this along with a disinterest in tipping more money into the Jokowi ego monument is why his successor, President Prabowo Subianto, is pondering other ways to keep Jakarta residents above water.

The current favourite is the Great Wall of Java, already on the list of strategic projects in the 2025-2029 National Medium-Term Development Plan, though there are still no blueprints.

As a former military man before being cashiered in 1998, Prabowo sees rising seas as an invasion, so the best defence is fortification.

There are lessons from military history he needs to heed. The collapse of the French Maginot Line in 1940 showed that barricades are only as strong as their weak spots and there’ll be many as seas surge and waves undermine the president’s bulwark.

Like Canute, he can shout orders. But king tides only obey the pull of the moon.

So far, estimates of Great Wall measurements and costs are still being splashed around conference tables, but the best published stab is 500km and A$122 billion over two decades. That’s twice the current estimated cost of Jokowi’s IKN.

The figures are certain to rise faster than sea levels. The money will have to be drained from state budgets as the project is unlikely to attract even Chinese investors reportedly propping up IKN. How do you earn money from a venture trying to tame nature?

One idea is to build “a livable seawall that has residential and commercial zones, essentially turning the whole structure into a kind of floating city”. Swimming would be a required skill for buyers.

The omens aren’t good. Earlier attempts to build Jakarta dykes failed. One collapsed in 2007, five years after construction – no defence against a storm that took 80 lives.

_The Jakarta Post_ is not a cheerleader for the Prabowo plan: “Simply put, we don’t have enough money or possess the knowledge or experience to build the Java seawall… We could end up with another unfinished massive construction by the end of the current presidential term, only this time at sea.”

Maybe delegates to the UN Climate Change Conference will offer fresh solutions. Otherwise like Shelley’s Ozymandias, Prabowo’s mighty works will remind future generations how we lost the battle against global warming.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.

Duncan Graham

Duncan Graham has been a journalist for more than 40 years in print, radio and TV. He is the author of People Next Door (UWA Press). He is now writing for the English language media in Indonesia from within Indonesia. Duncan Graham has an MPhil degree, a Walkley Award, two Human Rights Commission awards and other prizes for his radio, TV and print journalism in Australia. He lives in East Java.

China isn’t the main culprit in Indonesia’s dirty nickel boom

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Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat

This article is sourced from The Lowy Institue’s The Interpreter first published 4/7/25

While Chinese firms capitalise on the country’s resources, the
social and environmental damage lies squarely with Jakarta.

Smoke rises from Weda Bay Industrial Park, a major nickel processing and smelting hub in Central Halmahera, on 13 April 2025 (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)

Smoke rises from Weda Bay Industrial Park, a major nickel processing and smelting hub in Central Halmahera, on 13 April 2025 (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)

Published 4 Jul 2025 

The destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests and reefs in the name of green energy is a tragedy, but not one that can be pinned solely on China.

Yes, China has played a central and highly visible role in Indonesia’s nickel boom. It is the largest consumer of Indonesian nickel, the primary financier behind smelters and industrial parks, and a dominant foreign actor influencing how extraction unfolds. But Chinese companies do not force their way into Indonesia’s forests – they are merely capitalising on the rules, and loopholes, established by the Indonesian state.

To understand how the world’s largest nickel reserves are being transformed into sacrifice zones, we must begin with a critical truth: the rush to exploit these resources is not driven solely by foreign demand, but by domestic politics and governance choices made in Jakarta.

While Chinese firms certainly profit from this permissive and often corrupt environment, it is Indonesian authorities who enable and perpetuate it.

It is Indonesia that grants mining permits – often through processes vulnerable to corruption. It is Indonesia that oversees (or fails to oversee) environmental and labour assessments. It is Indonesia that silences youth activists and sidelines Indigenous communities when they speak out against these projects. While Chinese firms certainly profit from this permissive and often corrupt environment, it is Indonesian authorities who enable and perpetuate it.

