Why should Papua aspire to full independence?

Pradana Boy ZTF, Malang

The factors that have caused Papuans' desire to be free from Indonesia cannot easily be determined. Papua's desire is rooted in many different factors ranging from the issues of race, culture and socio-political rights to economic reasons. It can also be argued that, by and large, there are two opposing views regarding Papua's demand to be independent: Keeping its status as a provincial state of Indonesia on the one hand, and freedom from Indonesia as an independent state on the other hand.

Discovering the origins of Papua's aspiration to gain independence will lead us to the long history of Dutch occupation in the region, Indonesia's attempt to integrate this region into its territory and also Papua's struggle to defend its identity as Melanesian in the midst of a modernization wave and of outsider political influence.

Basically, the problem of Papua has been caused by the Indonesian government. The Indonesian government tends to hide the real history of Papuans. John Rumbiak, a Papuan scholar suggests that Papua's independence is not an easy thing to decide whether for Indonesia or Papua. He identifies the Indonesian government in Papua as meaning nothing but a new form of colonialism.

It is ironic that, given their richness in natural resources, Papuans are left impoverished. Colonial powers that are mainly foreigners (sometimes foreigners also refers to Indonesians from a Papuan viewpoint) exploit Papuan resources without involving indigenous Papuans in doing so. They have been benefiting from the exploitation of Papua's rich natural resources with no concern for the Papuans themselves.

This policy is also accompanied by what Rumbiak calls a racist policy. He states: "When Jakarta transmigrates 'expert' agriculturalists from Java it is also being racist, because Papuans already know how to use the land."

Furthermore, Rumbiak proposes that possible ways to solve all problems occurring in Papua are dialog and non-violent approaches. Violence and a militaristic approach would only worsen the situation and decrease the trust of Papuans in the Indonesian government.

The most forceful factors that have caused Papuans to desire to be free from Indonesia are the militaristic "approaches" that have killed thousands of Papuans. Through dialog, it would be clear what Papuans require from Indonesia and what the Indonesian government should do about Papua.

They propose three fundamental questions:

First, Papuans want to know about their history.

Second, they want Jakarta to handle and address systematic violations of their civil and socio-economic rights.

Third, they want to speak up about their identity crisis as a Melanesian group within Indonesia.

However, the Papuans should be aware of the necessary preparations to achieve independence and of what would need to be done once independence was achieved. The absence of this awareness would only lead Papua into further trouble.

The difficulty of integrating Papua into Indonesia is related to identity. They do not identify themselves as Indonesians, but as Papuans.

Many Papuans believe that they belong to a sovereign modern nation state, which was established on Dec. 1, 1961 through the raising of the flag.

When Habibie took over power from Soeharto, a group of Papuan leaders demanded that Habibie grant what had been granted to East Timor: autonomy or independence. When Abdurrahman Wahid came to power, he seemed to be more accommodative of Papua. The first thing he did was to change the name of the region from Irian Jaya to its original name of Papua.

Unfortunately, his government's generosity was wrongly perceived as the readiness of Jakarta to give independence to Papua.

In conclusion, the problems that accompany the issue of West Papuan independence must be carefully weighed. On the one hand, the Indonesian government should be honest about West Papuan history and truthful in relating the process of Papua's integration into Indonesia. On the other hand, from Papua's side, it should be realized that creating an independent modern state is not simple.

The writer is a lecturer at the Muhammadiyah University of Malang, currently studying at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia