At least 20 people were killed in Nduga regency, Papua, on December 2 after an armed group attacked the victims at a construction site. 19 of them were believed to be workers of the state-owned construction company PT Istaka Karya, which is currently building a bridge to connect Wamena and Mamugu as part of President Joko Widodo's flagship trans-Papua road project. One Indonesian military (TNI) soldier also died in the attack.

Sebby Sambom, the spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) — an armed group with ties to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) — stated that his group was responsible for the bloody execution. He also insisted that his group had monitored the workers for several months and that they were military personnel in civilian clothes and not contruction workers. Sambom also said his group rejected the project. "We, TPNPB and the Papuans don't need the infrastructure from Indonesia, we only demand our independence," he told DW.

Following the killings, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo ordered the army and the police to capture the people responsible for the murder. "There is no room for such armed groups in Papua or anywhere in Indonesia. We are not afraid. This only makes us more determined to continue our great duty to develop Papua," Widodo said at the presidential palace in Jakarta.

Human rights groups are worried that the government's response would lead to further unrest. "It is vital that the government response to the killings does not lead to further human rights violations," Amnesty International (AI) Indonesia's Executive Director Usman Hamid said, adding, "The unspeakable attacks must not be used as a pretext to roll back freedoms and a crack down on human rights."

Elaine Pearson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) also demanded a complete investigation saying, "Militants and responding security forces should not inflict harm on ordinary Papuans."

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Fighting an old battle

Prior to the violent killings, around 500 activists were arrested in a nationwide police crackdown that coincided with rallies on December 1, a date that many Papuans consider as their independence day from Dutch colonialists. In a statement after the incident, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, wrote: "Our office and UN human rights mechanisms have repeatedly raised concerns over recent years about the human rights situation in Papua."

Papua declared itself independent in 1961, creating its own national anthem and raising its national flag, called the Morning Star, next to the Dutch banner. Two years later, Indonesia began to assert its claim over the resource-rich province and officially took over Papua in 1969 with a United Nations-backed vote.

Papua has one of the world's largest gold and copper mines, operated by US firm Freeport McMoran, but this easternmost province in Indonesia remains the poorest. Freeport McMoran's mining activities have been widely held responsible for environmental destruction and exploitation of Papua's mineral resources, causing unrest in the region.

Military observer Aris Santoso said that the chain of violence that continued to this day could not be separated from that decolonization process. He criticized the fact that Jakarta had used violence in the past to restrict the aspirations of Papua's people. "The incident related to armed civilian groups in Nduga could be a response to the previous actions of Jakarta's elite, while the aspirations of the people in Papua themselves were ignored," Santoso told DW.

Made Supriatma, another Papua observer, said the government needed to start the peace process, but not before changing its mindset regarding the Papuans. "The Indonesian government believes that the dignity of Papuans can be achieved through development, especially infrastructure. If the authorities open up the isolated Papua areas, the economy would improve and the Papuans will feel better," he said.

In reality, however, the opening of infrastructure would also mean the entry of economic competitors or outsiders, who would have better access to markets compared to the Papuans. "So now, if they were being asked, who would benefit from that development, the Papuans would say, we don't want the infrastructure," Supriatma told DW.

Human rights first

According to Supriatma, it is time for Jakarta to offer Papuans the dignity they deserve, and that the Indonesian government could begin by first dealing with human rights issues in that region. But before that, Indonesia needs to organize a referendum, Supriatma said, adding that it did not have to be like The Act of Free Choice (Penentuan Pendapat Rakyat, PEPERA) referendum that was held in 1969 to decide whether Papua should stay with Indonesia or become independent.

Experts have raised doubts about the plebiscite, with writers like Andrew J. Marshall and Bruce W. Behleer saying in their book "Ecology of Indonesian Papua" that several Papuans claimed they were forced to vote under pressure from the Indonesian military.

The new plebiscite would have to be different, Supriatma said: "Jakarta has to conduct a kind of plebiscite, not for asking whether Papua wants to join the Republic of Indonesia, but to ask them whether they want wider autonomy or not, and how the wider autonomy would be managed."

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