Failure of a development plan

Failure of a development plan

By Sri Edi Swasono

JAKARTA (JP): We have failed in the past three decades to
correct the existing uneven development. Instead, our national
development plan has, intentionally or otherwise, brought about
wide gaps among regions.

We have adopted national development programs which ignored
the fact that Indonesia is a unique archipelago -- pluralistic
and rich in local specifics -- facing multidimensional
challenges.

We have long realized that we have been tardy in developing
Irian Jaya. Yet we remain inactive, motionless and trapped in a
cultural impasse. We remain incapable of being more creative in
handling the developmental challenges to accommodate the local
regional demands.

President Abdurrahman Wahid has committed an irreversible
mistake by agreeing that Irian Jaya be renamed Papua without the
House of Representatives' approval, ignoring the political and
legal implications of the move. Senior diplomats including
Sumaryo Suryokusumo have argued that changing the name was a big
mistake. West Irian is the name that is accepted by the
international world, according to the United Nations resolution.

I have also protested the President's decision but we need to
try to understand the goodwill, if misplaced, of Abdurrahman as a
novice in state affairs.

Former president Soeharto in 1993 had assigned then minister
B.J. Habibie to lead a national commission to accelerate eastern
Indonesia's development.

Had this project been completed, this mess would not have
happened. True, there was development in Irian Jaya, but only of
routine projects. In addition it was merely a development taking
place in Irian Jaya, not a development from the people, by the
people and for the people of Irian Jaya.

There were no participation or emancipation for the Irianese
in the developments. They were national development objects but
the local people did not become the subjects of the development.

President Abdurrahman set up the office of state minister in
charge of the acceleration of developments in east Indonesia.

Will Junior Minister for the Acceleration for the Development
of Eastern Indonesia, Manuel Kaisiepo, be able to achieve this
goal and establish models of development that involves the
participation and emancipation of, in particular, the Irianese?

The signs of neglect abound. Ten percent of (mining giant)
Freeport Indonesia's shares was easily granted to leading
businessman Aburizal Bakrie -- no trace of discomfort on his part
when so easily acquiescing them. It was reported later that the
shares were transferred to another businessman, Bob Hasan.

These 10 percent shares, or more if possible, should have been
owned by the Irian Jaya regional administration.

But Irianese have merely become spectators of the
developments. They have been sidelined. But our brethren in the
eastern part of Indonesia should know that most of us in the
western part of the archipelago have never agreed to the
injustices occurring in Irian Jaya or elsewhere. The pain of the
Irianese, the East Timorese and the Maluku people, is also ours.

Police have declared a state of red alert, following the
recent unrest in Wamena which claimed dozens of lives. Thousands
of people have been displaced and this is extremely sorrowful and
heartrending.

The incident followed the forceful hauling down of the Morning
Star (Bintang Kejora) flags by police troops, as instructed by
National Police chief.

A directive on how to carry out this instruction should have
been issued to prevent such incidents from taking place.

Perhaps President Abdurrahman should issue guidelines to
anticipate the consequences of the existing national policy on
prohibiting the hoisting of the Morning Star flag (or the Free
Aceh Movement flag of Aceh).

The Morning Star flag will continue to fly in Irian Jaya
unless there is real development -- one that welcomes local
participation and emancipation.

The Morning Star flag is the West Papuan's identity, a
personification and expression of the customs and culture of
their ancestors; it is their heartbeat.

The flag is at the same time a strong protest against
arbitrary actions, injustice, and sociopolitical and
sociocultural insubordination.

The problem is, where should the Morning Star flag be placed
or positioned in the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia
which has its own independence, sovereignty, and territorial
integrity?

The Morning Star flag should be allowed to fly under the
protection of the national Red and White flag. It must not be
placed on equal heights on the mast or be of the same size.

It must be smaller than the Red and White and it must be
positioned under the Red and White or on the left side of it,
especially in local and customary ceremonies.

The flags of states or provinces in other countries also fly
under such subordination, though this is not known as yet in
Indonesia.

However, if this flag policy were applied to Irian Jaya
exclusively, it would discriminate against other provinces. So
there should first be a national legislation that is enforced
throughout the country stipulating that provincial flags shall
fly under the protection of the Red and White.

Similarly it may be identified, determined and agreed upon
that provincial flags exist as a reflection of the personality
and identity of the provinces. The flags of all provinces, like
contingent flags, must be seen as "components" of the Red and
White.

Take the logo of the Jakarta administration for example; it
used to grace the left and right front doors of Jakarta's
official cars. Why not hoist flags showing the logos in local
offices, positioning them under or on the left-hand side of the
Red and White?

This move may alleviate fears of separatism while recognizing
the customs, culture and identity of the societies in the
provinces concerned.

The writer is chairman of a mass organization called SOKSI-
Reformasi and leader of the National Reform Movement.