March 1, p. 6
A series of threats and violence in the mining area of PT Freeport Indonesia is unlikely to cease despite the death of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) leader Kelly Kwalik, who was believed to be behind terror in Papua.
The Jan. 24 shooting was the 4th shooting incident in the last seven months, causing an increase in the security and military measures of the mining company.
Freeport and the Indonesian government have a long and complex history not only with the separatist group, but with the local community. Social disparities, the unequal spread of wealth, historical concerns and allegations of “stealing” Papua’s natural resources were at the root of the conflict.
Despite the efforts of both parties to overcome this problem, Papua remains a problematic issue in Indonesian politics.
Following Indonesia’s so-called attempt to free West Papua in 1963, Freeport started its full operation in 1966, causing ongoing resistance from the local community who believe the company and the government is destroying their homeland and not compensating them enough. (By P.M. Erza Killian, Malang)
Your comments:
I totally agree with what the writer P.M. Erza Killian has written but my point is that you can’t expect to transform civilized challenged people and place them into a modern democratic society overnight.
Have a good look at our own history and civilization and it has taken thousands of years to become first world countries.
The highland people have only had real outside contact since the late 1950s when a couple of American Christians decided to go forth into the highlands.
KConnor
Tembagapura, Papua
No peace without justice. It’s reasonable to talk about justice rather than talk about peace.
We can only talk about peace as a tool such as peaceful dialogue. By the way, we often blame Jakarta. To build Papua we need to be certain who are the black sheep.
Apart from blaming Jakarta, we need to criticize local elites. To be honest, they have not had a clue how to build Papua from Papuans’ perspectives.
In fact, they just mimic what Jakarta or other big cities have done in order to be called developed cities.
Look at the plan of Jayapura’s ring road compared to the road condition in Papuan’s cities. Also, they do not have the strong will to build their own people.
What they’ve often done is manipulate special regional autonomy (Otsus) as if they are in the jungle feeding their everlasting hunger for pleasure.
Ino
Jayapura
We should consider that Western Papua has so many different tribes, languages and cultures.
Most Papuans are communicating with each other in the Indonesian language, as they do not have a unifying language to communicate.
Within the same area, there are many conflicts between tribes that usually end up in violence.
Papuans, as well as other Indonesians, need better education, equality of rights, implementation of
the legal system (which is obviously lagging due to corruption) and a true involvement in all aspects of their province’s affairs so that they develop a sense of belonging to the same nation.
Concerning nationalism, I see that Batak or Sunda, for example, are proud of their tribe, language or religion in comparison to a Papuan.
The concept of belonging in Indonesia is different among the Papuans because they are less privileged due to being remotely located and less involved in national matters due to their small percentage within the total population of Indonesia.
Mohamed
Jakarta
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|