A recent case from Raja Ampat, a remote archipelago in West Papua, underscores the stakes of Indonesia’s nickel rush. Last month, Indigenous youth disrupted a mining summit in Jakarta, holding signs reading “Nickel Mines Destroy Lives”. Their viral protest, under the hashtag #SaveRajaAmpat, drew attention to the threat that nickel extraction poses to their home. Several protesters were detained.

Raja Ampat, renowned for its marine biodiversity and Indigenous communities, is already reeling from the impacts of nickel mining. Of the four companies licensed to operate in the region, PT Anugerah Surya Pratama – linked to China’s Vansun Group – cleared protected forests and polluted the sea around Manuran Island. Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment confirmed these violations. Only after public outcry did the government revoke the permit, but by then, much of the damage had already been done.

MOROWALI, CENTRAL SULAWESI, INDONESIA - AUGUST 01: Employees in traffic during the working shift change near Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), that consists of around 77,000 local workers and around 6,000 Chinese workers on August 1, 2023 in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The global demand for the raw material nickel, a key component in batteries - especially those used in electric vehicles (EVs) - is growing rapidly. Estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) showed that global nicke
Workers at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park sit in traffic after a shift change at the nickel processing hub (Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

The mining boom is not confined to far-flung Papua. In Central Sulawesi, Morowali has become the beating heart of Indonesia’s nickel processing industry. The Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), largely financed and constructed by Chinese companies such as Tsingshan Holding Group, stands as a flagship Belt and Road project. But its meteoric rise has come at an enormous cost: air and water pollution, deforestation, and rising greenhouse gas emissions in what was once promoted as a “green” zone.

The social toll is just as severe. Labour conditions at IMIP have raised alarms, with reports of long hours, meagre pay, poor safety standards, and frequent accidents. Tensions between Chinese and Indonesian workers have flared into violence on multiple occasions. Yet despite these concerns, the park continues to expand. The economic incentives for all parties are simply too great, and regulatory enforcement is often undermined by corruption. Indonesia’s 2020 ban on nickel ore exports – intended to promote domestic value-added processing – successfully attracted foreign capital. But the regulatory framework governing labour rights, environmental protections, and community engagement has failed to keep pace.

A similar pattern has taken root in Weda Bay, Halmahera. There, vast industrial complexes built by Chinese and French firms have reshaped the landscape. Forests have been razed, rivers contaminated, and traditional livelihoods upended. Promises of economic opportunity have been hollowed out as locals report being excluded from decision-making and witnessing a growing divide between investors and communities.

No labour abuses, environmental violations, or community displacements occur without institutional neglect – often compounded by corruption.

Indonesia’s failures are not isolated – they are systemic. Environmental impact assessments are routinely manipulated, labour standards poorly enforced, and Indigenous voices sidelined. Corruption facilitates these breaches, creating an environment where compliance is optional. The most powerful investors – Chinese state-linked enterprises among them – adapt accordingly.

Still, this does not absolve China. As the global leader in battery production and the architect of the Belt and Road Initiative, China has committed to making its development model “green and sustainable”. Yet it continues to finance and profit from operations that destroy ecosystems, exploit labour, and marginalise communities. What Beijing would never tolerate on its own soil – clear-cutting protected forests or operating in unsafe conditions – it enables abroad.

If China truly intends to lead the global energy transition, it must hold its companies accountable. This means refusing to finance environmentally destructive projects, setting higher standards for overseas operations, and enforcing consequences for corporate misconduct – not just when global outcry forces its hand.

But ultimately, the responsibility lies with Indonesia. No Chinese company can operate in Indonesia without state approval. No labour abuses, environmental violations, or community displacements occur without institutional neglect – often compounded by corruption. If Indonesia hopes to be seen as a responsible steward of its natural wealth, it must overhaul how mining projects are licensed, monitored, and enforced. It must empower Indigenous peoples and protect workers with the same urgency it grants mining permits.

Indonesia’s nickel boom is a test of the country’s ability to balance economic growth with sustainable governance. From Raja Ampat to Morowali, the impact of unchecked mining is evident – forests are cleared, labour is exploited, and communities are displaced.

