As one of the 47 members of the Geneva-based council, Indonesia can advance its bid for human rights promotion anywhere in the world, in particular the Palestinian cause and the plight of minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. The campaign will undoubtedly increase Indonesia’s standing as a prominent human rights defender.

It was akin to a slap in Indonesia’s face, therefore, when the Southeast Asian branch of the New York-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a statement expressing concerns about the escalating conflict in Papua. The statement came on Monday, just before the West Papua’s self-proclaimed independence anniversary on Dec. 1.

In her remarks, UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani asked Indonesia to conduct “thorough, independent and impartial” investigations into a string of violent incidents in Papua and West Papua, where armed groups have launched sporadic attacks to found an independent state on the natural resource-rich island for decades.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah was quick to lambast the statement, particularly its timing, which Faizasyah said could be interpreted as the UN body’s support for a separatist agenda.

For Indonesia, Papua’s integration into Indonesia through a UN-sanctioned act of free choice in 1969 is final. Several times, however, several Pacific countries have called for a Papua referendum in the UN forum, in a show of solidarity among Melanesians, with the latest presented in the UN General Assembly in September of this year.

To some extent, the “internationalization” of the Papua issue proves the campaign against Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua has remained unabated and will perhaps intensify if Indonesia fails to address the human rights problems in the easternmost territory.

Popular

Ahok questions Agus' flood mitigation stance in first debate

K-pop group BTS to make comeback in February

Agus cash assistance plan slammed by Ahok, Anies