2) Women’s representation in the noken system in Indonesian Papua
3) Soldiers building comfortable public toilet in Papua's Naira Village
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1) Solidarity action group calls on NZ to support Kanak, Papuan independence
By APR editor - May 22, 2024
Asia Pacific Report
A New Zealand solidarity action group has called on the New Zealand government to back indigenous independence calls in the Pacific and press both France to grant Kanaks sovereignty and Indonesia to end its rule in West Papua.
Catherine Delahunty, a former Green Party MP and spokesperson for West Papua Action Aotearoa, said today it would be good timing to exert pressure on Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron visiting the New Caledonian capital Nouméa this week.
“France is not living up to its commitments under the Noumea Accord and not meeting its responsibilities towards a country listed on the UN Decolonisation Committee,” she said in a statement.
The West Papua Action Aotearoa network was standing in solidarity with the Kanak people who were struggling for independence from French rule, she said.
“The New Zealand government could show support for both the end of French rule in Kanaky and Indonesian rule in West Papua.
“Both these countries should withdraw their military and prepare to hand over executive power to the indigenous citizens of Kanaky and West Papua.”
Nouméa rioting ‘unsurprising’
Delahunty said that the rioting last week against the French authorities in Kanaky New Caledonia was “completely unsurprising” as the threats to an independent future by pushing through a a constitutional electoral bill to include more non-indigenous residents of Kanaky had caused outrage.
“Much like West Papua the colonial control of resources and government in Kanaky is oppressive and has created sustained resistance,” she said.
“Peace without justice maybe be temporarily restored but our government needs to call on France to do more than dialogue for the resumption of French control.
“Kanaky and West Papua deserve to be free.”
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2) Women’s representation in the noken system in Indonesian Papua
On 14 February this year, elections were held in Indonesia, including in the six provinces of the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea: Papua, West Papua, and the four newly established provinces of Southwest Papua, South Papua, Central Papua, and Highland Papua. Elections were held to elect candidates to the Presidency and Vice Presidency, House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR), Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD), six provincial representative councils, and 42 municipal councils. But unlike other regions of Indonesia which use a one person, one vote system, parts of Indonesian Papua use the traditional noken system, in which village chiefs (kepala kampung) cast votes on behalf of the entire village population using traditional noken woven bags.
Twelve municipalities in Indonesian Papua utilised the noken system in the recent elections: six in Central Papua (representing 68% of the province’s total electorate) and, with certain exceptions for some (mainly urban) districts and villages which have transitioned to a one person, one vote system, six in Highland Papua (representing up to 85% of the province’s total electorate). Together, these municipalities elected six House of Representatives members, eight Regional Representative Council members, 60 provincial legislature members in the two provinces, and 315 municipal council members distributed between the 12 municipalities.
Despite several issues with the noken system, chief among them the lack of representation of Papuan women, the Constitutional Court of Indonesia has upheld its use in Papua as a form of indigenous deliberative democracy. This allows for elections to proceed in the region, acknowledging the geographical isolation that impedes the full implementation of the one person, one vote system.
Indonesian electoral regulations mandate that a minimum of 30% of legislative candidates on a party’s ballot (which typically includes between three and 12 candidates) must be women. Moreover, it is stipulated that at least 30% of leadership positions within political parties from the national to district levels must be held by women. These regulations are instituted to encourage women’s participation in electoral politics. However, the outcomes of legislative elections in municipalities employing the noken system reveal a significant disparity in women’s representation compared to other regions of Papua (and Indonesia in general).
All six House of Representatives members elected in the 2024 election through the noken system (three in Central Papua and three in Highland Papua) are men. Likewise, among the eight Regional Representative Council members elected through the noken system, six are men and two are women: Lis Tabuni, an out-of-province politician from Tolikara, Highland Papua, was elected with 246,693 votes, the most in the province, while Eka Kristina Yeimo, an academic from Nabire, was elected to represent Central Papua with 146,004 votes, third-most in the province.
In lower-level elections, the gender disparity is even more apparent. Among the 29 Central Papua Representative Council (DPRPT) members elected through the noken system, all are men, compared with the four women (in addition to 12 men) elected to represent municipalities using a one person, one vote system. Female candidates mostly received zero votes in the recent elections from any village utilising the male-controlled noken system.
One example of this is in Puncak Jaya, Central Papua, where of the 90 candidates for the DPRPT, 29 were women, just below the 30% requirement. However, only five of these candidates received any votes, with the vast majority receiving zero votes. Under the noken system, women candidates were even denied the opportunity to vote for themselves, instead having to entrust their vote to their respective village chiefs (always male), resulting in overwhelming support for male candidates. In the municipal elections, women are also under-represented in municipalities using the noken system (Figure 1) compared to those using a one person, one vote system (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Women's representation in selected municipality councils in Indonesian Papua - noken system
Figure 2: Women's representation in selected municipality councils in Indonesian Papua - one person one vote system
An interesting contrast in women’s representation can be observed between Nabire and Paniai municipalities. Nabire has a significantly higher level of women’s representation in its municipal council compared to Paniai, despite their cultural similarities as neighbouring municipalities. This indicates that the current implementation of the noken system in parts of Indonesian Papua prevents women from being elected to the legislature at all levels.
Initially designed as a pragmatic solution to Papua’s geographical challenges, the noken system is gradually being replaced. As the results in Nabire showed, the phasing out of the noken system will improve women’s representation in legislatures in Central and Highland Papua. Nevertheless, until these reforms are instituted, there is still a pressing need to address the persistent and often total under-representation of women in legislatures in the region. A recent proposal by women politicians in Nduga, Highland Papua, demanded the reservation of six seats in the Nduga municipal council and two in the Highland Papua provincial council (for the Nduga electorate) for women. In 2020, the chairman of the Papuan People’s Assembly (Majelis Rakyat Papua), the customary assembly of the province, endorsed the discontinuation of the noken system, labelling it as discriminatory towards women.
To a significant degree, women bear the brunt of the ongoing conflict in Indonesian Papua. In August 2023, Michelle Kurisi Doga, a Papuan women’s rights activist affiliated with the Gerindra Party, was murdered by suspected separatists in Lanny Jaya, Highland Papua, while a 2017 study of 170 Papuan women found that 40 have experienced state-perpetrated violence, including sexual assault and dispossession. Additionally, women from Papua have the lowest literacy and school participation rates in the country. The political exclusion currently experienced by Papuan women in municipalities using the noken voting method is both a cause and result of this vicious cycle.
Perhaps it is time for Papuan women to step forward and advocate for the abolition of the discriminatory noken system or, at the very least, push for substantial reforms to ensure women’s representation in legislative councils across regions using the noken system. It’s time for a change.
Jonathan Siborutorop
Jonathan Siborutorop is an undergraduate student at the University of New South Wales Sydney studying Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, with a research focus on Pacific and Indonesian affairs.
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The old "Trying to win hearts and minds"
3) Soldiers building comfortable public toilet in Papua's Naira Village
May 21, 2024 14:20 GMT+700
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - The Jayapura/1701 Military Command (Kodim) is building a comfortable public toilet in Naira Village, located 133 km from Jayapura, Papua Province's capital, to help locals lead a clean and healthy lifestyle, a military officer stated.Building the public toilet in Naira Village, which administratively belongs to Airu Sub-district in Jayapura District, is part of the 120th TNI Manunggal Masuk Desa (TMMD) Community Service Program, according to the Indonesian Military (TNI) press statement published here, Monday (May 20).The TMMD Program is the continuation of ABRI Masuk Desa (AMD), which is TNI's community service program, introduced and routinely carried out during the leadership era of Indonesia's second president, Suharto.The availability of the public toilet would hopefully help villagers improve their quality of life amid a lack of basic sanitation facilities in the village, 120th TMMD Task Force commander, Major Afandi, stated.Apart from building the comfortable public toilet, the TMMD personnel also launched a public awareness campaign to help the villagers get familiarized with a clean and healthy lifestyle, he remarked.The public awareness campaign was carried out by collaborating with those from the district's health office and other government agencies, he added.As reported earlier, Indonesian soldiers in Papua are required to multitask amid the government's incessant efforts to bridge the regional development gap between Papua and other provinces.Soldiers deployed in the Papua region are required to be responsive in seeking solutions to problems and challenges faced by Papuan communities in their daily lives.They are also expected to play the role of problem solvers for local communities amid their central task to defend the country's territorial integrity and guard the safety of Indonesians.The geopolitical and geostrategic position of Papua, which shares land and sea borders with Papua New Guinea, occupies a significance in matters of Indonesia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.Over the past few years, soldiers stationed in the region have been facing security threats posed by armed Papuan separatist groups operating in several districts.Despite the security-related challenges, soldiers have actively engaged in community service activities, highlighting their commitment to supporting local populations.Several personnel of the Indonesia-PNG Border Security Task Force, for instance, have been assisting locals through community services, such as voluntary teaching, mobile libraries, and street cleanup programs. Related news: Papua: Soldiers provide free health services to villagers
Related news: Prioritizing soft approach toward armed Papuan groups: TNI Translator: Evarukdijati, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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