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APSN | Jokowi: hope for Papua?

title

Jokowi:
hope for Papua?

New
Manadla - November 24, 2014

Hipolitus
Yolisandry Ringgi Wangge – During his presidential campaign, Joko Widodo,
widely known as "Jokowi," visited the Indonesia"s most eastern province,
Papua, three times.

He
made one key promise to Papuans – giving it more attention. This attention
includes promoting welfare instead of security, building more infrastructure,
and providing more access to education and medical services. All of these
seem relatively similar to former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono"s
(SBY) promises when he came to office in 2004.

Whether
Jokowi"s government can keep his promises to the Papuan people, rest on
three factors; affirmative action, welfare policy, and the military. And
all of these have to factor in Jakarta"s decision-making elites. In this
regard, it"s useful to look at what previous governments did in Papua.

Since
the downfall of Suharto in 1998, Papua has been one of Indonesia"s three
trouble spots, haunting every regime. Of the other two East Timor attained
its independence in 1999, and Aceh received its special privileges under
the 2005 Helsinki Agreement. Even though, the Papuan rebellion movement
is categorised as a small-scale armed struggle, there is no comprehensive
policy that can suppress its aspiration to detach from Indonesia.

Former
presidents BJ Habibie and Abdurahman "Gus Dur" Wahid undertook affirmative
action in Papua. They knew that as the Papuan people are a minority group
which has been excluded and underrepresented historically, measures had
to be taken to raise participation at various level of society. Habibie
invited 100 Papuan representatives to hold a discussion in Jakarta in 1999
and promised to initiate an equal dialogue between Jakarta and Papua.

Yet
the dialogue never happened. Gus Dur proposed more progressive measures
by allowing the Papuans to hold the First Papua National Assembly in June
2000, crafting a space for Papua to reclaim its names as "Papua," not "Irian,"
and permitting the Papuan flag to be raised alongside the Indonesian flag.
He also included Freddy Numberi, the first Papuan after the downfall of
Suharto, to become a cabinet member. However, both presidents firmly rejected
the idea of West Papuan independence.

Megawati,
the daughter of Indonesia"s founding father Sukarno, amplified the military
approach to Papua rather than taking more comprehensive affirmative actions.
She launched the Special Autonomy Law (Otsus) in 2001 as a way to uplift
Papuans" lives, yet she also issued a presidential decree (Inpres No.1/2003)
to divide Papua into three new provinces, thus contradicting the spirit
of the autonomy law. Moreover, Megawati"s feeblest policy allowed the military
to tightening its grip over Papua, an action it had long favored. The 2001
killing of charismatic Papuan leader Theis Elluay, by the Indonesian Special
Forces (Kopassus), occurred under her tenure.

Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, who took over government in 2004 and left office in
October 2014, combined affirmative action and welfare policies without
thoroughly reviewing the military"s presence in Papua. During his 10-year
tenure, SBY included three Papuans in his government. In 2010, he initiated
the mega investment project, the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate
(MIFEE), at the expense of customary rights over land that belongs to Papuans.
In 2012, he proposed an ad-hoc agency, the Unit for the Acceleration of
Development in Papua and West Papua (UP4PB) which has had no impact whatsoever.

Additionally,
SBY failed to review security policies that have been in place since this
province was forcefully integrated into Indonesia in 1969. Human rights
abuses by the military still frequently occur. Ironically, the military
reform initiated during SBY"s first term has had no impact in Papua. Antonius
Made argues that military reform failed at the domestic level, particularly
in conflicted regions. Three indicators of the failure are the military
deployment and its relation to the rise of human rights violations, the
military involvement in local politics, and its close ties to business
in Papua.

When
it comes to Jokowi, many Papuans believe that he will overhaul current
conditions in the province. And yet it seems his government will continue
what has been done so far. Shortly after he was inaugurated, he appointed
Yohana Susana Yembise, the first female Papuan minister, in an act of affirmative
action. However, there is no policy yet directly addressing the Papuan
issue.

There
is also the question of how Jokowi will deal with development in Papua.
This concern is related to the investment-oriented agenda he presented
in front of business leaders at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
summit in China a couple of weeks ago. Whether or not there will be another
project like MIFEE is still a big question.

