Letter: Looking across Papua’s border

I would respond to several comments on an article titled “How to deliver peace in troubled Papua province”, (the Post, March 1).

Those who believe you can look across the eastern border and see a peaceful and prosperous, independent PNG where there is harmony are sadly mistaken. PNG as a nation state barely exists outside the major settlements, as people living rurally never look beyond their clan and tribal affiliations.

To them the idea of a unitary nation state that incorporates all clans is an alien concept. If you call a taxi after sunset at Port Moresby it will come with two men. One is the driver and the other is his security guard. Crime rates are extremely high. More people die of gunshot injuries in PNG than in the Indonesian half of the land-mass. A survey by the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and

Development puts PNG’s intentional homicide rate at 9.06 per 100,000 population and Indonesians at 1.05 per 100,000 population (slightly fewer than in Australia).

The same tribal mindset applies in West Papua. In an “independent” Papua, does anyone imagine that the individual clans, tribes and neighboring villages will forget their differences and swear allegiance to the flag? Wake up and smell the coffee.

David
Jakarta