Terrorist Organization Profile:
Free Papua Movement (OPM)

The former Dutch colony of West Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea, came under temporary Indonesian control as part of a UN-managed "decolonization" of the Dutch East Indies in 1963. It became a permanent part of Indonesia in 1969, when roughly a thousand West Papuans were selected to vote in a referendum on inclusion with Indonesia under the Act of Free Choice. The legitimacy of this election has been questioned by a variety of groups over the past thirty years.

One of the major consequences of Indonesian citizenship for West Papua was inclusion in the government's transmigration program. Transmigration was intended to disperse the population from densely-populated islands to those more open for settlement. At one stroke, natural resources could be better exploited and individual citizens could greatly expand their economic opportunities. In the past 40 years, the transmigration program has brought many non-native Indonesians to West Papua. OPM decries this relocation as a serious threat to indigenous culture.

The OPM has been operating a limited rebel insurgency in the mountains of West Papua since the declaration of independence in 1961. The group conducts small-scale raids and attacks on government offices and military installations, including a weapons depot in 2003. Members of OPM often retreat into Papua New Guinea to hide, though the PNG government declares this to be illegal and recently burned buildings in a village where OPM members were hiding.

Learn more about these U.S. Department of State classifications:

Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)

Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL)