President Joko Widodo (centre left) ... plan to split up the Papuan territory into five provinces has been branded by critics as a gross human rights violation. Image: JakPost
The politics of divide and rule and how Indonesia’s attempt to separate indigenous Papuans is an irrational and unrealistic proposal that will damage the cultural values of kinship and togetherness as Melanesian people, writes Dr Socratez Yoman.
ANALYSIS: By Dr Socratez Yoman
The Indonesian coloniser has become an ignorant ruler with deaf ears and with evil intention in fighting for the addition of new Papuan provinces without the population numbers to justify this.
Provincial division is a serious problem because the population of Papua and West Papua does not meet the requirements to establish new provinces.
The planned provinces will cause division and destruction of the cultural values of kinship and togetherness as Melanesian people.
After Indonesia failed with a plan to move 2 million indigenous Papuans to Manado, the new strategy devised by the Jakarta authorities is to separate indigenous Papuans according to ethnic groups. This is a crime against humanity and is a gross human rights violation carried out by the state.
The author followed the presentation from the Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Tito Karnavian, to the Working Meeting of Commission I DPD RI in Jakarta on 27 January 2021 regarding the government’s version of the Provincial Expansion scenario which was not rational or realistic.
The Minister of Home Affairs is not paying attention to the standards and requirements for the development of a new administrative area, such as area size, population, human resources and financial and natural resources.
The criteria for a new government have been largely ignored, but political interests and remilitarisation have become the main mission. To be honest, the people and nation of West Papua do not need lots of division of districts and provinces.
Military purpose for new provinces
These new provinces are only for political and military purposes and to move excess population from Java.
The proposal in summary
1. Papua Province
(the original province)
Capital: Jayapura
a. Jayapura Town
b. Jayapura Regency
c. Keerom Regency
d. Sarmi Regency
e. Maberamo Raya Regency
f. Waropen Regency
g. Kep. Yapen Regency
h. Biak Numfor Regency
i. Supiori Regency
2. South Papua Province
(new province)
Capital: Merauke
a. Merauke Regency
b. Boven Digoel Regency
c. Mappi Regency
d. Asmat Regeny
e. Peg Bintang Regency
3. Central Eastern Papua Province
(new province)
Capital: Wamena
a. Jayawijaya Regency
b. Lani Jaya Regency
c. Tolikora Regency
d. Nduga Regency
e. Maberamo Tengah Regency
f. Yalimo Regency
g. Yahukimo Regency
h. Puncak Jaya Regency
i. Puncak Regency
4. Western Central Papua Province
(still under debate)
Capital: Mimika
a. Mimika Regency
b. Paniai Regency
c. Deiyai Regency
d. Dogiay Regency
e. Nabire Regency
f. Intan Jaya Regency
5. West Papua Daya Province
(previously mostly West Papua Province)
Capital: Sorong
a. Town of Sorong
b. Sorong Regency
c. Sorong Selatan Regency
d. Maybrat Regency
e. Tambrauw Regency
f. Raja Ampat Regency
With these additions Papua would have five provinces. The mechanism for provincial expansion is in accordance with Article 76 of the Special Autonomy Law with additional authority changes from the central government when there is a deadlock in the region.
The total population of West Papua includes two provinces respectively: Papua Province 3,322,526 people and West Papua 1,069,498 inhabitants. The total is 4,392,024 inhabitants.
Evenly dividing up population
If the population is divided evenly from the total population of 4,392,024 the population for the five provinces are as follows:
1. Papua Province will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.
2. West Papua Province will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.
3. The Province of Puppet I will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.
4. The Province of Puppet II will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.
5. The Province of Puppet III will be inhabited by a population of 878,404 people.
The question is whether a province with a total population of 878,404 people is worthy and eligible to become a province?
It is very important to compare with the population of the provinces of West Java, Central Java and East Java.
1. Total population of West Java: 46,497,175 people.
2. Total population of Central Java: 35,557,248 people.
3. Total Population of East Java: 38,828,061 people.
The question is why does the government of the Republic of Indonesia not carry out splitting the provinces of West Java, Central Java and East Java, which have the largest population sizes?
‘Transfer of excess population’
As a consequence of a population shortage in this province, the Indonesian authorities will transfer the excess population of Malay Indonesians to these puppet provinces.
