His report, titled “Hostage Land: Why Papuan Guerrilla Fighters Keep Taking Hostages,” shed light on how indigenous Papuans use hostage-taking as a means to draw international attention to their cause.

In 2024, Langker and Felice focused their coverage on the West Papua region, specifically in the Bintang Mountains, where they documented the use of military-grade weapons such as rockets and mortars by Indonesian security forces.

They uncovered four types of explosives used in Indonesian attacks on the Kiwirok area in the Bintang Mountains during September and October 2021. These included Serbian-made 81mm mortars, French Thales FZ 68 air-launched rockets, Indonesian-made 40mm grenades, and unidentifiable plastic tail fins.

The journalists also gathered evidence that Indonesian forces were using Chinese-made Ziyan Blowfish A3 drones and helicopters like the Airbus H125M and H225M to carry out airstrikes against the Papuan militants.

The Indonesian government responded by requesting YouTube to block the “Frontier War” documentary, which featured this footage.

Langker and Felice’s journey through the difficult terrain of the Bintang Mountains was not only physically demanding but also politically fraught.

Since 1967, Indonesia has severely restricted foreign journalists from entering Papua, making their reporting all the more significant. Journalists who have tried to cover the conflict have often faced challenges obtaining visas, and many have been detained or harassed.

On September 13, 2021, tensions between the Indonesian military and TPNPB escalated in Kiwirok, leading to a deadly clash in which both Papuan militants and Indonesian soldiers were casualties.

The Indonesian military responded with airstrikes, dropping 14 mortars on the area. This was part of the ongoing military actions that have displaced thousands of civilians, with many fleeing across the border into Papua New Guinea.

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