Jayapura, Jubi – Senior Papuan journalist and chief editor of Jubi, Victor Mambor, said Papuan students should start writing about Papua’s conflict as clear writing was important in the midst of the current noise and flood of information on problems that occur in Papua.
This was conveyed by Mambor as a presenter in the webinar “Yournalism: You are the future of Papua Journalist” held by the Papuan Student Association in Russia (IMAPA) on Saturday, December 3, 2022.
Mambor said writing was a way to win the battle of information about Papua’s problems. Currently, not all media in Papua have the capacity to write about the conflict in Papua, therefore, Papuan students can fill in that role.
“We Papuans are constantly being killed and arrested unlawfully. In the context of the violence we experience every day, Jubi, for example, always writes about human rights and military and police brutality against Papuans. The last case was the shooting of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani and the murder of Makilon Tabuni in Sinak. We have to write about it, otherwise, people wouldn’t know,” said Mambor.
Mambor said that many things can be written about Papua, be it the economy, politics, law, security, sports, and human rights issues. However, the writing must be based on strong research and data to make it accountable.
“We hope you Papuan students can gather information and write the truth, not hoaxes. Hoaxes circulate in Papua every day, for example, recently someone showed the video of Filep Karma’s funeral procession and tweaked it, saying it was a protest on December 1, 2022. This is an irresponsible provocation,” he said.
If you want a change for Papua, you have to do something extraordinary by providing the truth about Papua. Mambor emphasized that this could be done through journalism.
“Papuan students should start writing about Papua’s conflict. I am sure young people like you, who have studied abroad and discussed with many people, have better knowledge and insights, as well as an open mind and the capacity to manage information, data, and research. So you should be able to write. The challenge to resolving Papua’s problems over the years is the lack of human resources from Indigenous Papuans who can write. When it comes to talking, we are the champion. But writing has not been easy for us,” he said. (*)