The creation of these five provinces also have as their main objective to build 5 military area commands, 5 police area command bases, tens of military district commands and dozens of police district headquarters and various other units. The land of Melanesia will be used as the home of the military, police and Indonesian Malay people.
The consequences will be that the indigenous Papuans from Sorong to Merauke will lose their land because the land will be robbed and looted to build office buildings, military headquarters, police headquarters, army district bases, and police district bases.
Humans will be removed, made impoverished, without land and without a future, even slaughtered and destroyed like animals in a natural or unnatural way as we have experienced and witnessed until the present.
There is evidence that a genocide process has been carried out by the modern colonial rulers of Indonesia in this era of civilisation. The crimes of the Indonesian colonial rulers continue to be exposed in public.
In 1969, when the West Papuan people were integrated into Indonesia, the indigenous population was around 809,337 people. Meanwhile, the neighbouring independent state of Papua New Guinea has around 2,783,121 people.
Since then, the indigenous population of PNG has reached 8,947,024 million, while the number of Indigenous Papuans is still only 1.8 million.
Modern colonial ruler
This fact shows that the Indonesian government is a modern colonial ruler which has occupied and colonised the people and nation of West Papua.
Dr Veronika Kusumaryati, a daughter of Indonesia’s young generation in her dissertation entitled: Ethnography of the Colonial Present: History, Experience, And Political Consciousness in West Papua, revealed:
“FOR PAPUANS, CURRENT COLONIALISM IS MARKED BY THE EXPERIENCE AND MILITARISATION OF DAILY LIFE. THIS COLONIALISM CAN ALSO BE FELT THROUGH ACTS OF VIOLENCE THAT ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY SHOWN TO PAPUANS, AS WELL IN THE NARRATIVE OF THEIR LIVES.
“WHEN INDONESIA ARRIVED, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WERE DETAINED, TORTURED AND KILLED. OFFICES WERE LOOTED AND HOUSES BURNED. … THESE STORIES DID NOT APPEAR IN HISTORICAL BOOKS, NOT IN INDONESIA, NOR IN THE NETHERLANDS. THIS VIOLENCE DID NOT STOP IN THE 1960S.”
(Kusumaryati, V. (2018). Ethnography of the Colonial Present: History, Experience, And Political Consciousness in West Papua, p. 25).
The Indonesian government repeats the experience of the colonial rulers of apartheid in South Africa. In 1978, Peter W. Botha became Prime Minister and he carried out a politics of divide and conquer by dividing the unity of the people of South Africa through establishing puppet states: 1. The Transkei Puppet State. 2. The Bophutha Tswana Puppet State. 3. Venda Puppet State. 4. The Ciskei Puppet State. (Source: 16 Most Influential Heroes of Peace: Sutrisno Eddy, 2002, p. 14).
There is a serious threat and displacement of indigenous Papuans from their ancestral lands proven by the fact that in the regencies they have been robbed by the Malays and have been deprived of their basic rights for Indigenous Papuans in the political field. See the evidence and examples as follows:
1. Sarmi Regency 20 seats: 13 migrants and 7 indigenous Papuans (OAP).
2. Boven Digul Regency 20 seats: 16 migrants and 6 Indigenous Papuans
3. Asmat Regency 25 seats: 11 migrants and 14 Indigenous Papuans
4. Mimika Regency 35 seats: 17 migrants and OAP 18 Indigenous Papuans
5. 20 seats in Fakfak District: 12 migrants and 8 Indigenous Papuans.
6. Raja Ampat Regency, 20 seats: 11 migrants and 9 Indigenous Papuans.
7. Sorong Regency 25 seats: 19 migrants and 7 Indigenous Papuans.
8. Teluk Wondama Regency 25 seats: 14 migrants and 11 Indigenous Papuans.
9. Merauke Regency 30 seats: 27 migrants and only 3 Indigenous Papuans.
10. South Sorong Regency 20 seats. 17 migrants and 3 indigenous Papuans.
11. Kota Jayapura 40 seats: Migrants 27 people and 13 indigenous Papuans.
12. Kab. Keerom 23 seats. Migrants 13 people and 7 indigenous Papuans.
13. Kab. Jayapura 25 seats. Migrants 18 people and 7 indigenous Papuans.
Meanwhile, the members of the Representative Council of Papua and West Papua Provinces are as follows:
- Papua Province out of 55 members, 44 Papuans and 11 Malays/Newcomers.;
- West Papua Province, out of 45 members, 28 Malays/Newcomers and only 17 Indigenous Papuans.
Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman is a Baptist priest, author and human rights defender from Papua. He filed this article for Asia Pacific Report.
Sago starch obtained from local starch-producing plants from the Arecaceae family is commonly processed into several types of foods consumed by the people of Papua.
Traditional sago food products in Papua include papeda, plate sago, buburnee, sago Tutupala, sago uha, sinoli, and bagea.
But lately, sago has been losing its prime place in kitchens in the eastern Indonesian province.
Mama Ike, a sago seller at the Hamadi Jayapura market in Papua, said the only buyers she receives nowadays belong to the indigenous Papuan communities.
"The indigenous Papuans are already familiar with and are used to consuming sago, and even though we are still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, this local food is still in demand by indigenous Papuans," she elaborated.
The price of authentic Papuan sago in the market is quite reasonable at around Rp20 thousand (around US$1.43) for a package containing half a kilogram of sago starch, she informed.
"Now, I do not sell much of sago starch everyday at Hamadi market in Jayapura City because the buyers are indigenous people who need it, and they are usually from outside the city of Jayapura," she said.
Unlike the indigenous communities, most Papuans nowadays only use sago as an alternative to rice. People in Papua are consuming sago rarely and it has become increasingly less popular than rice.
However, this has created a problem: Not all areas in Papua are suitable for rice planting. As a result, Papua has to obtain rice from outside to meet local demand.
For this reason, the local Papuan government, in accordance with Governor Lukas Enembe's policy of developing Papua based on local potential and wisdom, is seeking to encourage the sustainability of sago starch consumption, which has long been a local staple.
Food security
Sago has great potential as a substitute for rice, and this can help Indonesians, especially those residing in the eastern regions, to build food security.
This is also in line with the food security program which the government has been promoting of late.
The prospect of sago utilization for building food security in Papua is very promising, according to observers.
The reason for this lies in the ability of the sago plant to grow well in marshes and in environments with high or low water tide, where other carbohydrate-producing crops are difficult to grow.
The agronomic requirements of the sago plant are simpler than other carbohydrate-producing crops and its harvesting also does not depend on a particular season.
In addition, sago trees can be easily found in many parts of eastern Indonesia as they still grow wild in several regions, including Papua.
Sago plants (Metroxylon sago Rottb.) are widespread in a number of areas in Papua.
The total area under sago plantation across the world is estimated to be around 2.2 million hectares, of which 1.128 million hectares are in Indonesia alone. Such an acreage is equivalent to production of 7.89 to 12.97 million tons of dry sago starch per year.
The method of processing sago palm extracts into sago starch has been carried out by indigenous Papuans traditionally.
Sago starch can be processed into glucose syrup, fructose syrup, and sorbitol, among other things.
Sago can also be processed into more commercial foods, such as breads, biscuits, noodles, vermicelli, crackers, some sago starch-based Indonesian traditional cakes, and so on.
In the modern food industry, sago flour has often been used as a thickener to add texture to cakes and snacks.
Head of the Department of Industry, Trade, Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises and Manpower in Papua, Omah Luhani Ladamay, has expressed the hope that sago will not only continue to be a Papuan staple, but also be used in the food and beverage business in the near future.
"At the sago week exhibition in Jakarta, Papua province got an Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) award. I think it is an evidence of the potential of sago -- whose amount is so abundant in Papua -- to be able to provide economic benefits for indigenous Papuans," he remarked.
Furthermore, in terms of nutritional content, sago contains a lot of carbohydrates besides some protein, vitamins, and minerals, he pointed out.
A hundred grams of dry sago starch contains 94 grams of carbohydrates, 0.2 grams of protein, 0.5 grams of fiber, 10 mg of calcium, and 1.2 mg of iron. About 100 grams of sago starch have 355 calories.
Therefore, sago is a known source of energy and stamina, especially for carrying out physical activity.
Of all the advantages of sago, it is evident that it can be a key for diversifying diets and ensuring food safety and security in Indonesia.
For this reason, various studies have been carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture through the Agricultural Technology Research Center (BPTP) in Papua, which aims to re-promote, conserve, and cultivate sago in the region.
Dr. Alberth Soplanit, who is researching the cultivation of local Papuan food plants, said the BPTP team in Papua has collected sago seedlings for agronomic studies to see which nursery methods are the most suitable for specific land conditions for sago growth.
