Editorial & Opini
Why do Papuans want independence from Indonesia?
By WPNews Europe
Aug 30, 2005, 10:43

“Indonesia: from Sabang to Merauke!” and “Papua Merdeka!” are two rallying cries from opposite ends of the Papua debate. They both represent views held with passion and conviction, sown into the hearts of both Indonesians and Papuans from childhood. The question is; why are these two views about the same territory so completely different? Why do so many Indonesians believe that “Papua Province” is an integral part of Indonesia and will remain so forever, while at the same time, so many Papuans yearn for a fully independent “Republic of West Papua”? The answer is that both views have emerged from vastly differing perceptions of their own national history and sense of identity.

For Indonesian schoolchildren, the story of the incorporation of Papua into Indonesia in the 1960’s is taught as “the liberation of West Irian from the Dutch”. It is portrayed as the final victory of the momentous struggle of Indonesian nationalism against Dutch colonialism. The Indonesian paratroopers who were dropped into Papua in 1961 following Preident Sukarno’s famous “Three commands” (Trikora), are seen as Indonesian national heroes who were welcomed as “liberators” by the local Papuans. The memory of 15 January 1962, Indonesian-Dutch naval “Battle of Arufura Sea”, is still honoured across Indonesia.

The story of the subsequent years of West Irian / Irian Jaya / Papua’s history as the 26th province of the Republic of Indonesia, is less well known by Indonesians. The indigenous Papuan people are known to be “less developed” than their compatriots in Java and Sumatra and are often described as “uncivilised” or “still living in the stone-age”. From an Indonesian perspective, Papuans should therefore be grateful for the advances in “civilisation” which being part of Indonesia has brought them. The desire among Papuan “separatists” for independence from Indonesia is thus seen as an inexplicable act of gross ungratefulness. From this viewpoint, President Habibie’s was right to react with shock and surprise when the 100 strong delegation of Papuan leaders visited him in Jakarta in 1999 and declared that they wanted to start negotiations for Papua’s independence. For Indonesians, the “territorial integrity” of Indonesia, including within its borders the whole of the former Dutch East Indies “from Sabang to Merauke” is not, and never will be, up for negotiation with anyone.

So what about the Papuans who cry “Papua Merdeka!” as they watch with tears in their eyes their red, white and blue Morning Star independence flag (bintang kejora) raised above their beloved “Land of Papua”? How did they come to this hope that they will one day be living in an independent West Papua?

For Papuans, the Indonesian struggle for independence from the Dutch in the 1940’s is not seen as part of their history. It would be shocking for most Indonesians to know that in comparison with the bitter suffering they have endured during 42 years of Indonesian rule, the Papuans look back with fonder memories of their years as a Dutch colony. Whilst the vision of an Indonesian state encompassing the whole territory of the former Dutch South-East Asian Empire was forged in the bloody struggle against the Dutch and their British and American allies, this vision was simply never shared by Papuans.

Jakarta is as far away from Jayapura (Port Numbay) as London is from Moscow. The Papuans’ prime identity is as a Melanesian people of the Pacific, not Asia. They look east towards their Melanesian brothers and sisters in Papua New Guinea, the Solomons, Vanuatu, New Caledonia (Kanaky) and Fiji rather than west towards Java. Indonesia has offered (or more often imposed) Javanese culture in Papua, but the Papuans are determined to remain steadfastly Melanesian.

When the Dutch held onto “Dutch New Guinea” in 1949 and subsequently promised full independence for West Papua by 1970 this was enthusiastically welcomed by Papuans. 1961 is a key year in Papuan national consciousness, with the establishment of the partly elected New Guinea Council and the birth of the Morning Star Flag and the National Anthem “Hai Tanahku Papua”. The days of European colonial rule in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific were at long last drawing to a close and the Papuans, together with their all Melanesian neighbours, shared a common dream – independence.