We cannot place the blame squarely on China. But we must acknowledge that Indonesia’s governance – and the corruption within it – ultimately sets the terms.

Trial begins in Tobias Silak Murder Case amid transparency concerns

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Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 2 July 2025 

Nearly 11 months after the fatal shooting of Mr Tobias Silak in the Yahukimo Regency, Papua Pegunungan Province, criminal proceedings have commenced at the Wamena District Court against the four police officers, Muh. Kurniawan Kudu (Chief Police Brigadier, Bripka), Fernando Alexander Aufa, Ferdi Moses Koromath, and Jatmiko (see photo on top, source: WPCC). The case files were transferred to the Public Prosecutor in Wamena on 28 May 2025, with the first hearing held on 24 June 2025. The court session focused on the reading of indictments. However, the scheduled 30 June hearing for defendant objections was postponed due to the defence team’s lack of preparedness, raising early concerns about the pace of the proceedings.

The trial process has sparked significant transparency concerns, as the victim’s family and their legal counsel were not notified of the first hearing. Mr Kawer criticized the prosecutor’s failure to inform key stakeholders, questioning whether the prosecution truly represents victim interests or public interest as claimed. Additionally, legal representatives have expressed dissatisfaction with the charges brought against the defendants, primarily Article 338 (murder) and Article 395 (negligence causing death) of the Criminal Code KUHP. They argue that the more serious charge of premeditated murder under Article 340 would better reflect the gravity of the shooting that killed both Mr Tobias Silak and Mr Naro Dapla on 20 August 2024.

In response to these procedural concerns, the Indonesian Judicial Commission in Papua announced in late June’25 that it would monitor the trial proceedings following a request from the victim’s family’s legal team. The Commission is currently awaiting authorization from the headquarters to begin formal oversight. Meanwhile, civil society groups, including the Tobias Silak Justice Front, continue to demand maximum penalties, including dismissal from the police force for the accused officers, while planning consolidation efforts across multiple cities to maintain public pressure throughout the trial process (see photos below, source: FJTS).

The case represents a critical test of Indonesia’s commitment to accountability for alleged security force violations in West Papua, with at least eight hearings expected before a verdict is reached. The outcome will be closely watched as an indicator of whether Indonesia’s justice system can break the pattern of impunity that has characterized similar cases in the region.

The Tobias Silak Justice Front held a peaceful protest in front of the Prosecutor’s Office in Wamena on 10 June 2025

Arbitrary detention and use of force against human rights lawyer during peaceful protest in Jayapura

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Cases / Indonesia, West Papua / 2 July 2025 

On 12 June 2025, police officers arbitrarily detained Mr Imanus Komba, a lawyer working for the Papuan Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua), and a protester named Mr Kolki Gwijangge during a peaceful demonstration at the Abepura roundabout in Jayapura City, Papua Province (see photo on top, source: Jubi). The demonstration, organised by student and youth groups, opposed the controversial nickel mining project in Raja Ampat, Sorong, and broader illegal resource exploitation in West Papua. Mr Komba and Mr Gwijangge were reportedly subjected to physical ill-treatment during arrest. Both men were temporarily detained at the Abepura Sub-District Police Station before being released after 20 minutes.

The protest began peacefully at 10:00 am, with demonstrators expressing environmental and indigenous rights concerns over the mining project, including its impacts on local ecosystems and customary landowners. At approximately 10:20 am, police from the Abepura Sector, led by the station chief and intelligence officers, attempted to disband the protest, allegedly citing the lack of a valid permit. When LBH Papua lawyer, Mr Imanus Komba, challenged the order and asserted the demonstrators’ constitutional rights, police officers reportedly dragged, choked, and beat Mr Komba with a rubber baton before being escorted to the Abepura Sub-District Police Station. Mr Kolki Gwijangge was also forcibly removed from the site. Despite the violence, both were released again, and Mr Komba resumed his duties accompanying the protest.

The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and LBH Papua condemned the detention, highlighting that such acts amount to a pattern of criminalisation and intimidation of human rights defenders in West Papua. According to YLBHI, the Abepura Police’s conduct represents a breach of Police Regulation No. 2/2003. The organisation demanded a public apology and an end to repressive policing.

