Violence still occurs in Papua. The brutal, separatist action seems to be an eternal problem in Indonesia.
Take the assault on the police station in Lany Jaya regency, Papua, where three policemen were killed. After that, the convoy of local Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian was involved in a shootout. National Police suspect the attacks to be the work of the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
Interestingly, a citizen of the Ukraine, Wanipenko Shapirenko, was arrested during celebrations for the OPMs birthday. Security forces declared that no foreign tourists could attend the anniversary of the OPM.
There are two things that need to be done by Indonesia for Papua. First, in terms of regional development, Papua’s wealth must benefit the people of Papua evenly. Second, improvements must be made to correct the misconception of nationalism by Papuans so they feel and become part of Indonesia.
During the emergence of demands for independence in Papua there have been errors caused by the Indonesian people. Indonesia is a new nation with a new goal, which attempted to have continuity with past kingdoms such as the Srivijaya or Majapahit.
The Dutch also had a hand in the molding of the country and with the first draft of the federal state of East Indonesia (NIT) and Borneo (Kalimantan) 1946-1949 it tried to create Indonesia in the form of a federal state during.
When the Round Table Conference (RTC) occurred on Dec. 27, 1949, the Dutch tried another strategy. The Dutch dismissed NIT and created a new region, namely Irian. The result was that the RTC declared West Irian part of Indonesia one year later.
The Dutch attempts to delay continued; in the form of the Papuan Council in 1960. The Papuan Council was used by the Dutch to establish a state of Papua— with the intention of establishing a Dutch coal plant in Papua.
Looking back at the history of Papua’s problems its separatism — caused by faulty concepts of Indonesia such as the Majapahit model — meant that injustice ensued.
However, the most worthy are aware of the part played by the presence of foreign parties in Papua.
Yohanes Wawengkang
Depok, West Java