Paras Indonesia, 03, 29 2006 @ 05:52 am
Crisis Group Warns of More Papua Violence
Posted by: Roy Tupai
The International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned that Papua could face more unrest if
the Indonesian government fails to give greater support to the province's recently
formed representative body.
A new report by the ICG says the Papuan People's Council (MRP), which was
established last October after years of delay, is in danger of imminent collapse.
The MRP was supposed to function as the centerpiece of special autonomy granted
to Papua in 2001. But the recent killing of four policemen and an Air Force officer
during a protest against US-owned gold mining firm Freeport has highlighted the
council's weakness.
"The anti-Freeport violence was a way of venting frustration over long-running
grievances ranging from a lack of justice for past abuses to poverty and corruption to
the role of the military in the province," said ICG analyst Francesca Lawe-Davies.
"But the very institution that should have a key role in managing these tensions, the
Papuan People's Council, is currently paralyzed - partly by government mishandling
but also by its own ineptitude," she said.
The ICG said that despite initial hard-line rhetoric, the MRP had begun to show signs
of willingness to compromise, but rather than reciprocate, the central government
sidelined the council.
"To revive genuine dialogue and salvage the institution before autonomy is further
damaged, Indonesian President Yudhoyono should meet the MRP in Papua, thus
acknowledging its importance, and the MRP for its part should move beyond
non-negotiable demands and offer realistic policy options to make autonomy work,"
said the ICG.
"The central government needs to realize that it is in its own interest to help the
Papuan People's Council succeed," said ICG South East Asia director Sidney Jones.
"If it fails, Special Autonomy - the best hope for Papua-Jakarta relations - will be
badly, if not irreparably damaged."
Following is ICG's overview of the report. The full report can be viewed at the ICG
website in either PDF format or Microsoft Word format.
Papua: The Dangers of Shutting Down Dialogue
Asia Briefing N°47
23 March 2006
OVERVIEW
There is serious risk the long-awaited Papuan People's Council (Majelis Rakyat
Papua, MRP) is about to collapse, only five months after it was established, ending
hopes that it could ease tensions between Papuans and the central government. The
MRP was designed as the centrepiece of the autonomy package granted the
country's easternmost province in 2001. Almost as soon as it came into being,
however, it was faced with two major crises - stalled talks over the legal status of
West Irian Jaya, the province carved out of Papua in 2003, and violence sparked by
protests over the giant Freeport mine - while Jakarta marginalised its mediation
attempts. To revive genuine dialogue and salvage the institution before autonomy is
perhaps fatally damaged, President Yudhoyono should meet the MRP in Papua, thus
acknowledging its importance, while the MRP should move beyond non-negotiable
demands and offer realistic policy options to make autonomy work.
Papuan leaders had envisaged the MRP as a representative body of indigenous
leaders that would protect Papuan culture and values in the face of large-scale
migration from elsewhere in Indonesia and exploitation of Papua's natural resources.
Jakarta-based politicians saw it as a vehicle for Papuan nationalism and deliberately
diluted its powers, then delayed its birth. By the time it emerged, the province had
been divided into two, many Papuans were disillusioned with autonomy and some
were already questioning how the MRP could function under such circumstances.
The MRP's authority remains uncertain. If it can manoeuvre its way through these two
crises, it may yet be able to take on other outstanding grievances and become what
Papua has always lacked, a genuinely representative dialogue partner with Jakarta. If
it fails, not only will its own legitimacy be diminished, but local resentment against the
central government will almost certainly increase.
The signs are not good. As negotiations between the MRP and the central
government were underway to resolve the disputed legal status of West Irian Jaya
(Irian Jaya Barat, IJB), Jakarta suddenly authorised gubernatorial elections there,
cementing its status as a separate province outside autonomy. The MRP, despite its
hard-line rhetoric, had begun to show signs of willingness to compromise, but rather
than reciprocate, the central government sidelined it. The MRP is now grappling with
whether continued negotiations are possible, and if not, whether it should disband.
But with large local turnout in the West Irian Jaya elections, and the local support that
implies for the province, the bigger question is whether the MRP is still a relevant
actor.
Meanwhile, student-led demonstrations in Papua and by Papuan students in Java and
Sulawesi demanding closure of the Freeport mine in Timika and the withdrawal of
military forces there, which had been escalating since late February, culminated in a
violent clash in Abepura on 16 March, in which four police and an air force officer were
killed and several civilians seriously injured. The subsequent police sweeps have been
heavy handed, and the atmosphere remains tense. The MRP's attempts to engage
the central government on this issue were quickly brushed aside.
Successful MRP mediation of these tensions is becoming more crucial as the
chances of it happening become more remote. The MRP has not made its own case
any easier but it is now up to the central government to bring it back on board. If
sufficient trust can be reestablished to resume dialogue, a compromise on West Irian
Jaya is still possible, building on the baseline consensus reached by the central
government and top Papuan provincial leaders in late November 2005. The essence of
that agreement was that Papua would remain a single economic, social, and cultural
entity, regardless of the administrative division. That is, there would be a single MRP,
and the autonomy funds from the central government and revenues raised in each
province from resource exploitation - from the gold and copper of the Freeport mine in
Papua and from the BP natural gas project in West Irian Jaya - would be shared by
both.
Since the elections, the MRP's bargaining position has been further weakened, but it
is critically important now to reach a compromise on the issue - not just in the
interests of resolving two crises, but to make the MRP a functioning institution.
Failure to bolster the MRP would almost certainly deal a fatal blow to an autonomy
package in which many Papuans are already losing faith. Given the current volatility in
Papua, it is in everyone's interests to make sure this does not happen.
Jakarta/Brussels, 23 March 2006
Copyright (c) 2005 - PT Laksamana Global International. All rights reserved
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