So when the Indonesian paratroopers landed in that same year,1961, far from being welcomed as “liberators”, the Papuans instead regarded them as invaders who threatened simply to replace one form of colonial rule, Dutch, with another, Indonesian. There is contemporary news film showing Papuan soldiers rounding up the captured Indonesian paratroopers and handing them over to the Dutch authorities, but this film is rarely, if ever, shown in Jakarta.

Ask the Papuans (if they felt safe really to speak openly) what is at the root of all their problems and they will say the words “Act of Free Choice”. This act of betrayal by Indonesia of every principle of fairness and democracy may have taken place 35 years ago, but the anger felt by Papuans about what they prefer to call the “Act of NO Choice” still burns in their hearts as if it had happened yesterday. But if you try to find any facts about the shameful events of 1969 in Indonesian school history books today you will look in vain.

Most Indonesians do not know that President Sukarno’s government signed a binding international treaty with the Netherlands in 1962 (known as the New York Agreement), which was subsequently ratified by the UN General Assembly, promising that “all adult Papuans” would be entitled to a free vote between independence or incorporation into Indonesia, but that when the “Act” eventually took place in 1969 under General Suharto, the earlier treaty was deliberately broken. Knowing that if the Papuans were given the one person-one vote they had been promised they would undoubtedly vote overwhelmingly for independence, Suharto ordered that a mere 1,025 Papuan elders should be “consulted” as “representatives” of a then Papuan population of 800,000.

Papuans don’t often speak openly about their experiences during the Act of NO Choice, because they know that doing so is like signing their own death certificate. However, in private, from parent to child, they tell of the way those 1,025 elders were threatened at gun-point: “Vote for Indonesia or we will shoot you … and your family! Speak out and we will cut your tongues out. Indonesia ‘YES’, Papua ‘NO’” Papuans know that some elders who refused to “co-operate” were dropped onto their own villages from helicopters, whilst others were dragged from the back of army trucks and then buried alive. The Papuans know all this and when they watch their flag raised, many of their tears are in memory of 1969. Western governments know it also, because they colluded with Suharto at the time to let it happen, but at last, in December 2004, the British Government finally admitted that “1,000 hand-picked Papuans were largely coerced into declaring for Indonesia.”

What Papuans also know in their hearts is that between 100,000 and 300,000 of their families and friends have been murdered by the Indonesian military and police since Papua came under Indonesian control in 1963 and that countless others have been tortured, raped and imprisoned without trial. No Papuan family has been spared the grief and suffering of this oppression. Many ordinary Papuans have been beaten to death with rifle butts just for speaking out of turn to an Indonesian soldier, whilst Papuan leaders have been deliberately assassinated on the orders of the Indonesian state because they dared to speak out for their people’s freedom. The Papuan musician Arnold Ap, was killed in police custody in 1984 because he threatened to revitalise Papuan pride in their own Melanesian culture. In 2001, Papua Presidium Council leader, Theys Eluay, was strangled by KOPASSUS soldiers. Theys’ “crime” was leading the Papuan people in a peaceful political campaign for independence through dialogue. After Theys’ murder the independence movement was forced to go underground. Another leader, Benny Wenda, was captured, tortured and threatened with death in 2002, but managed to escape to safety in England.

Many Indonesians now will sympathise with the Papuans in their suffering and will rightly condemn the KOPASSUS and BRIMOB personnel who have committed these crimes against humanity, but perhaps they will also argue that all Indonesians suffered under Suharto’s dictatorship and that now, in the post-Suharto era of “reformasi”, Papuans should be content to enjoy the benefits of the new “democratic Indonesia.”

For two reasons, Papuans cannot accept that reasoning. Firstly, whereas in 2005 Indonesians in Java are genuinely enjoying democratic freedoms they could only have dreamed about under Suharto, Papuans are still living under a military dictatorship. They’s murder and the torture of Benny Wenda took place under Megawati’s predidency. The freedom of expression which is now taken for granted in Jakarta is still denied to Papuans. At this moment in Jayapura, two Papuans, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage are on trial for treason for peacefully raising the Papuan independence flag. Papuans are expressly forbidden by law from pursuing their political objectives by peaceful democratic means because Papuans are banned from forming their own political parties and because any Papuan who holds peaceful pro-independence views is barred from standing for any public office.

