Paula Makabory is a female Papuan activist and member of the ELSHAM Papua NGO. Whenever people talk to her about Papua, she just answers with the question: “How much do you know about Papua if you have never even been there?”
Many parties, observers, researchers, speakers and so on are talking about Papua. But most of them are not Papuan people. They just talk about Papua from “the outside”. Although sometimes they visit Papua, their visits are never long.
Some people who speak out loud about “Papua freedom” overseas are indigenous Papuans. They claim they know Papua’s current situation. But do they? They have already spent a long time outside Papua and have no idea about its development today.
After 42 years of living in the Netherlands, fighting for the independence of Papua, Nicholas Jouwe, a Free Papua Movement (OPM) figure, eventually returned to Papua and said that it had changed.
Papua is very different if you compare its current condition with the Papua of 42 years ago. Nicholas was amazed by the Indonesian government’s seriousness in developing Papua. He thought the Papuan people were still living in the Stone Age.
Papuan activists who now live abroad have no idea about the development and the progress that has occurred in Papua today. They always “sell” the past. They don’t even give their body and soul to build Papua together.
The question from Paula Makabory is not only for all Papuan activists but also for the Indonesian government and others who care about Papua as well.
Raden Sion
Jakarta