The Jayapura Police Chief, Commissioner Fredrickus Maclarimboen, stated that there were no arrests or detentions. The Jayapura police’s claim that “there were no detainees” contrasts sharply with the victim testimonies, further underlining the lack of transparency and accountability.

Legal and human rights analysis

The actions of the Abepura police, including physical abuse and obstruction of legal assistance, amount to violations of national law and international standards on the protection of human rights defenders. The incident violates fundamental freedoms, namely the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as enshrined in Article 28E (2) of the Indonesian Constitution, and Articles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Indonesia is a State Party. Furthermore, the physical assault and detention of the LBH lawyer violate Law No. 16/2011 on Legal Aid, which explicitly protects lawyers from criminal or civil liability for actions taken in the course of legal representation.

The case adds to a broader pattern of repression against Papuan civil society, where security forces frequently suppress dissent under the guise of public order, infringing upon basic civil liberties and undermining the rule of law.

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Human Rights Monitor

Civil society condemns government denial and calls for international intervention

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Human Rights News / Indonesia, UN on West Papua, West Papua / 2 July 2025 

In the past months, the situation surrounding the National Strategic Project (PSN) in Merauke, Papua Selatan Province, has further escalated. In the Soa Village, Tanah Miring District, indigenous women from 75 families have collectively opposed the land encroachment by PT. Global Papua Abadi, which received a government concession for an energy project without the community’s free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC). This project threatens to destroy their natural sources of livelihood and violates their rights to land and self-determination. Similarly, on 23 June 2025, indigenous land belonging to the Kwipalo clan in Kakyo Village, Semangga District, was reportedly seized by the military for the construction of a post without consent or legal process, constituting a grave act of militarisation and forced dispossession.

Investigations by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in May and June 2025 revealed widespread violations across multiple districts in Merauke. These include forced evictions, destruction of sacred sites, and the complete disregard for FPIC principles. Indigenous communities, religious leaders, and civil society groups have united in protest, calling the PSN an instrument of structural injustice and ecocide. On 17 June 2025, the Indonesian Fellowship of Churches (PGI) condemned the PSN for violating indigenous rights, destroying ecosystems, and exacerbating the climate crisis.

In addition to public mobilisation and advocacy, a coalition of Indonesian civil society organisations (CSOs) issued a formal response to the joint communication of nine UN Special Rapporteurs dated 7 March 2025. The CSOs strongly criticised the Government of Indonesia’s reply of 6 May 2025 for denying ongoing and well-documented human rights and environmental violations related to the National Strategic Project (PSN) in Merauke. They noted that the government’s response ignored empirical evidence and failed to address the substantive issues raised by the UN experts, including land dispossession, militarisation, food insecurity, ecological destruction, and the lack of respect for FPIC principles

According to the CSOs, the government’s reply reflected a broader institutional reluctance to engage meaningfully with international human rights norms. They pointed out that the Indonesian state has failed to comply with recommendations made by Komnas HAM, as well as with constitutional and international legal standards safeguarding indigenous peoples’ rights. Furthermore, they underscored that permits and business licences had been granted to companies in areas with customary land claims, without community consent or proper consultation. The coalition urged the UN Special Rapporteurs to conduct direct monitoring in Merauke and called for the immediate suspension of PSN implementation to prevent the continued expansion of human rights and environmental violations.

The PSN’s implementation in Merauke reflects a deeper failure of democratic governance and environmental responsibility. It undermines constitutional protections and international legal obligations, particularly under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Indonesian government’s response to concerns raised by UN Special Rapporteurs has been criticised as evasive and dishonest. Indigenous leaders and civil society continue to demand the immediate suspension of all PSN activities, restoration of customary lands, adequate reparations, and a UN-led investigation. Without urgent corrective action, the PSN will inevitably destroy the ecological, cultural, and spiritual fabric of West Papua’s indigenous communities.

The military seized land belonging to the Kwipalo Clan in the Kakyo Village, Semangga District, without consent or legal process