SINGAPORE _ Buchtar Tabuni steeled himself for the prospect of 17 years in prison, unaware that his future would be tied to protests over the fate of another dark-skinned man more than 8,000 miles away in the U.S. city of Minneapolis.
An Indonesian court had found Tabuni guilty of treason for masterminding demonstrations last year over the mistreatment of the country's Papuans, an independence-seeking indigenous minority whose members have long been shunned and attacked.
Tabuni, who denied the charges, reasoned his time in prison would draw attention to Indonesia's often brutal subjugation of his people. But in an unexpected turn, the veteran activist and six other convicted Papuans were sentenced to jail terms that lasted only months.
The fate of the Balikpapan 7 _ as Tabuni and the other men were known because of the city where they were tried _ was altered by calls for justice and equality after George Floyd's killing in America reverberated across Indonesia, triggering a groundswell of support for Papuans in a country that often avoids confronting national traumas.
"The government was afraid," the 40-year-old Tabuni said through a lawyer from his jail cell recently. "Black Lives Matter has triggered support for oppressed Papuans."
In the past month, social media have been awash with the #Papuanlivesmatter hashtag, which has attracted backing from actors, artists and many of Indonesia's progressive youth. University student groups have organized online seminars with Papuans and human rights activists, sparking conversations that would have never happened in the past. And non-Papuans have taken to the streets calling for change, including in a city better known for its Islamic schools. (Papuans are largely Christian, a religious minority in the predominantly Muslim country.)
"Many Indonesians wouldn't be reflecting on the injustice toward Papuans if it wasn't for George Floyd," said Fajar Nugroho, 22, president of the University of Indonesia's Student Executive Board, which organized webinars promoting Papuan Lives Matter.
"People saw the similarities with racial discrimination here and became curious," said Nugroho, who is Javanese, Indonesia's dominant ethnic group. "They wanted to know more about why it was happening. This complex history needs to be told."
