A messy Papua

It seems that we Indonesians have the tendency to keep creating new problems, to the point that we have become bogged down in our own quagmires. The messy situation in Papua province is a case in point.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, during his brief tenure, accommodated the aspirations of the people of Papua to be recognized as a unique entity with their own customs and aspirations. Thus, in 2001, was born Law No. 21 on the special autonomy of Papua.

The drafting of this law was not an easy task. Several indigenous groups demanded that a number of resolutions adopted by the Papua Congress be included, for instance, legalizing the flying of the territory's own flag next to the Indonesian national red-and-white flag, and adoption of the hymn "My Country Papua".

The most important item in Law No. 21, however, was the establishment of the Council of the Papua People, a legislative body comprising the territory's traditional indigenous groups, as well as church and women's organizations that would have the authority to voice their views and opinions on the government's policies.

Let us go back for a moment to 1999, when President B.J. Habibie was president. A number of ill-considered and ill- prepared decisions were made at that time, apparently on the assumption that he, "Mr. Democrat", was worth reelecting.

Habibie proposed Law No. 45/1999 that would have carved up Irian Jaya province into three separate provinces, namely West Irian Jaya, Central Irian Jaya and East Irian Jaya. In fact, an acting governor for West Irian Jaya, retired marine officer Abraham Atiu Ruri, had been appointed by Presidential Decree No. 327/M/1999.

Habibie, however, was not reelected, and Abdurrahman Wahid was installed as president in October 1999. The newly installed president, considering himself the exponent of reformasi, the reform movement for a democratic Indonesia, accommodated all sorts of aspirations that came bubbling up to the surface.

The carving up of Irian Jaya into new provinces was halted and the law on special autonomy for the province was born.

With President Megawati Soekarnoputri now in power, however, we notice a certain reluctance in implementing Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy. There is an impression that the formation of the Council of the Papua People is deliberately being delayed, and it has been reported that only the draft rules for its establishment have been completed.

Suddenly, out of the blue, it was announced in the issuance of Presidential Instruction No. 1/2003 that the establishment of the new provinces in Papua would be executed, beginning with the province of West Irian Jaya with Manokwari as its capital.

Now, we are facing the very odd situation in which mini-Irian Jaya provinces are being created out of the original Papua province. Thus, the name Papua, which the local population had for so long yearned to be applied to their homeland, will eventually be lost.

If we further consider that the process of fixing the revenue- sharing scheme under special autonomy -- which, needless to say, is a complicated system since the funds will be channeled to Jayapura -- is still under deliberation, it becomes immediately clear that the situation in Irian Jaya is simply chaotic. To make matters worse, the establishment of the 14 regencies as stipulated by a law last year, is still an ongoing process.

As we view it, all this has been caused by the existence of two competing approaches with regard to Papua province. During the administration of President Abdurrahman Wahid, it seems that the aspirations for reform and autonomy were properly accommodated, in the sense that the social and political elbowroom provided under Law No. 21/2001 would make the Papuan population feel honored and respected.

Under President Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration, however, it seems that more emphasis is being placed on the security approach because of a fear that the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia might disintegrate.

This approach finds its main supporters in, among others, the Minister of Home Affairs Lt. Gen. (ret.) Hari Sabarno, chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Lt. Gen. (ret.) A.M. Hendropriyono, and Armed Forces (TNI) commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto.

This approach appears to be so strong that it disregards even the logical legal system -- witness the creation of new mini- provinces based on a law that has already been superseded by more recent legislation. Moreover, Law No. 21/2001 clearly stipulates that the creation of new provinces in Papua must await the recommendations of the Council of the Papua People, which has not been established to this day.

It is not too difficult to predict that unrest, and probably even social conflicts, will rise up among the 2.3 million population in Papua because of these legal contradictions forced upon the province by the Megawati administration.

The great irony is that it is precisely this security approach that will be the cause of instability.