Advocacy of west Papua Separatism: an analysis of Benny Wenda and Veronica Koman’s social media content

The inclusion of Papua as a part of Indonesia has still been the source of controversy as the demand for independence still exists. The separatist movement has continued to gain supports from those living not only in Indonesia, but also abroad. The advocacy of separatism abroad has been championed by Benny Wenda, a West Papuan living in exile in United Kingdom and Veronica Koman, an activist and lawyer, living in exile in Australia. This research attempts to analyze the content of Benny Wenda and Veronica Koman’s tweets and retweets on Twitter using the content analysis method to identify framing they use in support of their advocacy of West Papua separatism in 2019 and 2020. The result suggests that they have utilized the frame elements of metaphors, exemplars, catchphrases, deceptions, and visual figures as their strategies. Analyses on the framing of the tweets also emphasized a collective identity as Papuans as part of the justification of the Wenda and Koman’s advocacy for Papua separatism from Indonesia.