Commentary & Opinion
Commentary & Opinion
17th July 2000
West Papuan Independence Movement
by Ross Nepia Himona
http://maaori.com/rhimona
"West Papuans are living under Indonesian Military Control and are experiencing ongoing political oppression. Immigration of a great number of Indonesians to West Papua have deprived us of our rights and freedom. We will soon be a minority in our own land.
The massive exploitation of the natural and mineral resources, aggressive repression of our human dignity and continuous environmental destruction by foreign and Indonesian interests have deprived West Papuans of our rights to live freely and independently.
Our indigenous culture is being systematically destroyed. This includes all our unique cultural practises, languages, and livelihoods that are in complete contrast to Indonesian (Javanese) culture. We are deeply concerned that the cutural ethnocide is still continuing and being intensified day by day."
As we in New Zealand focus on the events in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, similar political and constitutional dramas are unfolding in many other countries in the region. The above statement from West Papua, known to the Indonesians as Irian Jaya, mirrors the plight and feelings of many other peoples in this region. The validity of their claims to self-determination is largely ignored by governments and by most of the media of the region.
Twenty-one years ago, when I was working in Jakarta Indonesia, I was invited to a cultural festival hosted by Ibu Tien Suharto, the late wife of former president Suharto. It was a showcase of some of the many hundreds of different cultures that make up Indonesia, and presented the literature of the regions, and displays of visual arts and artifacts, followed by the performing arts.
Right at the end of the performance was a bracket of songs by a group from West Papua. I recognised some of their items immediately. There was one waiata Maori, one from Tahiti and one from Samoa, and a few others that were definitely from around the Pacific. Quite amazed, I quietly sought them out after the performance and congratulated them on their choice.
They laughed, and asked me not to let their secret out. The Indonesians, they said, "Wouldn't recognise their language if they did hear it, and were not really interested in West Papuan culture. They were more interested in colonisation."
They thought that it was a huge joke to perform items they had learned at Pacific festivals, instead of showcasing their own culture. It was their joke on Madame President, and therefore on Indonesia.
I found out from them that they very definitely considered themselves part of the Pacific, and not part of South East Asia.
The Free West Papua Movement or OPM ( Organisesi Papua Merdeka) has been fighting a war of liberation against Indonesian troops since 1964. They have often sought refuge across the border in Papua New Guniea, and this has caused friction between Indonesia and PNG.
"Our freedom fighters are poorly armed, often having to make do with spears and bows and arrows to fight the Indonesian army, yet despite our poor military equipment, we have been strong enough to stand up against Indonesia's military machine for more than 30 years. No one can deny we are strong."
Green Left- Moses Werror 1/24/96.
In recent months, following the secession of East Timor, the West Papuans have increased their activism and have declared independence from Indonesia. In recent days, as this news report describes, they have made a massive open display of their intentions.
"Thousands of Irian Jaya people raised for the first time the Morning Star separatist flag without fear of punishment or harsh measures from security authorities on Friday.
"Today is a historical day for the Papuans because for the first time we can officially hoist the flags with the government's consent," Thaha Mohammad Alhamid, secretary of the Papuan Presidium Congress said on Friday.
Other towns seeing the flag wave in the sky included Merauke, Sorong, Jayapura, Wamena and Manokwari.
Cabinet Secretary Marsilam Simanjuntak announced on June 7 that the government would allow the people of Irian Jaya to raise the flag "as long as its size is not bigger than the national flag, and it is raised lower than the national flag."
So far, the Indonesian military has not reacted with their customary brutality. This is in large part due to the policies of President Wahid, who is trying to hold Indonesia together by granting more autonomy to the different regions, instead of using the military to suppress all secession attempts. He has also, since he came to power, tried to strip the military of their traditional dwi-fungsi (dual function) role in politics. How long the military will refrain from active suppression of the outer regions, and active involvement in politics, is not known.
There have been more than 4000 deaths in sectarian and secessionist battles across Indonesia this year, and the violence does not seem to be abating. The police have been largely ineffective at controlling the violence, and the military strangely ambivalent. During the last two weeks the violence has increased markedly. Sooner or later the military will surely return to its suppressive role.
The economy is still in a nose-dive with the Rupiah tumbling from about 3500 to the US dollar before East Timor, to 7,500 a few weeks ago, to a low of 9,495 last Friday. It is predicted to get to 10,000 this week.
On top of that, there have been a continual undermining of President Wahid since he took office, much of it brought about by his own inept handling of various political challenges, and also by the continued economic decline. He is expected to face his first serious challenge on 20th July, when he appears in the house of representatives.
The most serious challenge though will come from the upper house which is to review his performance as president in August. Many are predicting that he will no longer be president after that, although no-one really knows.
No-one knows either what this might mean for West Papua. One possibility is that the military might decide to come back into politics and take a firmer role in the regions. They seem to have been indicating that they are considering that option. Whether that is a real option, or whether they are just trying to manoeuvre Wahid into allowing them a greater role in regional security, should they continue to support him as president, is open to conjecture.
Whatever happens, most pundits are predicting some upheaval in Indonesia over the coming months, and none of it looks good for West Papua.
At the same time the Australian and New Zealand governments are conveniently looking the other way, as they have for 35 years in West Papua's case, and as they did with East Timor for 25 years.
