Human rights NGO Tapol reported that a year after the West Papua Uprising swept across 22 towns in the Indonesian province of West Papua and 17 cities in other parts of Indonesia from Aug 19 to Sept 30, 2019, a total of 61 people lost their lives but that the province is no closer to self-government.

"The trigger of the Uprising was the racist persecution of West Papuan students in the Indonesian cities of Malang on Aug 15, in Surabaya on Aug 16 and 17, and in Semarang on Aug 18, 2019.

"The most significant of these incidents were, however, the incidents in Surabaya, where Indonesian soldiers shouted ‘monkey’ repeatedly at the students, a word which was later reclaimed by West Papuans who used it during protests," Tapol said...