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span class="inline inline-left">Courtesy of Antie SolemanDr. Antie Soleman, 60, is not Papuan. Born in Jakarta, her mother is from Yogyakarta and her father from Jakarta.

But, her love of Papua is beyond measure.

She went to Papua in 1986 with the Pijar Foundation, heading first to Biak and later Jayapura and Wamena to engage in various women’s empowerment activities.

The extent of Antie’s presence in Papua has made her very familiar with its remote areas and ethnic groups, including the Ransiki, Myambouw and Warkopi.

She has also explored the Arfak Mountains to study Arfak women’s life around Lake Anggi and Lake Giji.

Between 2006 and 2011 she lived mostly in West Papua. At one point, she lived in Dabra, Abepura, where her son went to school. But she abandoned the place due to a severe malaria infection, her second in six months, which forced her to go to Doyo Hospital in Sentani.

With her experience assisting people in the interior regions of Papua for 25 years, she now feels it necessary to share her knowledge with others. Antie initiated the Papua Study Center (PSP) at the Christian University of Indonesia (UKI) in Jakarta, which opened on April 11, 2011. “We chose the methods of scientific study and empowerment programs, which are advocacy related and educational in nature,” she said.

To this end, Antie and her peers have organized various academic and non-academic events to exchange ideas about Papua. For instance, as soon as PSP was launched, they held a seminar on Papua and development. PSP has also contributed concepts to the Accelerated Development of Disadvantaged Regions Bill.

Antie’s experience has helped the formulation of a “Healthy Village” module considerably. Her accounts of what actually happens in the remote parts of Papua have been very useful for the preparation of health and medical staff programs suitable for Papua.

Living among poor, marginalized and neglected Papuans has also caused her to conclude that the government is absent there. What can be found is injustice and mass deception, as well as overt rights violations, she says.

She cited an example in the health sector, with Papuan women so far using “traditional” delivery methods and giving birth unaided. In the Arfak region, a mother expecting a baby will go to a delivery hut on her own and struggle alone to give birth. Two weeks later, she will emerge with her baby or again alone — meaning her child is dead and already buried.

When twins are born, the mother has to determine to kill one of them and take home the other owing to the belief that one of the twins is an enemy who will do harm to the other. “Only then did I realize that in Papua twins are rarely found. This can actually be avoided if health personnel provide education. Also, imagine what happens if the mother bleeds profusely. She may die in the hut,” Antie said.

The same is true of women giving birth in Mamberamo. A mother about to deliver a child will go to a river, stand on solid rock and hold onto a tree at the river’s edge.

When blood starts oozing crocodiles wait below. As the baby appears, the mother has to quickly seize it and lay it on the riverside to cut off the umbilical cord. “Mother and child mortality is very high in Papua,” she stressed.

According to Antie, what Papuans need is guidance. They should be provided with basic education by quality teachers with books available. “Financing must not be an excuse. Papua has abundant wealth to fund its one million indigenous people. Give them health services and education,” she said.

Antie, feeling convinced that such programs will lead to a bright future for Papua, referred to what Prof. Yohanes Surya has done to bring Papuan youths to victory in prestigious international science competitions.

“They only need proper food and quality teachers, but the government has shown no concern and they’ve just been neglected for decades,” lamented Antie.

“The government can in fact join the missionaries to take a look at them, but this hasn’t been done. The fund for such a mission is insignificant compared to the billions or trillions of rupiah spent on special operations. The missionaries only go there with books and medicine,” she pointed out.

Based on Antie’s evaluation, the backwardness of Papuans is due to negligence instead of poverty or ignorance. They are not quite poor because food is still obtainable.

“They aren’t stupid either because with only a year’s study some have won medals in math, chemistry and physics contests. They do have constraints but it’s because there are no schools. In the remote areas where I lived, there are even no roads, no electricity, making them nomads,” she said.

In her view, under such conditions the church has so far been the only agent capable of gathering the disadvantaged, opening their hearts, teaching them something about life, even teaching women how to cook, read and write. But strangely, Antie wonders why the government never provides aid for churches.  

Regarding Freeport, Antie suggested that the Indonesia government should be honest and open. “Just expose what has happened in the past, review the prevailing agreement and conduct proper auditing, with priority given to humanity,” she proposed.

She said Freeport had taken too much while its mining results and profit sharing had never been openly reported to the House or Representatives and other forums, making it a closed and guarded enclave for no apparent reason.

Still, in Antie’s view, if Indonesia considers Papua part of it then Jakarta should think of the extinction threat haunting the Amungme and Kamoro ethnic groups, because destructive particles coming out of mining pits pose a major hazard to these people. Their education, health and welfare should therefore receive due attention.

The pollution generated by Freeport is now common knowledge. “Unless Jakarta adopts measures to overcome it, based on their custom Papuans reserve the right to close Freeport and send its investors or management home to be replaced by other investors that impose no oppression and pollution,” she concluded.