It is hoped that the efforts to re-develop sago cultivation in Papua will not only serve as a solution for local residents to meet their food needs, but also a concrete measure of the government's support in protecting sago plants as the local staple of indigenous Papuans, he said. (INE)
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Several members of the task force worked along with the Mosso villagers to remove dirt and debris from the village's street this week, the task force's commander, Major Anggun Wuriyanto said here Sunday.
The soldiers who joined the community service belong to the Army Strategic Reserves Command's (Kostrad's) Raider 413 Mechanic Infantry Battalion, he said, adding that the residents looked enthusiastic to join the street cleaning program.
"We hope the street cleaning activity will be a routine program to keep Mosso Village clean and healthy," Wuriyanto said.
He encouraged the village's youths to be the frontliners of efforts to keep their village clean, healthy, and secure.
ANTARA noted that Indonesian soldiers, stationed in Papua and West Papua, have demonstrated their care for local communities.
Last month, several soldiers from the 11/MA Combat Engineering Detachment (Denzipur) assisted the construction of the Asy-Syifa Islamic boarding school in Sidomulyo Village, Semangga Subdistrict, Merauke District, Papua Province.
The army personnel's community service reflected the Indonesian Military's (TNI's) care for improving the quality of education for children in Papua, according to Asy-Syifa Islamic Boarding School Principal K.POH Ach Sholeh.
Sholeh said he was so thankful for the combat engineering detachment's personnel who had participated in building the Islamic boarding school which was developed from a Quran recitation learning center.
The TNI was expected to keep upholding its unity with local tribal, community, and religious leaders, he added.
In showing their care for the development of human resources in Papua and West Papua, several soldiers, particularly those stationed near the Indonesia-PNG border areas, are also assigned to become voluntary teachers at schools.
Several members of the Indonesia-PNG Border Security Task Force in Merauke District, Papua Province, for instance, have adeptly shouldered this responsibility.
They have extended voluntary assistance to teachers at 12 elementary schools in the sub-districts of Sota, Neukenjerai, Eligobel, and Ulilin in Merauke District since July 2019.
They teach reading, writing, and mathematics to students, Commander of the task force at the Army Strategic Reserves Command's (Kostrad's) MR 411/PDW Infantry Battalion Major Rizky Aditya noted in a statement last year.
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The aid packages comprise basic household needs, baby diapers, baby milk bottles, mattresses, pillows, and blankets, the oil and gas company's spokesperson, Edi Mangun, said in a statement that ANTARA received here Sunday.
The Pertamina caring team members coordinated with the Keerom Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) to know the real needs of those badly affected by the flooding and taking refuge in several disaster zones, he said.
Floods struck parts of Keerom District, submerging residential and office areas on February 3.
Floods inundated the Arso Swakarsa-Arso II area, Arso City, and the villages of Asyaman, Yanamaa, Walukubun, Workwana, and Pitewi.
The East Arso Police Sector office was also inundated, Deputy Chief of the Keerom Resort Police Commissioner Martha Tolau stated when contacted from Jayapura.
The police deployed personnel to help residents whose settlements were affected by flooding.
"Several police officers have been deployed to help the flood-stricken residents," she confirmed.
The flooding was triggered by incessant heavy rains that had fallen since February 2, and caused the Tami River to overflow its bank.
Various parts of Indonesia are prone to natural disasters. Within the initial two months of 2021, several hydrological disasters have occurred in the islands of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi.
In Java Island, for instance, flash floods inundated certain areas of Semarang in Central Java following heavy rainfall showering the city from Friday to Saturday.
Landslides also hit Cihanjuang Village in Cimanggung Sub-district, Sumedang District, West Java Province, on January 9.
Meanwhile, in Sumatra Island, flash floods and a landslide damaged seven homes and broke a bridge in Wih Ni Durin Village, Syiah Utama Sub-district, Bener Meriah District, Aceh Province, following incessant heavy rains in the Gayo highland area.
In the island of Kalimantan, massive floods and landslides also hit several parts of South Kalimantan following incessant downpour on January 12.
The floods affected the districts of Banjar, Tapin, Tabalong, Balangan, and Hulu Sungai Tengah and the cities of Tanah Laut and Banjar Baru.
The massive floods, triggered by incessant heavy rains since January 12, reportedly claimed 15 lives, swamped 24,379 houses, and displaced 39,549 people.
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