Turning a new page in relations with Papua Cillian Nolan  ;   Deputy director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, Jakarta

JAKARTA POST, 19 Mei 2015

                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                           

In his fourth visit to Papua in just over a year, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo last weekend told Papuans that he wanted to “turn over a new page” in their relations with Jakarta. Offering a pardon to five political prisoners and the easing of restrictions on visits by foreign journalists, he seemed to be signaling a new openness in policy on Papua. But a real change is going to require a far more coordinated approach. Jokowi called the release of the five prisoners “a first step” but said little about the reasoning behind it or what would come next. The five were each serving terms of between 20 years and life in prison for their role in a 2003 weapons raid at the Jayawijaya Military Command (rights groups say only two were actually involved). Two soldiers were killed in the raid and many more civilians in reprisals that followed. Other political prisoners in Papua have made it clear that they will not accept clemency because it would require an admission of guilt. Those close to the President say he is considering a broader amnesty drive, which would not entail admitting wrongdoing and would be more widely welcomed. If the pardons were meant to signal a greater political openness, they came at time when the police are clamping down on freedom of expression in Papua. Their primary target is the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a pro-independence group that occupies the radical fringe of activist groups. Some of its members have advocated violence as part of a strategy to turn Papua into an “emergency zone” to attract more international attention. This is clearly unacceptable, but nonviolent meetings are different. In recent weeks, the provincial police commander has said he is determined to dismantle the KNPB. He has ordered district commanders to break up meetings — public or private — of the organization, which he said were bent on undermining Indonesia’s territorial integrity. KNPB demonstrations — some of which have turned violent — are routinely shut down with force, such as when the police allegedly shot at six KNPB activists in Yahukimo in March. On May 1, as KNPB supporters rallied in cities across Papua, the police arrested at least 40. If Jokowi’s intention is to look forward rather than backward, one way to change dynamics in Papua would be to commit to upholding basic freedoms of expression and assembly while making it clear that violence (and incitement) by NGOs, mass organizations and security forces alike will be prosecuted. This would mean sending a message that peaceful dissent will no longer be considered makar (treason). Jokowi could also commit to improving incentive structures to ensure the best-performing police are sent to Papua, recognizing the challenges of policing there. At the same time, he would have to commit to dramatically stepped up accountability for violence committed by security forces. One major omission from the trip was any mention of an investigation into the shooting of four civilians allegedly by security forces in Paniai on Dec. 8 last year, a key commitment made by Jokowi on his last visit. Ensuring improved accountability is perhaps the single most important confidence-building measure needed in Papua. The timing for Jokowi’s visit may have been influenced by the upcoming summit of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. Its members are due to meet later this month to consider an application for membership by an alliance of three pro-independence lobby groups, including the KNPB. Jakarta has responded with a renewed diplomatic charm offensive in the Pacific in an effort to block the move, including the President’s follow-on visit to Port Moresby. The real challenge for Jakarta is to understand and address Papuan issues as part of an overall strategy on Papua that includes everything from regional division (pemekaran) to palm oil production. Jokowi told Aljazeera in an interview in Jayapura last week that “there are no longer any problems in Papua” and thus there is nothing left to discuss. A more productive response would be to channel grievances in Papua into a domestic forum and then pair this with a government agency with the authority to do something about them. Setting up domestic communication channels has been the goal of the Papua Peace Network since 2009, but Jokowi believes his own occasional visits are a suitable replacement. A new page in Jakarta-Papua relations is going to require more productive communication at many levels. It will require making good on Jokowi’s commitment to ensuring Papuans have access to the same economic opportunities as other Indonesians, that the security agencies uphold human rights while responding to the region’s high levels of violence and that the millions of dollars in special funding the two provinces receive are spent more effectively. Papuans themselves will have to take responsibility for a large part of this. But they need a more engaged partner. ●