I wrote a piece recently about the new Cabinet of the Indonesian government, including their new Foreign Minister Marty Natelegawa who gained his PhD at the Australian National University. As I’ve written a number of times, Indonesia has made very impressive progress in a range of areas in recent years. I believe one of their biggest unaddressed challenges is West Papua, which is an issue with both internal and foreign policy components.
Carmel Budiardjo, a co-director of the human rights organisation Tapol, wrote an interesting piece in the Jakarta Post about where things are at with West Papua issue. It is a positive sign in itself that such pieces now appear in the Indonesian media. The article draws on a report done by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, called “Papua Road Map: Negotiating the Past, Improving the Present and Securing the Future.”
The report aims to put forward “a model to achieve a comprehensive and fundamental resolution to the Papuan Conflict.” The report was funded by the Government of Indonesia, which is another positive sign of the growing support for civil society examination of sensitive issues.
Ms Budjardjo also has a different piece on the same issue in New Matilda.
