Free Papua Movement enters a new era

By Ikrar Nusa Bhakti

This is the second of two articles on the history of Irian Jaya and the current aspirations of the Irianese.

JAKARTA (JP): Military personnel and civilian officials have created an unfavorable image among Irianese people toward the Indonesian government.

Both groups have behaved toward the Irianese in a way akin to conquerors might treat their conquered or winners the losers. In other words, Indonesian officials have behaved like "new colonial masters".

Of course, there have been many Indonesians who performed their duty to develop the country's 17th province (now Irian Jaya) with great energy and dedication.

However, as an Indonesian proverb says: "Because of a drop of indigo, all the milk in the earthen cooking pot was damaged." So, a few bad officers damaged the entire image of Indonesian officers in West Irian or Irian Jaya.

The Indonesian government faced further problems of spontaneous and government-sponsored migrations -- not transmigration because the people were transported by the government to work in West Irian -- from the rest of Indonesia to West Irian with expectations that their standard of living would be better in this new territory.

While the spontaneous migrants (mostly from South and Southeast Sulawesi) replaced native traders in market places, government officers from outside West Irian similarly replaced some of the West Irianese in positions as low-level administrators or technicians the latter held during the Dutch colonial era.

Therefore, the accumulation of political, economic, social and psychological problems, such as the feeling of being betrayed by the Dutch (and then by Indonesia), socioeconomic difficulties, and the willingness to form an independent state, encouraged some Irianese leaders to organize demonstrations or rebellions against Indonesian rule in West Irian.

The first rebellious activities occurred in areas of Irian Jaya such as Manokwari, Biak, Enarotali and Waghete between 1964 and 1965. These were followed by other acts of social unrest until the act of free choice in 1969. During that period, the name of Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) were disseminated throughout Irian Jaya.

Anti-Indonesia feeling strengthened after Zeth Rumkorem, an Irianese from Biak, proclaimed the independence of West Papua on July 1, 1971. Despite internal divisions among Irianese rebels, a lack of modern weapons and lack of external support, the OPM has been a continued irritant to Indonesia.

Its sporadic actions during 1977/1978 and 1984/1985 caused internal instability in Irian Jaya, particularly in border areas, and affected Indonesia's relations with Papua New Guinea.

Since early 1977, the OPM has emerged as a force capable of threatening vital oil, gas and mineral facilities in Irian Jaya. OPM agents and supporters sabotaged a pipeline and other installations at the Freeport copper mine in Tembagapura. The incidents in 1977/1978 were also incited by social unrest in Arso, Enarotali and the Baliem valley.

Since the early 1990s, the OPM has conducted its operations not only in natural-resources rich areas but also in remote districts, such as the kidnaping of Indonesian and foreign researchers in Mapenduma in 1996, and in big cities.

The government has taken several measures, military and economic, to put down rebellions in Irian Jaya. The Indonesian military also introduced a smiling policy in 1978 and a special territorial development approach for Irian Jaya. In the eyes of some Irianese leaders, however, the security approach has been used more frequently than the prosperity approach.

Although the government has made every effort to speed up development in Irian Jaya since 1969, it is still a fact that there is unequal distribution of wealth between indigenous Irianese and the newcomers.

The Irianese elite's grievances about social, economic and political conditions in Irian Jaya have been pushed by the fact that the government has focused its attention on East Timor since 1976. In their view, Irian Jaya provides more money from its natural resources for the central government than East Timor. So, if the government gives East Timor special autonomous status, what about Irian Jaya?

Theoretically, rebellion in Irian Jaya has been pushed by social, economic and political conditions in the province. Sometimes, external factors cause confrontations between Irianese and their fellow Indonesians.

It is a fact that rebellions have been organized by the elite to get the attention of the local administration and central government. It is also a fact that quite a few political demonstrations or social unrests were orchestrated by the military in order to show the central government that there is still political instability in the province.

The political ends behind this "military-driven riots" is the sustaining of Irian Jaya as a military operations area, so that the military can maintain their presence in this very lucrative province.

A few Irianese leaders who have enjoyed prosperity and political status during the New Order government are now threatening to raise Irian Jaya issues with the Western countries or the United Nations.

There have been no polls in Irian Jaya on how many people want independence and how many still want it to be part of Indonesia.

In fact, most people in Irian Jaya are of the opinion that there is no question about Irian Jaya being part of Indonesia. What they desire is to become masters in their own land by being given more autonomy, to live in prosperity in their lucrative land, to achieve horizontal and vertical mobility and to conduct social and cultural activities without being disturbed by the civilian officials and military personnel in the province.

The writer is a senior researcher at the Center for Political and Regional Studies at the National Institute of Sciences.