The West Papua Media Project

Help fund 3 West Papuan Journalists for a period of 2 years, and decide what you like them to cover.

A West Papuan Media Initiative by Young West Papuans For Everyone.

Hello There!

I hope this finds you well.

I am Aprila Wayar, a born and raised indigenous West Papuan Journalist and Novelist and The Editor in Chief of The Papua Journal.

I am happy for this opportunity to talk to you. Through this route I'd like to share something very important with you. I'd appreciate, if you took the time to read this.

It will not take longer then four minutes of your time.

As you may know, credible news coming out from West Papua comes with a great amount of hassle and difficulty.

If you are sitting abroad, it may have been a while since you've heard about West Papua from your own respective National News Agencies.

The Director of Amnesty International in Indonesia Usman Hamid has repeatedly referred to West Papua as a media blackout in The wider Pacific. Due to isolation, government censorship, and a foreign media ban, any news that does manages to come out from Papua remains extremely difficult to verify.

Its a reason why foreign media remain hesitant to publish news from this area. The rise of internet and social media did managed to lift the lid on some crucial issues but other then that numerous matters remain scarcely covered.

The Papua Journal is a fresh and collective media founded and initiated by me in 2022 for Young West Papuans. We have around 2300 followers on facebook with 4000 articles online written by seven journalists in a course of two years.

From daily news feeds, in-depts, interviews, profiles to simple poems, MOP Papua (jokes), and Papuan cooking recipes, our aim is to shed light on everything that has a tint of West Papuan culture and identity.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton once wrote in his historical play called Cardinal Richelieu in 1839: The pen is mightier than the sword. Indeed, when i started this initiative it were the words of Sir Bulwer-Lytton that gave rise to this idea.

My motivation was to keep Young West Papuans activists off the streets from massive mobilisations, where they were vulnerable to state violence, criminalisation, jail time or worse.

My initial aim was to motivate them to pick up a pen instead. Writing and reading are still not common practises in some areas of West Papua.

We are a Independent media trying to slowly but surely bring a change to that. We have no rich donor sitting abroad nor a rich oligarch that support us nor are we accepting government funding.

All we have is our integrity as journos, our identities as West Papuans and our code of etiquette's to provide audience with credible and balanced news, covering both sides in the conflict and directly from the ground.

Most important our sincerity to do good for West Papua, our friendships, a small but loyal readers base, is all what we sail on.

West Papua is as good as off limits to foreign media. The government cracks down hard on foreign journalists that try to pose as tourists.

So i am asking you: wouldn't it be great if we were finally able to convey our own stories to the world in full freedom and on our own phase and rhythm?

A History of Violence and Censorship

With the war in Ukraine, The Middle East, Economical hardships and rising tensions elsewhere, global current affairs remain unprecedented as ever. The International community has a tendency to ignore the problems in West Papua.

Professor Noam Chomsky once referred to Western negligence on The West Papua issue as one of the great scandals of our time. Indeed, the last years have been extremely difficult for us on the ground.

Apart from many social problems, massive corruption, a human rights tragedy straight out of a horror saga and sectarian tensions literally luring around the corner, an escalating conflict between The Indonesian army and West Papuan insurgents have killed thousands on both sides and displaced approximately another 60.000 to 100.000 West Papuan civilians as we speak.

We as journos trying to cover both sides are often caught up in between. When i first started out i had seven Journalists under me who were all working on a voluntarily basis.

Of course as West Papuan journalists we were not looking to do this for royal pay checks but we simply considered it our duty and mission as children belonging to The Land. It saddened us, the state our Motherland was facing. Sorrow was everywhere and we were determined to be a voice for the voiceless.

All of us have witnessed violence from very close and at a very young age. We all had our own share of stories to share with each other.

Its said that nine out of ten Indigenous West Papuan Journalists have faced some sort of intimidation or violence at least one time in their careers.

I first started my journalism career as a field correspondent for West Papua's most prominent media outlet Tabloid Jubi for nearly eight consecutive years. I was earning a salary of 2.7 million Indonesian rupiah per month which is equivalent to approximately 150 US Dollars.

During my times reporting in the field, i have been stalked, harassed, intimidated, robbed, received terror calls and death treats through sms and once been strangled by Brimob.

My closest friend and colleague Ardiansyah Matra’is was murdered for allegedly covering a story on illegal logging and the involvement of high ranking military officers. Ardiansyah was tied to a tree and tortured for days ahead. His body ended up being dumped in a river in Merauke, Southern Papua. His death made a big impact on my mental well being.

