Thursday 12/10/2000
Sydney Morning Herald
Editorial
Killings in Papua
The deaths of at least 30 people in West Irian last week point to the lack of
progress in Jakarta's efforts to come to terms with Papuan nationalism. The
immediate cause of latest deaths, like others in August, were clashes officially
related to Papuans' defiance of the Indonesian edict forbidding the flying of
the Morning Star flag of Papuan nationalism. But the violence has to do with
much more than illegal flag flying. The latest incident was in Wamena, an
isolated town deep inland about 290 kilometres south-west of the provincial
capital Jayapura - and more than 3,500 kilometres from Jakarta. The early
casualty list suggests the nature of the conflict - six indigenous Papuans and
24
migrant settlers killed; 45 others, including four police officers, wounded.
Wamena is far from any of Irian Jaya's main mining operations. Last week's
incident there follows a similar one more than six weeks ago in the oil town of
Sorong, on the coast in the far west, on the very beak, as it were, of the
bird-shaped island of the whole of geographical Papua New Guinea.
The rise of Papuan nationalism is caused not so much by a sudden spontaneous
desire for unity by the many disparate tribal groups within Irian Jaya, but by
external forces driving these groups together. These external forces are not
trouble makers bent on undermining Indonesian authority in West Irian. They are
the result of policies made in Jakarta, in particular the transmigration policy.
Under this, Indonesians from Java and Bali are resettled in less crowded
regions. From Jakarta's viewpoint, this makes sense. West Irian is three times
the size of Java but has only about 2.5 million people. As a result of
transmigration, however, perhaps only 55 per cent of Papua's population now are
indigenous Melanesians. The rest are new arrivals, including many migrants from
trading communities in South Sulawesi.
The question for Jakarta is how to deal with the rise in Papuan nationalism. To
ignore it while pursuing other policies - such as transmigration - which fan
Papuan nationalism does not make sense. To attempt to suppress it by force does
not make sense, either, for much the same reason, that force will be met by ever
greater resistance.
There seems no doubt that if a referendum were held in West Irian, like the one
held in East Timor last year - that is, excluding new arrivals - there would be
an overwhelming vote for independence. Of course, no such referendum will be
offered by Jakarta. Instead, President Wahid is seeking to reduce the intensity
of the pro-independence movement by a combination of accommodation and firmness.
As a token of this, Jakarta has attempted to defuse the flag issue by allowing
the Morning Star to be flown as long as it is alongside the Indonesian red and
white, and on a shorter flagpole. It has also allowed the province to be called
Papua.
More dramatically, in May and June, Jakarta allowed a pro-independence Congress
of the Papuan People to be held in Jayapura. It was a free and open gathering.
The congress passed a resolution declaring that Papua had been independent since
it was declared a West Papuan state in 1961. It demanded Jakarta recognise its
independence. It also declared that the "act of free choice" conducted
in 1969, which led to Papua's becoming part of Indonesia, was unrepresentative.
Jakarta, naturally, has ignored these demands.
The independence movement in Papua has, however, not been entirely futile. It
has added to the pressure on Jakarta to define a new federalism that will
accommodate its, and other similar, demands, such as those in Aceh and Maluku.
Jakarta rejects independence but talks of autonomy. It promises laws that from
January will divert up to 80 per cent of the revenue from mines and oil fields
to regional governments. In Papua's case this would mean tax revenues from the
huge Freeport copper and gold mine, oil fields and a huge, offshore gas deposit.
From Jakarta's point of view, such an arrangement should more than satisfy all
demands for autonomy. But as the recent events in Papua have shown, it will take
more than vague promises to quell the anger of local Papuans who feel that their
very existence is threatened by outsiders.
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