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.