I decided to take a break from journalism and hanged in a limbo for nearly three years. There were good times but also harsh times.

I authored three books and soon would become West Papua's first female Novelist. I got invited to many Prestigious International Book Festivals Including The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival amongst the 14 best writers in the

archipelago which was a great honour for me.

I got the unique chance to talk about the problems and challenges facing my motherland on a International scale and more important to a International audience. This was indeed a extraordinary opportunity for me as a West Papuan female to put West Papua back on the world map.

Soon after I ended up suffering three heart attacks in less than five years. The cardio doctor suggested i had a chronicle heart disease called Hokum Cardiovascular (HCM).

I had to travel to The Netherlands for the heart operation since West Papua lacked the medical expertise and logistics. I had a ICD Pocket Machine installed in my heart which i'll carry theres of my life.

Above that I was a single mom with three underaged children that i had to leave behind in West Papua. Its fair to say that these were indeed some of the most difficult times in my life.

Months and years went by again and i slowly started to recover.

After seeing matters drastically deteriorating in my homeland i decided to come back to journalism and try to pick up a pen once again. Since it would be to dangerous for me to return to West Papua and simply didn't had the health and finesse any longer to do field work, I relocated to Yogyakarta where I studied and started to coordinate journalists inside West Papua from there.

When we first started out some of my journalists didn't had proper laptops, or smart phones.It cost me a fortune to legalise the media with the government but eventually received my media license. Eventually i didn't had funds left to print simple Press ID's for them. There were plenty of times we simply wanted to give up.

It would be convenient to walk away we said to ourselves and pretend it never happened but we sincerely considered this our duty and that we were going to make a positive difference.

It didn't matter how small that difference was or whether it would even be noticed but we were convinced that we would put a step into the right direction.

A Dead End

Unfortunately facing pressure in their private lives four out of seven of my best journalists recently had to throw in their towel. These were almost all my heavy swingers who resigned in a matter of days. Some of them had day jobs and children to feed. Anything above that was to time consuming.

Not to forget the traumas and the haunting stories they had bring home to their families, all had a severe impact on each and everyone of us. Our posts ended up being drastically regulated by almost 70%.

In the past i always managed to convince others around me to keep spirit and to never give up but sadly now i have reached a dead end myself. Its certainly not a uncommon tale with journalists worldwide covering conflict areas and we in West Papua are definitely not the first ones to face this.

In West Papua a majority of journalists end up changing professions because of a lack of funding or either simply start to take bribes.

Today there remain only two to tops three prominent Professional West Papuan media outlets inside West Papua and all are increasingly struggling to make ends meet on a day to day basis.

Thats why i sincerely believe that good quality journalism is desperately needed now and most importantly, more then ever!

Help us to make a difference

Help fund three West Papuan Journalists for a period of 2 years by making a one time donation. Help us keep this media floating and decide what you like us to cover. Share your ideas directly with us. Even a small donation of 5 Dollars would mean you could help a West Papuan journalist cover a special story for one day.

Money generated for this project will go directly to:

1. Journos reporting on the ground.

Their transport, their time, their equipment, their families and other important necessities etc etc.

2. Help us open a English Section on TPJ by hiring a Professional Bahasa Indonesian to English translator for our foreign audience. It is very important our news reaches foreign fauna.

3. Help fund journalism workshops that i will personally host for new West Papuans looking to make a career in Journalism.

**Everyone who donates is free to send us tips and ideas of what they like us to cover. We would love to collaborate with you.

**Everyone donating above 120 US Dollars will receive the following bonus rewards:

1. Free T-Shirt of my first novel Rootless Black Rose.( all sizes available)

2. The Papua Journal coffee glass.

3. One time online access to The Internationally acclaimed documentary Aprila directed by Dutch Journalist Rohan Radheya about my life as a Journalist inside West Papua, which won FIFO Tahiti Film Festival Award For Best Short Documentary in 2019 and Honourable Mention at The Anuu Ru Aboro New Caledonia Film Festival of 2019.

Please send your name and address to [email redacted]

4. Lifetime subscription to The Papua Journal Newsletter

**Foreign media organisations, non profit organisations, universities, researchers, and academics looking to work together on West Papuan issues or make a memorial of understanding are also more then welcomed to reach

out to us.

During the process of fundraising we will keep this page open and regularly post updates and developments to our donors.

Thank you for your help!

Your Sincerely

Aprila Wayar

Editor in Chief The Papua Journal

Coordinator of Education Division - Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Yogyakarta

www.thepapuajournal.com