Letters: Why is the gun still pointed at us?

Letters: Why is the gun still pointed at us?

Sat, 03/27/2010 12:41 PM | Opinion

This is a response to Riem Hemmat's comment (the Post, March 15). I bet you have never lived in West Papua, have you? Or never walked in West Papuans' shoes.

Your argument, to some extent, might be true, but my questions are, if West Papuans were part of Indonesia, why did the West Papuans never share the same history as other Indonesians? Why, since integration in 1963, has the central government kept sending additional troops to West Papua? As you said, there were no bombings or attacks, as in Aceh in the past.

I was brought up as the product of a Javanese and a Papuan and have lived in West Papua for more than 25 years and, for me, for whatever reasons, the central government has mismanaged the issue of West Papua, and it's not right.

If we are part of Indonesia, treat us fairly, by using such elegant manners called diplomacy and dialog, but the truth remains the same, the gun and military operations are the choices employed. If the central government wants to improve things, give access to humanitarian aid for West Papua; give access to international journalists to report on the situation. The fact is the government is too afraid that people will tell the bitter story.

Anyway, you have to spend many years in Papua and live in two cultures to have a better understanding of West Papua's issues. West Papuans definitely have a different history, you should bear in mind that we were never involved in any prominent historical moment of Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) nor share the same "nationalism".

If we are Indonesians, why is the gun still pointing at us? If we are Indonesians, why is the stereotypical label when we are in other parts of Indonesia so derogative?

As to your comments about the Indonesian language, you should learn the history of language planning in Indonesia and look at case studies in Laos for comparison, and the role of politics in setting up the language for different ethnicities and forcing people to use that language.

Before integration, several tribes in northern part of West Papua and in some parts of southern Papua traded with Mollucans, and they spoke bazaar Malay. In fact, the way West Papuans speak is a kind of Creole language, and influenced mostly by the Ambon Malay, Portuguese, Dutch and tribal languages (similar to the way the indigenous Australians speak kriol) it's a result of contacts over centuries. My question for you is, if people speak English (comparing it to your West Papuan case of speaking Indonesia), let's say in India, Singapore, the United States, the Philippines and other countries which consider English as the official language or second language, can we consider them as "English people"?

Dayanara Meimosaki
Canberra