Papuan aspirations<\/p>\n
The chorus for independence during the week-long Papuan
\nCongress which wound up in Jayapura on Sunday sent the loudest
\nand clearest message to date about the extent to which many
\npeople in the region, which is still officially called Irian
\nJaya, feel about their place in the republic.<\/p>\n
Before the congress, the aspirations for a separate West Papua
\nstate had been dismissed by Jakarta as small and sporadic at
\nbest. The Free Papua Organization (OPM), for example, is actually
\nshorthand for several armed rebel groups, scattered in jungles
\nacross the expansive territory. They have no link to one another
\nand the only thing they have in common is their goal. Dealing
\nwith low level insurgency has, therefore, been relatively easy
\nfor the Jakarta government and the Indonesian Military.<\/p>\n
The Papuan Congress has changed all that. For the first time,
\na wider cross section of the West Papuan people, including the
\nurban intelligentsia, has presented a united front in calling for
\nsecession from Indonesia. The congress articulated their demand
\nby first \"correcting\" the history of the territory's
\nincorporation into the Republic of Indonesia in the 1960s, and
\nthen reviewing the unhappy experience of being ruled by Jakarta,
\nincluding the endless human rights abuses by the military. When
\npresented in such a way, naturally they came to the conclusion
\nthat they no longer wanted to be part of Indonesia. From now on,
\nJakarta can expect a more coherent and organized movement for
\nindependence from West Papua.<\/p>\n
Judging by the reactions in Jakarta, however, the message from
\nthe congress has not fully registered with top government
\nofficials. President Abdurrahman Wahid believes that the
\naspirations came from a minority of the Papuans, while Vice
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri, during her visit there last
\nmonth, said the majority of Papuans only wanted more prosperity
\nand justice without leaving the republic. House of
\nRepresentatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung, meanwhile, has called on
\nthe government and the military to deal harshly with the
\nproindependence Papuans, ignoring the fact that the military has
\nbeen the biggest part of the problem all along. A military
\noption, therefore, is clearly not the answer.<\/p>\n
How long is Jakarta going to stay aloof and maintain this
\ndenial mode, which clearly will not solve anything at all? The
\nPapuan Congress was real and the aspirations echoed there were
\nalso real. In the absence of a referendum -- something that
\nJakarta is not likely going to allow to take place in any case --
\nit is difficult to gauge the extent to which these independence
\naspirations reflect the will of the people. But the congress
\nshowed that these aspirations are significantly large enough for
\nJakarta to start taking them seriously.<\/p>\n
The West Papuans have President Abdurrahman to thank, because
\nconsistent with his own democratic principles, he has let them
\nvoice their aspirations in the open, something which they had not
\nbeen able to do previously. But what good is letting these
\nindependence aspirations come out in the open if they cannot be
\nchanneled through the existing political system?<\/p>\n
Since all political parties in Indonesia by law must be based
\nin Jakarta and must support the unitary state of Indonesia, these
\nindependence aspirations will never be taken up by any of the
\npolitical parties. Not finding any accommodation, their
\naspirations will look for outlets outside the system. Therefore,
\nwe cannot rule out the use of force. We have seen this happen in
\nEast Timor, Aceh and to a lesser extent in Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
For better or worse, the Papuan Congress is a rude wake-up
\ncall for Jakarta to rethink its approach toward the regions, and
\ntoward the aspirations that exist there, not just in Irian Jaya,
\nbut also Aceh and all the other provinces. At the core of this
\nproblem is the concept of the unitary state itself, which is so
\nrigid that it allows no room for regional aspirations.<\/p>\n
If the Abdurrahman administration is consistent with its own
\ndemocratic principles, then it should go the full distance and
\nprovide legitimate channels for these regional aspirations within
\nthe system. Let them form their regional parties, and let them
\nfight whatever cause they pick -- be it independence, autonomy,
\nspecial status or whatever -- at the ballots against the national
\nparties. Even if they eventually prevail, at least they will
\nleave the republic in an honorable and peaceful manner.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/papuan-aspirations-1447893297",
"image": ""
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