Furthermore, in the Puncak Jaya region of the Papuan highlands, the TNI are currently undertaking so-called “sweeping operations” which involves attacking villages from helicopter gun-ships, shooting unarmed civilians with automatic rifles, burning their homes and churches and forcing thousands to flee for their lives into the jungle where many (especially children and elders) are now dying of starvation and exposure. This is happening now, in April 2005. For a Papuan mother watching her child shot by an Indonesian soldier, it will not matter to her whether General Suharto or General Yudhoyono is currently occupying the President’s Palace in Jakarta.

Secondly, many Papuans are now starting to describe the slaughter of at least 100,000 Papuans since 1963 (10% of the indigenous population) as genocide, defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Papuans believe that they, the indigenous population, are seen by Indonesia as a disposable nuisance whose presence is impeding Indonesia’s national interests, in much the same way as European settlers viewed Native Americans and Australian Aborigines. In short, in terms of Indonesia’s ability to exploit Papua’s rich natural resources and provide “living space” (like Nazi Germany’s “lebensraum”) for Indonesians from overcrowded Java, Papua would be much better without the Papuans. From Rwanda, to Kosovo to Darfur, recent history has born witness to what has become known as “ethnic cleansing”. If foreign journalist were not banned from reporting from the Papuan highlands, West Papua would by now have been added to that list of shame.

And even if they are not being killed or tortured by the military and police, Papuans are subjected to daily verbal and physical racist abuse from their Indonesian “superiors”. Whatever Indonesia’s national motto might say about “Unity in Diversity”, Papuans know that their culture is not respected or valued. In a country dominated by a small Javanese elite, Papuans are not seen as equal Indonesian citizens. In fact many Indonesians do not even recognise Papuans as fellow human beings. Is it therefore any surprise that so many Papuans want independence?

So the question now for Indonesians is what sort of country do they want for themselves and their children? The Indonesian people have chosen democracy; rule by the people, with the consent of the people, but the Indonesian government and more especially the military, is continuing to hold onto Papua without the consent of the Papuan people by using violence, threats of violence and by imprisoning people because of their political beliefs. Indonesians have embraced an Indonesia of the future: democracy, freedom of expression, social and economic justice. They want Indonesia to take its rightful place amongst the free, democratic and prosperous nations of the World. In Papua however, the Indonesian Government and military are clinging to an Indonesia of the past in which violence is the preferred instrument to carry out its objectives and in which wealth and power are kept in the hands of the few. Indonesians must choose what sort of Indonesia they want … and at the same time, they must allow the Papuans their democratic right to choose whether they want to stay part of Indonesia or not.

Indonesian politicians sometime argue that without Papua, Indonesia would somehow collapse from within. Do these politicians really think that after nearly 50 years as an independent state that Indonesia is so fragile? What is regarded as an “integral part of a nation’s territory” can and does change over time. For centuries, Ireland was seen as an integral part of Britain, but the United Kingdom did not cease to exist when the Irish Republic gained its independence. Likewise, President de Gaulle swore that Algeria would remain French forever … and France has survived as a nation even after Algeria gained its freedom. Likewise, Indonesia will survive Papuan independence, in fact it will flourish. It will no longer be burdened with the huge military budget it currently requires for internal repression, foreign investment will be more likely in a country no longer labelled as a serious abuser of human rights and foreign tourists will be free to appreciate in safety Indonesia’s welcoming people, rich culture and natural beauty.


Will the Indonesian people choose democracy and allow the Papuan people the freedom to choose their own future, or will they continue to allow their Government and military to impose “territorial integrity” on an unwilling Papuan population by violence?




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