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Komnas HAM former chief: Jokowi has no thoughtful plan for Papua
Tempo - December 8, 2018
"[The government] must have a well-planned strategy. Soeharto himself did not dare [to start the development project] because of potential conflict," said Natallius in a phone call on Saturday, December 8, referring to the second President of Republic of Indonesia.
He also criticized policies issued by Jokowi that involving military forces for the project. The involvement of Indonesian military Forces (TNI) personnel in conflict-prone regions is a high-risk order considering it is potentially disturbed public security and order in Papua.
According to Natallius, civil workers also felt serious threats when they stayed with TNI while on work. "People who are threatened are civil workers because they stay among military forces," he added.
During the planning of Papua toll road development project, Natallius along with Sipil Society had staged a protest to Jokowi in light of the involvement of TNI in the project in the conflict-prone region. However, the government maintained to deploy armed personnel. "Until what we've been worrying about happened; the shooting incident that took ones' life."
Earlier on December 2, a shooting carried out by an armed group killed 31 workers of Istaka Karya, while building bridges in Yigi River and Aurak River, Nduga, Papua.
Sebby Sambom, spokesman for the West Papua National Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Movement, said in a telephone interview that they attacked a government construction site last weekend because they believe the project is conducted by the military.
"Trans-Papua road projects are being carried out by Indonesian military and that is a risk they must bear," Sambom said. "We want them to know that we don't need development – what we want is independence."
Jakarta, which for decades had a policy of sending Javanese and other Indonesians to settle in Papua to dilute the number of indigenous people, is now trying to spur economic development to dampen the separatist movement.
Local media have reported that army engineers are involved in several sections of a trans-Papua road network that will connect cities and districts in the province.
"Our leaders have declared a war zone since last year and warned that the trans-Papua road should be stopped, but Indonesia has ignored it," Sambom said.
He called for the government to agree to peace talks similar to ones that led to another province, Aceh, becoming semi-autonomous, or a "real referendum" on independence as occurred in the former Indonesian territory of East Timor.
"If Aceh and East Timor can get that opportunity, why don't we?" said Sambom, who said he was speaking near the border with neighbouring Papua New Guinea.
Papua is a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea. A declaration of independence from Dutch rule on Dec 1, 1961, was rejected by the Dutch and later by Indonesia.
An insurgency has simmered in Papua since the early 1960s, when Indonesia annexed the region. It was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that was seen as a sham by many.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2018/12/08/papua-rebels-demand-independence-talks/.
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