This is a comment from the website to the article entitled “Approach on Papua slammed” published on June 16 on the front page.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was a patriotic Indonesian song about Papua that my friends and I (at that time still children totally unfamiliar with politics and blissfully unaware of the evils thereof) used to sing.
Part of the song is as follows, as far as I can remember: “Irian, Irian, Irian! Sudah lama ingkar janji. Sudah lama sabar menanti, sudah lama derita dialami. Kini saat rakyat kita bertindak. Mari bersatu bebaskan Irian! Untuk kejayaan nusa dan bangsa!” and so forth. Translated, the words are as follows: “For a long time we’ve been lied to. For a long time we have patiently waited and suffered. Now it’s time for the people to take action. Let’s be united in freeing Irian! For the glory of our country and our people!”
Now, more than 50 years later, the Papuans themselves have every right to sing that song.
I truly love my country, Indonesia. Because of this love, I sincerely desire to see Indonesia and our people grow and prosper in peace and harmony, and receive abundant blessings bestowed by the Creator.
But I also am very certain that the Creator won’t bless us, the Indonesian people, if we stubbornly refuse to do the things which are right, just and honorable in His Eyes.
Let’s be honest and courageous in facing the truth, dear fellow Indonesians, and by doing so shame the devil and attempt to regain the favor of the Creator.
For more than 50 years, Papua, once known as Irian Barat or West Irian, has been colonized by the Republic of Indonesia. Countless Papuan people have been lied to, oppressed, tortured and murdered. The Papuans have never been really regarded and respected as our true brothers and sisters. Moreover, so far, Papua has been regarded as a convenient cash cow by most of our leaders, and the Papuans themselves have not enjoyed the prosperity generated by their own land.
Using military might, instead of respectful, sincere, meaningful dialogue to subdue the ongoing unrest in Papua is, aside from being injudicious, also absolutely wrong, and is one more outrageous mistake our present government makes. By using brute force to subdue the rebellious Papuans, our government shows the world that its leaders don’t possess the wisdom and the maturity so necessary to solve problems through peaceful, truthful dialogue — but are, instead, only imperceptive intimidators who only understand the language of violence and oppression.
As violence is certain to breed more violence, ill-advised and reckless decisions regarding the extremely volatile Papua situation may very well have most unpleasant and far-reaching consequences for the government as well as all Indonesians from Sabang to Merauke.
Tami Koestomo
Bogor