On Wednesday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated his newly revamped Cabinet and vowed that with the assistance of his ministers, he would be able to root out massive corruption, high unemployement and extreme poverty rates in the country. On the same day, with the help of the Indonesian Military, Jayapura Police forcefully dispersed the third Papuan People’s Congress in Abepura
The three life-threatening social diseases the President mentioned are also the main causes of highly rebellious sentiment among many Papuans, along with systematic abuse of power against them.
They often feel they are treated as second-class citizens by the state and their fellow Indonesians in other parts of the archipelago, especially Java.
Shootings, killings, kidnappings and the torturing of civilians by security forces are common practices there. The government has accused foreign countries or external powers of playing a pivotal role in provoking secessionism. The goverment definitely has its own intelligence assesments to prove its accusations, and it is too premature to conclude that the government’s claims are totally baseless.
The government, however should remember that the problems are rooted much deeper than just in foreign interference. Papuans claim they are not part of Indonesia. Again, the main problems in Papua are injustice, racist practices by the government and over-explotation of their natural resources while the citizens benefit very little from the extraction of their land.
To be honest, many Indonesians still regard Papuans as uncivilized people who still live in the Stone Age. We who live in the western part of the country often belittle them. Alcohohism and HIV infections are increasingly prevalent there.
Indonesians apparenly have never paid serious attention to their own history. We lost East Timor because, during our military occupupation there, the East Timorese were often treated like sub-human beings. They were tortured and abused for years.
It is just matter of time before we have to face the Papuans decision to break away from Indonesia at any cost!
Meanwhile, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has humiliated itself because, at least so far, it has failed to stand by its own words that it would break from the ruling coalition led by Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party. Its top leaders should immediately prohibit their three ministers from being sworn in by the President after the President reduced the number of of PKS seats in the Cabinet from four to three. Many people laughed at the Muslim-based party because its threat turned out to be merely a bluff.
The party won the hearts of millions Muslim in the 2004 and 2009 elections because of its talk of being a corruption-free party. But, at least from the public’s perspective, the party is not very different from other corrupt political parties.
The PKS needs to prove that it is consistent in the war on corruption and in upholding justice for all.
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The killing of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi on Thursday ended the first chapter of the country’s journey to becoming a democratic state where the sovereignty of the nation is in the hands of the people, not the ruler. Qaddafi killed his own people who protested his brutal rule. He and his family siphoned the wealth from the nation’s oil exports into their own bank accounts.
The humiliating death of Qaddafi is a strong warning to all dictators in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world that they will be punished by their people if they continue to rob the state’s wealth and kill their citizens who are demanding their rights.
Leaders of Syria and Yemen are very close to following Qaddafi’s path unless they dare to take drastic decisions to return what they have stolen from the people. People on other continents will be also be inspired by the bravery of the Libyans in toppling their leader, who appointed himself the country’s power holder.
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President Yudhoyono hosted a bilateral summit with his guest, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday. The two heads of government agreed to resume sending Indonesian migrant workers to Malaysia starting Dec. 1. Indonesia unilaterally froze its labor export to Malaysia two years ago, because Malaysia refused to provide better salaries and protection for the Indonesian migrants. No less than two million Indonesians now work in the neighboring country.
The two leaders also discussed sensitive issues such as border disputes. They discussed a standard operating procedure and rules of engagement when their military forces face off in disputed areas.
Many Indonesians are quick to be angry with Malaysia, partly because of a lack of maturity and also because the Malaysians are often insensitive to their neighbors. Although the two nations are predominantly Muslims and Malays, they are often trapped by shallow sentiments of nationalism. Malaysians often feel irritated because they feel bullied by their older, bigger — but also much poorer — neighbor.
Meanwhile, an American citizen was killed after his arrival at Polonia Airport in Medan on Wednesday. The police should bring to justice the killer, as the murder has scared away foreign tourists and given the impression that Indonesia is not a safe place to visit.
We are often upset by western countries that send out travel warning to their citizens wishing to visit Indonesia, but we forget about governments’ obligation to protect their citizens overseas.
— Kornelius Purba