[ppi] [ppiindia] Will West Papua be able to negotiatean Aceh-style peace treaty with Indonesia?

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Will West Papua be able to negotiatean Aceh-style peace treaty with Indonesia?
By Melanie Yip & John Wing
Posted Friday, August 19, 2005

Pro-independence rebels in the Indonesian province of Papua should follow the 
lead of Acehnese separatists in forging a similar autonomy arrangement signed 
with Jakarta this week.

The suggestion by Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister, Rabbie Namaliu today 
came shortly after Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a 
similar appeal on Tuesday to offer Papua "special autonomy".

How does the separatist movement in Papua compare to the one in Aceh?

A question Melanie Yip put to John Wing, Coordinator of the West Papua project 
at the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies in the University of Sydney.

JW: If you are referring to separatists as in the Free Papua Movement, that is 
the group that has been fighting a guerrilla kind of struggle for the last 40 
years with Indonesia, they are very poorly equipped because they have only bows 
and arrows to fight Indonesian soldiers. But if you are talking about Papuans 
in general as separatists, the vast majority of Papuans definitely want a 
better arrangement than what they have at present with Jakarta. And the Papuan 
people are desperate for an end to the operations that have been taking place 
against the indigenous communities, especially in the highlands over the last 
two years. So it is quite different struggle from the GAM struggle in Aceh.

How would you compare the suggestion by Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister, 
Rabbie Namaliu for West Papua to seek a peace treaty from Indonesian like the 
one signed with Aceh? What are the challenges involved here?

JW: Look, you would need to get an agreement from Indonesia for that kind of 
thing. Now, Indonesia has refused any initiatives that have been put forward 
internationally for a peaceful solution to the Papuan question.

How culturally diverse are the West Papuans from the rest of Indonesians?

JW: They are totally different. Papuans are part of Melanesia, they are atuned 
to people over the border to people in Papua New Guinea, to Fiji, the Soloman 
Islands and Vanuatu, all those islands in the Pacific of Melanesia, or are 
strongly related ethnically to people in Papua. Whereas the rest of Indonesia 
is Malay, so there are religious differences. Indonesians are predominantly 
Muslim, Papuans are strongly Christians. Traditionally, the languages were 
different. But over the last 40 years, Indonesian has been the language 
determined as the language used in Papua.

Just last week, over 10,000 West Papuans demanded that the Indonesian 
government review its Special Autonomy Law which they said was a total failure, 
is their demand justified?

JW: Yes, the benefits that were first suggested that would come to the Papuans 
under the Special Autonomy have not come to the people. They have not seen any 
benefits from Special Autonomy. And in fact, the military campaigns against the 
civilian population continue to the present. Last August, a military operation 
started in the Papuan highlands which continue. There are 15,000 new troops 
being deployed, and we've only heard today that four Indonesian war ships have 
sailed into the port of Manokwari and one war ship into the port of Sorong. 
Now, this is a very very ominous development. That information has come to me 
directly from the head of the Protestant Church in Papua (Rev Awong). I have no 
reason to doubt that claim, and this is what is happening at the moment.

How would you see the Indonesia government proceed on this issue from here?

JW: They must enter into serious dialogue with the Papuans, with the 
leadership, the Church leaders, the civil society leaders, the political 
leaders, leaders from the highlands, the coastal areas, and also the 
traditional tribal councils. They represent 250 tribes in Papua and they 
represent the strongest bodies in Papua. They must come to a negotiated, non 
violent agreement that respects the integrity, the human rights and the dignity 
of the Papuans to live in peace, justice and a better hope for the future.

John Wing from the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of 
Sydney. He was speaking with Melanie Yip.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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