President Wenda: ULMWP condemns the massacre and bombing in Intan Jaya and Kiwirok

October 20, 2025

On behalf of the ULMWP and the West Papuan people, I condemn the massacre perpetrated by the Indonesian military in Intan Jaya. Fifteen people have been murdered by the occupying forces in a new escalation in the highlands. Four have also been killed during ongoing bombing operations in Kiwirok.

At 5am on October 15th, Indonesian military forces entered Soanggama Village in Intan Jaya, where they surrounded a men’s communal house. The soldiers then raided and destroyed the building, shooting eight civilians dead in the process. They also captured, tortured and murdered three men during the raid. A woman was tortured and raped before fleeing, though she was later chased by soldiers and drowned in the Hiabu River.

Soanggama Village is now added to Bloody Wamena, Bloody Wasior, Bloody Paniai, the Biak massacre, Bloody Abepura, the 2023 Wamena massacre, and many others. I am reminded of my own childhood in 1977, when Indonesia bombed my village, tortured, raped, and murdered my family members. 

At the same time, in Kiwirok, four TPNPB members were killed during a series of drone bomb attacks. Lamek Taplo, Commander of the Ngalum Kupel TPNPB was killed by an Indonesian drone bombing yesterday, along with three other fighters: Ike Taplo (22), Nalson Uopmabin (17) and Benim Kalakmabin (20). Taplo had bravely brought the consistent bombings and massacres in Kiwirok to the attention of the world by giving testimony in documentary films made by Paradise Broadcasting. In his last statement before his death he described how Indonesia was using fighter jets and drones to bomb villages in Kiwirok.

This is not an equal fight, it is David versus Goliath. The TPNPB are guarding their ancestral land with bows and arrows, and a few guns taken from raids. The Indonesian military is using unmanned drones, missiles, helicopters, sniper rifles and fighter jets. 

I have warned the world since 2018 that Indonesia has been bombarding the Papuan Highlands. They have conducted bombing campaigns in Kiwirok, Intan Jaya, Puncak and other areas. Over 100,000 West Papuans are right now displaced because of these military operations. But the world has let us down. Even as the situation in Kiwirok has escalated, no Pacific leaders have intervened or condemned Indonesia for their crimes. The difference between Kiwirok and the genocidal attacks on my people in the Baliem Valley in 1977 is that we had no camera to record us, no way of showing what they did to my tribe, my aunts, my mother. Now the Ngalum Kupel people have video evidence of the destruction of their villages. There is no excuse for silence any longer.

West Papuans can expect no justice in the coloniser’s courts. Soldiers who murder innocents are rewarded and called heroes. Even the murderers of children in the Paniai massacre were acquitted. We rely on the international community to be our voice. Once again, I ask Pacific leaders to stand for West Papua as the rest of the world stands for Palestine. This massacre shows what West Papuans have been screaming for years: there can be no more delay. On behalf of the ULMWP, I demand: 

1. That Indonesia immediately allow a fact-finding mission by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as has been demanded by over 110 UN member states. 
2. That Indonesia lift the blackout and facilitate access to journalists, NGOs and aid organisations.
3. That Melanesian and Pacific leaders urgently demand and pressure Indonesia to facilitate UN access to West Papua.

I again condemn these massacres, and offer my deepest condolences to the families of the victims. May they rest in peace. The struggle continues. God Bless West Papua.

Benny Wenda
President
ULMWP