IPAC Short Briefing #2: COVID-19 and Conflict in Papua

The sign reads "In anticipation of the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the Sentani Jayapura Airport is not serving passengers for now and is closed to the public.” / IPAC

The Covid-19 pandemic is exacerbating tensions in Indonesia’s Papua province and exposing the shortcomings of government policy there. The Jokowi government urgently needs a senior official to focus exclusively on Papua to ensure that immediate humanitarian needs as well as longer-term security issues are more effectively addressed.

The virus arrived in Papua as tensions left over from deadly communal violence in August-September 2019 remained high, and pro-independence guerrillas from the Free Papua Organization (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM) were intensifying attacks in the central highlands. Papua’s major fault-lines – indigenous vs migrant, central control vs local autonomy, independence movement vs the state – affected both how Papuans interpreted the pandemic and the central government’s response. They also added new complications to the already formidable obstacles to addressing the virus in Indonesia’s most remote province.

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