(Tokyo) – Indonesian police unlawfully dispersed, beat, and detained 11 Papuan protesters in Merauke City, South Papua, on January 25, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should promptly and impartially investigate the incident, appropriately discipline or punish those responsible for abuses, and consult with Indigenous communities to address longstanding grievances.
That morning, members of the Voice of Catholic People of Papua (Suara Kaum Awam Katolik Regio Papua) had gathered at the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral to call on church officials to protect Indigenous people harmed by the government’s massive Merauke food project. They also expressed opposition to the bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Merauke for backing the government project. The police arrived and forcibly dispersed those gathered inside the church courtyard and arrested 11.
“Indigenous Papuan communities have the right to protest the government’s Merauke food project without having to worry about being beaten, arrested, and jailed,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Police and military personnel who commit abuses against local communities should be held to account and appropriately punished.”
Protesters allege that the police broke up the peaceful protest with unnecessary force. Stenlhy Dambujai, 30, said that the officers “choked and beat” him, and hit two others, Maria Amote, 24, and Angel Gebze, 22, on the head with batons.
The police took those detained to the Merauke Traffic Police Station, where the officers again beat them, and then transferred them to the Merauke police precinct for further questioning. All the protesters were released without charge after midnight, but their legal counsel, Arnold Anda of the Merauke Legal Aid Institute, said that the police had refused to disclose any legal basis for their detention.
“The police also forcibly seized a smartphone belonging to one of our friends, which was only returned after the photos and videos had been deleted,” Dambujai said. “I feel unsafe because it feels like I am constantly being monitored by the authorities.”
The Indonesian government’s Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate project aims to convert nearly three million hectares of forest and swampland to grow rice, sugarcane, and other crops for national food self-sufficiency. Then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono initiated the project in 2010, but it stalled. His successor, Joko Widodo revived and expanded the plan in 2023, giving it National Strategic Project status, which increased deforestation in Merauke. Since succeeding Widodo in October 2024, President Prabowo Subianto has accelerated expansion of the food estate, saying he wished to transform Indonesia into the “granary of the world.”
The Merauke food project risks the customary land rights of over 40,000 people from the Indigenous Malind, Maklew, Yei, and Khimaima communities, who depend upon the forest and swampland for their livelihood and traditional practices, Human Rights Watch said. The communities allege that the project is displacing Indigenous communities, forcibly taking customary lands, logging traditional forests, threatening biodiversity, and using the military to suppress dissent.
The government asserts that no one has applied for the designation of customary forests in the Merauke project area and that the project has complied with applicable national laws and regulations, including those related to upholding Indigenous rights, environmental protections, and human rights.
The civic group Solidarity for Merauke says the project has exacerbated human rights violations and forced displacement. President Prabowo has deployed the Indonesian military to support agricultural programs in the Merauke regency, including to plant and harvest food crops, but also to discourage protests.
Norton Kamuyen, a Marind resident of Nakias village, Nguti district, told Human Rights Watch that he and his family were forced to flee to a neighboring village in January due to a land dispute. “We once lived safely and without fear, free to forage in our forests,” Kamuyen said. “But since we disagree with the National Strategic Project, we are considered to be opposing the government. The military makes us afraid, so we have to leave our villages to find safety and protect our lives.”
Indonesian authorities regard Merauke as an important symbol of nationalism, signifying the unity of the vast Indonesian archipelago through the “From Sabang to Merauke” anthem, referring to Sabang Island, Indonesia’s westernmost tip, and Merauke, which is Indonesia’s easternmost regency. Protests by Indigenous Papuans are unusual in Merauke because of the heavy military deployment. A Malind tribal leader in Merauke said that “Bulldozers here are always guarded by soldiers with semi-automatic weapons.”
On February 5, the Communion of Churches in Indonesia, the umbrella organization of 105 Protestant denominations, issued a joint statement in Merauke, calling on the Indonesian government to “[end] land grabbing of Indigenous Papuans, even in the name of National Food Security,” in the six Papuan provinces and to have “honest, equal, and dignified dialogue with Papuan Indigenous communities” in reviewing the food estate.
In March 2025, nine United Nations special rapporteurs raised concerns in a letter that Indigenous peoples living in 40 villages within and around the project area would lose their livelihoods and traditional rights. They reported systematic human rights and environmental violations, including the denial of customary land rights, deforestation, severe environmental degradation, minimal meaningful participation by Indigenous peoples in decision-making, and the military’s alleged intimidation of Indigenous peoples and others.
“The Indonesian government has a responsibility to improve food production in the country,” Ganguly said. “But it should be clear that the Merauke food project cannot be pursued by trampling on the rights to liberty, land, and livelihoods of the Indigenous Papuan population.”
