The Jakarta Post, February 18, 2003
Editorial
A messy Papua
It seems that we Indonesians have the tendency to keep creating new problems, to
the point that we have become bogged down in our own quagmires. The messy
situation in Papua province is a case in point.
President Abdurrahman Wahid, during his brief tenure, accommodated the aspirations
of the people of Papua to be recognized as a unique entity with their own customs
and aspirations. Thus, in 2001, was born Law No. 21 on the special autonomy of
Papua.
The drafting of this law was not an easy task. Several indigenous groups demanded
that a number of resolutions adopted by the Papua Congress be included, for
instance, legalizing the flying of the territory's own flag next to the Indonesian national
red-and-white flag, and adoption of the hymn "My Country Papua".
The most important item in Law No. 21, however, was the establishment of the
Council of the Papua People, a legislative body comprising the territory's traditional
indigenous groups, as well as church and women's organizations that would have the
authority to voice their views and opinions on the government's policies.
Let us go back for a moment to 1999, when President B.J. Habibie was president. A
number of ill-considered and ill-prepared decisions were made at that time, apparently
on the assumption that he, "Mr. Democrat", was worth reelecting.
Habibie proposed Law No. 45/1999 that would have carved up Irian Jaya province into
three separate provinces, namely West Irian Jaya, Central Irian Jaya and East Irian
Jaya. In fact, an acting governor for West Irian Jaya, retired marine officer Abraham
Atiu Ruri, had been appointed by Presidential Decree No. 327/M/1999.
Habibie, however, was not reelected, and Abdurrahman Wahid was installed as
president in October 1999. The newly installed president, considering himself the
exponent of reformasi, the reform movement for a democratic Indonesia,
accommodated all sorts of aspirations that came bubbling up to the surface.
The carving up of Irian Jaya into new provinces was halted and the law on special
autonomy for the province was born.
With President Megawati Soekarnoputri now in power, however, we notice a certain
reluctance in implementing Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy. There is an
impression that the formation of the Council of the Papua People is deliberately being
delayed, and it has been reported that only the draft rules for its establishment have
been completed.
Suddenly, out of the blue, it was announced in the issuance of Presidential Instruction
No. 1/2003 that the establishment of the new provinces in Papua would be executed,
beginning with the province of West Irian Jaya with Manokwari as its capital.
Now, we are facing the very odd situation in which mini-Irian Jaya provinces are being
created out of the original Papua province. Thus, the name Papua, which the local
population had for so long yearned to be applied to their homeland, will eventually be
lost.
If we further consider that the process of fixing the revenue-sharing scheme under
special autonomy -- which, needless to say, is a complicated system since the funds
will be channeled to Jayapura -- is still under deliberatioon, it becomes immediately
clear that the situation in Irian Jaya is simply chaotic. To make matters worse, the
establishment of the 14 regencies as stipulated by a law last year, is still an ongoing
process.
As we view it, all this has been caused by the existence of two competing
approaches with regard to Papua province. During the administration of President
Abdurrahman Wahid, it seems that the aspirations for reform and autonomy were
properly accommodated, in the sense that the social and political elbowroom provided
under Law No. 21/2001 would make the Papuan population feel honored and
respected.
Under President Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration, however, it seems that
more emphasis is being placed on the security approach because of a fear that the
unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia might disintegrate.
This approach finds its main supporters in, among others, the Minister of Home Affairs
Lt. Gen. (ret.) Hari Sabarno, chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Lt. Gen.
(ret.) A.M. Hendropriyono, and Armed Forces (TNI) commander Gen. Endriartono
Sutarto.
This approach appears to be so strong that it disregards even the logical legal system
-- witness the creation of new mini-provinnces based on a law that has already been
superseded by more recent legislation. Moreeover, Law No. 21/2001 clearly stipulates
that the creation of new provinces in Papua must await the recommendations of the
Council of the Papua People, which has not been established to this day.
It is not too difficult to predict that unrest, and probably even social conflicts, will rise
up among the 2.3 million population in Papua because of these legal contradictions
forced upon the province by the Megawati administration.
The great irony is that it is precisely this security approach that will be the cause of
instability.
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