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View all search resultsGovt denies ordering shutdowns of Papua documentary screenings
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Coordinating Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Services Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra speaks to the media on Feb. 24, 2025, upon arriving at the Military Academy in Magelang, Central Java, to participate as a speaker in a regional leaders’ retreat. (AFP/Devi Rahman)
S
enior minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra insisted that the government had never ordered a ban on screenings of the Papua documentary Pesta Babi (Pig Feast), maintaining its commitment to freedom of expression while rejecting the film’s allegations of state-driven “modern colonialism”.
The coordinating law, human rights, immigration and correctional services minister said on Thursday that disruptions to screenings at several universities stemmed from administrative and procedural issues rather than directives from the central government or law enforcement authorities.
“Not all campuses prohibited screenings of the documentary,” he said in a written statement, citing cases at Mataram University and Mataram State Islamic University (UIN) in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, where screenings were halted over procedural matters, while screenings in Bandung and Sukabumi, West Java, proceeded without incident.
“Looking at this pattern, the dissolution of screenings of Pesta Babi was not an instruction from the government or centrally coordinated law enforcement agencies,” he added.
Produced by WatchDoc alongside several environmental and legal advocacy groups, the documentary explores deforestation and land conversion in Papua linked to the government’s expanding food estate and energy transition programs, which have been designated National Strategic Projects (PSN) under President Prabowo Subianto’s administration.
The documentary’s trailer depicts indigenous Papuan communities resisting the conversion of customary forests into industrial plantations while tracing the corporate ownership networks behind plantation projects in southern Papua.
Read also: Papua documentary crackdown sparks fears over free speech, military overreach
