askchapo

Yep, it's imperialism.

The island of Papua/Niugini is famously split, with the western half belonging to Indonesia, and the eastern half being the nation of Papua New Guinea.

PNG was an Australian colony less than 50 years ago and is largely populated by subsistence farmers who have rejected capitalism and the concentration of labour. It's a Commonwealth nation, and is massively exploited for its resources by Australia and Europe.

The western half of the island has been controlled by Indonesia since the Dutch pulled out in the early 60s and the Free Papua Movement has been fighting a low intensity protracted people's war for independence ever since. Papua is massively repressed, with Indonesia essentially acting as a colonizing police state and otherwise entirely refuses to govern the region. The overwhelming majority of Papuans, 80-90% of the population are either in support of the Free Papua Movement or at least are opposed to Indonesian occupation. Similarly to the Eastern part of the country, a large percentage of people reject capitalism and religious pushes into their lives, seeking to instead be simply left to their own devices.

It's pure repression and structural violence, denial of the right to self govern, and a refusal to govern at all other than to subject the people of Papua to incredible physical and sexual violence. Something like 45% of women have been assaulted by the occupying force. Most people have experienced physical violence at the hands of the Indonesian military/police.