Separatism movement emerge in Papua because of Dutch Political ambition to retain control over Papua. But this did not automatically bring to an end the problem of Papuan separatism, for the problem has strong roots that can be traced back to the time when Indonesia was fighting to defend its independence from the Dutch. While there were a good number of Papuans who joined the struggle of Indonesia for independence at that time, the Dutch were also able to turn a small number of Papuan circles against Indonesia.
Sharply averse to the thought that West Irian would become a part of the new Republic of Indonesia, the Dutch encouraged political activities aimed at independence and even organized armed units in support of these activities. In 1960, a battalion-size Papuan Corps of Volunteers (Papua Vrijwillwegers Korps) was established in Manokwari for the purpose of disrupting the impending reunification of Papua with the Indonesian Republic.
This Corps of Volunteers served as the embryo of the Papuan independence movement and subsequently evolved into what it called itself the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka) or OPM. The separatist bond spread to other parts of the province and divided into smaller groups each with its own leader and agenda. All of them bear the name of OPM.
These Papuan secessionists argued that Irian Jaya should be separated from the rest of Indonesia because the Papuan people are ethnically Melanesians and they are different from the rest of Indonesian people who they considered as Malays. This argument was apparently unsubstantiated. It is widely understood that ‘racial homogeneity cannot be used to define political unity because the proposition the different races should not live together in one state defies normal human relationship, as we know them’. Thus, advocating racial homogeneity as the basis of statehood is a manifestation of racism.
To this day, they operate in this manner, each group having no more than a hundred members and armed with homemade weapons. They nevertheless constitute a threat to local security and are capable of sowing fear and terror in the localities where they are active. Until recently, the separatists continuously carried out their reigns of terror in order to disrupt security, law and order. The separatist bond in Papua was initially fanned by Dutch propaganda against Indonesia during the 1960s, but as the years went by, there was an accumulation of grievances, mostly over incidences of violation of human rights and inequitable sharing of the benefits from the resources of the province, and frustrated aspirations for development.
When the era of reform was launched after the demise of the administration of President Soeharto in May 1998, advocates of Papuan separatism took advantage of the resulting democratic space and began to campaign more actively and openly but failed to gain support as separatism is in contravention against the existing national legislation of Indonesia as well as international law.
The principal separatist organization is the Papuan Presidium Council (Presidium Dewan Papua), which was at one time led by the late Theys Hiyo Elway. Its basic claim is that Papua was granted independence by the Dutch on 1 December 1961 and has been demanding the holding of a referendum and a re-examination of the Act of Free Choice of 1969. However, none can find a legally acceptable basis for these claims.
Clifton/PT March 14, 2010