Cry freedom
Cry freedom
The much anticipated clashes between security forces and the
pro-independence movement in Irian Jaya on Friday failed to
materialize, thanks to cool heads prevailing among leaders on
both sides. The commemoration of the anniversary of the 1961
declaration of independence proceeded in Jayapura and other major
towns in Irian Jaya -- or West Papua as locals prefer to call
their homeland -- peacefully, albeit on a much scaled down level
at the insistence of the authorities.
Both organizers and security forces exercised restraint. Pro-
independence supporters and their leaders (minus those arrested
by the police earlier in the week) had their say and held their
prayers for peace and independence. They complied with the
authorities' request not to read the declaration of independence
and to only briefly raise the Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) flag,
behind which the pro-independence people have been rallying.
Security forces, including fresh reinforcements sent in
anticipation of trouble, allowed the ceremony to go ahead.
Clashes occurred instead in Jakarta on Friday, between police and
pro-independence Papuans who marched to the Dutch and U.S.
Embassies.
While we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the day passed
without a major incident, it would be a gross mistake to assume
that the problem has been resolved. Jakarta's tough talking
against the pro-independence supporters may have something to do
with the muted celebration on Friday, but the government would be
wrong to think that it has won over the hearts and minds of the
Papuans, or that it has broken their fighting spirit. All the
government has done is to defuse a potentially explosive
situation. The government should not take all the credit either,
because leaders of the pro-independence Papuans played their part
in preventing violence from erupting.
The government, however, has not addressed the problem of what
to do about the aspiration for independence in West Papua. The
aspiration is real and is probably growing stronger now after the
arrests of leaders of the Papuan Presidium Council, Jakarta's
tough talking, and the deployment of more troops in the province
this week. In the absence of any referendum, it is difficult to
gauge how prevalent is the demand for independence among West
Papuans, but we know that it is strong enough not to be easily
ignored or dismissed, as the government is trying to do now.
Supporters of an independent West Papua state have become more
assertive over the last two years in voicing their aspirations,
taking advantage of the greater political openness. They were
even allowed to hold their congress, and for a brief moment until
last month, to hoist their Morning Star flag.
The government now seems to have rolled back the carpet, and
begun to suppress independence aspirations among the Papuans once
again, resorting to old repressive practices such as deploying
the military to intimidate the participants in any activity that
smacks of separatism, from peaceful political gatherings to
raising their flags.
Deprived of formal political outlets, these aspirations will
likely manifest themselves in other forms. Going by the
experience of three decades of president Soeharto's tyrannical
rule, some will resort to armed rebellion.
Irian Jaya, like Aceh, is the litmus test of the
administration's true commitment to political reforms and
democratic values, which include freedom of expression. All that
the Papuans wanted to do on Friday was to express their
independence aspirations, by peaceful means. Yet, the government,
which was elected on a reformist platform, has now begun to
suppress these aspirations, invoking the need to preserve the
territorial integrity of this unitary state.
National unity, and not democracy, has become such an
infatuation of this administration that it is even willing to
deny people their basic rights, including freedom of expression.
Today it is Irian Jaya. Next week, the government will again
invoke national unity in trying to suppress a planned political
rally to call for a referendum on self-determination in Aceh.
By the same logic, the government would suppress people's
basic rights anywhere else in Indonesia, if and when it feels it
necessary to preserve national unity and stability. That is a
scary, but now real prospect after what has happened in Irian
Jaya. By suppressing the freedom aspirations of the Papuans, the
government may have turned back the clock on the march to
democracy not only in Irian Jaya, but also the rest the country.