In
terms of welfare reforms, Jokowi"s government has moved forward by providing
three cards; the prosperous family card, the health card, and the smart
card. All of these cards are related to the welfare program he promised
during the presidential campaign. However, these cards seem unlikely to
deal with current conditions in Papua. The basic prerequisite of this program
is infrastructure readiness and its stakeholders. In Papua, as Bobby Anderson
argues in Inside Indonesia (Jul-Sep 2013), it is about not only hospitals
or schools, but also who will be serving as a doctor, nurse, or teacher.
In this regard, the central government has to review all welfare programs
in Papua before promoting other programs.

Another
crucial policy that will be launching in coming months is the transmigration
policy. The new transmigration minister, Marwan Jafar, proposed a transmigration
program for people from outside islands, primarily from Java, to go to
Papua. Shortly after the announcement, many Papuans raised their concerns
and firmly rejected the policy. This concern is highly understandable.

According
to the Justice and Peace Secretariat of the Jayapura Bishopic Mission huge
numbers of people transmigrating has negatively affected the indigenous
population by subordinating Papuans in cultural, political, and economic
spheres. This shift in population leads to never-ending conflicts between
the settlers from the outside islands and the indigenous people.

Furthermore,
the transmigration policy will exaggerate the current Papuan demographic
structure and also the relation between the central government and Papuans.
The decline of the indigenous population is obvious. According to Anderson
(quoted in The Jakarta Globe), migrants from other islands now compose
almost half the population of Papua province. In addition, while the ratio
of indigenous people and non-indigenous people, was 52-48 in 2010, Anderson
predicts there may be 60 migrants to every 40 Papuans in 2014. In the security
arena, there will not be any significant change under Jokowi, particularly
the huge number of military troops in Papua. This tendency can be seen
by the appointment of one of the most controversial and conservative generals,
Ryamizard Ryacudu, as the Indonesian defense minister. Papuans still remember
him as a general who praised as heroes the Kopassuss soldiers who killed
Theys Elluay.

In
addition, Jokowi has appointed Andhika Perkasa as commander of the presidential
security detail. According to the Jakarta Post, Andhika was allegedly involved
in the killing of Theis Elluay when he was a Koppasus officer back in 2002.
Other former generals with bad human rights records, such as Hendropriyono,
Wiranto, and Sutiyoso also have been in Jokowi"s inner circle. All of these
figures will maintain the military conservative value of defending the
unity of the country by wiping out all rebellion groups, even at the expense
of civilians – as it has over the years.

All
the policies and actions proposed so far clearly describe the "elitist",
Jakarta-centric way of thinking on the Papuan issue. For example, Marfan
Jafar is a former politician from the National Awakening Party (PKB) that
has supported Jokowi. As a politician without sufficient background on
the Papuan issue, Jafar clearly has been initiating an ill-constructed
policy. He thinks by sending many migrants to Papua, the problem of poverty
in some densely populated islands, will partly be handled without looking
at the real condition of the Papuan people.

Accordingly,
one can argue that Jokowi lacks ministers who can absorb his vision deeply.
Because he has to compromise with those elites, oligarchs, and former generals,
he has to sacrifice the people"s hope. This is an irony of democracy. Jokowi
has been elected constitutionally, but he cannot fully exercise his right
to govern because he has to deal with those shadowy figures, which have
no constitution rights whatsoever.

Beyond
these challenges, Jokowi has to execute a long-awaited dialogue with the
Papuans. This is the prominent solution to deal with all problems in Papua.
Consultations are the only way to know deeply and thoroughly what Papuans
need. In turn, the central government can form policy that positively affects
Papuans. The Papua Peace Network (JDP) formed by the Indonesian Institute
of Sciences (LIPI) has been conducting preliminary consultations that can
be used as a gateway to create a more intensive and comprehensive dialogue
with the Papuans.

A network
of various political actors in Papua has been set up through the consultations.
It would be constructive if the central government gradually held discussions
with various actors, such as local activists, student activists, religious
figures, armed groups, and particularly those who are living and struggling
for Papuan independence from abroad.

Dialogue
was one of Jokowi"s "trademarks" (beside the impromptu visit), when he
was mayor of Solo, and governor of Jakarta. This is a real opportunity
for Jokowi to execute the dialogue with the Papuan people. By supporting
consultation with the people, the government can send a strong signal about
building trust and eliminating suspicions regarding Papua.

[Hipolitus
Yolisandry Ringgi Wangge, is an Arryman Scholar and a visiting scholar
at the Buffet Center for International and Comparative Studies (BCICS),
Northwestern University.]

Source:
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2014/11/24/jokowi-hope-for-papua/.

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