Free Papua Movement enters a new era

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.