Internet outages often coincide with other political tensions happening in the region. The other remaining case had a more widespread impact in East Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Natuna Island, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Maluku. SAFEnet’s report on the Digital Rights Situation in Indonesia recorded 12 internet blackouts throughout 2021, 11 of them in Papua. Compared to other parts of Indonesia, it also takes an extended amount of time to restore the connection.
Despite the claim that technical issues were the main cause, internet outages are, in fact, more frequent in Papua. This was not the first or last time that the internet in Papuan regions experienced a blackout. Such locations became centres of mass gatherings, even as concerns remain over the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The ones who stayed scoured the city for places where traces of internet connection remain. Since a large number of essential activities moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several people even had to seek residence in another town to get online, at additional cost. Public services such as schools and hospitals were impacted, and businesses operated at a loss. The internet blackout affected activists and the general public who rely on internet connectivity. So when, we had to build a brand new culture to return”, he said. “We were born as activists in the internet technology era. Facing difficulties accessing the internet, he and his peers had to rely on phone calls and face-to-face meetings to coordinate. Victor Yeimo, spokesperson of the PRP and the National West Papua Committee, was arrested as students were forcibly evicted from their dorms by the Cendrawasih University rectorate.įor Zuzan, internet outages impact the consolidation of movements in responding to these critical incidents. Furthermore, during the internet blackout the Indonesian government had announced its plan to deploy hundreds of military personnel called “Demon Troops” ( Pasukan Setan) to Papua’s mountainous regions to eradicate armed civilian groups. The outage coincided with ongoing discussions on Papua’s special autonomy status. Due to this incident, residents of the City of Jayapura and the Jayapura and Sarmi Regencies could not access the internet the whole time.Īlthough Telkom claimed that technical reasons caused the outage, Zuzan Griapon, an activist from the Papuan People Front (PRP), believed the incident was set up on purpose. Unfortunately, it took a month until the internet was fully restored on June 8, 2021. While phone and SMS networks came back online the same day, it took longer for fixed-line and mobile broadband data services to recover. The next day, Telkom’s Vice President of Corporate Communication, Pujo Pramono, said broken wires in the Sulawesi Maluku Papua Cable System along the Biak-Sarmi segment had caused the outage. On April 30, 2021, shortly before 11 PM, phone and internet networks suddenly went down in Jayapura. Since the initial publication of this piece, internet connectivity has been restored in Papua.
This post on the multiple internet outages in Papua in 2021 is the English translation of an article by Asrida Elisabeth, published in Bahasa Indonesia on Remotivi.
“Why was our Internet connection shut down? (edited)” Screengrab from the video “The Internet Shutdown in Papua” by West Papuan Updates, used with permission.
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