The death of a secessionist

The death of a secessionist

On Monday, mystery still shrouded the death of Theys Hiyo
Eluay, the chairman of the pro-independence Papuan Independence
Council (PDP). Theys was found dead in his car near the edge of a
remote ravine not far from Jayapura, the provincial capital of
Irian Jaya, on Sunday morning. Earlier reports said he had been
kidnapped by several unidentified people on his way from the city
to his home by a lake 55 kilometers away.

The team of doctors who examined his body at the Jayapura
General Hospital said on Monday that the 63-year-old politician
died of lack of oxygen. The team's statement, quoted by Antara
news agency on Monday, said there was no sign of gun shot wounds
or asphyxiation. In January Theys was treated at a Jakarta
hospital for heart problems. Whether the doctors' conclusion
would assuage Theys' angry supporters at his village remains to
be seen because the police still have to nab the suspected
kidnappers.

Theys was a prominent figure in the development of the gold-
rich easternmost province of Indonesia since he made headlines by
setting up a separatist group demanding a separate state for
Irian Jaya.

As the 100 years of Dutch colonial rule left only six high
school graduates when they left the area in 1962,
Theys was one of the men appointed as a member of the provincial
assembly (DPRD) representing Golkar, the government party
faction. During his 15-year tenure he never took the opportunity
to voice separatists ideology. He was seemingly following the
party line.

His loyalty to the state was also seen in 1969 after he was
selected as a member of a United Nations council in charge of a
plebiscite which aimed to decide whether the Irianese would
remain with Indonesia or separate. The council wholly endorsed
Irian Jaya's integration with Indonesia, as did the United
Nations General Assembly in New York afterwards. Back home in
Irian Jaya, the decision paved the way for the beginning of the
five-year development plan.

With the fall of the Soeharto regime in 1998 the voice
demanding an independent state sounded loudly in Irian Jaya with
aged Theys shouting the loudest. The confusing manner with which
president Abdurrahman Wahid handled the Irian case further
complicated the problem. He seemed to be out of touch with the
problem and refused to take other people's advice.

This made the people confounded to hear Theys' statement when
he opened the Papuan People's Congress in May last year. After
kissing a separatist flag, Theys said: "Indonesia, the
Netherlands, the United States and the United Nations had guided
the course of Papuan history."

He added that before the United Nations agreed to transfer
this island to Indonesia nobody from Papua had been consulted.

Since then his statement became the axiom of his followers.
However, no survey has been made to determine how popular Theys
had been outside his birth place Sentani. Anyway, Theys deserves
an applause. He never resorted to armed struggle. He fought for
his ideals only through peaceful means.