CIVICUS speaks to Budi Hernawan, human rights defender and senior lecturer at Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Jakarta.
Indonesia’s new president, Prabowo Subianto, plans to revive an old relocation programme that originated under Dutch colonial government and continued after independence. The programme aims to move people from densely populated areas to less populated ones, including Papua, the easternmost province that has been home to an active independence movement for decades. While the government claims the plan will enhance welfare and address food insecurity, critics argue it will displace Indigenous Papuans, erode their cultural identity, deepen the inequality gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Papuans and accelerate environmental degradation.