A substantive dialogue between the Indonesian government and Papuan leaders could help stem political radicalisation in the country’s easternmost province. The latest report from the International Crisis Group charts the radicalisation of activists from the central highlands, the province’s mountainous spine, and links a small group of them, the pro-independence National Committee for West Papua (Komite Nasional Papua Barat, KNPB), to some of the violence that erupted in Papua in 2009. The KNPB is not broadly representative and its tactics are decried by other activists, but its message – that peaceful methods have failed to produce results – resonates more widely.
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