Indonesia has had a long and difficult history with many of the ethnic groups amongst what is a diverse population covering a vast area of land, with the remote locations of these ethnic groups only adding to the challenges presented. The two most publicized have been the rebel group in Aceh province in northern Sumatra and the East Timor crisis in the late 1990’s. However, the new and potentially more devastating crisis is developing in the province of Papuan problems, and the Indonesian government may find itself facing familiar problems, as well as venturing into uncharted territory.
Indonesia has been in control of Papua, the largest and richest province in minerals and biodiversity and has faced almost constant opposition from the native, ethnic Papuan community, although, unlike other situations (notably East Timor), has international recognition of its legitimacy in the area. The native ethnic Papuans, made up of numerous smaller groups, are a mixture of traditional tribal religions and Christianity, mainly Catholicism and believe that Papua is owed self-determination and independence from the rest of Indonesia. In recent years, many immigrants from other parts of Indonesia have been encouraged to move to Papua to help develop the economy and provide labor for some of the mining and timbering processes that are helping to fuel the Indonesian boom. With many of these immigrants being ethnically Indonesian and Muslim, tensions have arisen between the two groups, with protests and strikes around the mining companies and in the major cities being common. There are unconfirmed reports of many protestors, Papuan locals, being killed.
There was hope that the grievances of the locals would have been eased somewhat during the process of decentralization that the new democratic Indonesian government undertook in 1999, with Special Autonomous Status being granted in 2002, and the Papuan’s Peoples Council, a council of elders to represent traditional tribal customs, being established in 2005. However, this has had limited success. A report by Brussels based International Crisis Groups has reported that the many of the local citizens feel that the autonomy is largely ineffective, and that the local law is being trumped by national law too often for it to have any real impact and leaves questions of how much devolution has really been granted. The report warns of the increasingly likelihood of radicalization of the opposition movement unless the central government in Jakarta begins to take this issue more seriously. The US has also begun to take an interest in this area of conflict, with Deputy Secretary of State Joseph Yun recently saying “if the 2001 Special Autonomy Law can be fully implemented, we believe that a lot of frustration currently felt by Papuans would decrease” although stopping from going as far as saying that it would completely resolve the situation.
A more holistic approach concerning the structural security of the region should also be included in the government’s plans to reduce tensions in the area. With Papua consistently finishing bottom of the table according Badan Pusat Statistik (Indonesia’s Bureau of Statistics) for Human Development Index, as well as a literacy rate 23% lower than that of Java and the highest HIV/AIDS rate in Indonesia, it is clear that the problem of the relative disparity of wealth and resources is also a contributing factor. For many Papuans, the central government and the ethnically Indonesian immigrants it encourages appear to be a threat to their culture and way of life, exploiting the natural resources of their island, without contributing much in return.
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