The West Papuan
Struggle for Freedom by Nikotemo Sopepa
On 16 August 2019, the Indonesian police, a number of
West Papuan students burned an Indonesian flag outside their local dormitory in Surabaya, a city in Java. This act provoked a response from some Indonesian nationalist militia who gathered outside the dormitory and called them “monkeys”. The students were also threatened. But these threats did not deter the students from what caused them to burn the flag at the first place. The threat and intimidating slur ‘monkey’ however caused a people to rise above their fear and despair and took up fifty-seven-year long fight for independence and free determination. The burning of the Indonesian national flag was not a sign of treason as most Indonesians see it.
A Papuan student, his face painted with the colours of the separatist Morning Star flag, holds a poster during a rally near the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2019. (Tatan Syuflana / Associated Press)
Rather it was a cry for freedom from an unjust treatment of West Papuan people in their own land. What is happening to the West Papuans reminds me of Francis Hazel’s book Strangers in Their Own Land, a story of a century of colonial rule in Micronesia. Although the Micronesians in the Northern Pacific gained their independence in 1986, they are still a protectorate of the United States of America. The Micronesians were colonised by Spain, then the Germans, then Japan, and finally the USA after World War II. The 1986 independence was more of a concealment of USA’s hidden interest in the region – a military bridge between USA and Asia.
independent in 1949, West Papua did not join the new independent nation. This is because these are two different sets of people with different cultures. The West Papuans belong to Oceania (Pacific). Their culture is similar to other people in the Oceania like Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Kanaky (New Caledonia), Papua New Guinea, and Fiji. More so, the West Papuans, like their family members in Papuan New Guinea have traded with the Solomon Islands and other Oceania islands pre-European/Westerners contact. They identified themselves more with people of Oceania, and Oceania has regarded them as brothers and sisters before Dutch colonisation.
West Papua’s case is not different from that of Micronesia’s. The USA’s military interest has cost West Papuans not just their land, but their freedom, and many lives. Over half a million lives were taken by the Indonesian military and police. West Papuans were hunted down in towns, villages, and even those who fled to the darkness of the forest were not spared. This is because the Indonesian government believed that the defected West Papuans were traitors. The cry for freedom and justice is seen by the government as the most treasonous act. But how could you commit treason when your hands are tied behind your back against your will in your own house?
When Indonesia became independent of Netherlands, the Dutch government recognised West Papuans as a people with a different culture and ethnicity. For more than a decade the Dutch government prepared West Papua for their independence. In 1961, West Papua declared independence and raised its flag – the ‘Morning Star.’ The Morning Star signifies a people’s struggle for freedom and justice, and that is exactly what they achieved in 1961.
Both Indonesia and West Papua were colonised by the Dutch in the late nineteenth century. When Indonesia became
34
Within months of its independence, West Papua was invaded by Indonesia. This caused conflicts between Indonesia, Netherlands, and the indigenous Papuans. Unable to fight against its former colonial master, Indonesia turned to Russia for support. The USA saw Russia’s involvement as a threat to its global presence, especially since Russia’s association with the issue will signal the spread of communism in the region.
INSiGHT | August 2020
